By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — For something that was removed from the agenda, the community center bond got a lot of air time during the Naples Select Board meeting.

The topic had been on the agenda under new business. It said, “Discuss way ahead following the failed ballot item for a new community/recreation center.”

On Monday night, the agenda item was postponed at the request of Chairman Ted Shane, who was absent for work-related reasons and wanted to be present for the discussion.

The subject was discussed nonetheless.

First, resident Martina Witts, who serves on the Naples Planning board, the Naples Budget Committee and the Naples Ordinance Review Committee, spoke during public participation time.

She pushed the town to try again to get a bond for a gym that the town cannot continue to do without.

“I implore you to bring something to the voters that will pass. We live in Maine, we can’t play outdoors 12 months out of the year,” Witts said.

“This is the second meeting since the town vote in November,” she began.

“My point of view on the whole thing: That particular proposal is ‘dead in the water.’ The fact remains that the Town of Naples still doesn’t have gym. We have less today than when most of you were elected.  . . . We don’t have a gym,” she said. “It would behoove you to put together a proposal that the vast majority of people would approve.”

She reviewed past meeting agendas to figure out how often the select board discussed the bond proposal prior to Election Day.

“I went through all the select board agendas for past 13 months leading up to the vote. There were 22 meetings. There were only three (3) meetings, where the community center was on agenda. One was under town manager’s notes,” she said.

She added that another time it appeared on the agenda was so the board could vote to place it on the ballot.

“A $7 million project was going before the voters, and it was only on the agenda three times,” she said.

“Neither of those three times was the budget committee invited to the meeting. The budget committee used to be consulted and involved in referendums that involved money,” she said.

She believed it should have been handled by a citizen’s advisory committee not by the town manager and the construction company.

“The whole process was an epic fail,” she said.

Vice-chair Colin Brackett pointed out, “It WAS on the agenda today. But Ted asked us to table it because he was not here.”

An audience member, who did state his name, spoke, too.

“Other towns seem to have a vision from a recreation standpoint. Frankly, it is embarrassing,” he said. 

Bracket said the proposal has failed at the polls twice, and it was turned down by the voting residents.

“I think the comp plan will tell us” what people want, Brackett said.

The audience member expressed skepticism.

“I am going to be in wheel chair in the nursing home off Route 302 in Casco by the time this is done,” the man said.

Bracket stated if the comp plan had been updated 10 years ago when it was supposed to be, the need for a community center would have already been addressed.  

Another resident Chip Keinath spoke on the subject.

“Talking about community center — it is depressing. There are a whole lot of people [who vote at the polls] who just like to go, ‘No. No.’ At the town meeting, people are invested. They ask questions and care about the issues,” he said.

He said without a recreation center, the town lacks an American Red Cross approved emergency center. It lacks a place for senior citizens and school-aged children to play sports in their hometown.

In order to reduce the cost, there are business-owners and contractors who were willing to donate time and materials toward building a community center, he said.

Town officials did not get behind the project either. 

“There was no real effort to put that out to the public,” Keinath said.

Select board member Kevin Rogers shared his opinion.

“When we are talking about this whole thing about the rec center, I agree. There was not a lot of publicity from the select board. There were plenty of people who could have waved the flag,” Rogers said.

“When the time came, there were 3,700 people who came to vote. It wasn’t a blowout,” he said. 

He commented that he thought it would pass.

“The next step we should start with is not blaming the select board with what happened. What do we do next to bring attention to this project? How do we approach that differently? Let’s stop blaming and figure out the next move,” Rogers said.

Jim Gratello, who joined via Zoom, blamed the high cost on the failed ballot measure.

JG: the CC field because two previous committee did not listen to the voters

“We were told we could get what we wanted for $4 million,” he said, adding the end design concept was $7 million.

He stressed the need to downsize and reduce the cost.

“We need to replace the gym, bathrooms and changing rooms. You can design this building to be phased in later,” Grattelo said.