Some 25 Dresden voters braved the cold Monday to pass all four special town meeting requests including a $30,000 loan for a school energy efficiency plan.
Moderator Jay Robbins opened the session at the historic Old Town Hall with a list of six rules citizens had to follow at town meetings in the colonial period compared to a 40-page booklet today.
It was the first time the Old Town Hall has been in use for a public meeting for several years while the town has been in the process of restoring it, including putting a foundation under it, and replacing the old furnace with two gas monitors to provide ample heat for the meeting.
Robbins said the 250th anniversary celebration of Dresden, which was part of Pownalborough along with Wiscasset, is going to be a big one like the one 50 years ago. “It marks not only the birth of Pownalborough as the 16th town in Maine, but we had the birth of the county as well.”
The school loan, the only tax appropriation, entails a total debt service of $34,000 over a five-year period for a maximum five percent interest. It will pay for a school energy efficiency project designed to cut the cost of electricity at Dresden Elementary School by 30 percent ($27,000) and heating by 30 percent ($37,000) per year.
First Selectman John Ottum said Energy Maine did an energy audit of the school, which found the school could save considerable dollars by replacing the current florescent lighting with T-8 and T-5 lighting.
As for the heating aspect of the project, he said during the recent ice storm the school came close to serious damage to its heating system.
“The school was without power for four days, and we were told if it had been out another four hours, we would have lost the heating system,” he said.
The loan would not only cover the cost of a changeover from the current heating system to an Energy Efficient circulating system but also cover the cost of an emergency generator system to prevent what occurred during the ice storm and to allow the school to be a town emergency shelter.
Ottum said during the ice storm, the town had to send people in need of a warming shelter to Wiscasset. With a generator, the Red Cross could certify the school as a shelter for a disaster.
Asked why the town could not take money from surplus to cover the project, Ottum said under the new regional school unit the town would not have to pay debt service on the school, and no matter what happens with the legislation, the town would have an emergency center.
Another article concerned no town money, but an agricultural business proposal that will benefit from town approval for a $25,000 federal grant through the University of Vermont. According to Ottum, the town has to administer the grant, which administrative assistant Trudy Foss will be handling as a supplemental task.
Edie Johnston, promoter of the project, said the business entails growing elderberries and other berries high in antioxidants, which research has shown supports the immune system among other healthful benefits. It also includes the manufacture of supplements in Dresden made from the berries for medicinal purposes.
Johnston estimated the business would employ 5-10 people initially and some seasonal help as agricultural laborers. A need for truck drivers for deliveries will be part of the employment opportunities besides people needed to produce the medicinal products.
The grant itself covers the cost of a business plan for potential growers and business planning and marketing, Johnston said.
“I will be providing the horticultural expertise,” she said.
A third article passed, okays a $50,000 appropriation from surplus to be placed into the town’s capital improvement account in keeping with past town practice to build up the account for future building maintenance and repair, equipment purchases and other unexpected expenses or purchases.
Currently the town has $48,000 in the account, and when books closed last June 30, the town had a $400,000 surplus, according to selectmen.
A fourth article that passed calls for a $19,000 appropriation from the capital improvement account to cover $13,000 worth of town hall foundation work and $6000 for the cost of installation of a rent-free antenna system for the town’s own radio frequency.
A notation included in the town warrant describes the purposes, including the remainder of the cost of constructing a foundation for the Old Town Hall last summer, since the project exceeded available funds. Funds had to be used for a new roof and to bring the 19th century structure up to code.
In 2004, the town had the opportunity for free space on a new cell phone town, but the tower was erected unbeknownst to the town before it could install its antenna on the tower. A subsequent tower vendor refused to honor the free rental space, but the new current owner acquiesced, according to the warrant explanation.
Ottum said reception on the Call’s Hill tower has been spotty, and the new location would provide the town with needed communication for its own purposes.
