Proposed changes to Alna’s Head Tide Dam have won selectmen’s support, but the board will ask a lawyer before sending the offer to town meeting in March.

Selectmen decided unanimously Jan. 18, if attorney David Soule finds the changes fit with a deed covenant, the board will propose the project to voters and recommend they approve it. The covenant calls for the dam to never be destroyed.

First Selectman David Abbott said he’s been skeptical before, about changes a selectmen-appointed committee and the Atlantic Salmon Federation were looking at for the town-owned dam. But the latest offer, received in an email from ASF Vice President of U.S. Operations Andy Goode hours before the meeting, appears to work on three fronts, Abbott said.

It would still aid fish passage and address deterioration on the concrete dam, but would have little impact on the dam’s look, Abbott said. “It makes it so that for people crossing the river, it’s not going to look much different than it does now.”

According to Goode’s Jan. 18 email, the project would remove about eight percent of the dam. A previous version would have removed about 11 percent, Abbott said. The proposal centers on replacing the abutment nearest Head Tide Road. The opening would be bigger than the one the dam now has on that end; selectmen said they recently asked for a cosmetic change involving a section of concrete.

Goode writes in the email, “(Aside) from achieving the look of keeping some of the concrete on the right bank ledge it also adds back in some of the square footage of the dam ... replacing the weakest part of the current overall structure, and taking pressure off the rest of the dam. As previously discussed, leaving the concrete in place in the top portion of the opening does not take away from the significant fish passage gains this proposal would result in.”

In addition, board members said the proposal would keep the swimming hole and possibly make it safer and the water fresher due to changes in water flow.

Selectmen predicted Soule will find the proposed changes to the dam do not violate the covenant. “I’m 95 percent sure he’s going to,” Abbott said, adding he views the changes as improvements that will help the dam last and help avoid stability issues that could draw the state’s attention.

‘Let’s keep it stable,” Second Selectman Melissa Spinney said.

Committee member Ralph Hilton asked selectmen to end the committee and thank it. Its work is over, he said. But selectmen kept it intact, saying they will want its input on a contract with the ASF if voters approve the project. Committee member Greg Shute offered to help with the contract. Goode has said a project would cost the town nothing.

Talking cable

Selectmen said that on the advice of their cable negotiator Mike Edgecomb, they may seek ConnectME Authority funds to expand high-speed internet access in the Head Tide-Dock Road areas; Charter Communications has declined because there are fewer than 20 homes a mile, selectmen said. Also on Edgecomb’s advice, the board agreed to ask Charter for franchise fees of five percent of the company’s gross revenues from Alna customers. The prior deal with Time-Warner gave the town less than three percent of revenues from basic cable, selectmen said. They said the proposal represents an average of what other area towns are getting.

Third Selectman Doug Baston suggested using the fees toward the local match for a ConnectME grant, if the town gets one. That would help increase residents’ access and, in turn, increase the town’s revenues from the provider, Abbott said in support of the idea.

Selectmen put Midcoast Conservancy on the agenda for their Feb. 1 meeting. They have approached the nonprofit about a voluntary contribution in lieu of taxes on its exempt properties. The board meets at 6 p.m. at the town office.