Sangerville looks to reapply for $250,000 town hall grant

SANGERVILLE — Having had its application for a $250,000 Maine Historic Community Building Grant for the town hall turned down, Sangerville officials are looking to reapply in a second round of funding later in the year.

Maine Historical Building Preservation Commission Historic Community Building Grants Administrator Erika Webb sent the town a letter about its application, Interim Town Manager Michelle Nichols said during a March 18 select board meeting at the fire station. The letter said what the community can do to improve its application for the next round of funding, including commissioning a historic preservation specialist and not having the $255,443 requested grant amount exceed the $250,000 threshold.

Select Chair Jeff Peters wondered about having a professional grant writer look at the documents.

“I don’t think it would hurt for some of these grants,” Nichols said, saying another $50,000 is being sought from T-Mobile for the town hall but she is unsure where to find a grant writer.

“I’d like to figure out what it takes to improve our odds for the next round of this $250,000 and for the $50,000 one,” Peters said.

“Basically where we’re at is we just got postponed a year the way I see it now.” Town Hall Renovation Committee Co-Chair Dennis Campbell said.

Town officials hired a firm with historic preservation experience, Wentworth Partnerships & Associates of Skowhegan, and thought this would meet grant requirements.

 “I’m grateful that we have this opportunity and it’s still there,” Peters said.

The possibility of the building committee and Wentworth Partnerships & Associates President and Senior Project Engineer Steve Govoni meeting with Webb was mentioned.

In other business, after just one bid for road grading came in earlier in the month a decision was made to have $10,000 worth of work done by last year’s contractor.

Harris Kubricky of Old Town submitted a bid of $24,600, beyond the $16,000 budgeted for road grading in 2026.

Discussions were had with the road committee on what to do in maintaining the approximate 16 miles of town dirt roads.

“As a select board, anything over $10,000 has to go out to bid,” Peters said about the town’s competitive bid process. 

“I think it leaves us with the only decision to make is hire we had last year to do $10,000 worth of work,” he said.

Some of the travelways are going to be paved, so these would be graded prior to asphalt going down.

“We can’t come down to that price,” Harris Kubricky CEO Steve Harris said. “That’s untouchable for us, especially with big road graders.” 

Sangerville should take advantage of $10,000, he said, “That’s a good price, you have my blessing.”

The annual town meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Grace Bible Church, 40 Douty Hill Road. The warrant has been posted on the town Facebook page. A luncheon is planned following the meeting.

Kelli Lunetta, one of Sangerville’s four representatives on the SAD 4 Board of Directors, has told the town office she will not run again due to some health issues. Two seats for 3-year terms are on the town meeting warrant. Heidi Hall’s current term also ends this year.