Dover-Foxcroft Select Board approves condemnation order for submerged river lot

DOVER-FOXCROFT — With removal of the Mayo Mill Dam on the Piscataquis River in downtown Dover-Foxcroft anticipated to start in the spring of 2028, landowner access agreements will need to be in place.

The work includes determining who owns bits of land that have been submerged by the river for nearly two centuries. Town Manager Alsina Breenstuhl is working with town attorney Jon Pottle, partner at Katahdin Law, to initiate eminent domain authority for the needed parcels.

A condemnation order describes what property the municipality is taking. The Select Board approved one on Monday. The lot is in Spaulding Dove. The owners of records are Allen P. Clark and Harry W. Thayer; their heirs could be possible current owners.

With Clark and Thayer long deceased, the town needs to make a reasonable effort to locate any heirs, which so far has resulted in dead ends. An ad for the condemnation order is scheduled to run in the Bangor Daily News.

“Oddly enough, we want people to come forward,” Select Chair Steve Grammont said, to help settle ownership.

Residents would need to approve taking of property and compensation at a special town meeting. For this parcel the damages are listed as $0.

The board discussed having a special town meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12, before a regular Select Board meeting.

The timeline for removing the Mayo Mill Dam is dependent on an application to surrender the Moosehead Hydroelectric license currently under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The review takes 18-24 months.

Engineer Inter-Fluve has completed about 90% of the project design, with 100% due soon.

In other business, Dover-Foxcroft is projected to have an approximate $932,000 proportional share of the $7 million 2027 Piscataquis County budget, a figure up by more than $161,500, or 21%, from the current figure of $771,000-plus.

The increase is due in part to the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office negotiating contracts with employees, Brenenstuhl said.

Together Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville, the two of 18 communities with the highest valuations, pay more than a quarter of the county budget. 

Dover-Foxcroft recoups some money by providing fire and EMS services to Atkinson Township. The town has not had a contract with the county in several years, instead being paid per call.

Selectperson Cindy Freeman Cyr suggested speaking with area legislators to see if anything can be done to address the ever increasing county budget.

“Every year we feel like we don’t have a choice,” she said.

The Piscataquis County Budget Advisory Committee is at work on finances for both the county and Unorganized Territories to bring forward to the county commissioners. A public hearing is typically held in mid-November and the commissioners approve the two budgets at a December meeting.

Starting next month, the Select Board will move its regular meetings to the second and fourth Thursday of the month – still at 6:30 p.m. — to accommodate Michael Ogden, who has a temporary time conflict on Monday nights. 

The adjustment will run through July, at which point the meeting dates moving forward will be considered.