Staff Writer
The long-awaited transfer of city land to a group wanting to develop a children’s museum took place Monday night during the Caribou City Council meeting.
“We’re very, very excited,” said Nancy Chandler, vice president and spokesman for the proposed Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum, before the transfer. “I almost can’t contain myself.”
The transfer of 1.68 acres of land was completed for the price of $1 given to Mayor Miles R. Williams by Chandler after the council’s vote to authorize a quitclaim deed and a memorandum of agreement.
A group of Caribou residents want to build a museum on the parcel on Glenn Street. The transfer of land took place after a series of discussions between the city, its attorney and the museum group.
According to city officials, the museum group has 10 years to reach various benchmarks, including construction of a building, that would show that the group is making progress toward the establishment of a museum. If the benchmarks are not net, the city may re-acquire the land.
The land is transferred “as is,” and the city is relieved of any responsibility for potential problems with the property, according to the quitclaim deed.
Phil McDonough made the motion to approve the land transfer, with Karla Bell adding her second to the motion. The action was approved unanimously with one abstention from Councilor Ken Murchison, who is president of the museum corporation.
In other business during the last council meeting of the year, Steve Buck, the city manager, presented an overview of the 2008 capital improvement program that will be part of the municipal budget planning process for next year. The CIP is a five-year plan that is updated annually, where city departments request improvements that require capital expenditures that are not part of the daily operation of the city.
According to local law, the CIP budget must be complete in December, which is three months before the city budget for 2008 is approved in March. A public hearing on the improvement program will be held early next year, Buck said.
A total of $603,100 in capital improvements were submitted by the individual city departments, which represented a 27.94 percent increase over last year, according to the city manager. The CIP committee pared down the requests to $530,970, Buck said.
Among the recommendations made by the CIP committee are new computers and typewriters and carpets for the municipal building for a total of $16,000. Some of the carpets in the building date back to the facility’s construction, Buck said.
To accommodate fire vehicle replacement, the committee recommended $55,000 for the program and to adopt a 25-year replacement schedule. A total of $65,000 for ambulance vehicle reserves also was proposed, while the police vehicle reserve account should receive $21,900, according to the recommendations.
The public works equipment account should be boosted by $115,000, due to the rising costs of heavy equipment and the price of steel, the committee recommended.
The costs of streets and roads also should be supported to the level of $125,000 per year, according to the CIP recommendations. In addition, the committee said that there should be work completed on the West Gate and the Grimes Mills Roads as part of the improvement program.
Another large proposed expenditure is $20,000 for the snowmobile trail groomer reserve. In the committee’s notes, distributed to the council, the panel noted the positive tourism impacts that snowmobiling has on the area as justification for the expenditure.
The fire and ambulance department has requested $9,900 to remodel its kitchen, which dates back to the building’s construction 30 years ago. The costs would be split on a 70/30 percent basis between the ambulance and fire departments, respectively.
In the police department, the committee recommended $10,000 for repair of the police garage roof and $9,000 for a security camera system for the department.
In other activity, the City Council renewed a Sealed Tickets Game of Chance Permit for Caribou Senior Citizens Bingo at the American Legion Hall on Sweden Street.
