Medway rejects development grant proposal

MEDWAY – East Millinocket is spending $83,336 to rebuild its Town Hall auditorium, lobby, hardwood floors, stage and balcony areas to create a modern community center and office space while restoring the building’s historic character.

Lincoln has raised about $424,000, created a trust fund and purchased 11 acres off Route 6 for its proposed recreational center.

Millinocket spent $1.4 million on an outdoor pool at its recreation center on the Stearns High School campus that in 2007 drew more than 3,000 people over 21/2 months.

And the towns pursued or completed those plans with little or no effect upon their property tax rates.

To Medway Selectmen David Dickey and James Lee, residents had a chance Monday to do something similar – to pursue self-investment strategies that broaden Medway’s tax base, encourage further investment and improve residents’ quality of life – but they opted not to.

Citing concerns about taxpayer costs and fearing that statewide school consolidation efforts would leave them with an empty middle school, 61 residents at a special town meeting voted against pursuing a $350,000 state Community Development Block Grant to help create a recreation, community and conference center at the Roy Powers Recreational Area off the Penobscot River.

No vote count was taken, but the voice vote’s intent was unmistakable, said town Administrative Assistant Kathy Lee, James Lee’s sister-in-law. Dickey and the Lees expressed disappointment at the vote.

“It just seems that whenever we [town leaders] try to do anything to help ourselves, we run into a brick wall,” Dickey said Thursday. “No one cares about the tax rate more than I do, but sometimes there are some short-term expenses to achieving something long term.”

James Lee was surprised at residents’ resistance.

“I was more than confident that we could have raised money without it costing [town] taxpayers a dime, but the people didn’t want to hear about it,” he said. “The people had their minds made up when they got there. They were misinformed when they got there and wanted to vote no right off. I think it would have been a great thing for the town.”

Under tentative town plans, the center would cost as much as $1.5 million. It would feature two meeting rooms, recreation department offices, a commercial kitchen, restroom and changing rooms and several storage areas. No construction timeline had been set.

To qualify for the grant, Medway would have had to come up with $87,500 in matching funds, Kathy Lee said. She expected it would have taken several more years to fully fund the project.

Still, the center would have represented a good investment in Medway, supporters said. It would have capitalized on great access, being off Route 157 and Interstate 95, and lovely views of the river to draw outsiders to town, aiding local businesses while vastly improving the town’s prime recreation area.

The center, they said, eventually would have created a slight revenue stream by being rented out to businesses for events. The town now relies only on tax dollars to fund its operations.

“We have no source of revenue,” Dickey said. “This project’s [financial effect] would have been minimal, the revenue would have helped us, and we were working on some other projects with people that could have helped even more.”

But center plans aren’t dead. Kathy Lee and Dickey will scale them back and likely apply for other grants to build at the recreation area off the Penobscot River. Expressing frustration, James Lee said he probably would not help that effort.

“It will continue. We have a whole year to get a smaller-scale project,” Kathy Lee said. “We can apply for some of these smaller grants we have looked at. We have a whole year to work on these things.”

“The building isn’t dead,” Dickey said. “We will look at doing something smaller.”

Without the center, Medway will continue to use the middle school or a private club’s hall for its large-scale meetings, if they’re available. And Jody Nelson, the town’s assistant director of recreation, will keep “running her summer programs on a picnic table,” Kathy Lee said.

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