Proposed changes to Alna’s Head Tide Dam would not break a covenant that bars the dam’s destruction, an attorney tells Alna selectmen in an April 20 letter.

“If any modifications leave the dam substantially in place and performing its function as a ‘dam,’ it seems to me that the prohibition ... is not violated,” attorney David Soule writes.

The opinion covers only the covenant issue, not any structural issues or permitting a proposal would entail, Soule adds.

Selectmen contacted Soule after the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) floated the idea to replace one of the town-owned dam’s two abutments with a wall and a new platform and safety railings. About 10 percent of the dam, but none of the spillway, would go, under the scenario the ASF described in a memo. The memo also suggested removing concrete and likely some ledge under the abutment to aid fish passage.

Soule’s legal opinion means that a new, smaller dam committee can move forward with its work toward a possible project, selectmen said. A larger panel spent several months gathering information.

Any project would need the town’s OK, First Selectman David Abbott said. He would not agree to anything that violates the covenant, he said.

The board planned to share Soule’s opinion with Andy Goode, the ASF’s vice president of U.S. programs; then Goode can decide when to call on the committee to start its work, board members said.

The ASF will look to set up a committee meeting for the middle or second half of May, Goode states an email response to questions from the Wiscasset Newspaper on April 21.

Commenting on Soule’s opinion that the selectmen obtained, Goode writes: “It reinforces our belief there may be a win-win that can improve fish passage while also fixing and stabilizing parts of the site that have been deteriorating.”

Resident Ralph Hilton is on the new committee. “It’s not anything I’m excited about,” he said about the prospect of getting under way. “What’s going to be is what’s going to be,” he said.

Second Selectman and fellow committee member Melissa Spinney wrote in an email response to a request for comment, “I think that David Soule's response was pretty clear that the ASF’s proposal for the dam was within the bounds of the covenant, so I think moving forward with the new committee will be very fruitful in getting all of the information needed to propose to the town. It seems to be moving in the right direction.”

The Jewett family gave the town the dam a half-century ago. The family had used it to power a lumber mill. Soule tells selectmen in the letter, he agrees with a Maine Municipal Association lawyer’s opinion that, to change or end the covenant, the town would need either a court order or the family’s OK. Of those two options, getting releases from the family’s heirs would be the cleanest, Soule writes; going the court route is problematic, he adds.

Selectmen have stressed their obligation to honor the covenant. The new panel will focus on the scenario the ASF is currently eyeing, selectmen have said.

Also April 20, the board decided to contact Alna’s plowing contractor Hagar Enterprises of Damariscotta, to see how much it would charge to fill cracks on Cross Road and possibly others. If the firm offers to do it for less than other firms offered in response to past inquiries, the board would go with Hagar and not seek other offers, members said.

The board meets next at 6 p.m. May 4 at the town office.