NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen granted tax-exempt status for two large parcels of land held by the Royal River Conservation Trust as a charitable and benevolent organization by a 4-1 vote on Monday.

Selectman Chairman Steve Libby voted against the exemption.

Assessor’s agent Michael O’Donnell in a letter to the board wrote, “Over the last 10 years or more, many land trusts and land conservation organizations have applied for and received exemption from local property tax.”

“I know of no case law that supports denial of these exemptions and I have had many conversations with land trust lawyers ready to produce case law that supports them. I don’t see it as in the best interest of New Gloucester to challenge these requests just to create a vehicle for clarity in exemption law.”

Lost revenue to the town totals $1,400 annually for two large parcels for the development of the Pisgah Hill project to link a trail system and protect open space that was sold to the trust through fundraising efforts in recent years.

In other business, the board unanimously agreed to solicit a request for qualifications and preliminary design proposal by a design-engineering firm for an Upper Gloucester public water supply system.

The project is being developed by the New Gloucester Planning Department with advisory input by the New Gloucester Land Management Planning Committee and Drumlin Environmental of Portland under the authority of the Board of Selectmen.

The selected firm will work under a contract with the town of New Gloucester and Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection.

MDEP this year agreed to provide matching funds to support planning and engineering work for the project.

The Upper Village of New Gloucester has experienced groundwater contamination from several sources including:

* Petroleum derived from historical releases of several small gasoline stations along Route 100/202.

* Sodium and chloride from historical storage of salt in several locations along Route 100/202.

* Uranium derived from underlying granitic bedrock and present in the current water supply for Memorial School at concentrations that exceed the primary drinking water standard.

At the present time Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection maintains water treatment filters to remove petroleum in five properties. The town of New Gloucester is currently maintaining reverse osmosis filters to remove sodium and chloride at eight properties and SAD 15 is currently operating an anion exchange filter system to remove uranium at Memorial School.

The Public Water Preliminary Design proposals must be submitted on or before Aug. 15, 2011.

A Phase I timeline for the project that completes a final design of a distribution water system and storage plus the construction of the well and pump station is to be under way by next summer pending funding and a special town meeting approval vote in late fall.

Applications will be filed to a state revolving loan fund and a community block grant funds.

A commitment in writing from MDEP for a percentage of funding is also required.

In other business, resident Patty Mikkelsen learned that a recent workshop on how town appointments to boards are made will go next for input to all committee members who currently serve town boards.

Mikkelsen requested that citizen input also be included in the review process to determine through transparency and develop specific policies and procedures that govern all appointments.

Currently appointees are not interviewed by the board, applications are incomplete and kept on file for long periods and attendance is not questioned. And, in some cases, relatives, friends and businesses serve where conflict is perceived, often on the same committees. And, the concept of “experience” versus “new blood” has been said to impact some appointment choices.