Water Level Chart from December 2011 to the Current Date
I’ve decided this new water level chart will live on the Current Water Level Charts page along with the Year to date chart and the Current Month chart. All 3 charts are updated daily. It’s become a ritual.
This chart has garnered a lot of attention since I first posted it yesterday morning. It had quite an impact on me and apparently on many other people too.
I’ve sent my formal response to yesterday’s request by Pleasant Pond Mill LLC for an extension of time to reply to the material released by the Department on 9 April 2013. It was the most enjoyable letter I’ve had the pleasure of writing in months. I suppose I should thank Paul Kelley for the opportunity to put it out there for the world to see just what I think of him and his shenanigans but as much fun as it was, it was a waste of my and everyone else’s valuable time. I don’t take kindly to that. Neither does DEP. I am confident they will tell Paul Kelley what to do with his request for additional time to comment.
Petitioner’s response to PPM request to delay comments
Ironically, Paul Kelley will have to download my response from this web site unless Anthony Buxton is nice enough to forward emails sent to the service list to him, as he is still the official contact for Pleasant Pond Mill LLC.
In yet another letter with more foot notes than actual verbiage, Paul Kelley makes a formal request with the Department for an extension of the time to file comments on the Clary Lake Assessment currently due May 9th. Mr. Kelley seems to be objecting to comments made by Mark Hyland of the Maine Emergency Management Agency that the Agency has no opinion on whether the dam should be breached, whereas Mr. Kelley maintains that the dam is already breached. Mr. Kelley wants to put everything off until June 6th to give Mr. Hyland time to respond to a letter Kelley is supposedly hand-delivering to him today.
Seems like yet another patently obvious attempt by Mr. Kelley to stall, obfuscate, and delay petition processing. I will be drafting a response to Kelley’s request vigorously objecting to it on as many grounds as I can think of, which is a whole lot. Anyways, here’s Kelley’s request:
There were two other documents attached to the email, a copy of the comments from MEMA and copies of emails Kelley previously obtained by FOA request. You’ve probably already seen them but for sake of completeness, here are links to them:
Kelley apparently has figured out how to send email to the Service List directly as opposed to sending them to PretiFlaherty and having them forward his correspondence to the list. I guess my chiding him for that behavior paid off. Congratulations Paul. Now there is no pretense at all that Kelley’s correspondence is being prepared by anyone but Kelley himself.
I got to wondering what a water level chart showing all the water level data I have collected since the 19th of December 2011 to today would look. The result isn’t pretty:
With the exception of May and June of last year and a few days in March and early April this year, the lake has been lower than -40″ below the top of the dam since I started keeping records. It will take a long time for the wetlands to recover from being “ravaged” to use a term Mr. Kelley seems to like so much.
I’ll update this graph periodically. I haven’t decided where it will live.
Panorama photograph by David Hodsdon taken on his shoreline looking north. One of 2 or 3 pictures he has taken that are now banners on the site.
David Hodsdon sent me a panorama photograph today that he took recently on his shoreline. I’ve turned it into yet another banner on the site. Unfortunately, there are 
35 banners on the site and they’re displayed randomly so the chances of any one banner coming up are 1:35 or in other words, slim. I wanted to make sure everyone saw it and knew where it came from. The banner is nice but the original 1920 x 618 image (below) is stunning (there’s a link on the image for the full size version). I’ve uploaded it to User Uploads. Displaying large photographs can be a bit of a challenge on a site with rigidly structured pages.
It took a little head scratching but I’ve implemented an online Membership Signup and Renewal system. I know I said I wasn’t going to bother with it till later this summer but it turned out to be simpler than I expected, once I grokked the internals of PayPal transactions.
I’ve also added a simple “progress bar” for tracking our progress towards our various Association goals including memberships, and donations to the Clary Lake Dam Repair fund.
Clary Lake Association Goals:
[progressbar url=”https://clarylake.org/data/total.txt” rounded=”0″ width=”400px” color=”green”]
You’ll find this “progress bar” somewhere on the sidebar to the right (currently at the bottom). It’s updated manually, not automatically so it’s not likely to reflect any given membership signup, renewal, or donation. I’ll update it periodically. No promises.
A note on the the Dam Repair Fund: $5000 is simply a goal and not necessarily an accurate estimate of the cost of repairing the dam. We have not yet received word back from Paul Kelley as to whether he’ll let us obtain an engineering assessment of the dam. The assessment would be used to obtain estimates from local contractors for needed repairs. What are you waiting for Paul?
Likewise, the goal of 100 members is an arbitrary number. Helps to have a goal.
Here is a link where you can renew your Association membership or join if you’re not yet a member:
Signup or Renew Your Membership On Line
Needless to say, the old tried-and-true way of signing up for or renewing your membership (printing the membership renewal form and mailing it in) still works. Or just come to the Annual meeting, and bring your check book.
Here’s a page where you can donate to the Association; the current fund raising initiative is the Clary Lake Dam Repair fund:
Donate to the Association
All the above links can be found under the Membership main menu heading.
Perhaps you’ve noticed the donate button hanging out over on the sidebar. The Clary Lake Association is now set up to accept donations online via PayPal’s secure and convenient online payment processing system. We’re still setting up launch and landing pages and integrating the system into the site, but it’s basically operational. To make a donation, you’ll need to either log in to your PayPal account if you’ve got one, or create one if you don’t. PayPal accounts are FREE and offer many benefits over simple credit card processing sites including a wide variety of member services, dispute resolution, etc. PayPal accounts offer a convenient and secure way to shop on line- or in this case, to donate to a worth cause. So whether you’re signing up for a PayPal account or logging into your existing account, the donation process is painless, fast, and secure. Try it out!
The Clary Lake Association is a Non-Profit Organization so donations are tax deductible. After making a donation, you’ll receive a receipt by email suitable for tax preparation purposes. I’m not sure how small a donation you can make, but when I was setting up and testing things earlier I made a number of $1 donations so I know that amount works 🙂
Eventually we’ll be setting up an subscription system so you can join the Association or renew your Association membership on line, but I don’t see that happening for a while unless I find myself with a lot of free time this summer. You never know. The Fund Raising committee will also be conducting periodic fund raising campaigns and online promotions this year and will be using the same online donation system for their purposes.
Shlomit Auciello has written an excellent article appearing in this weeks Lincoln County News covering the Whitefield Selectmen’s Informational Meeting held last Tuesday night. The purpose of the meeting was to provide members of the public with information about the petition filed by Pleasant Pond Mill LLC for release from dam ownership, and to answer questions. I’ve already written several posts about the meeting. Here’s the online version of the article:
Ownership Questions Face Potential Dam Owners
One thing this article clears up for me was how Paul Kelley could say at the meeting that he’d not received either Clary Lake Association’s offer on the dam or their request for permission to obtain an engineering assessment on the dam despite both letters having been mailed to his Camden office Monday morning and emailed to his personal email address the same day. Kelley told Ms. Auciello that he does not accept business correspondence at that email address. Oh. I understand. My bad!
A local copy of the article if you want to download a PDF:
The Department has responded to the comments filed by the Petitioners (me) and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (Paul Kelley):
DEP 5-1-13 Response to comments on the bathymetric survey
In a nutshell: the Department blew us both off. In the case of Paul Kelley’s diatribe about closed records and administrative procedures, such a response was expected. However I am disappointed but not that surprised that the Department chose to ignore my request that they review their model.
Pursuant to Procedural Order #5, parties may provide additional comments on the bathymetric data no later than May 8, 2013.
They also sent along a revised Service List:
A lot of ground was covered in last night’s 2 hour Whitefield Selectman’s special informational meeting. There were 26 people there not including the Selectmen. Paul Kelley was there. I wasn’t sure if he was going to show up. I’m glad he did. These are the highlights of the meeting from my perspective.
That about wraps up my reporting. When it was all said and done, nothing substantive was accomplished and the Town is left with more questions than answers, but then it was after all just an informational meeting. If I think of anything else of importance I’ll post it. I’m interested in what other people who were there have to say.
I’m too tired to report fully on the meeting tonight, and besides, I’ve got to ponder all that went down first and review my copious notes. The meeting lasted 2 solid hours and there were 26 people there including Paul Kelley but not including the 5 Selectmen and the Town Clerk. Shlomit Auciello of the Lincoln County News was there so I anticipate some coverage of the meeting in this weeks Lincoln County News. Many of the people there were Clary Lake shore owners as you would expect, but not everyone. You don’t have to own property on Clary Lake to care about it. Many thanks to those of you who showed up and participated. I’m sure you’ll agree, it was well worth it.
Before heading for bed I will say that the informational meeting held by the Selectmen of the Town of Whitefield was well attended, well run, highly informative, and very illuminating despite the fact that nothing substantial was finalized, nothing important was decided, no solid facts about the dam such as what Paul Kelley wants for it were to be had, none of the outstanding issues were resolved (such as when will the public notices required by the statute be sent out- that question of mine was ignored). The town is no closer to having a handle on what they’re up against now than they were before the meeting. I attribute most of this “nothing substantive happening” to Paul Kelley’s total inability to answer a simple question with a “Yes” or “No” answer. Paul, for all his talk, actually says very little of substance. He answers questions with questions. He goes around and around an issue without every really hitting it on the head. When you ask one question, he answers another question. That’s because everything is problematic. For example, when Sue McKeen asked if there has ever been an engineering study done of the dam, he launched into an explanation of how back in 2003 when Pleasant Pond Mill LLC bought the mill building and mill pond from the Chase heirs, they hired URS of Portland to do an engineering assessment of the mill building and mill pond, and that such an assessment could be done on the Clary Lake dam too. A better answer to the original question would have been a simple “No.” But nothing is simple for Paul. Everything is problematic.
By the end of the meeting, if Kelley had used the term “problematic” once more I swear I would have jumped out of my seat and throttled myself. Everything is problematic for Paul Kelley. The dam is problematic. Flowage rights are particularly problematic. Property ownership issues are problematic. Moving the red house off the dam? Problematic. Dealing with the DEP? Problematic. Dealing with the town? Problematic. Problematic. Problematic.
At the beginning of the meeting Dennis Merrill talked about an email he received earlier today: Kathy Howatt, DEP Project Manager forwarded to the Whitefield Town Office an email she sent to Paul Kelley yesterday afternoon at 4:57 PM saying that he has until May 13, 2013 to produce evidence of having sufficient right, title, and interest in the dam including the flowage rights or the petition will be return returned. The email includes an opinion from the Office of the Attorney General on the matter of the interpretation of the statute as pertains to “Property Rights Transferred” i.e., they include title to the dam and land under the dam, title to equipment and other personal property normally located at the dam site, flowage rights, and access rights. It was a private communication between Kathy Howatt and Paul Kelley until she sent a copy to the Town of Whitefield. Now I’ve got a copy:
DEP Email to PPM requesting proof of sufficient right, title, and interest
While that email made my day, I’m sure it ruined Paul Kelley’s. It’s a nasty email, the tone isn’t pleasant at all. At least that’s the way I read it. I’m glad it wasn’t sent to me.
More on the meeting tomorrow after I’ve slept on it.
A reminder, in case you forgot (how could you forget?) tonight the Whitefield Selectman are hosting a public informational meeting to discuss and answer questions about the petition for release from dam ownership that Pleasant Pond Mill LLC filed back on April 2nd. The meeting is at 7:00 Pm at the Whitefield Fire an Rescue building on Town House Road in Whitefield. I have a funny feeling it’s going to be well attended. I had hoped to hear something today from DEP about my request for them to dismiss Kelley’s petition, but I haven’t heard a thing. I imagine they’re still pondering what to do about that problem.
The only real question I have for tonight is when is Kelley going to send out the notices that are required by the statute? According to the statute:
38 §901. 2. Public notice. Not more than 30 days before filing a petition, the dam owner shall publish notice of intent to file a petition under this article at least once in a newspaper circulated in the area in which the dam and impoundment are located. The dam owner shall notify by certified mail the persons listed in section 902, subsection 3, paragraphs B, C and D. The dam owner shall notify abutting property owners as provided in subsection 3. The dam owner shall also make a good faith effort to notify local, regional and statewide private organizations interested in fisheries, wildlife, conservation, recreation and environmental issues whose interests may be affected by the dam.
So he got a notice in the paper on April 1st (an appropriate date, eh?) but he has yet to complete the other required public notices. The State chose to interpret the above as only requiring notice in the paper no more than 30 days before filing the petition. I see it differently because if the no more than 30 days before filing doesn’t apply to the other notices, then what is the time requirement?? Are our legislators smart enough to put a time constraint on one notice but not the others? In any case, when is Kelley going to send the notices?
This just in from the Service List: Paul Kelley has filed a motion to strike the comments I made on the bathymetric survey almost 2 weeks ago. He justifies his motion on the basis that my comments are are an attempt to introduce “extraneous & unverified data” into a “closed administrative record.” In other words, more objections on procedures just like his comments on the bathymetric survey. As with his last comments, he emailed them to Melissa A. O’Neal, Special Projects Coordinator at PretiFlaherty and asked HER to send them to the Service List. This document was not prepared by a PretiFlaherty lawyer.
PPM_H Parent_MOT to STRIKE_042913
He also included a copy of the recent KJ article in his email, taking exception to a comment I made in it.
Dang. I worked so hard on those comments.
Whitefield Town Clerk Aaron Miller sent me some photographs earlier today showing the bridge over Pleasant Pond Stream taken from a view point out in the middle of the mill pond on the west side of the road. Two are dated in the 1923, one is dated 1934, and one is dated 1958 showing the new bridge that exists today. In a couple of them you can see the hand wheel used to open and close the original weir in the dam. He got the photos off some disks that came from the Whitefield Historical Society. One thing that surprised me was a couple of the photographs refer to the bridge as “Chester Bridge” no doubt named after Chester Boynton who owned the mill around this time. Aaron by the way is in the process of setting up the new Town of Whitefield facebook page. Now I’ve seen everything. Check it out!
I decided to take this opportunity and create a new gallery Historical Photographs and have moved some old photographs to it that were spread around some other galleries- something I’d been planning on doing for a while but just hadn’t gotten around to it.
A reminder: if anyone has any photographs you think belong on the site, upload them or email them to me and I’ll post them.
You never know what’s going to float by and get caught on the webcam. Yesterday it was my wife on the hammock. Earlier today it was Steve Viti out fishing.
I have formally requested DEP dismiss Pleasant Pond Mill LLC’s petition for release from dam ownership on the basis that they lack sufficient property rights in the dam to transfer it in accordance with the provisions of the statute. MRS Title 38, Chapter 5 §906 (2) “Property rights transferred” clearly states what property and property rights need to be included in the conveyance of a dam. These explicitly include flowage rights. Pleasant Pond Mill LLC does not own the flowage rights. Aquafortis Associates owns the flowage rights. Aquafortis Associates LLC has made no statement about their intent to throw in the flowage rights if and when the dam is transferred.
Letter to DEP requesting PPM petition be dismissed
Some of you will recall that when I filed the Clary Lake water level petition, I named both Pleasant Pond Mill LLC and Aquafortis Associates LLC as parties to the petition for the very reason that Aquafortis Associates LLC owned the flowage rights and that these rights are crucial to the operation of the dam. Despite vigorous protests on the part of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC and their counsel to have Aquafortis Associates LLC removed from the proceedings, DEP upheld my decision to include them in the petition and they remain today parties at interest in that petition. As they should be.
I have no idea if DEP will grant my request to dismiss the petition, but regardless, at least anyone considering taking ownership of the dam will be on notice. Caveat Emptor: Buyer beware.
As anticipated, on behalf of the Clary Lake Association, Ellis Percy has made a formal offer on the Clary Lake dam. Normally such an offer would be kept private between the parties at least initially but Mr. Kelley has taken this whole mess public by his filing of a petition under MRS Title 38, Chapter 5 §901; Mr. Kelley wishes to obtain relief from dam ownership and has asked the State for their help in finding a new owner. This is no longer a private matter, it is a matter of public concern. The towns of Whitefield and Jefferson will be holding public meetings to discuss the matter of dam ownership and it’s price will certainly be discussed in these public forums. Various State agencies will be consulted. Presumably there will be other offers on the dam. Public offers. Here’s ours.
Clary Lake Association Dam Offer
The Association has also sent a letter to Mr. Kelley requesting permission to obtain an engineering assessment of the dam:
Request for permission to conduct study
Our rationale is that regardless of who ends up owning the dam, it will need repairs and a current engineering assessment of it’s condition will be crucial to that end. To my knowledge, there has never been a comprehensive engineering assessment of the dam made so such an initiative is way over due. The Association anticipates hiring Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield Maine who is familiar with the dam, we’ll pay for the assessment, and we will make the results available to whomever requires them. We see no reason why Mr. Kelley will not authorize us to pursue this activity at his earliest opportunity.
It seems like this April has been colder than usual, certainly colder than it had to be though that is just my opinion. Most everyone I’ve talked to seems to agree with me though. Anyways, it just seems like it hated to warm up this month and this in spite of the lack of rain. I usually think of April as a cold and wet month, but this one was just cold. We’ve only received 1.58″ of rain so far, well below normal. In the past couple of days though the weather sure has taken a turn for the better and it looks like we’re in for a good stretch of warm, dry weather. People are out fishing, putting docks in, and cleaning up around their yards. It’s nice to see activity around the lake again. I for one constructed a slip for my boat and hung my hammock today. I was somewhat chagrined to see that the hammock (and anyone laying in it) it is visible on the webcam. Not sure how I feel about that.
The lake was like a mirror this morning and the sun was bright. I was sitting down by the lake having my coffee and contemplating where we’ve been with this water level petition so far, and where we’re headed. And of course, I couldn’t help but notice how bloody shallow the water is on my shoreline. The picture at left tells the story. The water level is currently 44.25″ below the top of the dam and falling about 3/4″ a day. 25′ off shore the water is less than 2′ deep, and that’s about as close as I can get to shore with my boat without pulling the motor up and rowing. Everyone around the lake is in the same boat. As it were. More or less. Some have more water, some have less.
I was looking through an old Association photo archive the other day I and came across 4 pictures of loons with a baby. The pictures are dated July 14, 2003 which is very likely the last time we had a baby loon on the lake. If anyone knows who took them, please let me know so I can give them credit. I’ve added the pictures to the User Uploads Gallery. Let’s hope the pair of loons on Clary Lake this spring have more luck nesting than they did last year. They need a stable water level. It doesn’t look like they’re going to get that this year.
The week ahead promises to be action packed with something happening it seems like every day. Tomorrow there are 3 letters going in the mail. As soon as they have been mailed (and emailed) to their intended recipients, I’ll post them on the web site. Tuesday night is Whitefield’s Information Public Meeting, 7 PM at the Whitefield Fire & Rescue building on Town House road. Wednesday we get the Department’s responses to my and Paul Kelley’s comments on the bathymetric survey. That should be interesting.
Thursday I’m going fishing.
I am more firmly committed to resolving this Clary Lake water level crisis now than I have ever been. I’m not tired, nor disappointed with where we are in the process. I believe DEP is acting with the best of intentions and with the importance of Clary Lake’s valuable wetland habitat, and the best interests of the general public firmly before them. While the situation is still fluid and somewhat confusing with the 2 different petitions underway, I see a path forward through the confusion and I am more confident of the ultimate outcome now than ever before.
The Association board meeting held today at the home of Ellis Percy was well attended and quite productive. Members in attendance were Ellis Percy (President), Malcolm Burson (Vice President), Margaret Fergusson (Secretary), Linda Gallion (Treasurer), Jack Holland, Tom Vigue, George Fergusson, David Knight, and Bob Antognoni (Board members, each and every one), and Sue McKeen, visiting Association member. There was lively discussion and a lot of business conducted, including the following items of note (these aren’t the minutes, they’re from my notes):
The board also discussed Pleasant Pond Mill LLC’s petition and what the likely outcome of it will be as well as the role the Association and the towns might or might not play in that outcome. We also discussed the current status of the Clary Lake water level petition and what the likely outcome of THAT will be. We agreed to work on developing a contingency plan designed to address each of the handful of potential scenarios that are likely to play out this summer. The plan will consist among other things of steps the Association is prepared to take, and more importantly, is authorized to take. The idea is to be flexible, and be prepared. Wish us luck.
Ellis Percy, David Knight and I met for several hours this afternoon with Whitefield Selectmen Dennis Merrill and Tony Marple to discuss the petition filed by Pleasant Pond Mill LLC for release from dam ownership or water level maintenance. These same two Selectmen met earlier this week with Paul Kelley to discuss his plans and intentions surrounding the Clary Lake dam and his petition for release from dam ownership. Today’s discussion included some of the implications the petition might have for the town and the Clary Lake Association, and what might happen at the upcoming public meeting tentatively scheduled for this coming May 22nd. There are no immediate solutions apparent.
We also discussed the Association’s plans to make a formal offer on the dam possibly as early as next week and despite a lack of guidance from DEP on what they think “costs of transfer” means, it appears that Paul Kelley’s understanding of that term and ours are about the same: basically, the cost of a title search, the preparation of a deed, and recording fees.
Pleasant Pond Mill LLC has up to 180 days to consult with various parties including State agencies including holding their own public meeting in an attempt to find a new owner for the dam. Kelley, manager of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC originally scheduled a meeting for Monday, September 11, 2013 at 11 AM at its company’s office located at 171 Molyneaux Rd., Camden (see original filing of notice). I believe however that Mr. Kelley has been convinced to hold his meeting in Whitefield or Jefferson at a time and place yet to be determined though presumably still sometime in early September. Mr. Kelley also indicated attendance at the meeting would be by invitation only, raising the obvious question of who would be invited to attend and who would be left out, and why? I question whether such a private “public” meeting actually meets the requirements of the statute let alone the intent to consult with any and all parties that might be interested in taking over the dam, but that is not my decision to make. Nor do I particularly care because I’ve already decided to vociferously boycott any so-called public meeting with restricted attendance whether I’m invited to it or not. Kelley seems to think he has all the time in the world to orchestrate this dog and pony show according to his whims, and to suit his ends. I’m not so sure. We will see.
We also discussed the public informational meeting coming up this coming Tuesday, 7 PM April 3oth at the Whitefield Fire & Rescue building, and the current status of the Clary Lake water level petition. All in all we covered a lot of ground today, way more than I can begin to describe here. Suffice it to say there’s a lot going on in several different venues. These are exciting times.
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