Francis McBrearty invoked an ongoing discussion on April 22 to hook up the Boothbay Industrial Park to public water and sewer lines through the Route 27 corridor running north along Adams Pond. The project represents a longstanding effort that has been twice voted down by Boothbay residents.

McBrearty presented a newspaper clipping to the Boothbay Board of Selectmen that advertised new job openings at Rynel Inc., a manufacturing company that was once headquartered in Boothbay's Industrial Park. Because no adequate waterline existed to expand its infrastructure, the company left town in 2005 to relocate in Wiscasset.

Between Rynel and their parent company Molnlycke, there are 12 to 16 new jobs available for hire, according to the marketing and sales director Caren Minzy.

“Those are jobs that could have been in Boothbay,” said McBrearty, a member of the Industrial Park Committee. “Our concern is how do we get jobs back into Boothbay.”

The last time Boothbay voted against the water and sewer project was in 2007, when homeowners would have had to pay an annual fee of $136 per acre for 40 years to hook up to the public sewer line.

Selectman Steven Lewis, who is also chairman of the Industrial Planning Board, acknowledged that the 2007 project was poorly presented to voters, while selectman Chuck Cunningham added that it was a bad idea to have the homeowner pay an annual fee after spending the initial cost to have the pipes installed. However, all five selectmen agreed to listen to what McBrearty had to say on the reoccurring issue.

“This is not a water and sewer project for the Industrial Park,” McBreary said. “This is a project for the corridor and the community. He said economic growth, job retention and bettering the community infrastructure is the larger goal.

Sewer District Supervisor Chris Higgins and Boothbay Water District Manager Jon Ziegra attended the Industrial Park Planning Committee meeting on April 10.

Higgins, Ziegra and the committee members discussed a new approach to the project and listed the benefits that public water and sewer lines could bring to Boothbay, including better quality water, fire protection, a minimal increase to tax rates, water shed protection and job growth.

While many parts of the project have been previously calculated by Wright-Pierce Environmental Engineering, Lewis said he now believes there are other avenues to seek funding through, including federal and local grants, especially if Boothbay enlists the support of political leaders.

Town Manager Jim Chaousis agreed to look into fund raising options, but conceded that the “well has run dry,” for many of grants that were once available eight years ago.

McBrearty said he thinks there are new creative ways to approach the water and sewer project in order to stimulate a business friendly environment, and secure jobs for Boothbay's future.

“If we don't carry some debt, we're doing nothing as a town,” McBrearty said. “But yet it's not necessarily good to be debt free if we're creating a retirement community that is going to die eventually because we're going to have nothing but retirees from out of state.

“We have to get a mix of business that is going to support our town, support our youth, and support the people here that are looking for jobs.”