Greenville may upgrade skating rink

GREENVILLE — No decisions will be made until a future meeting of the Greenville Select Board, but the municipal skating rink is in need of some upgrades in order to keep the outdoor facility on Pritham Avenue near the Greenville Consolidated School open during the cold months of the year.

During a Sept. 18 select meeting, Town Manager Mike Roy mentioned how he previously told the board how the rink warming hut will need to be taken down due to its poor condition as determined by a Maine Municipal Association inspection.

“Before we do that I think we need to discuss the rink itself, the rink is in very poor condition,” Roy said. “The boards around the rink are starting to rot. We have large cracks in the pavement, we have weeds growing up, and with those cracks if we flood it the cracks have to fill up first with water and freeze. Anytime we get a thaw, the water is gone through the cracks, literally it’s gone. Then we have to reflood it and that’s an added expense because we have town water there.”

Roy said it may be possible to reduce the size of the rink, and he would check with Recreation Director Sally Tornquist to see if she has numbers pertaining to skating usage.

The rink base could be repaired with asphalt. “If that happens we can either put a bandaid on it or tear it all up and start fresh,” Roy said.

He mentioned another option may be to purchase a rink liner to help retain water. “The concern is the cracks will cut the liner,” the town manager said, saying these are two to three inches wide and cannot be sealed.

“I know it’s a very popular thing so I think we’ll have to do something,” Selectperson Richard King said.

The board will discuss the rink and what to do at the site at a future meeting.

In other business, Roy said Greenville Municipal Airport runway crack sealing and taxiway repainting should all be done by the next week. The work has a cost of $49,500.

“The airport general fund is totally separate from the town general municipal fund,” Roy said. He said the town’s  accountant agrees with spending $40,000 out of the airport general fund. The full amount would not come from the account in order to leave monies for future matching requirements of FAA projects.

“The remainder of the cost, the $9,500, was all donated by pilots and hangar owners, many individuals donating $1,000 and $500,” Roy said. “That speaks volumes, if you will, of the support and what the airport means to our hangar owners and pilots up there.”

He mentioned volunteer efforts also removed some small trees and mowed and weed whacked parcels to make the airport look more appealing to those flying in.

The hangar waitlist is now at 20, Roy said,“So we cannot clear land fast enough to get hangars built.”

He said leading up to, during, and after the 50th International Seaplane Fly-In from Sept. 4-9 the airport had 148 fuel sales with 5,373 gallons selling for $30,296.

The year prior there were 80 fuel sales with 2,756 gallons for $16,966. Roy said the 50th annual event drew more people than 2023’s and there also were likely larger planes coming in with bigger fuel tanks and some visitors may have traveled a greater distance.

The town manager said the day before he received a preliminary 2025 state valuation. Based on all taxable property in Greenville as of April 1, 2023 the preliminary valuation is $549,200,000 — an increase of 11.38 percent.

Roy said the final state valuation is set to arrive before the end of the month.