Dover-Foxcroft ballot ready for June 13

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The budget amount is still to be finalized, but the Dover-Foxcroft Select Board formally signed the RSU 68 warrant for Tuesday, June 13 to join the town’s municipal ballot in the voting booth. The approval came during a select meeting on Monday evening.

Earlier in the month the RSU 68 School Board approved a proposed 2023-24 budget totaling $13,383,764, which is  up by $566,665 (approximately 4 percent) from the current academic year’s figure of $12,817,099. For Dover-Foxcroft, the town’s proportional share would increase a bit more than $19,300 from $2,771,576. 

The RSU 68 annual district budget meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, which will follow a 6 p.m. information session. Dover-Foxcroft residents will join those in Charleston, Monson, and Sebec to vote on the total figure approved at the May 30 meeting at the June 13 referendum.  

The Dover-Foxcroft ballot will ask residents to approve a gross budget totaling $7,661,550. After $4,696,695 in revenues, a net amount of $2,964,855 would be raised. The three figures are all up from the current fiscal year.

For the selectboard, voters can choose three candidates for 3-year terms with Emery Cox, current Chairperson Elwood Edgerly, incumbent Stephen Grammont, Sean Hadley, Lliam Perkins-Amero, and Joel Vail listed on the ballot. For an RSU 68 seat, for three years, residents can vote for former board member Marc Poulin or Sarah Robinson.

In his report, Town Manager Jack Clukey mentioned several changes have been made with police department personnel. He said Stephen Garib has been promoted to sergeant, Tysen Ober has been promoted to corporal, and Glenn Graef has been appointed as school resource officer (succeeding Ober).

“There’s a lot happening and we’re still advertising for a patrol officer vacancy,” Clukey said.

He said at the last select meeting town officials discussed working with the Dover Rovers ATV Club to help the group leverage state funding for planned summer trail work. The town manager said the club submitted a grant application this week.

Under the state’s grant-in aid agreement, 90 percent of funding is provided in exchange for a 10 percent match through funding and/or in-kind work. The Dover Rovers have a new section of trail by the Foxcroft Center Road which allows a portion of the travelway to be bypassed.

Clukey said a public forum on the Mayo Mill dam project is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27 at the Central Hall Commons “to get some different ideas on what our end result may be.”

The project team will make a presentation to start the evening, followed by a Q&A, and then opportunity for public input before the 8 p.m. conclusion.

Per an event press release, 15 years ago — following the closure of Moosehead Manufacturing — the town acquired the dam on the Piscataquis River in hope of restoring hydropower production to provide electricity to adjacent properties. Dover-Foxcroft worked with several firms to assess costs and potential for generating electricity again, but no viable option emerged and the hydropower facility has been non-operational since 2008. 

Now Dover-Foxcroft is partnering with the Atlantic Salmon Federation, The Nature Conservancy in Maine, and Inter-Fluve, Inc. to complete  a community-based feasibility study. Funding for the study is provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries through the federal  Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act. 

The town convened a steering committee, which has been meeting monthly with the partnership team since January. In the late fall steering committee members will review presented alternatives and make a recommendation to the select board for a viable solution at the dam.

The June 27 event will feature a presentation with an overview on the status of the Mayo mill  dam and associated powerhouse and fishway, compliance and regulation needs, the decision-making process, timeline and goals of the feasibility study. A panel made up of the partnership  team and steering committee members will then answer questions and capture feedback.