POLAND — Plans for the Poland Historical Society’s Memorabilia Barn have changed and President Fred Huntress took time Tuesday to update selectmen on exactly where the project stands.
 
Huntress said the original intent had been to construct a free-standing, 26- by 36-foot building, however slope and rocks in the desired area raised the cost of the site work prohibitively. New plans call for attaching the new structure to the old schoolhouse.
 
“The resulting new building will now be a mongrel building of an old schoolhouse attached to a barn,” Huntress said.
 
Huntress noted that the L-shaped addition to the old schoolhouse would not be architecturally compatible with the existing buildings in the area.
 
And that isn’t the only problem Huntress saw with the project.
 
“We don’t have enough money in the budget to build right now,” he said.
 
The society received a $15,000 grant and has raised an additional $8,000 — enough to at least establish a foundation but not enough to complete the structure.
 
Compounding the problem is the grant deadline is June and the society must soon decide whether to ask for an extension.
 
Additionally, society members have yet to agree on what would be stored in the addition and whether it should be heated.
 
“If we start the project, how are we going to finish it?” Huntress said, pointing out that he didn’t want to cause headaches for the town.
 
Selectman Wendy Sanborn agreed that the society and the town have to figure out what the plan is, and then make it go.
 
“We will find a way to make it work,” Sanborn said.
 
In other business, selectmen met with Code Enforcement Officer Nick Adams to review a first draft of a new town fee schedule. They agreed to hold a public hearing on the proposed changes at the board’s next meeting.
 
Selectmen also considered a proposal to establish a formal agreement for sharing Public Works services and resources with the town of Mechanic Falls.
 
Selectmen agreed that any agreement must first establish a means of accounting the value of what each town provides the other and devise a method of recording and reporting what has been shared.
 
“We’ve asked our people for an accounting many times, over and over, without much success,” Selectman Larry Moreau said.
 
“If we don’t make it fair, we’ll have a citizens’ outcry,” Sanborn added.
 
Selectmen directed Town Manager Rosemary Kulow to refine the agreement to work out the problems of fairness — and recording and reporting accuracy.
 
Selectmen also signed a 10-year lease agreement with the trustees of the Pine Grove Cemetery, allowing the Poland Youth League to use the portion of the property where Cal Ripkin field is located.
 
Selectmen also named Administrative Assistant Rosemary Roy to serve as acting town manager when Kulow is on vacation toward the end of the month.
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