Alna keeps getting offers for solar power. And everyone is getting an offer to welcome all the changes at Head Tide Dam. The dedication is 11 a.m. Halloween, rain or shine, and open to the public, Third Selectman Greg Shute announced Oct. 2.

The same night, selectmen got their latest offer for solar power since the new town office opened last spring. This one was from resident Al Monaco. And he proposed the town pay him in a way it only could do if the installer was a taxpayer: Waive his taxes until the system is paid off, probably in three to four years, he told selectmen.

His taxes are close to $5,000 a year, but he cautioned in an interview at his solar-powered, Route 218 home Oct. 3, he doesn’t know yet what Alna would need for a system, so he doesn’t have a cost. Selectmen told him they will get him the town’s electric bills they are also gathering for Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12. The district has been exploring a possible solar project.

Monaco said that when he first approached the town, the board said to wait until the old town office sold. “It’s sold (and) I wondered if you were still interested ...”

They are, they said. When he explained no money would change hands under his idea, First Selectman Melissa Spinney said: “I like that.”

The board has expressed interest in, but not committed to, a possible SVRSU solar partnership involving SunDog Solar, Second Selectman Doug Baston said. And Shute said he has not heard back from ReVision Energy since the firm contacted the town and he responded.

As discussed Oct. 2, a project with Monaco would be on the town office grounds and meet the power needs of it, the fire station, the sand and salt shed, Village School at Puddledock, Center School and Alna Meetinghouse. 

Selectmen’s response was encouraging for the former Oyster Creek Electric owner, who has been building solar systems for years, including at home. One was to get Central Maine Power credits to charge the electric car he and wife Christine Anderson got a few years ago. The 11-year Alna residents burn about a cord of wood a year; their home’s south side has about 200 square foot of glass. Monaco said a concrete slab absorbs the sunlight the windows let in; at night, the slab releases the heat, warning the home.

Monaco said he felt selectmen were enthusiastic the night before. As far as he knows, if the town takes him up on the offer, it could mark the first time a town has bought a system in place of a solar installer’s property taxes. “I think I’m in kind of a unique position” to be able to offer it, he said.

Dam, pond, free books 

At the meeting and in an email earlier Oct. 2, Shute told fellow selectmen he learned an easement to the state could count as the town’s match for improved access at Pinkham Pond. 

He planned to meet Oct. 11 with Diano Circo and Jason Seiders from Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at the pond. “It turns out that Pinkham Pond ... is considered a priority pond for improved access,”  he wrote in the email that followed his phone call with Circo.

The board is awaiting replies from homeowners about possible work on the road to the sand and salt shed, Baston said. He said Road Commissioner Jeff Verney  estimated it would cost $2,500 to put in a culvert and ditch, and the town has told its four fellow easement holders it is willing to pay its one-fifth, or $500 share if the others agree to the work. The one reply so far was from Deb Brown. Her Oct. 1 letter reiterates her argument the town should consider having its share reflect the town’s use of the private road to access the shed.

Shute said everything has gone as planned for the dam project; the lower water, due to little rain, has helped, he said. “Now we need some more water for the fish.”

Spinney said the town could use bookshelves if anyone could spare them for donated books the town office has by the boxful. Husband Jeff Spinney then said he thought they had bookshelves at home. “Well, let’s bring it in,” she said.

Baston asked, “Do you guys talk outside of meetings?” 

The books will be free in a leave a book, take a book system, Spinney said. “Or just take a book.”

The board meets next at 6 p.m. Oct. 16 at the town office.