In Bowdoinham, September means Celebrate Bowdoinham!

This year marks the tenth year of Celebrate Bowdoinham, our annual birthday celebration. The celebration will take place on September 12th and 13th (rain date 14th) though the date that Bowdoinham was formally incorporated is September 18, 1762! Please refer to the Celebrate Bowdoinham link provided on our website for a full schedule of events. If you would like to make a donation to the Silent Auction, please call Tony or Alison at 666-5531. Remember, 50% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Home Heating Assistance Program. 

1. Reconstruction and paving of South Pleasant Street is complete. The Public Works Department did an impressive job with the reconstruction – if you have an opportunity, take a drive down South Pleasant Street and check out their work. Thank you to the residents of the South Pleasant Street area for your patience while the work was being completed.

2. The replacement of the Batchelder Bridge will be completed within the next week – look for photos of the bridge on our website in the Public Works Department homepage. Batchelder Bridge is located off the northerly end of Carding Machine Road on Batchelder Road.

3. Speed limit changes – Setting the speed limit on our local roads is done by the Maine Department of Transportation traffic engineers. In October 2007, the Select Board requested that the MDOT conduct a review of the non-posted local roads and the results are in! Many of you will be happy to know that the speed on your roads will be set to the following limits:

Carding Machine Road 35 mph
South Pleasant Street 30 mph
Millay Road 40 mph
Brown’s Point Road 45 mph until dirt section and then reduced to 25 mph
Pork Point Road 35 mph
School Street 25 mph
Spring Street 25 mph
Center’s Point Road 40 mph
Wallentine Road 45 mph

4. Finance Advisory Committee has two new members bringing the Committee to full membership. The Select Board appointed Darragh Ferranti and Christopher Jackson. The Committee is made up of the following five members: Daniel Billings, Chair; Richard Close, Kathryn Desmond, Christopher Jackson, and Darragh Ferranti. Darragh is an Assistant Vice President of Unum in the Appeals Division and Christopher is Vice President of the Maine Oil Dealer’s Association. Both will bring valuable experience and expertise to the Committee. Thank you Darragh and Christopher for volunteering your service to the community!

5. A big Thank You to David & Leslie Anderson who have voluntarily mowed the lawn of the old Meeting House this summer. The Meeting House is located at the corner of Brown’s Point Road and River Road and is owned by the Bowdoinham Historical Society. There have been numerous sightings of David mowing the lawn in his riding tractor while Leslie trims around the building with clippers in hand! Thank you David and Leslie for helping to keep Bowdoinham beautiful.

6. Welcome Kate Cutko– Though the librarian is not an official town employee, since we share the Coombs Municipal building with the library, the librarian becomes a member of our “town office family”. We are delighted to welcome Kate as the new librarian and I wish my good friend, Beth French, the best in her new employment as Assistant Town Clerk in Lisbon.

7. Change in Banks – The Town is moving its banking services to Androscoggin Savings Bank. This change will result in significant savings to the Town in the following ways: fees will no longer be assessed to the Town’s accounts (checking, sweep, etc.) which currently run approximately $1,800 per year, the rate of interest earned on the Town’s accounts will be approximately 1% higher, and the borrowing rate for the road and bridge work approved at the June town meeting will be .7% less than the rate quoted from our former bank. Though a cut of .7% on the interest rate may not seem much, when borrowing $433,355 over a ten year period, the savings is over $20,000!

8. Check Scanning – In my July newsletter, I reported that the town office was going to begin electronically depositing checks. As anticipated, we began this process on Tuesday, August 26th. This means that at the end of each day, checks received will be electronically scanned and deposited into the Town’s account. The advantage to the Town is that interest on the money will begin earning immediately. Also, checks written out to the Town will be debited from the check writer’s account much faster. Please make sure that you have money in your account for the check that you are writing or your check will likely be returned for insufficient funds and assessed a $25 returned check fee.

9. Please no idling when visiting the town office – Readers may recall that in my last newsletter, the Select Board adopted a No Idling Policy for town owned vehicles. We are going one step further and asking that when visiting the town office, please do not keep your vehicle idling. Signs have been posted in the parking lot reminding our visitors to please turn off their engines.

10. Lastly, as summer ends and fall begins, I become more concerned about the cost of heating our homes this winter. If you are able, please consider giving a donation to the Bowdoinham Home Heating Fund, any amount is appreciated. We have “Loose change Jars” located at the Town Landing Restaurant and the Country Store. Due to a finite amount of money available, recipients will receive no more than 200 gallons of heating oil per heating season. Applications for this program will not be considered until December 1st. Also, in order to be considered eligible, you must fall within the following eligibility categories:

Family Size Yearly Income

1 no more than $26,000
2 no more than $35,000
3 no more than $44,000
4 no more than $53,000
5 no more than $62,000
6 no more than $71,000

Enjoy the September weather while it’s still warm and I hope to see you all at Celebrate Bowdoinham!

Warm Regards,

Kathy Durgin-Leighton
Town Manager