If the Whitefield Selectmen are going to asking the voters of the town to consider purchasing the Clary Lake dam, they’re entitled to know how much it’s going to cost, right? You know, the price. That’s a reasonable request, no? Well to that end, the Selectmen handed a  letter to Paul Kelley at the 30 April 2013 Selectmen’s meeting, asking just that question. They asked for a response by the 10th of April. Many of us were there, that was the night the Selectmen held their informational meeting. Well we’ve all been dying for Kelley’s response. Here it is. Spoiler alert: Anyone who expected Kelley to provide an actual price on the dam will be disappointed 🙂

Kelley’s 10 May 2013 Response to Whitefield Selectmen’s request for price of dam

These 2 sentences towards the end of Kelley’s letter more or less sum up the situation for me:

“It is PPM’s understanding that it has the right, under the Abandonment statute, to request “compensation” for the dam. PPM intends to do so, in an amount equal to its associated “costs of ownership” since purchase of the dam from Mr. Arthur Enos in 2006.

PPM considers many of these “costs of ownership” to be proprietary business information, and should the Town wish to secure ownership of the darn via Purchase & Sale Agreement, PPM is prepared to enter a non-disclosure agreement with the Town to fully disclose that information and bargain as to price and terms of sale.”

A non-disclosure agreement? This is so not happening.