Midcoast News 9-22-15

Midcoast News 9-22-15

In Brunswick, concern about recent overt expressions of racism. Town council chair Sarah Brayman tells the council that new Bowdoin College president Clayton Rose convened a meeting which she and other town officials attended–a meeting in the aftermath of incidents in which people in cars were yelling out racial epithets at certain Bowdoin students and faculty members. Brayman encourages anyone who witnesses such an incident t write down license plate numbers, contact the police and speak up.

A town-wide property revaluation is coming in Brunswick. The town council has voted to spend an estimated 400 thousand dollars on the move, with the goal of more equalized taxation, where at the present time the average property is assessed at only 64 percent of market value.

Several Brunswick councilors who are members of a Facebook page where issues involving the town’s schools are discussed, don’t seem worried by the concern of a state official that their participation may raise public access concerns to the decision-making process. Councilor John Richardson says he’s simply exercising his right of free speech and says he gains insight into the views of town residents.