By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

The Bridgton Community Center is home to many programs and organizations. At times, it is becoming home for the unhoused, which BCC Board president Marcia Sullivan says can be problematic.

“For the last three meetings at the Community Center, we’ve been wrestling with how to manage the homeless individuals in and around the building,” Sullivan told the Select Board. “We’ve talked to (Police) Chief Jones and he’s given us a number of suggestions. One thought, is it possible we could get some signage posted on the grounds, like the town beach and town parks, that from dust to dawn the (BCC) grounds are closed?”

Sullivan outlined a few problems the Community Center has experienced from individuals spending lengthy time in the bathroom, which prevents other BCC patrons from using the facility to individuals either sleeping on the center’s indoor furniture or the outdoor shelter bench intended for individuals waiting to board the Lake Region Explorer bus.

Community Center users expressed concerns to BCC leadership regarding the situations, leading Sullivan to approach the Select Board for their thoughts.

Selectman Paul Tworog asked how many unhoused individuals frequent the Center.

“This is the time of year where the weather is more conducive for people to come here, from urban areas, and camp around the area,” Sullivan said. “The other attraction is there’s one or two electrical outlets that people use for their phones, and there’s water available.”

Sullivan said Chief Jones was amendable to post signage closing the property to the public from dusk to dawn, but the Select Board had to formally approve the posting.

Town Manager Bob Peabody noted that Bridgton Police do patrol the area frequently, and will ask unhoused individuals to leave the property.

The town will post signs at BCC.

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Clearer picture — When the Ordinance Review Committee proposed no parking zones at the intersection of Cedar Drive and Route 302 to address motorist visibility problems often caused by parked vehicles with trailers, one resident wondered what it would actually look like.

Committee member Deb Brusini asked if the town’s Public Works Department could somehow mark 275 feet toward the Causeway and 400 feet toward town. Town Manager Peabody felt installing stakes with a colored tip might do the trick.

More discussion on this proposal as part of the Traffic Ordinance takes place tonight, June 13, at 5 p.m. at the Municipal Complex meeting room.

On a side note, the town and BCC will be negotiating a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding. Select Board member Carrye Castleman-Ross will serve as the board’s representative, along with Town Manager Peabody.

“We have received the proposal, and while I’m not going to talk about it publicly because it’s part of negotiations, I don’t think this is going to be a particularly onerous undertaking like it was the last time we did it,” Peabody noted. “I think there’s three things they want to talk about, and I think those are pretty standard things.”

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CDD director leaving — Bridgton will be in the market for a new Community Development Director.

Tori Hill has resigned as CDD effective July 3. The town will begin this week advertising to replace Hill.

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Reval funding — The public will be asked to appropriate $150,000 from the Unassigned Fund Balance in a secret ballot vote at a special town meeting on Nov. 5 to fund a revaluation. A public hearing will be held in October.

Electricity cost to spike — Before the town dived into developing a new wastewater system, it budgeted $6,000 to operate the old disposal system. The electricity budget for the new system is $64,000.

Public Service Director David Madsen explained that the old system had just three “small” pump stations — of which some ran for an hour a week.

“We’re pumping a lot more water at a lot further distance, and we have a lot more pump stations now,” he said. “You now have a complete treatment plan that has pumps and blowers, so that’s a substantial amount of electricity that’s needed.”

Selectman Paul Tworog wondered if installing solar panels at the treatment site could reduce electrical costs?

“We need to get a year or so under our belt and we really see what we have,” Madsen said. “There’s no way you can put solar up in that treatment field. We have pipes all through there. You can’t go and put a solar field up there because if we ever expand the field, that where the next field goes.”

There will be fencing installed around pump stations on Park Street and at Frances Bell Drive, while the others will be screened using arborvitae trees.

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Place to park at Market — Shelby Oates of Parsonsfield hopes to park her 4-foot by 100-foot trailer in the Depot Street lot to sell food items during the Bridgton Farmers’ Market.

But, she needed Select Board approval for a new mobile victualer license. Town Manager Peabody reminded the Select Board that spaces (located between the BCC building and Community Garden sign) had been set aside for non-Farmers’ Market members, which Oates could utilize for her Greenhouse by SAO cart.

When asked about electrical needs, Oates said if she was unable to hook in at the BCC, she would consider using a small, “quiet” generator — although she primarily uses propane burners on a “very small grill space.”

Board Chair Carmen Lone asked if Oates had conversations with the BCC regarding electrical use? Oates looked to gain board approval of the license first, and then would discuss options with BCC leadership after. Oates reiterated that she planned to use the space only during the Farmers’ Market. Oates has operated her food cart here, appearing at Music on Main, as well as Dog Days, which is held on BCC grounds. The license was approved, 5-0. Peabody will check the Market parking map and instruct Oates where she can park her food cart.

Later during Select Board comments, Lone clarified that she is “not against food trucks” and she was not against Oates’ request.

“If not handled properly, it’s a situation that could get out of hand. I just wanted to be sure that the Farmers’ Market and the Community Center’s interests were protected,” Lone said.

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Sign thief of loose — There is a sign bandit in Bridgton, and BPD plans to find out who has been stealing legally posted signs, including those owned by the Bridgton Farmers’ Market and recent candidates for office.

“Whoever has my political signs, I want them back,” Select Board Chair Carmen Lone said. “They belong to me. You took them illegally, and I want them back. My name and phone number are on the back of those signs. I paid money for those signs, and I want them back.”

Longtime Selectman Bob McHatton also lost signs.

Town Manager Peabody said Bridgton Police has launched an investigation, and “have a very good idea of who did it because they’re a repeat offender.”

Peabody pointed out that a couple of political signs were removed Tuesday because one was staked at the Main Hill monument grounds, which is off limits, while two others were within 250-feet of the polls at the Town Hall, which is against state law.

Political signs must be removed 10 days after an election — same goes for special events.

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Showdown with Wildlife — Selectman Paul Tworog asked what the town plans to do about geese at Highland Lake Beach and beavers building dams “three properties up from Park Street?”

As for the geese, Public Service Director Madsen said the town crew is cleaning the beach each morning, and after speaking with an animal control officer, the town will take a two-pronged approach to keep the geese away. Step one is to place “life-like” coyote decoys near the water. The decoys will be moved once a day. Step two is to point green lasers at the geese, which will cause them to move away. Another option, which a property owner nearby has done, is to install stakes with shiny, reflective ribbons attached.

As for the beavers, Tworog at a previous meeting posed whether the town could pay the $1,600 for a trapper to remove the critters.

After eight attempts to talk with someone at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Madsen finally touched base with a biologist and learned that “it is not a town issue.” If the dam was next to a road, it becomes a town issue — which has become a situation elsewhere and needs attention.

“It is not our responsibility and we take no part in going onto private property to extricate them (beavers),” Madsen said.

Tworog clarified that he wasn’t asking for the town to go onto private property, but to “flex their huge muscle and spend $1,600 on removing the beavers in this extraordinary expenditure.”

Town Manager Peabody pointed out that the town’s attorney referred to a section in state law that the “Maine Constitution includes the power to tax, but only to the extent that the tax revenues are spent for public purposes.”

“So, you cannot do that,” said Peabody regarding the town covering the $1,600 bill.

Tworog sees funding the beavers’ removal as preventing excessive flooding on public property when the beaver dam breaks.

The item will be placed on the next meeting agenda for more discussion.

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Thanks for your service — Select Board member Carrye Castleman-Ross publicly thanked Dee Miller for her long-time service as a Planning Board member.

“I really appreciate her standards of aesthetic design. I know she pushed back a lot when people were trying to get permits, but because of Dee and her dogged insistence on respecting aesthetic design, Bridgton is a beautiful town and I hope it stays that way for many years. Thanks to all of her hard work. Thank you, Dee,” she said.