OTISFIELD — Newly appointed General Assistance Administrator Shannon Moxcey told selectmen Wednesday night that the Workfare program can benefit the town and recipients.

General Assistance offers help to families and individuals in need of food, rent and utilities. The state reimburses towns 50 percent of what they spend.

Moxcey, who works as the General Assistance administrator in Norway, Paris, Waterford, West Paris and Mechanic Falls, said she can require a person asking for non-emergency welfare to work under the Workfare program, and it has been successful in many of the towns.

“I think we have a need for it — I really do,” Selectman Rick Micklon said. “That way, they think they’re earning something and it’s not a handout.”

Work is always supervised and usually involves working for the town or county by doing chores such as painting and lawn maintenance.

In Otisfield, selectmen suggested Workfare might include monitoring the local lake beach access during the summer.

“It just has a lot of advantages,” Moxcey said.

In other news, Board of Selectmen Chairman Hal Ferguson said he would like the Ordinance Policy Review Committee to look at the proposed tax-acquired property policy, an ATV policy and to look again at the cell tower siting appeals policy that was shot down by a handful of voters at last year’s annual town meeting.

The request to send an appeal of a cell tower siting directly to Superior Court rather than to the town’s appeal process was turned, 41-48, at the 2015 annual town meeting.

Many residents at that meeting balked at the plan to change the appeals process for a cell tower siting, saying their rights were being usurped.

Selectmen said it would not only expedite the appeals process but reduce legal costs for the town. The process would only apply to the Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance.

Ferguson said he was disappointed that voters turned down the proposed policy and would like to have the committee review it again for possible town meeting action.

A report on the Peasant Lake dam is being reviewed by officials in Otisfield and Casco. It appears there is a lot of ledge in the area of the dam and any repairs may require blasting, Ferguson said.

Casco and Otisfield selectmen received a report from the Maine Emergency Management Agency that said there is significant leakage and structural deterioration at the dam. 

Officials said that the dam, which is in Casco but owned by both towns, is leaking as much as 1,000 gallons of water per minute in at least three places.

The dam is on Mill Brook, behind the Hancock Lumber office on Route 121. It regulates the water level of the 3.8-mile-long Pleasant Lake, which lies in Casco and Otisfield. There are numerous homes and cottages around the lake, as well as the Seeds of Peace International Camp on the western shore and Camp Arcadia for Girls on the eastern shore, both in Otisfield.

The dam has been jointly owned, operated and maintained by Casco and Otisfield since 1994. It previously was owned by Hancock Lumber Co.

Town officials are expected to come up with a plan and cost to repair the dam and go before town meeting this year or next.

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