Select board looking at naming cemetery to recognize Dow family

DOVER-FOXCROFT — What’s in a name? In Dover-Foxcroft the question is what is the name of a cemetery in the eastern part of town on land donated by the Dow Family.

No decision was made following a public hearing on Monday evening in which a change from the East Dover Cemetery to something such as Dow Cemetery or Dow Cemetery of East Dover was discussed. A decision is set to be on the agenda for the next select meeting on Monday, March 9.

Over the summer Judy Dow approached the town about the possibility of renaming the cemetery on the East Dover Road to recognize the family for its gift of land made in the 19th century.

“Truthfully it’s in question, there’s no concrete evidence one way or another,” Town Manager Alsina Brenenstuhl said about the formal name of the cemetery. She checked records going back to the 1980s and could not find a clear answer.

“I’m not surprised there’s not an official straightforward record of that,” Select Chair Steve Grammont said, as at the time of the land donation Dover and Foxcroft were separate communities. Records at the Piscataquis County Registry of Deeds did not provide clarification either.

Selectperson Jane Conroy inquired about the responsibility for cemetery signage indicating the name and this would be the town’s.

“We all want to be clear and this is the name,” Selectperson Emery Cox said, as no board members had an opposition to recognizing the Dow family.

In other business, the select board awarded demolition work for structures at 56 Dwelley Ave. and 130 Grove St. to RR Construction, with the contractor located on the Bear Hill Road to do both jobs for $32,000. This is the lowest total for both projects with six companies submitting bids.

The idea of having a list of steps needed for dealing with dangerous buildings was mentioned to help inform the public about the process.

“The reason this process is not quick and easy is because it shouldn’t be quick and easy,” Grammont said. 

The town should not be able to simply take properties, especially if these are not yet tax-acquired.

“Technically we need to build a case before we go to court,” Brenenstuhl said. Benchmarks need to be met starting from the beginning of the process.

Lucas Butler, Gail D’Agostino and Marc Poulin were each appointed to the 2026-27 budget advisory committee.

The committee will be meeting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 7 at the town office.

“This year’s format is a bit different, instead of having four 2-hour meetings we are having a one-day session,” Brenenstuhl said. 

The public is welcome to attend and an agenda for the meeting will be posted 

In previous years the budget advisory committee had four meetings across multiple weeks in March. Brenenstuhl had previously said some time was unnecessarily spent on roll call, voting on meeting minutes and recapping discussions from prior weeks and some committee members needed to arrive a bit later after getting out of work.

If need be an additional budget advisory committee meeting could be held, and the group would still have a separate session with the full select board.

After the work of the budget advisory committee, the select board votes on the budget and it is brought to the annual town meeting in late April. The total approved that Saturday is then moved to a referendum vote on the second Tuesday of June.

“March 23 is the anticipated scheduled closure date,” Brenenstuhl said about traffic on the Essex Street bridge, after the Maine Department of Transportation had previously announced a February date for closure to replace the Piscataquis River overspan with detours to then be in place.

“Projected completion as of this time is now 2028,” she said.