HOULTON, Maine — A plan to have the town purchase the Temple Theatre parking lot apparently has been scrapped.
During Monday night’s meeting, councilors did not discuss the parking lot issue. Council chairman Paul Cleary simply stated that Theatre owner Mike Hurley sent a letter to the town asking to “pull the purchase and sale agreement and request that this not happen. So we are going to erase it from the agenda and skip over it.”
Contacted Tuesday morning, Hurley stated he asked to pull the agreement because of the miscommunication between the former town manager and council.
“In good faith, I asked to withdraw my signed purchase and sale agreement with the town,” Hurley said in a telephone interview Tuesday morning. “I have spoken to three town managers, the economic development director and met with many other (economic development) groups on this matter. The council should have been involved from Day One.”
A purchase and sale agreement had been presented to the council March 24 by previous town manager Eugene Conlogue. That agreement called for the town to purchase the lot for $91,000, provided Hurley had a plan in place to invest that money back into the theater to assist with its conversion to a digital format.
At the time, several councilors stated they were unaware of any plans the town had to purchase the lot and stated they had no knowledge the town was even considering such a purchase. The matter was tabled at the March 24 meeting.
Hurley’s letter, which was obtained by the newspaper, stated he conducted numerous conversations with town officials, including the past three town managers, regarding the purchase of the parking lot. Hurley said in the past year, he held a meeting in Houlton with town officials, the chamber of commerce and other economic development groups to discuss the purchase. No councilors were in attendance for that meeting.
“I admit to being completely shocked that the town council was not involved in this discussion and feel blindsided by the purchase,” he stated in his letter.
Hurley approached the town to sell the parking lot as a means to help finance a costly conversion from 35mm film to digital projectors. He previously stated the cost to upgrade is about $60,000 per screen for new equipment, making it a sizeable investment for a small theatre.
“We talked about all sorts of options,” Hurley said Tuesday. “The town was very much engaged in the conversation.”
Hurley has been offered used digital projectors from Disney, but even with that donation, there would still be costs for installation (estimated at about $20,000); upgrades to the sound system (estimated at $10,000 per screen); and digital servers to store the films electronically (estimated at $8,000).
“The projectors are just one piece and the Temple Theatre is not a big money maker,” he added.
Hurley also owns a three-screen movie house, the Colonial Theatre, in Belfast, which is now fully digital. He is also a member of the Belfast City Council and a former mayor for the city.
When Hurley purchased the Temple Theatre in 2002, the cinema was in a sad state of disrepair and had closed its doors for a short period of time. Hurley renovated the landmark, using much of the original lighting fixtures and other items to preserve its history. The Temple reopened on Nov. 1, 2002 with much fanfare.
In 2004, Hurley purchased the Temple Building, with the exception of the third floor, which is still owned by the Masons, and the adjacent parking lot. For at least the past five years, the theatre has been offered for sale. A portion of the lot was sold to developers of the Market Square Commons housing project and a right of way exists to that property.
The property was appraised at $91,000 by an independent third party. Money for the purchase was to come from the town’s Downtown TIF fund, and not additional tax dollars. The town has the lot assessed at $32,700 for tax purposes and receives about $711 per year from property tax revenues.
Hurley stated he was still open to the idea of selling the lot to the town, but only if the council discussed the matter fully.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Phil Bernaiche challenged the council to be more vocal and communicative with one another.
In other agenda items, the council:
•Agreed to waive the bid process and accept an amount of $85.95 per ton for hot-top asphalt mix from Steelestone Industries of Houlton. The dollar amount is the same price the company has offered for the past three years.
• Approved a renewal application to Leigh Dow to operate Dow’s Taxi.
• Accepted a donation of $67 from Sears for the town’s fire department. The funds were raised during a “Salute to Local Heroes” charity campaign.
• Appointed Kevin Tingley as the local health officer at stipended amount of $500. The position has been vacant.
• Approved Detective Stewart Kennedy as a “resident agent” for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. The MDEA will reimburse the town for any overtime costs caused by drug investigations.
The next meeting of the Houlton Town Council is Monday, May 12, at 6 p.m.
