Boothbay Selectman Chuck Cunningham told fellow board members May 10, he was disappointed in Maine Department of Transportation’s response to pleas for road improvements this year to Route 27. Four Boothbay selectmen attended an MDOT meeting between Edgecomb selectmen and two state engineers managing the 2024 pavement preservation project. Cunningham did not, but he watched the meeting on Boothbay Region Television. “I would like to see our board send a letter to the department, and copy our local legislators. I’m disappointed at seeing how the two engineers passed the buck when we asked about addressing the road this year,” he said. “They can at least start filling those potholes before tourists start coming here by Memorial Day.”

Selectman Steve Lewis described Route 27 as continually getting worse. He works as a part-time paramedic and said the road’s condition impacts medical care. “It baffles me why they won’t do something about the road,” he said. “We used to insert IVs on the road, but now we do it before because the road has gotten so bad.”

Selectmen directed Town Manager Dan Bryer to write the letter and encourage other towns impacted by Route 27’s condition to do the same. 

In other action, Bryer reported May 9 was a busy day for local education. Community School District and municipal officials testified before a legislative committee regarding repealing and replacing the school charter. The CSD also approved recommending a $9.4 million budget for Fiscal Year 24. Boothbay’s share increased 15% to nearly $6 million. “That represents a $1 million increase to our taxpayers,” Lewis said. “I wonder how that is going to impact our mil rate.” Bryer estimated it would result in an extra 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Clean Drinking Water Initiative representatives updated selectmen on their work over the past two years. Initiative members include Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport, Boothbay Region Land Trust, Bigelow Laboratory, Boothbay Region Water District, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Knickerbocker Lake Association and Boothbay Region YMCA. Jeannie Hamrin is Boothbay’s representative on the initiative’s board. She told selectmen the goal is “safeguarding the region’s public drinking water supply through land conservation, education, stewardship, and community collaboration,” and the vision is “a safe and clean water supply ensuring community health.”

The group’s focus is protecting both Adams Pond and Knickerbocker Lake which serve as the region’s drinking water supply. In the past two years, focus has been education and fundraising. Hamrin told selectmen the plan is two-fold. “Educate about threats to the public water supply and ways for addressing those threats and work with watershed landowners in protecting more underdeveloped watershed land.”

Initiative Chairman Hal Moorefield reported their efforts yielded $215,000 in grants in 2022; which should provide funding for three years. Maine Center for Disease Control awarded a $20,000 educational grant last year. Lincoln County awarded $195,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds this spring.

Selectmen approved a new special amusement permit and new innkeeper’s license for Bluebird Inn on Shore Road in East Boothbay, renewed a special seasonal amusement permit for Cabbage Island Clambake and appointed Dan Feeney of Freeport as a code enforcement officer and local plumbing inspector.

Selectmen meet next at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 24 in the conference room.