Historical society pledges museum property to help fund town hall renovation

SANGERVILLE — The Sangerville Historical Society is pledging to sell its museum property at 9 Douty Hill Road for town hall renovations. 

This financial commitment comes as the town pursues a second round of a state grant program offering up to $500,000 to help renovate the Sangerville Town Hall.

The town hall, built in 1901 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been vacant for several years due to safety hazards. The town office has moved across the street into rented space and fundraising efforts are underway to restore the building. 

“We are a humble little society. We don’t have an awful lot of power,” Sangerville Historical Society Vice President Dyan McCarthy-Clark said during an Aug. 5 Select Board meeting. “We have a very small and almost hidden museum. In recent years the topic of renovating the town hall seems to have been on the town’s mind quite a lot.”

Historical society members discussed the nonprofit organization’s role in the effort and how it can help.

“Being a historical society, we want to be sure the heritage of the town is preserved,” McCarthy-Clark said.

Earlier this year Sangerville had its application for a $250,000 Maine Historic Community Building Grant for the town hall turned down. A round two application can be sent by mid-October and the community could receive even more funding in the next round.

“That’s where the historical society found its oats,” McCarthy-Clark said.

“We’ve decided we would like to put the full weight of the society behind the effort to continue the restoration process,” she said. “To do so, what we have offered to the town is to carry the 501(3)c status as the cornerstone of applying for a new round of grants which offer up to $500,000 with a 25% matching grant — not from the town, not from the taxpayers, but from privately contributed funds.”

The hope is the historical society would be able to have a new home for its collection and operations in the renovated town hall, which in turn would lead to greater visibility in the building space that formerly housed the library.

Three real estate agents have assessed the museum property at approximately $100,000. 

“The society is pledging, based on getting that historic community building grant, the value of what we would get from selling our museum property to the matching funds,” McCarthy-Clark said. Pledges and other fundraisers would help get $125,000 to meet the match requirement.

A ZOOM meeting on the grant took place on Monday. A meeting between the historical society and town hall committee was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the fire station to discuss the application.

“If we don’t get the grant we will continue to work for other grants and that money that people have pledged will still be used for the purpose that is being raised,” Town Manager Brian Mullis said.

This includes $400,000 raised at the 2024 annual town meeting, which is now in a capital reserve account. About $42,000 has been used for roof costs to put the account at nearly $360,000.

This amount plus a $500,000 grant and $125,000 from the historical society would equal close to $1 million. Mullis is working on other grant opportunities to reach seven figures by next spring.

Renovation costs would depend on what work is done, Select Chair Jeff Peters said. The foundation should be secured first in order to have occupancy in the town hall again, but upper floor work could be put off if this section of the building is closed.

The foundation work was estimated around $440,000, but the amount has likely risen in recent years, Peters said.

Another $10,000 to $20,000 is needed to fix wiring and light safety issues to pass insurance inspections, Mullis said.

The select chair acknowledged that progress has not been rapid.

“We are trying to pull every bit of outside money we can before we pull the trigger and commit,” Peters said. “The reason we opted to do the roof was damage was being done to the hardwood floors, to the building with water running through to the insulation and the first floor ceiling and we didn’t want to make another $150,000 stumbling block in our project.”

Roof damage was worse than anticipated. An $18,000 quote more than doubled in order to fix things completely.

The town is paying $1,700 a month in rent at its 93 Main St. municipal office space, Peters said. A new building would cost at least $400,000, he said.

“That would instantly save $1,700 per month in rent we are paying for our current space,” Mullis said in a post on the town Facebook page. “That would be offset by utilities and insurance but would still be a savings for what will be a much more useful space.”

At next March’s annual town meeting, officials plan to let residents know what has been done and present upcoming plans for a vote.

The item will appear on future agendas for further discussion.

In other business, the board tabled a decision on repairing a 1993 fire department tanker truck until getting at least one more quote in addition to one already in hand for $10,000. Mullis will report back at the Aug. 19 meeting.

The vehicle, with 400,000 miles and a standard transmission, has problems such as oil leaks, brake issues and frame rot, and is off the road due to a failed inspection. Fire Chief Orman Gray is pursuing repair options instead of purchasing a brand new truck, which could cost $580,000 with $70,000 annual payments for more than a decade. 

TB Equipment & Rentals of Bangor provided a $10,000 estimate to make the truck usable and safe to go up and down the road, Peters said. 

The work would ideally allow the tanker truck to last for several more years while the town develops a plan to replace the vehicle with a used or new model.

“We feel like it would be irresponsible to sign on to a brand new truck without a path forward to pay for it,” Peters said.

“Right now in 2026, I don’t see it as a viable option,” he said.

A purchase, new or used, would impact taxes, Mullis said. Money put into a reserve account year by year would reduce the cost.