At the September 24 Boothbay Harbor Selectmen’s meeting, Selectman Valerie Augustine reported on the St. Andrews Task Force's new activity, and fielded questions posed by George Friant, husband of Lincoln County Healthcare’s Vice President of Physician Services, Stacey Miller. 

They also discussed the comprehensive plan committee, a walkability audit, and the cleanup of Evered Trask’s property.

Augustine reported on the activities of the different task force groups and spoke about the financial situation. The task force has received a matching grant challenge from the Mildred H. McEvoy Foundation where every dollar raised by the community will be matched up to $5,000. 

The majority of these funds are currently going towards legal fees, as the group has hired Julius Ciembroniewicz of Kozak & Gayer to handle unspecified legal matters. 

Augustine also encouraged members of the community to come to the task force meetings held Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Boothbay Town Office. 

“It’s very helpful to hear public comments,” Augustine said.

George Friant asked Augustine how the task force is being financed, and if the towns have agreed to spend money on the project. Augustine replied that the towns had allocated no taxpayer funds toward the group at this time, and all the money currently being used was from donations. 

Friant asked what the plans were should a community hospital be created, for example if each town would have a 25 percent stake in it.

“I don’t want to evade your question,” Augustine said, “but that is so far down the road I honestly don’t know.” 

Other selectmen voiced their opinions on this question, agreeing that without a vote by the taxpayers of the town they could not and would not commit funds.

“I would never vote to spend money without going through the taxpayers,” Selectmen Jay D. Warren said.

Other business

The selectmen approved 15 volunteer members to the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and appointed John O’Connell as chairman. O’Connell was chairman of the last Comprehensive Plan Committee. Board Chairman Bill Hamblen recused himself from the vote, since he was one of the 15 approved.

Jane Lafleur, Executive Director of the Friends of Midcoast Maine, has been working on putting together a walkability audit for Boothbay Harbor for several months. At the meeting she announced Dan Burden, Executive Director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, would be in Maine on October 29 and 30; and Boothbay Harbor’s walkability audit would be held on the 30. 

The audit will be from 3 to 7 p.m. and include a light dinner, and Lafleur expressed hope that between 50 and 60 local people would attend the walk. 

Derek Abbott of Boothbay Harbor (and Boothbay) asked the selectmen what the Public Works department was doing on Lobster Cove Road at the late Evered Trask’s former home this week. Town Manager Tom Woodin replied that after obtaining written permission from the administrator of Trask’s estate and the Department of Environmental Protection, Public Works was cleaning up the property of debris. 

Woodin said that in the past 5 years he had received numerous complaints about the state of the property, calling it “unsightly.” He stated it took a day and a half to clear the property, and since then he has gotten nothing but positive comments.

The selectmen agreed that since their next scheduled meeting would take place on Columbus Day (October 8) they would instead meet at on October 9.