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Comprehensive Plan Committee members have sit down with Bridgton planners
Inside News Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 6A
With winter finally breaking its grip on the area, H.S. spring sports set to begin
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Classifieds . . . . . . 8B-9B Country Living . . 6A-11A Directory . . . . . . . . . 10B
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 145, No. 17
24 PAGES - 2 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
April 24, 2014
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 9B
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Goodine heads to Bucksport
LEAVING NAPLES — Naples Town Manager Derik Goodine takes the podium as one of the speakers during the grand opening of the Bay of Naples Bridge in 2012. This month, Goodine accepted the position of Bucksport Town Manager, and will begin that job in late June. (Photo courtesy of Derik Goodine)
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — When Derik Goodine first stepped into the position of Naples Town Manager, it wasn’t safe to be barefoot at the Town Beach. “When I got here, there was a sign that said, ‘Beware of broken glass.’ I asked what that meant. I was told that the town had torn down a wall, and the fill behind it was glass,” he said. The uloosened shards and chunks of glass were evident, sparkling dangerously in the sand beneath the water, he said. “That following spring, I went out with the maintenance guy to screen out all the glass,” he said. Improvements to that public space, including the acquisition of Kent’s Landing that increased the size of the Town Beach, are among the accomplishments that make Goodine proud. So is the construction of the restroom facility with changing rooms, as well as a public boat ramp that accommodates small fishing boats and bigger vessels, too. Goodine has been recounting his accomplishments lately.
That’s because last month, he applied for the position of Bucksport Town Manager. A unanimous vote of that town council landed him the job. Goodine formally turned in his resignation as Naples town manager, with an ending date of June 15. Curiosity was one reason Goodine applied for the job opening in March, he said. Around the state, a few town manager positions had become vacant. “I was curious what my marketability was. I’ve been with Naples for 10 years,” he said. So, he interviewed in Bucksport and Wiscasset. In Bucksport, the former town manager held that title for 20 years. However, when that position opened up two years ago, “I didn’t give it two thoughts. We were in the middle of building a bridge and the Causeway,” Goodine said. Before he read the advertisement for the opening this year, Goodine’s mother mentioned it to him. Bucksport is open again, she had told him. “Bucksport is 20 minutes from Brewer, where I grew up, and close
to Bangor, where my wife grew up,” Goodine said. While having roots and family in the surrounding area is a big plus when considering a new job, what is going on in Bucksport is what really piqued Goodine’s interest. “I wanted to move to a more fullservice town. I can monopolize the decision-making, but it gets tasking when every complaint hits your desk,” he said. “They have a full public works department; they have a full police station; they have a complete parks and recreation department,” he said. “In Naples, every pothole problem ends up on my desk. In Bucksport, public works would take care of it,” he said. Bucksport Mayor David G. Keene, who is a town councilor serving in that ceremonial role, talked with Goodine. Keene and fellow councilors even visited Naples. “Keene told me, ‘We don’t want you to check pot holes, unless public works isn’t filling them. We want you to dream, to come up with the vision for the community, and build GOODINE, Page 12A
Board crafts Bridgton Town Hall funding plan By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen reversed themselves Tuesday by removing a warrant item that asked voters if they wanted to stabilize, sell or demolish Town Hall. The warrant item was added following comments made
April 8 by Town Manager, Mitch Berkowitz, that questioned using Community Development Block Grant funds to fix the building. He said the old building costs too much to heat, and taxpayers may be better served by building a new facility to meet recreational needs. Several resi-
dents in the audience agreed with him, one calling it “a bold plan.” But on Tuesday, Selectman Paul Hoyt said revisiting the issue made no sense after voters already agreed they favored fixing up the historic North High Street building. Money has been spent on an engi-
neering study, and the board had already voted to spend up to $325,000 to embark on a course of foundation and other stabilization work. “It seems like we’re going backward,” Hoyt said. “This (warrant article) is just going to muddy the waters.” As proposed, voters would
have been given five options: spend the $325,000 to stabilize the building; spend $700,000 to both stabilize it and improve energy efficiency; don’t spend anything until the building isn’t safe anymore or it no longer makes economic sense to use it; sell it and use the money for a
replacement building; or tear it down and come up with a replacement plan. The board voted 5–0 to delete the article from the warrant. Chairman Doug Hoyt said he still saw the need for a larger facility in the future, but that he agreed with Hoyt’s HALL, Page 12A
Towing policy called into question
ON NATIONAL SITE — Local legislator Helen Rankin (on the right, District 97 — Brownfield, Fryeburg, Hiram, Parsonsfield and Porter) is featured on the American Heart Association’s national website this week. (Photo by Katherine McCarthy)
Story featured
Legislator saves colleague’s life Walking up the steps to the Maine State House, Rep. Helen Rankin turned to her colleague Rep. Linda Sanborn. “I feel it again right now,” Rankin said. It was the pressure in Rankin’s chest, something she had mentioned during their commute from their western districts to Augusta to serve their third legislative terms in the Maine Statehouse. “We had been campaigning that summer, so when Helen talked about feeling tired and having some pain, I thought it might have been the heat and the hard work,” Sanborn said. “I thought, ‘Well, Ok, I’m getting older,’” Rankin said. But as she looked at her friend on that particular day in the autumn of 2012, Sanborn, a retired family physician, had a hunch that more was going on. “I asked a lot of doctor-y questions — what kind of discomfort it was, what made it better. Her color was STORY, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer With all the talk in Bridgton about buying local and keeping business local, why is a Windham-based towing company on Bridgton’s primary rotation list for accidentrelated towing? That’s what Lake Region Towing owner Tim Cook would like to know. Cook wrote an April 2 letter to the Bridgton Board of Selectmen asking them to look at the town’s police rotation policy. He said other police departments require all of the towing companies on their primary lists to be able to respond to an accident scene within 20 minutes or less. He didn’t name the Windham towing company, but asked why any company should be on a towing list if it could not “consistently” provide a 20-minute ETA. “Keeping our officers tied up for extended periods is unnecessary,” Cook wrote. He added, “For over 35 years, our company has provided prompt, professional and trained service to the town of Bridgton. We also have Ron Smith and Direct Towing located within the town that (can) provide service.” Cook said in the past it was always the three Bridgton-based companies that were on the Bridgton
Police Department’s primary rotation list, and any other company was put on a secondary list, should the local companies be unavailable. “Has this been changed
because of the change in dispatch to Windham?” Cook asked, referring to the switch to using the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center for
dispatching. Police Chief Kevin Schofield came to Tuesday’s meeting poised to answer some of Cook’s concerns, TOWING, Page A
CALL OUT THE CROWBAR — Ian St. John of Boy Scout Troop #149, Bridgton, got some tips during Tuesday’s Earth Day Cleanup from Scoutmaster Mark Hatch on how to use a crowbar to loosen top boards to be replaced on a picnic bench at the Bridgton Community Center. (Geraghty Photo)
Radon solution on the horizon By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — The presence of radon in tap water is always a concern. That concern is ramped up when the hazardous gas is present in public drinking water. That has been the case with the drinking water at Songo Locks School (SLS). This has been no secret to students and staff there. Inside the school, the water fountains are disabled and about half a dozen Poland Spring® dis-
pensers supply the drinking water. Now, there is a long-term solution on the horizon: The construction of a 4,000-gallon holding tank that would allow the radon to disperse from the H2O before it is used in the elementary school. According to Andy Madura, the director of transportation, facilities and food services for School Administrative District (SAD) 61, a low-interest loan would allow the district to engineer and build such a
water storage unit. polls on Tuesday, May 20, In order for the project to go Madura said. forward, all four towns in the Even though SLS is located school district must approve in Naples, all towns in SAD RADON, Page 12A the specific referendum at the
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