Sangerville looking for bids on town hall porch renovation

By Bill Pearson
Staff Writer

    SANGERVILLE — The board of selectmen unanimously decided to seek bids on the town hall restoration project in hopes of renovating the porch and repairing two sides of the building in time for next year’s Bicentennial celebration. The selectmen accepted the building renovation committee’s recommendation on May 23 to replace the porch roof and the clapboard siding on the historic building’s entrance and side facing the Dexter Road.

    The clapboard siding was placed on the building in 1901. The committee considered using vinyl siding as a more economical replacement measure. The material lasts longer and is less expensive, but the selectmen agreed with the committee’s majority to continue with the building’s original look.
    The town is seeking bids from contractors to repair the porch roof and replace the original clapboards with ones made out of pine or red cedar.
    “Sticking with the building’s original characteristics is the way we should go,” said Selectman Tom Carone. “Either the red cedar or the pine clapboards would achieve that and it would be in the town’s best interest.”
    The town hall is on both the state and national registers of historic buildings. Town officials have more options concerning maintaining the building’s historic look because it hasn’t received federal monies to refurbish the structure.
    Town officials are also concerned about the overall cost of the renovation project. They may need to repair one of the building’s beams which may increase the project’s cost. Town officials won’t know about the beam’s condition until the project begins.
    The town plans on holding a pre-bid meeting in the near future. While town officials are making plans to renovate the town hall, they are also moving forward in their attempt to demolish the Abbie Fowler building.
    Town officials met with Piscataquis County Economic Council last week about applying for a brownfields grant. Pearson estimated the Abbie Fowler demolition costs would be over $200,000.
    If the town wasn’t successful in receiving a grant, they had the option of deeding the property to a non-profit, in hopes it would qualify for a grant, or dipping into the town’s reserves to pay for the project.
    The PCEDC advised the town to provide additional documentation in their brownfields application. The town will provide an engineering report from CES, Inc. of Brewer, who surveyed the building and grounds last year for hazardous materials.
    The town also needs to submit plans for reusing the space. Sangerville has plans to place a pavilion on the empty slab after the demolition. Pearson described the reuse plans as being “vague.” He added that the application needed more specific proposals on how it would benefit the public.
    Sangerville also needs to provide the Environmental Protection Agency with information about who was responsible for the building’s hazardous material. The town received ownership of the building several years ago after SAD 4 closed the Abbie Fowler school. Pearson indicated, to qualify for the grant, the town needed to show it wasn’t responsible for the contaminants.
    “That is a potential hangup for us,” Pearson said. “We need to prove that the town did not create the hazardous material, as far as I’m concerned that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
    In other action, the selectmen accepted Pam Smith’s resignation from the SAD 4 board of directors. Smith was elected in March to a three-year term. Smith stated in an e-mail that her decision was based on “personal reasons,” according to Pearson.
    The selectmen unanimously appointed Dale Gray to fill out the unexpired term. Gray ran for one of the two school director positions during the March town meeting.
    The selectmen will meet next at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11 in the community room.