Work continues on Greenville’s YES Project

GREENVILLE — For several years the Moosehead Caring for Kids Foundation, town of Greenville, and the school system have been working toward planning and constructing a new facility on the campus of the Greenville Consolidated School on Pritham Avenue in the approximate footprint of the former Nickerson Elementary School.

The foundation has designated the town as the grant subrecipient meaning that the community will build the new facility and the structure will be a municipal building. Together the three entities are the Yes Project, standing for youth, education, and sport, as the building facility will house three collaborative activities — a childcare center, public preschool classrooms, and a community recreation center.

During an Oct. 2 meeting of the Greenville Select Board, Town Manager Mike Roy said the town applied for a $1 million grant for the YES Project from the Northern Border Regional Commission.

“With NBRC you first have to submit a pre-application and they review it and then, if they like what they see, they invite you to apply,” Roy said. “So we made it through the first step, the pre-application, and now we have been invited to apply for the grant itself.”

This application would be due by Oct. 20 and awards are given out early in 2025.

The town needs to have an “authorized official” to sign all paperwork pertaining to the NBRC grant on the community’s behalf, and Select Chair Geno Murray was given this designation.

“This NBRC grant is really going to be a boost and will probably nail it for this to move forward,” Roy said.

He said the 10-member YES Project committee is meeting weekly and is awaiting approval from the fire marshal on the building floor plan.

The group applied for a $250,000 childcare expansion grant through the state. Committee member John Contreni said the committee just learned that this application was successful. “That’s on top of the $1.5 million HUD grant,” he said, about another funding source already in place.

Selectperson Bonnie Dubien asked if the $250,000 is for something specific.

“No, it’s just for the general construction project,” Contreni said.

In other business, Roy said FEMA representatives visited town to look at more roads damaged in last December 18’s storm and found more damage that could be covered by the federal agency. 

“We will probably see more roads brought back to the original pre-storm condition,” he said, mentioning sediment in ditches and culverts as types of storm damage.

“Currently the Shoals Road is in a process of ditching, shoulder work, and road resurfacing,” the town manager said. He said some culverts are full of silt and gravel and in need of replacement.

Higgins Road is next on the list of road work, with grading set for the next week.

Roy previously said he wants to be cautious about getting road work done, as he was unsure of how quickly FEMA reimbursements would come in. The agency would cover 75 percent of the costs through reimbursements with the town responsible for the other 25 percent.

The town manager said he took some time to compare fuel sales at the Greenville Municipal Airport from January to late September in 2023 and 2024. 

In this timeframe in 2023 there were 616 sales, and so far in 2024 there have been 826 sales for a 34 percent increase. The gallon difference from 2023 to 2024 is 25,670 to 46,247, an increase of about 80 percent.

“It is booming up there, a lot of plane activity, and increased usage,” Roy said.

“We are wrapping up the comprehensive plan update, we need a bit more information from me and I hope to get that done next week,” he said, with the deadline being the end of the month.

The selectboard passed a motion of support to the American Legion Cecil R. Cole Post 94’s project to repair the Greenville Veterans Memorial Wall.

Per a post on the Post Facebook page, the names of 940 veterans from the War of 1812 through the Persian Gulf from Greenville and surrounding communities are honored on the memorial wall. The project would fix the name and title plaques and wall frame.

Cash or check contributions (payable to Cecil R. Cole Post 94 Greenville) can be dropped off at the Post at 218 Pritham Avenue or mailed to PO Box 1222 Greenville, Me 04441.