Alna First Selectman David Abbott and officials with two nonprofits agree on two points regarding Head Tide Dam: If left untouched, eventually nature will dismantle it; and until then, the only way changes will occur on or near the dam is if people of varying viewpoints are in on the planning.

“We should have a pretty good cross-section, not just someone with one interest,” Abbott said.

The town owns the dam, in a deed from the Jewett family that once had a lumber mill the dam powered.  Environmental groups seeking to improve fish passage in the Sheepscot River have made occasional overtures to Alna about either enlarging the openings in the concrete dam or removing it.

The deed calls for the dam to never be destroyed. However, the latest groups to approach the town maintain that the stipulation doesn’t close the door to changes that would help the fish and the river as a whole.

Any proposal is at least year away, said officials with the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association (SVCA) in Newcastle and Atlantic Salmon Federation in Brunswick.  There would be nothing ready to go to a town vote in 2015, Andrew Goode, the federation’s vice president of U.S. programs said.

In separate telephone interviews Dec. 30, Goode and SVCA executive director Steve Patton said better fish passage is a goal but not the only one; they also want to explore possible landscaping work and other improvements to memorialize the dam’s place in the history of Head Tide and possibly also improve canoeists’ access to the spot.

At the Dec. 30 Alna selectmen’s meeting, First Selectman David Abbott recounted his recent meeting with Goode and Patton. He said that when they brought up the idea of a fishway, he suggested a committee be formed. It should include people who do and do not feel an attachment to the dam, he said Dec. 30. Any proposal the committee makes would need town approval to carry out, Abbott said.

Abbott doubted that residents would agree to turn over the dam to the organizations; he was unsure where public opinion would fall regarding a fishway, or another option he said the two men mentioned about possibly having the groups assume liability for the dam. “It’s something worth considering,” he said about that idea.

Town Clerk Amy Warner asked if the men raised the ideas to Abbott as a serious proposal. “They were just kind of throwing it out there,”  Abbott said.

“I told them nothing’s going to happen very quickly, that’s for sure, because the wheels of government turn slowly.”

Someday, nature’s toll will necessitate a decision about the dam, Abbott said.

“There’s going to be a point in time (when) you’re going to have to either fix it or tear it out. That might be 100 years from now,” he added.

Goode and Patton said they would not ask the town to help with the cost of projects that the committee might propose. They and Abbott acknowledged the committee may not agree to propose anything.

The three said the variety of perspectives they are calling for on the committee could present challenges to reaching a consensus; but they said that’s what it will take for a proposal to succeed.

The committee approach could set it apart from attempts other groups have made for change at the dam without this level of community involvement, Patton said.

“There’s no point in doing that. We know that doesn’t work,” he said.

Warner planned to send residents an email seeking prospective committee members. Filling the committee will probably not be a problem because a lot of people in town have strong opinions about the dam, Third Selectman David Reingardt said.

Goode said he and Patton have also recently spoken with Whitefield officials about the dam that town owns at Coopers Mills.

Dialing for savings

Changes that Alna selectmen are making to phone services at the town office and fire station should shrink costs by about one-third, according to town officials and Alna resident Jeff Spinney.

Spinney has been volunteering his help with the changes that include a three-year deal with service provider GWI. He and town officials on Dec. 30 projected the monthly costs will drop from about $300 to about $200, with further savings possible if the town drops any of its four phone lines.