The right of way that exists on paper only was made to allow access to a back lot in the park, but the back lot is now owned by David Sinclair and will be integrated into the Maine Lumber LLC project. Sinclair and his two Canadian partners plan to construct a sawmill that will provide 50 jobs on two shifts.

The special town meeting also will address any Community Development Block Grant funds that the town may receive to support the development of Maine Lumber LLC.

In addition, residents will be asked to donate $2,500 from unappropriated surplus to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for the purchase of a multijurisdictional search and rescue patrol boat for Moosehead Lake.

Town officials are working closely with economic development officials and Maine Lumber LLC to secure federal and state development funds to help move the new sawmill project along.

Much work also is being conducted to secure federal and state funds to construct a building to house a proposed Wood Composites Incubator Center. Officials are in the process of applying for $100,000 in Rural Development funds to construct the building and hope to acquire Economic Development Administration funds, as well as Economic Development Infrastructure funds for the project.

"There are lots of balls in the air and when they start to fall they'll all come together," Town Manager John Simko said Thursday, regarding the incubator center.

The current proposal is to build a 36,000-square foot facility for the incubator center at a cost of $1.5 million, but, according to Simko, that could be reduced to 25,000 to 35,000 square feet at a cost of about $1 million.

Selectmen this week, in executive session, discussed the possible acquisition or disposition of town-owned property related to the development of the incubator center. The town has reserved a lot for the project but may want to switch or purchase another lot, according to Simko.

In an unrelated matter, through an agreement with the Department of Transportation, the town will trade salt for sand for winter road maintenance. The DOT wants to reduce the amount of sand at its Shirley DOT garage so it has offered a trade to town officials. In essence, the town will use excess sand and replace it with an equivalent value of salt. The DOT will deliver the mixture to the town. The town uses about 3,000 cubic yards a year and has about 2,000 cubic yards left from last year, so the difference needed will be obtained from the DOT.

Through action this week, selectmen directed Simko to draft a letter on behalf of the board that will be sent to all members of the Greenville Fire and Police departments recognizing their service to the community in observance of Sept. 11.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Saturday, September 07, 2002 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."