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.