Selectmen approve negotiable demolition on barn

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — In 2013 the Browns Mill Park on Vaughn Street was formally opened to provide four seasons of recreation space for the town, after a great deal of grant-funded efforts went into cleaning up the former tannery site. Near the parking lot is an old trading barn, which is in need of demolition.

    “It is dilapidated and dangerous,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said during a Jan. 12 selectmen’s meeting. “We had a very, very wide range of bids.”
    The five base bids received for the demolition of the structure and removal of materials, such as timbers, varied from a low of $6,500 to $57,500. The low bidder was Eastwood Contractors of Brewer and Clukey said, “They have done work for us before and they are fine to do this.”
    The selectmen approved the bid, under the condition that Clukey could discuss with the contractors what the town may be able to keep from the trading barn. “We will ask them to set some things aside, we would like to have something preservation-minded from this building,” such as a sign and some of the building knees.
    In other business, the selectmen discussed the town, county and state budgets — which are either in development, effect or are proposed. Clukey said the selectmen’s public works/wastewater committee met the week before to go over preliminary figures for the 2015-16 fiscal year budget. “We are trying to get every committee to meet this month to go over budgets, and hopefully be finalized in February,” Clukey said.
    The Piscataquis County budget was approved by the commissioners last month for 2015, and Dover-Foxcroft’s assessment increased by over $18,000 to $424,114. “A lot of it had to do with valuation changes in the county,” Clukey said, as Greenville saw a decline.
    Board member Jane Conroy, who represented the town on the county budget committee along with resident Chris Maas, said several factors resulted in an increase to the spending plan. The 2015 county budget of approximately $4.09 million is 1.67 percent more than that of 2014, and the tax commitment increased by 3.74 percent. Conroy said the reasons for the increase include going with Penobscot County on a telecommunications system, vehicle replacement for the sheriff’s department, a switch in the county manager position and changes to the system of housing federal prisoners.
    “The state budget proposal came out Friday night and it’s been sifted through all weekend,” Clukey said, providing the selectmen with a response to Gov. Paul LePage’s spending plan from the Maine Municipal Association. Under the proposal some significant changes include an elimination of the income tax, a phasing out of municipal revenue sharing over a two-year period and elimination of the Homestead Exemption for homeowners under the age of 65 while doubling this exemption for those over 65.
    Clukey said it is difficult to envision any scenarios in which property taxes for many Maine communities would not rise under the current proposals. “A shift is a perfect way to describe it. Who, where and what is the question.”
    Selectman Steve Grammont said residents’ property taxes could increase by a significant amount, more than would be seen in a reduction or elimination of income taxes.
    “We have a lot of people here paying property taxes that don’t have any income,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr said, saying this would likely lead to an increase in abatement requests. She also said this does not align with the community’s value of wanting residents to stay in their homes.
    Clukey said that Rep. Norm Higgins (R-Dover-Foxcroft) and State Sen. Paul Davis (R-Sangerville), who sits on the taxation committee, will likely stay engaged with the town on the budget proposals and future developments. “I think as we get farther along we will be able to talk about different scenarios with our mil rate,” he said.
    Freeman Cyr said it is important to keep citizens informed of all the developments. Grammont concurred, saying residents should be made aware of what may happen to their tax bills.
    “We have basically put together our cable TV ordinance that we put together last fall, and we sent out a request for proposal to Time Warner Cable,” Clukey said in his town manager’s report. “That’s where we are going to start discussions with them.”
    The Dover-Foxcroft cable franchise agreement expires in 2015 and town officials will be negotiating a new partnership with Time Warner. Clukey said the company’s proposal is due at the end of the month.
    “We are through what is called Phase II of the CDBG program for the grant to GlobEco,” Clukey said. He said this company has secured a location in the Save-a-Lot building on outer West Main Street to produce a wood fiber cloth product.
    Clukey said at one point GlobEco was considering a location in the Pine Crest Business Park, which was the home of Creative Apparel. He said another reuse of this property is still being pursued.