Abbot business wants to relocate to Abbie Fowler building
Staff Writer
SANGERVILLE — Mid-Maine Chimney Sweep in Abbot has gone from selling its creosote removal agent to local stores to a contract distributing to over 4,500 True Value Hardware stores. Owner Jeff Pearl is now searching for enough warehouse space to meet the increased demand for his product. He recently moved to Sangerville which has made the vacant Abbie Fowler building an attractive spot to relocate his business. He has made several inquiries to town officials about purchasing the former school to store his product prior to distribution.
“I’ve just completed the deal with True Value. All I need now is a place to store 1,500 units and I’d like it to be here,” Pearl told the Sangerville board of selectmen on Feb. 12.
Pearl wants to keep his business local. He is also looking at purchasing the former Ben Franklin’s storefront in Guilford and the Lemforder building in Brewer. Pearl believes Sangerville would be better served by selling the building than by having it demolished.
Pearl estimated it would generate $4,800 per year in tax revenue, if the property was returned to the tax rolls. Residents voted in 2007 to demolish the building within five years. The town has been delayed in its effort to dispose of the building. The former school has polychlorintated biphenyls (PCB) and asbestos contamination inside the building which has made finding an economical solution to demolishing and removing the debris difficult.
The selectmen agreed to schedule a special meeting with Pearl and the Abbie Fowler Committee to consider whether the building should be demolished or sold. Selectperson Melissa Randall indicated that if the building was sold it still wouldn’t absolve them from their obligations.
“I want to tear it down,” she said. “We just got rid of the contaminated soil. If it is used as a warehouse, we risk the possibility of spreading more contamination and the likelihood of a more expensive cleanup in the future.”
Randall indicated that maintaining the building had been an expensive endeavor in the past as well as in the present. Randall said that the town had spent over $16,000 in maintaining the building in 2012 and believes if it isn’t demolished then it will likely cost the town more money in the future.
No date has been set for the meeting. The board will hear from the interested parties before the March 28 town meeting. The selectmen will then decide on whether to place an article in the March 30 town meeting warrant to see if the residents want to sell the building.
In other action, the board voted 2-1 to pay $200 for a town hall energy audit. The selectmen hired Rod Willey to use a thermal imaging camera to identify heat loss areas on Feb. 13. Willey will perform the audit, but he won’t submit a written report.
Selectman Irving McNaughton believed the town didn’t need to hire an auditor to identify problems within the building.
“We don’t need to spend $200 for him to tell us what we already know,” McNaughton said. “To have him walk downstairs and tell us we need to install storm windows is not a good use of money. We should use that money to fix what we already know is wrong.”
McNaughton also disagreed with another decision. The board voted 2-1 to amend the purchase order policy to except payments of $100 or less and all work done by A.E Robinsons on vehicle maintenance from first being approved by the town manager. The previous policy was in enacted 2006. It required all purchases above $50 to be approved by the town manager.
It also required the purchase order book to be kept in the town office. The amended policy allows the Public Works Director Peter Drummond and Fire Chief Chuck Beane to keep the books in the department buildings.
“I’m 99 percent against it. I think we should increase the limit to $100, but it’s not the right to allow them to have the purchase order books. They should be kept in the town office,” McNaughton said.