DIXFIELD – Selectmen on Monday authorized changing the locks to Ludden Memorial Library’s community room, then issuing new keys.
During library director Peg Malley’s monthly report to the board, she said she was unaware that several individuals and groups had keys.
“I have no idea how many people out there have keys. People are having meetings I don’t know about,” she said. “If I’m responsible for the room, I need to know who has keys.”
She said some groups also don’t leave the room as they found it, which means Malley and her library assistant have to clean it up, despite posted rules on use of the downstairs room.
New keys that can’t be duplicated will be made and distributed once the locks are changed.
The board also heard a request by the public works director, Tim Hanson, to install a concrete boat ramp at McGouldrick Park.
He said boaters and canoeists have difficulty launching into the Webb River because of the muddiness and general poor condition of the current site. He said a Scarborough firm visited the site on Monday and provided a $2,000 estimate for a 20-by-8-foot concrete boat ramp. He said the Public Works Department would put down the matting and gravel.
Jay Bernard, the town’s code enforcement officer, said a state Department of Environmental Protection permit would be needed. The project would also have to go before the Planning Board, member Ralph Clarke said.
Also on Monday:
• The board declined to provide a town donation to Communities Getting Involved, a nonprofit group that is cleaning up more than 100 miles of the Androscoggin River. Selectmen told the group’s representative, Eric Goodwin, that such requests should be made during the budget development process. Hanson, however, said an unnamed organization would donate up to the $250 requested. Norine Clarke of the Dixfield Economic Development Committee also offered a donation from the committee. Work on the five miles of Androscoggin River shoreline in Dixfield is scheduled to begin Aug. 15.
• The board met in a closed session to begin contract negotiations with public works employees.
• The board was notified of an intent to file a lawsuit against the town in another closed session. Town Manager John Madigan declined to provide the name or nature of the potential lawsuit. He said the law firm representing the town, Prehti, Flaherty and Beliveau of Portland, has 20 days to respond to the possible lawsuit.
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