March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Sewer plant needs licensed worker> Fort Kent utility’s operator resigned

FORT KENT — The dissolution of the Fort Kent Utility District is in the works, but a more immediate problem faces the utility, which controls both water and sewer facilities in the town.

The sewer plant’s only licensed operator resigned this week, leaving the facility without a licensed person on staff. David Dumond was operating the plant with a class II license.

“We need a licensed person to operate the plant,” utility district Chairman Robert Berube said Monday night.

The district is working with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to find out how many hours per week the licensed person must be at the plant.

“We can either get a licensed person or hire an engineer, on a part-time basis, until a full-time person can be hired,” Berube said Thursday afternoon.

Following a straw poll of Fort Kent residents last month, a bill has been introduced in the Legislature to dissolve the 8-year-old utility district. Efforts to find out the status of the bill were fruitless Thursday afternoon.

Berube said the bill for dissolution was to be proposed by Rep. John L. Martin, D-Eagle Lake. Martin could not be reached Thursday afternoon.

In the meantime, directors of the utility and the Fort Kent Town Council have agreed that the new operator would be a municipal employee, as opposed to a district employee.

“It’s no use hiring the person as a utility district person when the town has a contract to oversee the operation of the plant,” said Berube. “When we dissolve, the utility will become a department of the town anyway.”

The district hopes to acquire a full-time working foreman who would have the required license to operate the facility.

Until a person can be found, Berube said, the utility has a proposal to staff the facility from the Wright Pierce Engineering Co.. The proposal, however, is costly and will be used only if absolutely needed.

The facility needs a part-time licensed person, explained Berube, for about 20 hours per week.


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