FARMINGTON – Representing occupants of Church Street Commons, Bruce Hazard of Mountain Counties Heritage presented a downtown improvement proposal to selectmen Tuesday.
Components of the proposal include reconstruction of Church Street with diagonal parking and a sidewalk in front of the renovated Knowlton-McLeery building and enhanced lighting along an alley between Reny’s and the Homestead Bakery to provide better pedestrian access to a county parking lot on Anson Street. The proposal also includes an interpretive walking tour with signs and maps indicating places of historic and natural importance in the downtown area. The walking tour design would be implemented in a collaborative effort between the Farmington Historical Society, Mountain Counties Heritage and the Downtown Business Association.
The project would be funded through a state Community Enterprise Grant Program of up to $150,000 for which Hazard said he would apply by early February. If approved, there would be no matching funds necessary, like those from the Community Development Block Grant program. Selectmen unanimously voted to support the project with Mark Cayer absent.
Tim Hardy, director of Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, asked selectmen and other town officials to attend a three-hour National Incident Management System course to be held on Jan. 9 at the University of Maine at Farmington. The course, which will teach the basics of emergency response and capabilities to officials and the public, will be required training for all local government officials in order for communities to receive Homeland Security funding starting in 2007, Hardy said. The course is open to the public at no cost. To enroll, phone Hardy at 778-5892.
Hardy also presented a proposed four-page emergency management ordinance to be adopted by the town. Selectmen agreed it was a good idea. They will take up the proposal at a future meeting after Town Manager Richard Davis has edited it.
“We always hope we don’t have a disaster,” Hardy said, but we never know when it can happen – something that was highlighted by the events following Hurricane Katrina, he added.
Selectmen also voted to donate $100 from their special projects account to a Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War veterans’ memorial to be erected in Meeting House Park. Charles Bennett of the American Legion Post 28 said the monument is expected to cost between $10,000 and $12,000. They have raised nearly $400 already, he said. People wishing to donate to the fund may write checks to Veterans Memorial Fund and send it c/o Franklin Savings Bank, P.O. Box 825, Farmington, ME 04938.
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