The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen, at its Nov. 20 meeting, approved a one-year extension of a contract with a Buxton firm for annual audit services.
The town’s three-year contract with RHR Smith & Company, Certified Public Accountants, P.A., expired after the 2011 audit. The town will pay the firm up to $6450 for the work, the same rate as the previous three years.
Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus recommended the extension because the company’s staff provides a “tremendous resource” to Lutkus and Town Treasurer Cheryl Pinkham as they manage the town’s finances.
The contract will go out to bid next year, according to Lutkus.
The alley, on private property downtown, currently allows one-way motor vehicle traffic.
Damariscotta estimates the project cost at $43,100. The $34,480 grant requires a 20 percent local match, a total of $8620. The town would withdraw $5820 from a reserve account and contribute $2800 “in kind” in the form of labor by town staff.
The March 2010 “Damariscotta Shore & Harbor Master Plan” calls for transforming Taco Alley into “the central alley” into the municipal parking lot and the primary access point to the area for bicycles and pedestrians, according to Damariscotta Town Planner Tony Dater.
Improvements to the alley would include resurfacing of the alley with brick, concrete or a similar non-asphalt product, landscaping and a Main Street marquee designating the alley as the entrance to the Damariscotta-Newcastle waterfront.
The alley would remain accessible to emergency vehicles.
The selectmen approved the grant application 5-0.
Damariscotta would pay 20 percent of the project cost.
Business leader speaks out against pay-for-parking
A local business leader said a pay-for-parking system in the municipal parking lot would damage the downtown economy.
“I think you will have an empty downtown if you charge for parking,” Twin Villages Downtown Alliance Chairwoman Mary Kate Reny said.
Damariscotta is considering a pay system as a way to raise revenue to maintain the lot. The town has acquired a small grant to study the matter.
Reny said her words represent her opinion, not the official stance of the alliance. She said she has not talked about the idea with business owners.
Reny made the comments during a workshop about the Board of Selectmen’s goals and work plan for 2013.
She also spoke out in favor of public restrooms downtown.
“It’s almost embarrassing, especially in the summer,” for a community the size of Damariscotta not to have a restroom, Reny said. “It’s high time,” she said.
