D-F Select Board OKs funding for dam hydro study

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Following last June’s vote to reject a referendum article concerning removal of the downtown Mayo Mill Dam on the Piscataquis River — indicating citizens were in favor of using tax money to fund studies, permitting, and repair costs for the structure — the Mayo Mill Dam Review Committee was formed to help determine the future of the site. By June 30, 2025 the town needs to make not only a decision on pursuing hydropower and a plan to carry this out, but also a plan for repairing the dam, making the structure safe, compliant with fish regulations, and more.

The Mayo Mill Dam Review Committee would still need to formally approve an engineering study proposal from Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield, likely doing so at its Oct. 2 meeting, but the Dover-Foxcroft Select Board authorized funding for the work during a meeting on Monday, Sept. 23. Kleinschmidt Associates bid $19,200 for the dam study.

Select Chairperson Tom Lizotte said the study would look at previous studies and recalculate any potential for generating funds through hydropower and look at dam repairs. “Basically to justify the costs we got from previous dam studies,” he said.

Kleinschmidt Associates would carry out its work over six weeks, 

“This is really us looking to cross all the t’s and dot all of the i’s before we make a decision on hydro,” committee chairperson and select board member Steve Grammont said. “Once we make a decision, that’s it.”

He said there were questions from previous dam studies and the committee wanted a focused second opinion in order to make a fully informed decision on hydropower.

“The dam committee needs to look at and make a recommendation, but the select board needs to say the cost is within the range we were expecting,” Lizotte said.

“I want to be clear, our purpose here is to only authorize that money,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr said before the vote was passed.

While the financial implications are difficult to fully pin down at the present time because of variables such as the cost of repairs and length of repayment, the town could be faced with an $8-$10 million project.

The Mayo Mill Dam, acquired by Dover-Foxcroft in 2007, needs to be in compliance with all Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements. While Dover-Foxcroft will not be spending the money in the immediate future, information needs to be gathered to determine costs and how needed repairs would be funded such as through a bond.

FERC has jurisdiction over the dam because there are hydropower capabilities, but it has been non-operational for over a decade. It is a long process to have FERC relinquish oversight and this depends on whether there are hydropower capabilities or not and a plan is due to FERC by June 30 of next year.

The chances of restoring hydropower at the dam are remote due to a lack of economically viable options; the town has consulted with multiple engineers, turbine suppliers, and a private developer for years to try to identify a hydropower retrofit. When the Arnold Development Group of Kansas City, Missouri converted the former mill building into apartments and office space the consultants looked at restoring hydropower and had an application submitted to FERC about a half decade ago but did not pursue it further.

Freeman Cyr said the select board’s administrative committee would meet in the near future to fill a vacancy on the 9-member Mayo Mill Dam Review Committee as member Jake Arno withdrew. Arno was one of six members representing the public on the group.

In other business, the board approved a $35,000 bid from DM&J Waste of Winterport for the demolition and removal of the structure at 11 Grange Street. Just one bid was received, and in the bid owner Josh Wellman said the work would be done from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.

Lizotte said the town has been dealing with 11 Grange Street for about two years. 

“That’s a pretty expensive cost but it’s a very big building,” he said, mentioning the deteriorating structure is an eyesore in the neighborhood. It was a 19th century boarding house, with Foxcroft Academy students from other towns staying there.

“The idea is to get it back to where you can build something new there,” Lizotte said. He said DM&J Waste would fill in the foundation and grade the property.

In July 2023 the select board approved a dangerous building order for 11 Grange Street after determining it is in disrepair and cannot be rehabilitated due to a variety of issues. The bank-owned property is for sale, and a portion of transaction proceeds would help cover structure removal.

Town officials also heard from RSU 68 Superintendent Stacy Shorey and Foxcroft Academy Head of School Arnold Shorey on the start of the academic year at the respective pre-K to grade 8 SeDoMoCha School and grade 9-12 institution.

Stacy Shorey said SeDoMoCha has an enrollment of 662 students, an increase of 21 from last year, with 349 on the elementary side of the building and 313 in the middle school. 

She said 438 of the pupils reside in Dover-Foxcroft, just about two-thirds. The other three town by town breakdown is 85 Charleston students, 57 living in Sebec, and 34 from Monson. SeDoMoCha also has 36 superintendent’s agreement students and eight from Medford and area Unorganized Territories. Shorey said there are 97 homeschool students in the district communities who are SeDoMoCha-aged.

Phones are not permitted during the school day, Shorey said. “No cellphones until you’re dismissed from the building,” she said.

The superintendent said this year eighth-graders will not have a library class period, but instead are learning Spanish. A decade-plus has passed since foreign language was last offered, and school officials are looking to continue this next year.

Arnold Shorey said Foxcroft Academy has an enrollment of 411, down by eight from a year ago, with 337 day students and 74 boarding students.

Cellphones are not permitted during most of the day “but we do mimic life so at lunch they are allowed to use their phones,” Shorey said. He mentioned that students know other schools do not permit phones at all, so they understand the privilege can be revoked.

Foxcroft Academy officials are excited about an opportunity to rehabilitate the Penquis Higher Education Center on Mayo Street to expand vocational and technical training programs. 

“The trustees have always wanted to expand the CTE offering,” Shorey said, mentioning the medical field and truck driving as examples.

In July U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she advanced $9,126,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending for childcare and young adult education programs throughout Maine in the Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations bill.  The bill, which was officially approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 25, now awaits consideration by the full Senate and House.

Among the recipients is the town of Dover-Foxcroft which would receive $1.5 million for a rehabilitation project at the Penquis Higher Education on Mayo Street.

The project proposes a partnership between Foxcroft Academy and Eastern Maine Community College to offer vocational and technical training for grades 9-14 (both high school and college level programs). The 25 percent matching requirement to receive $1.5 million in federal funds would be provided by Foxcroft Academy.

The building served as an elementary school during the 20th century and the site underwent a $1.5 million rehabilitation to become the Penquis Higher Education Center around the year 2000. The town turned it over to EMCC to run, with the building also housing the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative and Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (these organizations would remain in the building).

EMCC no longer wants to own the Penquis Higher Education Center, preferring to be a tenant instead. Foxcroft Academy would ultimately own the facility, but the town would own the building during the funding process.

Shorey said letters have been sent to both SAD 4 of Guilford and the Milo-based SAD 41 to see if the school entities can work together. “It’s all about creating opportunities for the students in this county,” he said.

“We have many assets to be proud of, and the school system is one of them,” Lizotte said, mentioning he has three grandchildren at SeDoMoCha.