RUMFORD – Selectmen voted 4-1 on Thursday to lend the Moontide Water Festival Committee $7,000 for the cost of fireworks for this year’s Fourth of July display.
At the board’s last meeting, selectmen donated the usual amount of $10,000 to the festival, but because of remaining costs from last year’s event, this year’s donation will go to help pay off some of that debt. At that time, committee President Joe Roberts had also asked for a $10,000 loan that would be used, in part, as a down payment on this year’s fireworks.
He said $10,000 was owed for last year’s fireworks, plus several thousand more for other festival costs. He said he didn’t know the exact amount.
The town’s lawyer, Jennifer Kreckel, had advised the board to make an additional donation rather than a loan because the committee had no collateral, said Town Manager Steve Eldridge.
Although Selectman Jim Rinaldo, the sole dissenter, said he was willing to give the committee another chance if the town could find the money, he was concerned that other organizations may ask for similar loans in the future.
Roberts said he recognized that the committee must build up trust because of “past problems.” The committee’s former president, Matthew J. Plante of Rumford, pleaded not guilty on March 31 to stealing more than $5,000 from last year’s committee fund-raising efforts. His case is pending in Oxford County Superior Court.
“We feel our trust was violated and we know the public’s trust was violated. We’re trying to rebuild that trust,” Roberts told selectmen, adding that a series of safety measures have been introduced to help avoid any future problems.
Both he and his wife, Dr. Angella Roberts, provided verbal guarantees that the town’s $7,000 loan would be repaid by Sept. 1, 2005.
Committee members, many of whom attended Thursday’s board meeting, are working to hold one fund-raising event each month to repay debt and to raise enough money for this year’s three-day festival, scheduled for July 2-4.
Roberts has said the festival costs as much as $50,000, including fireworks. He said, too, that this year’s fireworks cost will likely be pared back by $5,000, from the usual $25,000 to $20,000.
“We’re committed to doing this. Our integrity is on the line,” he said.
Funds for the loan were taken from the town’s remaining $17,000 in cable franchise fees. Selectmen also agreed to give the local access channel $10,000.
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