LIVERMORE FALLS — At the selectmen meeting on Tuesday evening, Dec. 3, the board approved filing for three quit claim deeds and instructed Town Manager Carrie Castonguay to set up a meeting with them and other town officials regarding properties the town now owns due to unpaid sewer fees.

Tammy Gray, left, Livermore Falls deputy clerk and sewer clerk, talks Tuesday, Dec. 3, about properties with unpaid sewer bills during the selectmen meeting at the Town Office. Also seen, from left are Town Clerk Doris Austin, Police Chief Abe Haroon and Town Manager Carrie Castonguay. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

According to a sewer foreclosure list provided by Castonguay, there are 20 owners and 22 properties that have gone through the lien process. The amounts needed to be paid to stop foreclosure ranged from $288.29 to $6,739.50. Totals for unpaid sewer bills ranged from $1,490.48 to $10,768.59. Date of last payment ranged from October of 2018 to Nov. 27.

The total assessed value of the properties is about $1.82 million.

Castonguay asked Tammy Gray, deputy clerk and sewer clerk, to give the board a quick snapshot of how the town got to this point.

“So Alex [Alexander Pawson, former deputy clerk and sewer clerk] is actually the one that started it,” Gray said. ‘He started this in February 2023 and sent out 30 day notices to people to let them know that you have this amount to pay, and then the lien process is going to start. In May of 2023 that’s when he did the liens on these particular places.”

Gray said she sent out notice of automatic foreclosure in October 2024, letting them know that was coming up. “We have 45 to 30 days to send those out before the automatic foreclosure,” she noted. “I think I sent those out on day 36 and I specified that in the notes. I highlighted – which is something that you don’t typically do – at the top it has wording I added that all past due amounts must be paid prior to the lien before the automatic foreclosure can be taken care of.”

This isn’t typical, Gray stated. “We should be doing the 30 day notice as it comes about to keep everybody current, and not having a backlog of money that they owe us,” she said. “That wasn’t the case.”

Dec. 2 was the automatic foreclosure date, Gray noted. “It’s a lengthy process, it takes a while to get here,” she said. “Plenty of notices do go out. I will let you know that when a customer comes in, if we happen to recognize the name or see the account, we bring it to their attention in a very polite way, just as a reminder, so they have as much notice as possible, so they are aware. And unfortunately, that is where we are today.”

Gray said 35 owners were sent the last foreclosure notice, there were a lot more when Pawson started the process.

Castonguay said sewer foreclosures are a little different than real estate foreclosures. “It’s your discretion how you dispose of these,” she told the board. “Unfortunately, there is no waiver process at this point because there is statutory language, and the date is here. They have lapsed all into the town’s possession.”

Selectmen have a choice where they are sewer foreclosures, Castonguay said. “With real estate foreclosures there is no choice anymore,” she noted. “You have to contact with a broker and have it listed, which was clearly spelled out in our disposition policy. With these you have a choice, you can work with the person and have a repurchase agreement drafted up for them so they can retain the property.”

The process is pretty stringent, Castonguay said. “It’s actually going to involve quite a bit of legwork on the part of office staff,” she stated. “We have to set up a payment arrangement. If they default, they have 35 [days]. They have to make a monthly payment. It’s very, very well spelled out.”

There’s extra filing with the registry, you have to record the contract, because it is a legal binding document that these people are agreeing to pay what they owe, Castonguay said. “The timeline for that is you dictate how long you’re willing to give them to pay it back,” she stated. “Whether it is a year or six months or three months, or what have you. There’s that option. You can put them up for sealed bid, or you can contract with a broker. Those are really the three options that you have to dispose of these 22 properties.”

Chair William Kenniston asked if the repurchase agreement would be for what is owed for sewer or for the value of the property.

Castonguay said it was for what they owe. Staff will have to calculate interest on what is owed, additional recording fees, and next year’s assessments, she stated. Ten properties have received notices of automatic foreclosure for their real estate taxes as well, she noted.

“We’ll have to incorporate that in as well, because the real estate foreclosure process is basically null and void because we’ve already taken possession of it because it was in automatic foreclosure,” Castonguay stated. “They would have to pay all the sewer arrears, the fees, costs, interest, next year’s assessment, as well as the real estate taxes, arrears, interests and next year’s assessment, which we have to obviously estimate.”

Kenniston asked if the town could also bill for time spent on the process.

The town is only allowed to charge 10% of the total value, Castonguay replied. She wanted to hold a meeting with selectmen and the sewer clerk, town clerk and treasurer to go through the properties one by one. “We do know there is one of these on the list that they are currently working with a broker,” she said. “They are interested in selling that property. It’s those little things that I think we need to kind of hash out before we make any blanket decisions.”

When asked, Castonguay said the town doesn’t know why the bills weren’t paid.

“I understand about the former Methodist Church,” Selectman Bruce Peary said. “It doesn’t belong to anybody.”

Castonguay said one property is the burnt lot on Park Street. “I think it’s pretty safe to say we can move forward with doing something with those properties,” she stated. “I would like to actually clean up the debris down on Park Street. I would like to file quit claim deeds in the town’s name on both of those properties.”

Technically the deeds aren’t needed because the foreclosure has matured, the town owns it anyway, Castonguay said.

The board approved filing quit claim deeds for the former Methodist church and parsonage on Church Street and 95 Park Street.

Selectman Jim Long said the sewer amounts owed are large numbers, he looked forward to the meeting.

The sewer lien meeting was to be held on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 5:30 p.m. Castonguay emailed the Livermore Falls Advertiser on Dec. 4.