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Building new Bridge dream; Great Corn Riot of 1873; Try again, Festival of Lights
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BCC Bus Shelter dedication; Night with Stephen King; BFM recipe, Collard Greens
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870 Vol. 150, No. 50
12 PAGES - 1 Section
Bridgton, Maine
Left in the dark
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer The first substantial snowstorm of this winter brought at least a half-foot of condensed wet snow to the region. It also brought out the best in some residents who checked in on their neighbors since hundreds of households were without power for two to three days. The heavy wet snow that fell Saturday night through Sunday snapped power lines and toppled trees onto lines. Even utility poles fell victim to the storm. In Harrison on Tuesday, the morning started with 800 households without electricity. By the afternoon, that had dropped to 241. By the time the sun set, that had dropped to 29. Harrison Town Clerk Melissa St. John referred to residents as self-reliant. “People take care of themselves, and they take a care of their neighbors,” St. John said. “We did open up the warming shelter,” she said, adding. “We put the word out. We called the TV channels. We put it on the town’s website. We let the local stores know.” She said that people took advantage of it, with more people using it on Tuesday than were there on Monday. “We’ve had a warming
December 10, 2020
www.bridgton.com
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Memory Care Facility project
Finding a TIF middle ground
TREE ON A WIRE was not an uncommon sight after This tree was next to Route 121 in Otisfield. shelter open at the community of coffee and have a place room [inside the Harrison Fire to go to get out of the cold Station] yesterday and today,” because it’s been brutal.” St. John said on Tuesday. The snowstorm was fol“They can take a hot shower, lowed by three days of daycharge their phones, get a cup time-high temperatures right
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer Matthew Walters sees Bridgton as a nice fit for a 48-bed memory care facility. But, the numbers need to work. Walters presented a revised tax increment financing (TIF) request to selectmen via a Zoom meeting Tuesday night. The project proposed by Woodlands Senior Living of Waterville would bring “a high-quality environment and care not exclusive to those that can pay,” Walters said. The 48-bed specialized residential care community would serve individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory impairments. Walters noted that 30 beds would be dedicated to serve individuals receiving MaineCare subsidies, and 18 would be available for residents paying with private funds. “We believe the project will be a vital resource to not only the elderly individuals living with memory impairments in the Bridgton area, but also their loved ones,” Walters said in a memo to the town. “Indeed, there are no purpose-built memory care facilities anywhere in or close to the greater Bridgton-Lakes Region.” Woodlands Memory Care would be built on a 17-acre site off North High Street. The company has signed a purchase and sales agreement on two parcels, contingent on Woodlands Senior Living receiving TIF approval. “It is not economically feasible without a TIF,” Walters told selectmen. “We believe it is a win-win for the town and our organization.” Walters understands there needs to be an “equitable balance” when it comes to terms of the TIF. The new proposal is “consistent” with projects Woodlands has done the past few years, Walters said. this weekend’s snowstorm. “It meets our needs and the towns, as well,” he said. (De Busk Photo) To offset development and construction of the facility, at freezing or colder, accord- Walters said it is imperative that the company receives high ing to the National Weather returns in the early years of the agreement. The new proposal calls for 85% of the incremental tax revenues be returned Service (NWS). St. John doubts the warm- to Woodlands years 1 to 15 — meaning Bridgton receives ing place will be needed for 15% of the tax amount. In years 16 to 20, 100% of tax revIN THE DARK, Page 12A MIDDLE GROUND, Page 11A
Covid-19 cases make in-person target unlikely By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer Short of a miracle, SAD 61 will remain in its present “hybrid” instructional system when the calendar turns to 2021. Superintendent Al Smith told school board directors via Zoom Monday night that the target date of Jan. 11 to resume full in-person instruction is unlikely “unless something miraculously happens” based on Maine’s current surge in Covid-19 cases. After a quiet fall, Covid19 has surfaced on the school front. Last week, the school district dealt alerted parents to a positive Covid-19 case involving its transportation department. A letter was sent out and also posted on the district website that a staff member had tested positive for the virus. The letter outlined how
the district responded when notified on Wednesday, Dec. 2 that a staff member had tested positive. • Contact tracing was conducted on Dec. 2 and the direct contact situation was isolated to one bus route. • Contract tracing identified that the staff member was most recently in direct contact with some Cohort A students on Monday, Nov. 23 and some Cohort B students and other staff on Tuesday, Nov. 24. • All staff and students who were in direct contact have been notified. • The Cohort A direct contacts will quarantine for 14 days, allowing students to return to school on Wednesday, Dec. 9. • The Cohort B direct contacts and staff will quarantine for 14 days, allowing students to return to school on Thursday, Dec. 10. • All of the affected students will
LOOKING ON — Larry Buckless of Bridgton and his wife and have been meeting his sisters at Woods Pond all summer for afternoon coffee during Covid-19 and safe distancing. Larry always brings his camera. “We have been watching this Eagle for months, then this cloudy day (Dec. 3) he landed in a tree on the beach and I was able to get this picture. He is beautiful!” Larry reported. “I had to share.”
receive their educational programming remotely throughout their quarantine time. • Students and staff in quarantine are contacted directly by the CDC contact tracers and/or school personnel. • If you have not been contacted by the CDC or school personnel, there is no interruption to your educational program or to any other schools. On Monday, news came that a Lake Region Middle School student has tested positive. The community letter posted on the SAD 61 website reads:
• Contract tracing was conducted on Dec. 7 and identified that the student was most recently at LRMS on Wednesday, Dec. 2. • All staff and students who were in direct contact have been notified. • The close contacts will quarantine for 10 days from the last day of contact, allowing students and staff to return to school by Monday, Dec. 14. • All of the affected students will receive their educational programming remotely throughout their quarantine time. • Students and staff in quarantine are contacted
directly by the CDC contact tracers and/or school personnel. • If you have not been contacted by the CDC or school personnel, there is no interruption to your educational program or to any other schools. “Working together, we can keep a safe and healthy environment in our schools to best serve our students,” Smith concluded in the letter. Questions and concerns regarding how SAD 61 officials handled the matter prompted Smith and Assistant Superintendent Pat Hayden to draft a “fairly
extensive” Q/A document. Smith told directors the document would be sent to staff, families and be posted on the SAD 61 website. (See Q/A sidebar.) Meanwhile, SAD 61 continues to develop a plan to return to five day, in-person instruction once the district can safely enact the change. Parents were asked to fill out an survey — either a hard copy or online — to indicate their intent to either send their children back to school to attend in-person five days a week or move to 100% remote. The survey closed on Nov. 24. IN-PERSON, Page 2A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — The Casco town manager position will be advertised for a third time in hopes of finding a candidate who is right for the job after the most promising applicant said no. “Sometimes, it takes time to find the person we want and who wants this job,” Casco Board of Selectmen Chairman Tom Peaslee said. Casco’s Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish commented on the game plan for the town manager search in 2021. “I believe we will be going back out in January, probably the first week of January. There’s a lot going on [with the holidays in December]. It is easier to start with the New Year,” Gerrish said. With the exception of it being a new calendar year, the town will use the same approach to get the appropriate person to apply: the same ad, the same jobsearch sites, the same length of time that the ad will run.
“It will be a re-advertisement using the same ad as before,” Gerrish said. The deadline for applicants to reply could fall in late January or early February. “We will do a revised timeline. We’ll give it a month’s time to be advertised, usually four weeks,” Gerrish said. “We’ll talk about it at the select board meeting.” The Casco Board of Selectmen will make decisions about the details of re-advertising the position. The board meets again on Dec. 15. The selectmen conducted an interview in November; and they were prepared to offer the job to the candidate, Gerrish said. “They were offered the job. Nothing against the town, but for personal reasons, they decided not to take it,” he said. Peaslee also said that the best candidate from the most recent application process decided against taking the job.
“The person didn’t think it was a good fit for them,” Peaslee said. “It is always nice, of course, to hire someone from the first round. But that isn’t what happened.” The selectmen have been a bit eager to have not already hired a town manager, he said. But, board members understand the climate right now. “I said to Don, ‘Do we need to think outside of the box?’ Don said, ‘Sometimes, you get up to the plate and you don’t get a home run right away,’” Peaslee said. “So, we are putting it back out at the first of the year for another search for a town manager.” Gerrish can attest to Maine municipalities that
have spent a few months searching for a manager. “It happens. I served as interim in Windham for 14 months. We went out three times. In Windham, we offered the job to good candidates and they turned it down. It happens. Sometimes you find the right person after one advertisement. Sometimes, it takes longer. It is not uncommon to have to go out (advertise) again. Getting good candidates— if we get two or three, we are doing good. It is a funny time with Covid-19 and everything that is going on.” Peaslee agreed that the pandemic is playing a factor in the hiring process. “The things to consider, CANDIDATE, Page 4A
Candidate, no thanks to Casco
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