By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO— Just that evening a resident commented on how nice it is to have the burned-out home in front of the Mill Pond gone.

Sam Brown said he was appreciative to the local selectmen for going through the legal process that led to the removal of the burned down building on Route 11.

“That really is a marked improvement. That means a lot to my neighbors and my family, and to the people who drive up and down Route 11 to be able to take in the view of the Mill Pond,” Brown said.

Demolishing and disposing of dangerous buildings neglected by landowners has been one of the goals of the selectmen.

The Casco Board of Selectmen visited its list of goals, noting that some were coming to fruition. In fact, the cleanup of abandoned and dangerous buildings was No. 11 on the board’s list. Smack dab in the middle on a list of 20 goals.

“We are still looking to try to clean up any abandoned properties we have. We did two last spring,” according to Casco Chair Robert “Bob” MacDonald.

The topic of goals — which is certainly suitable for the first meeting of the New Year — was on the Jan. 3 agenda under old business.  

A couple years ago, when Don Gerrish was acting as interim town manager, he invited each selectman to write down his or her goals for the town. Many of those goals were improvements to make, concerns to address or needs to meet. Once the selectmen’s lists were made, Gerrish created a top 20 compiled of often repeated objectives. In the past two years, the board has made strides to tackle some goals while noting that other ones were pushed onto the back burner.

“We have 20 goals on this list. The first one is the comp plan,” MacDonald said, adding that the anticipated completion date is May 23.

The No. 1 goal, re-doing the town’s comprehensive plan, is one item that ended up as words on a list and was turned into action.  Five months from now, citizens at June’s town meeting will vote on the proposed comp plan. During fiscal year 2021-22, money was set aside in order to put the comp plan project out to bid. Last spring, the first community workshop was held. This winter, a rough draft of the proposed comp plan is being produced. By this summer, townspeople will be deciding whether or not to approve a new comp plan.

No. 3 on the list of goals was development of the Berry Property.

“I would like to see the [fire department] feasibility study and how that is applicable to the Berry Property,” Mary-Vienessa Fernandes said.

The property revaluation came in at No. 7. The cost of the revaluation was set aside over the course of two fiscal cycles. 

“The revaluation is starting,” MacDonald said.

Putting in LED streetlights is goal No. 8. The town contacted Central Maine Power (CMP) about the LED upgrade program and was put on the future project list. The anticipated completion date is 2023.  

To offset the rising cost of electricity, a goal of charging a fee for using the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations was put on the table. The town is in the process of hiring a company to manage EV charging station fees. That is goal No. 12.

The next goal is communication with the public, specifically regarding private road that are public easements.

Selectman Scott Avery commented.

“I would like that to be any communication with the public. We’ve talked about a digital sign on Route 302— any way to communicate with people,” Avery said.

Goal No. 15 is how to communicate about the budget process to the public. The anticipated start date for the finance committee to meet with selectmen is early March.

Two goals were communication oriented: webpage updates and increased cell phone coverage.

Goal No. 19 is trying to improve public safety by presenting a long-term plan for law enforcement services.

“We have a date of June of this year to complete that,” MacDonald said.

“Public safety — that is going to be a tough one. As much as people would like to have it, Wow! The costs are crazy,” Select-person Fernandes said. MacDonald agreed that the upfront or first year costs are higher because it includes the town purchasing