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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 145, No. 47
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
November 20, 2014
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 4D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Public input on sewer expansion
THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY — John Bliss, vice president of product development at Howell Labs, explains the workings behind one of the company’s seawater chlorinator machines. Howell products, also including dehydrators and humidity measuring equipment, can be found on virtually every class of blue water surface ships and submarines in both the Navy and Army.
Golden moment
After 50 years, Howell Labs is a Bridgton success story By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer The festive atmosphere at Thursday’s 50th anniversary celebration at Howell Laboratories, Inc., came first and foremost from all of its employees. And why not? After all, they own the place. The fact that the antennae and water purifications systems manufacturer is one of just a few 100% employeeowned businesses in the state, however, is just one of the reasons it stands out as perhaps the single most remarkable business success story in Bridgton. Not many businesses in town or anywhere in the state can claim to be a national, let alone a worldwide leader in the products it makes, nor can it claim the U.S. Government as one of its biggest customers. Yet that has been the case, ever since Howell and Shively, the two divisions that form the basis of the company, were founded in 1964. The company’s reputation for excellence and quality has not gone unnoticed. In 2012, Shively was recognized by the Small Business Administration as Maine’s Exporter of the Year. In 2013, Howell was named the SBA’s New England Subcontractor of the Year, an award they were nominated for by Bath Iron Works. Long journey In his welcoming remarks, Howell Labs President David Allen said it’s
been a long journey since the company began under much humbler circumstance in space in the former Gibbs Avenue schoolhouse. A former Howell executive, Bridgton resident Steve Collins, was among those attending the gathering, and he said he could attest to the humble beginnings. “You could see right through the clapboards,” joked Collins, who was one of several Howell retirees who attended the celebration. Also on hand was Betty Shively, whose late husband Ed Shively founded Shively Labs, and their son Jim Shively, who also worked there. Culture of ownership “My dad started with a vision, and we watched him put his heart and soul into it every day,” said Jim Shively. Today Shively designs and manufactures the world’s leading technology in FM broadcasting equipment, with its biggest customer being the U.S. State Department. It has supplied over 8,000 antennas to more than 80 countries, to sites atop tall buildings in major cities to remote arctic villages and unmanned extreme weather sites at high elevations. “I’m most proud of the fact that he (Ed Shively) talked to all of us like we were his peers,” said Jim Shively. “It was a group of peers trying to solve a problem.” That culture and spirit of equal participation and ownership became a reality in 1995, when Howell/Shively
became one of the first companies in Maine to be employee-owned by a majority of its employees. The company became 100% employee-owned in 2013, and is one of only 13 companies in Maine that are members of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Association. Allen echoed the pride he takes in the employee-ownership status of the company, which currently employs around 60 people who live in 20 towns in Maine and New Hampshire, plus Oregon. “Employee ownership is very important to us, and I’m glad (those attending the celebration) were able to experience it first-hand,” Allen said. He said Howell employees have extensive access to company financial and performance metrics, and hold monthly meetings to update everyone on performance and answer questions. Diversification When Howell acquired and merged with Shively in 1980, Howell’s largest customer was overwhelmingly the U.S. Navy. Despite the success it was having, said Allen, they felt the need to expand into commercial markets as a hedge against the impact of inevitable government downturns. Allen attributes a large part of the company’s success over the years to a “strategy of having one foot in each of the military and commercial broadHOWELL LABS, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen agreed Tuesday to have the Wastewater Committee reach out to sewer system users with a concerted informational and educational campaign. The campaign will include a sit-down with each of the system’s 60 or so users, and distribution of a tri-fold brochure that begins to talk about possibilities for expanding the system beyond its current capacity. Wastewater Committee Chairman Glen “Bear” Zaidman” said a recentlycompleted Wastewater Disposal Feasibility Study done by Woodard & Curran suggested that if Bridgton wants to have economic growth, it must find a way to expand sewer capacity beyond what is possible with the two existing downtown leach fields. The study sug-
gested it might be time for residents to consider building a spray irrigation system, with an estimated cost of $21 million. Many different forms of funding and grants could be tapped to reduce the impact on taxpayers, Zaidman said. The key to applying for them was to finalize the feasibility study, which has now been done. Zaidman said the leach field at the lower ballfield has no land available for expansion, and the Dodge field has only land enough to provide for an additional 2,000 gallons a day of capacity. Considering that two recent sewer allocation requests were approved that nearly total that amount, he said, it becomes easy to see that the town needs to start looking beyond the idea of simply searching for more leach field space. SEWER, Page A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Naples elected officials looked at an inventory of the town’s buildings and vehicles and began the process of prioritizing future expenditures — some of which are inevitable like a leaky roof. The conversation was not limited to those obvious pieces of public property, but also covered future development of a drinking water source and continuation of a historythemed water-feature on the Causeway. The Naples Board of Selectmen on Monday held a lengthy workshop to discuss a long-range plan for the improvement, replacement and required maintenance of all capital: Municipal buildings, vehicles, recreational fields and properties. “As far as the long-term, we are at a crossroads on a lot of things,” Naples Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said. One of those crossroads is the upcoming renewal of the lease with the United States Post Office that was signed 20 years ago. “I’d like to get direction from the board on which big projects to work on first,” he said. Also, Paraschak said he would like to put together a capital replacement plan so that the town could budget for vehicles before those rigs reached their life expectancy. One of the bigger ques-
tions Paraschak posed to the selectmen required them to look five to 10 years into the future regarding two buildings that are already more than 50 years old — the town hall and the fire station. He asked the board members if they would prefer to budget for renovations to these existing structures or get cost estimates on building new. He proposed that the board guide him along a long-range plan — either doing annual upgrades to the 70-year-old Town Office or foregoing major improvements in favor of building new. “Should we start planning for a new building? The town office is 70 years old,” he said, adding he didn’t realize that fact until Town Clerk Judy Whynot looked it up. “We could get by with it,” he said. “But, the roof is 20 years old, leaks everywhere. The kitchen is not functional. The roof above the gym is in really rough shape,” Paraschak said. As far as the Town Office, which once served as an elementary school, the majority of the board favored maintaining the structure rather than investing millions of dollars in a new building. Selectman Rick Paraschak stressed the importance of not letting the town hall get to a state of disrepair that would embarrass residents who entered its doors. “It is hard to make a deciPRIORITIES, Page A
Naples puts its priorities to paper
Town turns junkyard violation over to attorney By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — The Town of Casco has put into the hands of its attorney the task of officially notifying a resident of a junkyard ordinance violation that — if not corrected in two weeks — could land in the Bridgton courtroom. The Casco Board of Selectmen heard the circumstances: A resident living about 300 feet from Sebago Lake has surrounded his home with unregistered, junked vehicles and boats. It is apparent the motor fluids, oils and gasoline have not been drained from the automobiles. The pile of vehicles has started to encroach onto
the property lines of abutters who have complained to the town. The Town of Casco junkyard ordinance states a person cannot have more than three unregistered vehicles on their residential property. Some exceptions to the ordinance are made for people with classic car or mechanical hobbies. The selectmen were told that the person breaking the junkyard law had not contacted the town with a solution despite several letters. So, the next step would be to have legal counsel — along with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office — hand deliver the official letter
of violation, requesting the resident resolve the matter by removing the vehicles from his yard. If the property owner does not resolve the matter with the law office of Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, then the matter will be heard in court. Tuesday night, the board agreed unanimously to go forward with a plan to engage the town attorney and also to allocate money toward any legal fees should the case go to court. Prior to the vote, the selectmen were less than thrilled about spending money, especially in the court system; and some were verbal than others about the allocation of funds
in that direction. Bottom line: Paying for the legal services was an inevitable part of a possible solution. Plus, it was advised that if the town was going to ask for the ordinance violation to be resolved one more time, the threat of a lawsuit needed to be backed up by a budget. Casco Town Manager Dave Morton said “The costs associated with junk yard violations — the estimated cost is between $6,000 and $7,000 in the Bridgton Court.” “The town has opportunities for recovering those fees. If the town goes to court and a person agrees to do cleanup, attorneys have been good about returning (some
of) those fees to towns.” “Towns never get 100 percent,” Morton said, advising the selectmen that there is no promise of all legal costs being recouped. This is what would happen if the South Casco resident does not agree to remove the junked vehicles. The town or someone contracted by the town, through the order of
a judge, would be allowed on the property for the sole purpose of removing the vehicles. “It will go through the tax lien process for collection,” of costs incurred to the town, Morton said. “There is a mechanism in place for recovering fees. I cannot sit here and tell the JUNKYARD, Page A
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P.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. Bridgton, ME 04009 207-647-2851 Fax: 207-647-5001 bnews@roadrunner.com