KITTERY, Maine – The Kittery Town Council is meeting in executive session Monday night, prior to its regular meeting, to discuss two ongoing issues in town – dilapidated buildings and contract negotiations.
In its regular meeting, the council is expected to authorize bonding for two substantial sewer projects approved by voters last November.
Citing discussion of legal matters, the council will speak in executive session with Town Attorney Duncan McEachern about dilapidated buildings. The council has adopted an ordinance that allows for the town to tear down a building, if warranted, and bill the owner for costs.
In recent years, several such buildings have come before the council. Most recently, councilors have expressed concern about a former nursing home on Route 1 near the York line that has been in increasingly decrepit shape. The owner has been ordered to tear it down, but has said he is dealing with the cost of asbestos abatement.
The council will also discuss ongoing union contract negotiations in executive session. The town’s seven unions have been working without a contract since July 1, when current contracts expired.
Town Manager Nancy Colbert Puff said recently that negotiations are continuing. She has said that while she could not discuss specifics, in general discussions centered on wage and benefit increases.
During the regular meeting, the council is expected to authorize bonds for two substantial sewer projects. One is $4.4 million infrastructure upgrade project that includes work to pumping stations and to the wastewater facility itself on Dennett Road. A $7.5 million sewer expansion project will bring sewer to the Route 236 area of town.
The council is being asked to approve $9 million of the nearly $12 million total cost of the two projects, with the remainder to be bonded at a later time.