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Sinclair notified Town Manager John Simko before last week's Board of Selectmen's meeting that he wanted to schedule a closing on Aug. 24. "He basically said he wanted to close by then, or not at all. He'll put it back on the open market," said Simko. The board was not swayed by Sinclair's ultimatum. however. "If all the permits aren't in place, we shouldn't be pressured into closing. That's my opinion," said Selectman Bonnie DuBien. "I don't know why David (Sinclair) should be so hard-nosed about it," said Selectman Earl Richardson. The town and Sinclair have already agreed on the $125,000 purchase price and voters approved spending additional money to renovate the building and move the salt and sand storage area to the site. But the town needs permits from the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) and the Maine Fire Marshall's office to renovate and occupy the premises. "There's no doubt that we'll get them (the permits). In LURC's view, it's an industrial operation in an industrial park," said Simko. Eugene Murray Sr., chairman of the Board of Selectmen, agreed with his colleagues. "I'm not about to approve spending $125,000 unless we have the permits in hand. That's the agreement we had with David in the sales agreement," said Murray. The fact that the board approved advertising for request for proposals (RFP's) for general construction and the heating system at the site "shows good faith on our part," said Murray. On a related matter, Simko reminded the board that the town is still committed to a $10,000 contract previously approved with A.E. Hodsdon to design a building on Spruce Street. At one time, a brand new public works garage was slated to be built at that location. But once Sinclair's building became available, those plans were canceled. Still, Hodsdon already put about $5,000 worth of work into the building plans and the town has to pay the rest of it, anyhow. So Simko suggested that the engineering firm design a speculative building in hopes of attracting a new business to the community. "We have store fronts available, but we don't have factory space," said the town manager. The Piscataquis County Economic Development Commission is pursuing additional state funds to put up speculative buildings in Greenville, Dover-Foxcroft and Brownville, anyhow, Simko said, "So if we do this, we'll be ahead of the game." Selectman Sharon Libby Jones, who is also a state representative, noted that a bill authorizing a speculative building program for rural areas has been in place for a few years "but never fully funded. I think something might happen when we reconvene in January." Selectmen approved Simko's request unanimously. The board also set Sept. 5 as the date for a special town meeting to take care of some ordinance updates and general municipal housekeeping issues, such as adopting revisions of a flood plain map. Some selectmen also suggested that the town enact a "no swimming" rule in the waters between the boardwalk and the Black Frog Restaurant's dock. DuBien said that shallow spots in the water make it more dangerous than some imagine. "There are a lot of rocks in the area, and someone is going to get hurt," said DuBien. Jones said that on a recent trip on the Katahdin, the dock area was jammed with youngsters and teens, making it difficult for passengers on the steamboat to debark. "It's been a horror show down there night after night," Jones said. Richardson agreed that swimming in the boardwalk area could be dangerous, but said that "kids, by human nature, want to be downtown with their friends. A few walk-through patrols (by the police department) wouldn't hurt, either." |