County donates $20,000 to Piscataquis Area Community Center

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A week after the opening of the Piscataquis Area Community Center at 48 Park St. in Dover-Foxcroft, the Piscataquis County Commissioners agreed to make a $20,000 contribution to the organization that is working to fill the void left by closure of the Piscataquis Regional YMCA last fall.

“Last Monday, we officially opened back up to the public,” the center’s Executive Director Manda Stewart told the commissioners during a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18. 

The facility is currently operating at a smaller capacity than what had been in place prior to the PRYMCA closure, she said. The fitness center is completely open and the studio for wellness classes is also open.

“This week we have been working on getting the locker rooms ready,” Stewart said. She said the hope is to have the pool ready in the near future.

Counties and municipalities across the region have been asked for financial support of the community center. Stewart said she will speak with the Somerset County Commissioners next month and Penobscot County Commissioners in August, based on the respective fiscal and calendar year budgets.

“The goal with this is obviously to secure funding for the facility,” she said. With building and operation costs secured, the community center plans to offer discounted or free memberships to area students and structured adult membership rates.

When asked, Stewart said the organization has already received a great deal of support from local businesses.

The inaugural Waves of Giving event is planned for the evening of Friday, March 28, at the Central Hall Commons with a dinner, auction and music by the Mallett Brothers Band.

In April, a banner sponsorship program for businesses will kick off, Stewart said.

Finances left over from the PRYMCA and Old Town Orono YMCA are still being settled, she said. Once this has been done, the building will be donated back to the community center with the mortgage paid off and the organization will receive about $200,000.

“We have lost a lot in this county and I really think we need to get the Y back up and running before we lose any more,” Commissioner Paul Davis said.

At the beginning of last October, the Old Town Orono YMCA Board of Directors announced that operations at the PRYMCA would be closing by Nov. 1 due to financial reasons. The PRYMCA has been in operation since 1988.

In July 2022, the board of directors of the Dover-Foxcroft-based organization and the Old Town Orono YMCA formally voted to integrate as one organization. For almost two years prior, the Old Town Orono YMCA had been providing leadership to the PRYMCA through a temporary management agreement. In the two-plus years that followed, the PRYMCA operated as a branch of the Old Town Orono YMCA.

Stewart had served as the PRYMCA branch manager.

The $20,000 contribution from the county was made after a previous motion for $25,000 was withdrawn.

The change came following Head of Maintenance Joshua York mentioning a problem with the aging generator that powers the three buildings including the Peaks House and home of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The jail has a separate system.

The generator is unreliable, York said. He said he received a ballpark estimate of $40,000 and $50,000 for a new generator and transfer switch, but this is before researching potential options. 

York said he is unsure if there would be enough money in capital, and County Manager Michael Williams said he would need to review various accounts for generator monies.

In other business, the commissioners scheduled interviews with four candidates to represent the county’s Unorganized Territories on the Land Use Planning Commission Board of Commissioners for the next regular meeting on Tuesday, March 4.

The position is for four years and the interviews will be done in executive session as the commissioners will make an appointment.