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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 147, No. 6
24 PAGES - 2 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
February 11, 2016
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Hearing set on CDBG funds
Life saver
Officer thwarts suicide
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen on Tuesday recognized sixyear Bridgton Officer Todd Smolinsky for his quick action in saving a person from committing suicide last fall. Smolinsky was one of seven officers and two civilians statewide who received a Lifesaving Award at the Maine Chiefs of Police Association’s recent annual winter meeting. Selectman Chairman Bernie King presented Smolinsky with a framed letter from the board detailing the circumstances of the police call on Sept. 1, 2015. No name or address was used. King said selectmen wanted to add their voices to the Maine Chiefs in saying that “Your work that night saved this person’s life in their time of crisis, and for that you and
(USPS 065-020)
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HE DIDN’T HESITATE — Bridgton Police Officer Todd Smolinsky was formally recognized Tuesday by Selectman Chairman Bernie King for saving a person from committing suicide last fall. Smolinsky’s life-saving actions were honored by the Maine Chiefs of Police Association at their recent annual winter meeting. (Geraghty Photo)
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 23, on how the town should spend this year’s estimated $145,000 in Community Development Block Grant Funds. The figure represents the net amount available for both public facilities and social programs, once salary costs are subtracted for Anne Krieg, Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development. A final decision on how the money will be used rests with the board, but recommendations were accepted at Tuesday’s meeting from the Community Development
Committee, who worked with Krieg in reviewing applications submitted by various organizations and businesses. Under the recommendations, the $25,000 for programs and services would be spent as follows: Services/Programs • $3,700 for food distribution from the Good Shepherd Food-Bank to both the Bridgton Food Pantry and the St. Joseph Food Pantry. The proposal would enable the St. Joseph Food Pantry to also have the distribution service that the Bridgton Food Pantry currently enjoys. Krieg said the two pantries are working collaboratively now, which is a FUNDS, Page 11A
at a pond or lake that is in close proximity to an allweather road. Dry hydrants provide firefighters with a way to replenish their water supplies,” according to the website of the Miller Grove Volunteer Fire Department. “A fire crew can refill its tanker truck from a dry hydrant which is located near the fire area,” the site said. Casco Assistant Chief Holly Hancock said, “We are dependent on our dry hydrants for our rural water HYDRANTS, Page 10A
Dry hydrants on-line in Casco
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — Wooing might seem a little old-fashioned in a world of text messaging and video chatting. However, the word of advice from a cell tower expert indicates that it would work in Casco’s favor to woo these companies. Something as simple as writing official letters and e-mails to the cell service providers could tip the odds in the town’s favor. Dave Libby, a cell tower builder from Falmouth,
provided a question-andanswer session at the Casco Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday. The ultimate goal, which has been pursued for at least two years, is to install a tower that would provide cell phone service to Casco Village. The Village is notorious for having virtually no cell phone service. Currently, there are three cell towers within the boundaries of Casco. Two are located about 200 feet apart on Hacker’s Hill and a third is at Red Mill Lumber off Route 302.
Essentially, there are two locations for three towers in a town that is 24-square miles. “The other coverage comes from other towns,” Casco Town Manager Dave Morton said. The biggest obstacle — other than the mountainous terrain — is the small customer base, Libby said. “It’s all about profitability,” he said. Libby suggested three ways that the Town of Casco can gain the interest of cell service providers. One method is to have in
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — It might seem like in an area referred to as the Lake Region, local fire departments would have no problem finding water. But, having water that is accessible is what counts when firefighters are trying to protect someone’s home or business from a fastmoving fire. One widely used method for firefighting is the dry hydrant. “A dry hydrant is a nonplace zoning that is favorable for cell towers, he said. pressurized pipe installed “It is a small industry. Although these are big firms, those guys know which towns are friendly. The tower companies will go online and see if the town is user-friendly,” Libby said. Therefore, he advised that the town’s code enforcement officer review zoning ordinances to make sure that the language provides an open door for cell service providers. Secondly, Libby recomCELL, Page 10A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — This is the infrastructure conundrum that faces most towns and cities in Maine. A road in disrepair can benefit from a fresh layer of pavement put on it. But, that solution only lasts a few years – particularly if rebuilding the road is what is really required. Sometimes, it costs more to delay needed road repairs because of the extra expenses shelled out in maintenance. Another problem is that numerous roads are in need of improvements at the same time. So, while funding is focused on one road, another road reaches the point of not holding out much longer for repairs. According to Casco Town Manager Dave Morton, it is
an on-going process of using what money has been budgeted to do the worst, most travelled roads — sometimes one section at a time. The Casco Board of Selectmen is already on task to do sections of Johnson Hill Road and Edwards Road. Engineering plans offer cost estimates for Phase I and Phase II of both roads. The cost for each phase is estimated around $500,000. The board recently reviewed the cost estimates for the two proposed road repairs. The selectmen asked the questions that require answering in order to move forward at a faster pace with its road improvement plan. Should more funding be allocated to complete a few more road repair projects this year? Are residents willing to take out a bond to complete several
road projects at once? At this point in time, no money has been put toward engineering sketches for other roads, only Edwards Road and Johnson Hill Road. However, as the time approaches to prepare the municipal budget, the road repair discussion may rev up, Morton said. “I would suggest that we do a thorough and good job and not stretch funding. Most of our town roads were never built to standard,” Morton said. Ultimately, the decision is based on how much funding is approved during Town Meeting in June. The Casco Finance Committee may receive a request from the board to try to budget more toward road-repair projects, but that is on the horizon. For the two roads on the
to-do list — Johnson Hill Road and Edwards Road — it will cost almost a million dollars to do one section of both roads, or to complete one road during the road construction season. It is absolutely unadvisable to add $1,000,000 to the roadrepair budget, Morton said. For that sum of money, it is preferable to take out a bond, he said. Prior to the discussion, resident Tom Mulkern weighed in on town-wide road improvements. The timing is good because the cost of borrowing money is down, he said. Plus, the price of oil is down so paving products are less expensive, he said. “We should really challenge the budget committee to get more roads done,” Mulkern said.
your family should be very proud of your steadfast dedication to public safety and the community of Bridgton.” The letter stated that Smolinsky was alone on his shift, with no backup, when he was dispatched to respond to a residence
for someone threatening suicide. “These calls are known to be one of the most hazardous in police work, as someone who contemplates suicide is often willing to harm responding officers,” the letter stated. The letter continued, “You quickly arrived on
scene to find a secured home with no one responding. While walking around the exterior of the home, you discovered an individual hanging by the neck. You quickly lifted the person and cut the rope free, loosened the rope around SAVES, Page 5A
Casco to woo cell companies
Roads: Budget little, bond a lot?
$2.5 million bond proposed By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — Casco Town Manager Dave Morton admitted that he stepped outside of his comfort zone by adding a $2.5 million bond to the proposed municipal budget. The $2.5 million bond, which was referred to as a
public works bond, would fund major road improvements as well as Casco’s half of the costs for the Pleasant Lake-Parker Pond Dam restoration, according to Morton. If the bond remains in the budget and is approved at the Town Meeting, the bond would be paid off in a
10-year period. The Town of Casco would take out the loan through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, he said. The proposed bond would increase the town’s budget by 7%, Morton said. On Tuesday, he handed hefty budget binders to the Casco Board of Selectmen.
At the time — particularly since the selectmen had just received the information, there was little discussion. However, during the late January meeting two weeks ago, the selectman spent more than half an hour talking about the best approach to overhaulBOND, Page 11A
100 DAYS, 100 ITEMS — Students at Sebago Elementary School celebrated the 100th day of school on Tuesday, Feb. 9. As a tradition at Sebago Elementary School, each student was invited to create or gather a collection of 100 items from home. Mrs. Harmon shared 100 giraffes, which were all gifts from present and former students. Other collections included 100 pictures of a student, 100 Shopkins, 100 pennies, 100 Pokeman cards, 100 stickers and 100 Legos. SES aimed to collect 100 food items for the Sebago Food Pantry. Helena Sheldrick (pictured) brought in 100 packages of soup for her collection then donated it to the food pantry. SES ended up donating 418 food (Photo by Kathy Harmon) items!
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