By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — A proposed community center-town hall building will not be reviewed by residents at Annual Town Meeting next month. Nor will it join proposed ordinances that are poised to be on the ballot during the June Primary.

Instead, the community center question will appear before the voters during the governor’s race in November. That is what the Naples Board of Selectmen decided during its regular meeting on Monday. 

It makes much more sense to wait until that time, elected officials agreed. 

First off, the fall Election brings an increase in voters compared to town meeting. 

Secondly, new information will be available that will help voters make that decision.

By this autumn, the property revaluation would have been completed and a new mil rate set.

“We have the new revaluation” taking place, according to Naples Chairman Jim Grattelo.

“We are crazy to put this item on the April town meeting because we don’t have all the information until we see the new tax bill.”

The Naples Community Center Exploratory Committee would prefer to put off the vote until the autumn, too. 

“We’ve talked about it as a committee. We might wait until the numbers come back and put it on the November warrant based on the numbers that come back from the revaluation. That way they [the voters] will have the new mil rate and see how it will affect taxes,” according to Selectman Bob Caron II, who sits on the exploratory committee.

That is the group that for the past three years has been trying to figure out what to do with a gymnasium with zero load-bearing capacities and a town hall built in the 1940s. At first, the group considered both remodeling and building new. But, an engineer’s report revealed that trying to save the gym would be a futile effort, Caron said.  

“Damage to the gym was to the point that fixing it was more than replacing it: the leaky roof, the heating and electrical system is overburdened. The bathroom facilities are not ADA-compliant,” he said.  

After looking at an initial cost estimate that was more than $10 million, the committee downsized the plan to bring down the cost.

“The committee cut out things that weren’t really as important,” Caron said.

Some of those items that went by the wayside were: the space for the post office to rent which reduced the cost by $1 million; extra storage space, and a metal roof. The metal roof was scrapped for shingles, with have a 10-to 15-year lifespan.   

“The final plan is $9.3 million for the project,” Caron said. “This plan that we would like to present to the residents does not include a post office. We feel that the whole project should be voted on as it goes because it can be built while staff is working and town office is open.”

In other words, the plan is being presented as a one-shot deal instead of a piece meal project, Caron said. 

An audience member asked if the new design will allow for expansion of the building in the future. Caron answered that the proposed structure would be designed for add-ons 20 years or however long down the road.  

Board members admitted that Naples residents historically vote down big expenditures.

“I am one of those conservatives in the town who would vote it down,” Tania Brooks said as she stepped to the microphone. “Sell it to me. Sell it to me; and tell me that my tax dollars are being used in the best way.”

Another woman in the audience said that the town’s recreation department should be offering more programs so that the need for space is apparent.  

“What are they actually doing for our community? It is not doing anything for us. You want a big meeting room. We have more than enough space here,” she said. 

Caron fielded her questions.

Currently, the recreation department schedules time to use the gymnasiums at the Casco Community Center, the Bridgton Old Town Hall, and the Crooked River School just to run our basic programs for children in Naples, he said.

Also, in just two years, “the programs have grown by 30 percent. That is one of the big purposes of this project,” he said. “We are trying to expand programs but we cannot, we are using everyone else’s facilities.”

The woman, who has young children and has been a resident for about a decade, said the town must prove that a new community center is really a need.  

“The town needs to prove itself. The town needs to say, ‘We are doing more. We need more space,’ ” the audience member said.