PARIS – Oxford Hills School District directors voted 12-6 Monday night to lease up to 25 buses to the Nateva Festival organizers to transport an estimated 4,000 concert-goers to and from the Oxford fairgrounds during the three-day event in July.

The board authorized the use of the buses under the conditions that the promoter provide insurance to cover all costs related to bus damage except maintenance, a guarantee that the school district will not lose money in the venture, and the receipt of a “gift” of $5,000 from the promoter to the district’s music department.

The vote authorized the use of the district bus fleet for this year only.

“The only reason we got involved was to be helpful to the community as a whole. We’re not promoting this (concert),” Superintendent Mark Eastman said.

Just two hours earlier, Eastman met with Frank Chandler, president of Nateva Festivals Inc. of Newton, Mass., to iron out concerns raised by members of the school’s operational and budget committees.

The festival organizer is expected to place well over $1 million of insurance on the buses, and pay $35 per hour for the first two days of the concert and $45 for the July 4 holiday for services of some 12 to 15 school district bus drivers who have volunteered for the job and for transportation costs such as gas.

Representatives for the promoter had initially balked at the $45 an hour pay request by the school board, and the bus agreement had been scrubbed until Chandler called Eastman recently and said he would pay the requested money.

The three-day, multistage event is expected to draw up to 15,000 people to the Oxford Fairgrounds off Pottle Road on the Oxford/Norway town line from Friday, July 2, through Sunday, July 4,. Forty bands ranging from jazz to rock and reggae are expected to perform. The featured bands include Further, Jakob Dylan and the Flaming Lips. Tickets have been sold to people from every state in the country and to others in Japan and England, according to Chandler.

Some school board directors expressed concern about the venture.

Director Bill Hanger of Waterford, who voted against the proposal, said he was concerned with the festival leasing school buses that were paid for by taxpayers.

But other directors, such as Don Gouin of Norway said he favored the move.

“I see this as an opportunity for the school system to play a positive part in the community. We have always strived to be good neighbors,” he said.

Eastman said the Nateva Festival will provide staff to train the school bus drivers and monitor the bus service, which will provide free round-the-clock transportation from the Oxford Plains Speedway on Route 26, where concert-goers will park their cars, to the fairgrounds more than two miles north. The service will be provided all three days.

“We’ve never done this before,” Eastman said just hours before the School Board of Directors took their vote.

Eastman said the plan initially carried a host of unanswered questions including liability, security, routing and other issues that may have resulted in a loss of money for the school district.

While the operations committee initially voted not to recommend hosting the plan, Eastman said Chandler told them he would do “whatever it takes” to make it work for the district.

“There was a strong interest on the part of Nateva to have us do this,” Eastman said. “We now know we are transporting to one site. We’re transporting from the speedway to the fairgrounds. It’s much less complicated.

“We’ve run the route. We timed the route. That’s the piece of cake. Now we have to figure out how quick we can get them (buses) emptied and fill them again. Load and go, load and go,” he said, explaining how the process would work under the best circumstances.

Police will provide security at both loading and drop-off points. If any of the concert-goers are inebriated and try to board the bus, they will not be let on, Eastman said. Instead, a separate van will be available to transport them.

The festival staff will not use the high school parking lot or school buildings, he said.

“The bottom line is there is going to be a benefit for the music department,” said Finance Committee Chairman Joe Vaillancourt of Otisfield, who said the committee was initially cautious but agree they should help provide “goodwill” to the community and promote local business.

Nick DiConzo of West Paris, chairman of the Operations Committee, added that he had faith in the local law enforcement and that they will take care of any problems.

The school department has a fleet of 40 school buses.

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