Alna selectmen

‘Fund to Support Historic Alna’ announced

Tue, 02/28/2023 - 11:45am

SUSAN JOHNS

File photo

Alna selectmen Feb. 22 set public hearings to be held at the fire station at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 9 for a building ordinance update and two proposed moratoriums. Voters face the proposals at town meeting March 25.

Each moratorium would be for 180 days and could be extended by selectmen after notice and hearing, according to the proposals. According to the draft warrant the board reviewed and the proposals at alna.maine.gov, one moratorium, or temporary ban, would be “on the siting, installation, operation, permitting and approval of any Commercial or Community Solar Energy Facility ...” The other would be “on the siting, installation, operation, permitting and approval of any new Mineral Extraction Facilities and Operations and the expansion of any existing, actual and substantial Mineral Extraction Facilities and Operations ...”

First Selectman Ed Pentaleri has said the town has no standards for the kinds of projects the moratoriums involve. Those proposals for those and for the changes to the building ordinance are available at alna.maine.gov and from the town clerk, the draft warrant noted.

Elections are at the fire station from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, March 24, according to the draft warrant selectmen reviewed at the town office and over Zoom; for an absentee ballot, contact the town clerk; alna.maine.gov also has the application. And Coreysha Stone, via Zoom, reminded fellow residents a meet and greet with candidates for selectboard and Alna’s Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit seats is set for 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 11 at the town office, with coffee and treats.

The annual, open town meeting is at 10 a.m. at the fire station.

Also Feb. 22, selectmen agreed to pay Midcoast Conservancy up to $12,000 for administration, coordination and management services on the Egypt Road bridge replacement; Pentaleri said the sum represents about 420 hours at $28.50 per hour. Third Selectman Charles Culbertson said the recent culvert collapse in nearby Jefferson, resulting in an 11-mile detour, underscores the Alna project’s importance.

Pentaleri agreed. “We’ll get this thing replaced before it washes out,” he said.

Pentaleri said the town is seeking one or more volunteers to serve as event coordinators, mostly for Alna Meetinghouse.

And Pentaleri said a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Fund to Support Historic Alna, aims to augment, not replace, taxpayer funding to preserve, maintain and restore historic sites by accepting tax-exempt donations and helping qualify and compete for grants. Pentaleri said he serves on the board with Michael Chaney, Christine Anderson, Alice Smith-Duncan and Al Monaco. Doreen Conboy serves “as an advisor and trusted colleague,” Pentaleri said.

He added, Friends of Head Tide Church remains a separate, 501(c)(3) nonprofit. “We have every intention of being mutually supportive of each other. We need everybody to be successful,” he said.

For more information on Fund to Support Historic Alna, visit historicalna.org

Proposals for the next five seasons of alewife harvesting are due at the town office by noon March 8 and will be opened at that night’s selectmen’s meeting, Pentaleri said.