NORWAY — Town Manager David Holt told the Board of Selectmen Thursday night that towns affected by Gov. Paul LePage’s freeze on a $3.5 million Communities for Maine’s Future grant probably have no grounds to sue despite a contractual agreement to receive the funds.
“Litigation at this stage doesn’t solve the problem,” Holt told selectmen at their board meeting.
Because the state statute appears to say the governor has a five-year window with a possible two-year extension to get the bonds, legal experts have told Holt and others that they probably do not have a leg to stand on in court at this time if they challenge the governor’s action.
The CMF money was part of a $25 million bond initiative approved by Maine voters June 8, 2010. Some $3.5 million of the funds were allocated to the CMF program for downtown revitalization in Maine communities. Eleven communities, including Norway and Livermore Falls, won grant awards for their projects, which were expected to not only help revitalize their downtowns but put scores of people to work.
Officials have heard, but have no formal notification, that the governor may now release some of the bonds sometime in 2014.
But with millions of dollars at stake, including $2 million in tax funds already spent on projects statewide, most of the projects are at a standstill.
Holt said officials from the affected towns met this week in Augusta to develop a strategy in hopes of finding a way to release the funds in a more timely manner.
About 14 officials from six of the 11 affected communities plus representatives of the Maine Municipal Association met Tuesday at the MMA headquarters in Augusta to determine how to proceed as a group.
The group has agreed that if, by the end of August, arrangements are not in hand to release the funds, the affected towns will begin working with their legislators to seek other means of funding the projects.
They will pursue the release of funds initially in the coming weeks through meetings with their legislators and the governor, letters of support and other means.
Norway’s Board of Selectmen agreed last night to invite their legislators to the next board meeting.
The competitive grant awards funds projects that restore and revitalize key buildings in the community, improve pedestrian access and safety, and are catalysts for local jobs. The communities that receive the funds are Bath, Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft, Eastport, Livermore Falls, Monmouth, Norway, Rockland, Skowhegan, Unity and Winthrop.
Norway was about to go out to bid on the $1.1 million Opera House renovation project when its $400,000 matching grant award was frozen. The money was to be used to renovate the first floor storefronts to lease them out.
The loss of the $400,000 matching grant award came as a stunning blow locally. Scores of officials and residents had worked for the past five years to save the 1894 iconic downtown building. Selectman Bill Damon and his wife Bea had donated $200,000 toward that effort. The Opera House Corp. and the Norway Savings Bank had joined as financial partners for the project.
“We’re all people who thought we were doing good things,” Holt said. “We want to keep those good feelings.”
Holt told selectmen the only hope now is that the town gets a firm answer from the governor’s office that the bonds will be released by 2014. If that happens, the town will get a fund anticipation note for the amount so the project can proceed. It will then be reimbursed when the grant money comes through in a few years.
The governor’s office has refused multiple times to comment on the situation to the Sun Journal. The Department of Economic and Community Development, which administers the grant, said its commissioner, George Gervais is looking at ways to restore some or all of the funding and will look at each case individually.
Representatives at Tuesday’s meeting in Augusta included Holt, Brenda Melhus, Bruce Cook and Dennis Gray from Norway representing the Norway Opera House Corp., Tess Woods from Unity; Justin Poirier from Bath; Town Manager John Doucette and Jeff Hewett from Skowhegan; Joe Slocum from Belfast; Town Manager Jack Clukey and Chris Maas from Dover-Foxcroft. Also present were MMA officials Geoff Herman, Eric Conrad and Richard P. Flewelling, from MMA’s legal services.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- Norway Opera House Corp. members, from left, Brenda Melhus, Bruce Cook and Dennis Gray met in Augusta with officials from other communities affected by Gov. Paul LePage’s recent freeze on the Communities for Maine’s Future program grants. The grants were slated for downtown projects such as the restoration of the Norway Opera House.
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