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PALMYRA: Meeting planned on old school

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PALMYRA — Selectmen have set a special town meeting on Sept. 18 for residents to decide whether the town should accept ownership of the Palmyra Consolidated School building.
It’s not clear-cut what they’ll do.
“Right now, it’s a toss-up, I’d say,” said Selectman Mike Cray. “Some people want to, some don’t.”
The meeting will start at 10 a.m. in the school’s gymnasium. Although residents will take votes on a handful of warrant articles, the Palmyra school question is sure to draw residents to the meeting, said the town’s administrative assistant Diane Cookson.
“I expect a pretty good turnout,” she said.
After electing a moderator, residents at the special town meeting will consider the question of accepting the school building. If that article passes, residents will also be asked to transfer $15,000 from the town’s surplus account for maintenance and repair of the building. 
Palmyra residents on July 13 decided overwhelmingly to close Palmyra Consolidated School, 329-34. Keeping the school open would have cost residents an additional $448,292, according to officials at Regional School Unit 19.
The school, on Madawaska Road, had most recently served 77 students in pre-kindergarten through grade four. Students will now be dispersed among Newport Elementary School, St. Albans Consolidated School and Hartland Consolidated School.
A town study committee has been looking into possible uses for the building if the town owned it, such as using it for community purposes, leasing space to businesses, or selling it. The property actually composes two parcels of land — the school building is on 5 acres and is adjacent to a 15-acre parcel that borders the town garage.
If town residents don’t accept the building, ownership would revert back to the school district, which would then likely sell the building and the resulting income would be used as general revenue for the district.
Cray conceded that there are pros and cons to the town owning the building.
“If we keep the building, we have a place for the town for whatever purposes — from recreation to town meetings — and if we lease it out to different individuals that could help pay for the building and maybe offset taxes if we put enough tenants in there,” Cray said. “As far as cons, it could be sold to anybody and we don’t know what would be put in that building. Someone may buy it with the best intentions, but maybe it becomes a pot dispensary.”
Still, Cray thinks that if voting townspeople become informed about the school building and its benefits to the town, then they will decide to accept ownership.
In addition to the school question, the special town meeting will also feature an article that seeks to transfer $3,000 from the town’s surplus account as part of a 10 percent match to a $30,000 Efficiency Maine Trust energy efficiency block grant. The grant will be used to conduct energy efficiency audits, replace boilers at the town hall and to insulate the town garage.
 
Scott Monroe — 861-9239
smonroe@centralmaine.com