Dresden’s town election is June 12, and three candidates are running for one selectman's seat, currently held by Chairman Dale Hinote. The other candidates are Historical Society President John Ottum and former Dresden administrative assistant Trudy Foss, who retired at the end of 2017.

Resident Gary Blau suggested Dresden should host a candidates night for those running for selectmen, to give local people a chance to meet them and talk to them about the issues.

“It’s a chance for people to look them in the eye and know they are being straight with you,” Blau said after the meeting. Blau has recently returned to town after some time away, and has owned a farm in the area since 1987.

Hinote voiced support for the idea, and said it needed to come together quickly with the election in a little over a month. He asked if a weekend would be workable, but a general audience consensus suggested a weeknight would be better. With some deliberation, selectmen suggested the event might be held the first week of June.

The board voted to reach out to Foss and Ottum, to make sure there was an acceptable day that week that they were also free. Selectmen hope to announce the date at their next meeting on May 14, if not sooner.

In other business, selectmen spoke about plastics recycling again. With Lincoln County Recycling only taking certain plastics, members of the community are concerned that materials which could be recycled will instead end up in a landfill.

“If we put dumpsters out for other recycling, all that will happen is we will have to hire someone to empty it and haul it away, and bury it in a landfill,” Selectman Dwight Keene said. “And then the town will have to pay for that, as opposed to just throwing it away.”

The selectmen have spoken at length to Lincoln County Recycling in an attempt to come up with solutions, but the market for other plastics has dried up. Selectman Allan Moeller Sr. said it has been suggested the town move to single stream recycling, where all recyclables are thrown into a single area and sorted, but he said that would increase the cost to the town, which currently pays nothing for items such as cardboard and newspapers to be baled and hauled away.

The board also discussed the vacant position of local health officer, with suggestions to reach out to doctors in the area to see if they are interested.

The board meets next at 6 p.m. May 14 at the Pownalborogh Hall.