At the Nov. 19 special town meeting, Edgecomb residents passed two articles appropriating funds for legal and operating costs, but overwhelmingly denied appropriating $23,900 for a sewer pumping study.
Of Edgecomb’s roughly 1200 residents, about 30 attended the meeting. Only two of those voted in favor of funding the study, with the majority voting against.
The $23,900 was originally listed on the warrant as $25,000 but was amended by vote to reflect the maximum amount engineering firm Woodard and Curran estimated such a study would cost, according to a document read aloud by Selectman Stuart Smith.
The amount would have been appropriated from tax increment financing (TIF) project funds, according to the warrant.
Several of the people present voiced concerns over the clarity and availability of information on the subject to the townspeople before they were asked to vote on the issue.
Requests were made for a proposal and visual/printed information to be provided to the townspeople, and that the vote should take place at the annual town meeting, since more residents attend.
According to Smith, the purpose of the study would be to provide the town with both the design and cost of building a town-owned sewage pumping station at the corner of Eddy Road and Rt. 1, as well as the cost of upgrading an existing – and currently privately owned – pumping station.
Smith said the town has an obligation to provide a central pumping station for the waste from all private “clients” that tie into the town-owned sewer line.
Originally, one private entity that tied into the system had its own pumping station capable of handling its waste, Smith said. The town chose not to pursue its pumping station until there was a need to pump multiple clients’ waste across the river to Wiscasset since the private pumping station could handle the volume, he said.
According to Smith, the town is faced with a situation where a developer may petition the town to tie into the sewer system, and the town would need to tell the developer how much the cost would be. Without a study of the overall costs, the town can’t provide such a cost to the developer, Smith said.
The town will be looking into the legal obligation of how quickly they would need to provide such a cost to a developer should one petition, Smith said.
Residents passed articles to appropriate from surplus $2500 for expenses of the Ordinance Review Committee, and $5000 for the town’s legal expenses.