New sheriff’s office project to go voters in the fall

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

  DOVER-FOXCROFT — On Tuesday, Nov. 3, residents of Piscataquis County will vote on a referendum question concerning the approval of a financing package to fund a new home for the sheriff’s department. The estimated price tag being used at the present time is $610,000 and during a July 21 meeting of the county commissioners bank bids on interest rates for project financing were due.

Interim County Manager Thomas Lizotte said Bangor Savings, Camden National and Keybank all bid on the sheriff’s office. “No bank will certify the interest rate will hold until when we go out to financing after the results of the referendum,” Lizotte said. He said the Maine Secretary of State’s Office needs an estimate on the cost and interest rate to place on the ballot and a figure of 3 percent on the interest rate is a likely number to be used.

“Statute is very clear we have to give the voters numbers on what we are borrowing and the interest rate,” county bond counsel David Gray said. He said if the interest rate ends up being more than 3 percent after Nov. 3 “that doesn’t invalidate the referendum.” Gray said with interest rates currently at historic lows “in all likelihood it will go up in the fall.”

“All the bids came in around 3 percent anyway and with the provision they can’t guarantee anything,” Lizotte said. He said the quotes sought are for 10-year loans, which make for larger annual payments than over two decades but the overall finance charges would be much less. At a meeting last month Lizotte mentioned a 20-year loan could cost nearly $130,000 more.

“That’s a bridge we don’t have to cross until we get approval from the voters in November, then we will look at the financing,” Lizotte said.

The commissioners opted to not open the three bids at the present time, use a 3 percent figure on the ballot and revisit the bid process after Nov. 3. “That way you maintain a level playing field for these three banks,” Lizotte said.

In other business, the commissioners continued their ongoing discussions on restoring the flagpole on the roof of the courthouse. Commissioners Chair Fred Trask asked if his colleagues had heard more feedback on this idea. Commissioner Jim Annis said he had and the comments received were “all positive.”

Lizotte said the campus does have two other flagpoles but the pole on the roof goes through the top of the building and sits on an attic beam where the connection has become loose. He said he received a bid for $2,000-plus to restore and paint the pole, which is about a century old.

A question to be answered is whether the flag would be on the pole around the clock or taken down at the end of the day. “(Head of Maintenance Dave Ronco) and I both think it makes sense to have the ability to take it up and down on a regular basis,” Lizotte said. He said a second floor portico would provide the access needed to raise and lower the flag, otherwise a bucket loader would be needed to reach the pole roof.

Commissioner James White said a quote for lighting should still be sought, to illuminate the flag if it remains on display overnight. The commissioners then made a motion to proceed with the flagpole project, and look into lighting costs.

During the July 7 commissioners’ meeting in Greenville, Greenville Town Manager John Simko made a presentation on the county using his community’s solid waste transfer station for residents of the unorganized territories (UTs) of Big Moose Township, Harford’s Point and Moosehead Jct. Currently residents of these UTs — those who do not pay to have their trash and recyclables hauled away — travel through Greenville to the county’s facility in Lily Bay on the opposite side of the lake.

“It’s a question that goes beyond how we take solid waste disposal from these three UTs on the west side of Moosehead Lake,” Lizotte said, but how much does the county collaborate with Greenville.

He said under the proposal the cost for using the Greenville facility would be $37,000 annually. “It is a very attractive offer because we are budgeting $82,000 for UTs but we are not actually spending $82,000,” Lizotte said. “We are over budgeting for solid waste disposal in the Moosehead Lake Region by quite a bit.”

“I think it sends a signal we are willing to collaborate with Greenville and move forward on a partnership basis,” Lizotte said.

Trask said he favored the idea, but wanted to review the figures some before before making a formal decision. The commissioners are scheduled to vote on the plan at the Aug. 4 meeting.

Residents of the UTs in eastern Piscataquis County use the transfer station in Orneville Township, and Lizotte said work has been done to match policies there with those for Lily Bay in terms of what is accepted and prices on some dropped-off items. “You are not making new policy, all you are doing is spelling out policy,” Lizotte said.

“I would say as of Aug. 8 this is in effect,” he said, with the commissioners then passing a motion. In the weeks between policy information will given out to those using the Orneville transfer station and the details will be posted at www.piscataquis.us.

Lizotte also said since the county budget advisory committee last convened the three commissioners’ districts have been redrawn by the state. “It is the first time in a while we have had a major geographic redistricting of our commissioners’ districts,” he said.

As a result the previous committee does not match up to the new boundaries, and some reconfiguring will be needed. Each district has three representatives, with one being a municipal official, and the committee also needs to have a resident of the UTs serving.

“I think rather than making wholesale changes you just need to move some people around,” Lizotte said.

“We would like to do that at the beginning of September if we can, so you have a good five or six weeks to do this,” he said about getting budget committee members in place to be appointed. These formal decisions could be made at the Sept. 1 meeting, before the timeline to have the committee appointed more than 90 days before the end of the year.