Searsmont Community Center a real local effort Only $40,000 in tax funds used

SEARSMONT – To step into the bright, new Searsmont Community Center is to see the best of the town’s past, as well as the best of its hopes.

With its finely milled wood, the imposing structure looking down on the intersection of Routes 131 and 173 is more than just a replacement for the Waldo County town’s municipal offices and library.

“We decided we wanted to truly be a community center,” said Carol Robbins, who served on the committee that launched the effort to build it three years ago.

Although the building houses the new town office, library and historical society, there is nothing institutional about the place or the way in which it came to be built.

And other than $40,000 from accounts set aside to repair the old town building, there is no town tax money in the new center.

Robbins said a lot of thought went into what would serve the town best once it became clear the town office was outgrowing its space.

The 2000 census put the town population at 1,174, a 25 percent jump from the 1990 population of 938.

Consideration was given to moving the town office to one building and the library to another, but that course was rejected.

With a total construction budget estimated at $900,000, the 17-member steering committee had its work cut out for it.

First, the panel convinced residents to approve selling the old town office and library building – which, 25 years ago, had housed the school – and the property on which it sits. The property includes a new post office building, which was generating rental income for the town.

Within a few months of listing the two buildings and property for sale, they sold for about $220,000, Robbins said. After the debt on the post office building was retired, the town netted $150,000 on the sale. That was applied toward construction of the new building.

The committee then went to work soliciting money from residents, and many local people came through, some with big donations, Robbins said. “We’ve had just incredible support from residents,” she said.

The committee also sought grants for the library portion of the center, and landed $50,000 from credit-card lender MBNA, $10,000 from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation and $10,000 from the Libra Foundation.

Rockland architect John Hansen designed the center and Rockport builder Bruce Laukka Inc. was given the construction contract for the 16,700-square-foot, two-level building. The groundbreaking was in May.

About $750,000 will be spent on the first phase of the project, which is nearing completion.

The town office is open for business, as is the library. The historical society is expected to move into its new space within a month. The community is still raising money for other plans it has for the center.

Robbins said the historical society plans to establish a heritage center in the large room off the library. The room features 14-inch-wide pine planks on the floor, which have been sanded and finished to a fine gloss.

The wall separating the heritage center is lined with windows, which will encourage visitors to the library to stop and visit the town’s museum, librarian Kathy Hoey said. Currently, the historical society’s collection is housed in members’ homes around town.

The library space, which measures 2,940 square feet, wraps around a central room and features a reading room area with views down into the village. There is enough space to spread out the ample book and videotape collection, as well as to divide children’s, young-adult, research and computer areas.

Hoey said the library has an impressive collection of books by Ben Ames Williams, who wrote about early days in Searsmont. A special bookcase is being built to hold the works, which will be made from wood milled from trees on the land Williams once owned.

There are also ambitious plans for the subterranean level of the building.

Meeting rooms for Scouts or any youth group are in the works, as is a meeting room that will be able to accommodate 150 people, enough for the annual town meeting, Robbins said. A senior citizen room is also planned.

The community might even put in some showers that would let the center serve as an emergency shelter.

Local people have continued to be involved in the project, as volunteers cleared brush, installed the septic system, loaned excavators and other equipment, and painted the inside.

In all, Robbins said, 50 volunteers contributed about 1,100 hours to the project. “It makes everyone feel like it’s their building,” she said.