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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 144, No. 40
32 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
October 3, 2013
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Board nears goal for new fire standards By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer With equal parts caution and determination, the Bridgton Planning Board moved ahead Tuesday with a long-studied plan to adopt tougher fire protection standards for subdivisions. A workshop on Tuesday,
Oct. 29, has been set to finalize the language for those standards, crafted as an amendment to the subdivision ordinance, which will then be subject to a later public hearing and possible adoption by the board. The board is proceeding with caution, because
it doesn’t want to raise an outcry that the standards are too tough; and with determination, because more and more subdivisions are sprouting up in remote areas of town that fire trucks cannot easily reach, without a hydrant or water source nearby.
“I think we’ve been tapdancing around this long enough,” said member Dee Miller, who even wants to require developers to tell buyers, in writing, that the house lot they’re buying is more than 1,000 feet from a public fire hydrant. Miller’s proposal was
tabled Tuesday pending a legal opinion from the Maine Municipal Association. It’s been well over a year since a Fire Suppression Committee was created, and its proposed ordinance for mandatory sprinkler systems for all new subdivisions and commercial con-
struction was shot down. Since then, the committee and the Planning Board have been inching methodically forward, and have settled on a new approach, one that is limited only to subdivisions, and gives more flexibility to developers who STANDARDS, Page A
Casco to borrow $1.5 million
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — This week, all of Casco’s newly-assigned property values will be tallied. This week, the tax commitment will be set, and those bills will go to the printer. The recent property revaluation process ran into delays, which means income from tax payments will also be delayed. Meanwhile, the costs associated with operating the town cannot be put off. According to Town Manager Dave Morton, the municipality will need to borrow money against its property value, or expected property tax income, so that it can continue to pay its bills. “We have to do this or we will be shutting down like the federal government,” he said. TD Bank will loan $1.5 million to the town at a 1.39 HAVING A BUBBLY GOOD TIME — With Saturday’s temperatures hovering close to the 80 degree mark, it felt like percent interest rate, he said. summer was trying to hang on for a little while longer. Taking time to enjoy the weather and blowing a few bubbles “We need $1.5 million to while at a local wedding reception is Brianna Gallinari of Bridgton. (Rivet Photo) carry us for a couple months,”
Morton said. “We don’t have to pay it off until the end of our fiscal year. But, clearly, the sooner we pay it back the less interest we pay,” Morton said. “We have not done this for years,” he said. The board voted, 4-0, to borrow the money. Selectman Tracy Kimball was absent during Tuesday night’s meeting. According to the wording of the motion, the board authorized the town treasurer to borrow the money, not to exceed $1.5 million, in anticipation of tax collection money. This debt would be paid on or before June 30, 2014; and it would be paid back through anticipated taxes. According to Morton, this bank loan is called Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) borrowing. “There is a provision in state law that allows the town treasurer to borrow money in BORROW, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer The planning boards of Bridgton and Sweden, each with their procedures and rules for subdivisions, have been proceeding carefully in consideration of a 14-lot subdivision plan off Knights Hill Road.
Bridgton lets Sweden take lead in review So carefully, in fact, that engineer George Sawyer has asked for more time to submit a preliminary plan on behalf of the developer, Lance Colwell. On Tuesday, the Bridgton Planning Board agreed to Sawyer’s request to table the project until December of this year.
As Colwell’s agent, Sawyer has the daunting task of meeting each town’s requirements, as well as their subdivision standards. What may constitute a complete application for a preliminary review in Bridgton, may, or may not suffice in the town of Sweden, where a more
rigorous review process has traditionally applied to subdivisions. It is only the proposed access road of the 76-acre subdivision that is located in Sweden. All of the lots, ranging in size from four to seven acres, are located in Bridgton, but the land is only accessible
from the Sweden end, via a right-of-way that the Sweden officials consider is only a driveway. Sweden Planning Board members have indicated the access way would need to be brought up to its town’s standards, yet there are no plans to do so. Both boards conducted
a site walk following their initial joint meeting on the project in August. Following the site walk, Sweden Planning Board Chairman David Johnson outlined the next steps that Sawyer needs to take in their subdivision review process, in order for LEAD, Page A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — Local elected officials were concerned about what they perceived as a large sum of money being carried forward from the previous year’s budget. The Casco Board of Selectmen recently questioned if there was a way to lower some of the carry-forward amounts. If, year after year, the money was not being spent in a department, then it might make sense to decrease the
amount allotted for those budgets, members of the board said. At the time, Town Manager Dave Morton said the numbers the selectmen were looking at were small in comparison to the town’s entire budget. “First of all, the amount is very little compared to what we spend in our budget,” Morton said. “The second thing is, we don’t want to encourage people (in departments) to spend every penny in the budget,”
he said. Additionally, it is wise planning to have extra money for the unexpected, he said, especially in accounts like road repair and wintertime road maintenance. Also, several accounts always carry forward, Morton said. Some examples of those include unemployment insurance, health insurance, yearend payroll and animal control fees, he said. By law, the town must carry adequate unemployment insurance; and $20,000 is required for
that, he said. For now, the selectmen agreed to wait until the budget process to address which carry-forwards could be avoided — and possibly put toward other town programs. Typically, the finance committee begins meeting after the New Year, starting with weekly meetings around February. Selectmen often attend the Casco Finance Committee meetings. During the budget planning process, the committee FORWARD, Page A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Isn’t it frustrating when the technology that is supposed to make life easier, doesn’t do that? During meetings in August and September, the Naples Board of Selectmen was thwarted by its Apple iPads. At the time, they were unable to retrieve the information pertinent to agenda items they were discussing. Later, when the problem was being resolved on Sept. 29, Selectman Christine Powers briefly described the situation. “We were trying to find an e-mail from (Town Manager) Derik (Goodine), but where it was embedded in a thread, we couldn’t get to it,” she said.
Powers said it was frustrating because the iPad problem slowed down the board’s ability to attend to town business. Plus, she felt silly being unable to operate the iPad, despite being computer literate. Since then, Powers has been keeping her iPad on hand for that opportune time when a local computer-technology company could pay a visit to the Naples Town Office. “This is the first time that I have got to Quick Office, and didn’t have to log in all over again,” she said. Kevin K. Woodbrey, owner of the Raymond-based business Woodbrey Consulting, had accepted the town’s invitation, and had been working on the town’s iPads. According to Woodbrey,
the issue with the iPads began early on when a town employee and the town manager started storing documents in private files and in files to be shared with selectmen. While the documents that the board needed were difficult to find, private documents became accessible, he said. “It took five hours to clean up. We are down to the last half-dozen items that are pri-
vate,” he said. In a related matter, Woodbrey told the board that sometime in the next six months, the town would need to update its Windows software. As of April 2014, the town office will need to upgrade to Windows 7 because earlier versions of Windows will not have any support,” Woodbrey said. “It will not be secure. It will be a hackfest,” he said.
‘Too much’ carried forward?
Naples resolves iPad quandry
FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHMENT — Melissa Panter of Casco is pictured cycling through the Mojave Desert as part of the “Bike & Build” Trek.
Trek was life changing event
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer CASCO — Melissa Panter expected riding a bicycle 3,950 miles across the country would be a life-changing experience. She saw magnificent sites. She helped those longing for the American dream — home ownership — by swinging a hammer as part of a construction team. And ultimately, she landed a “real” job. The 22-year-old from Casco joined 29 other cyclists from all parts of the country in the “Bike & Build” trek this past summer. Riders left Portland in mid-June TREK, Page A
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