Category Archives: Water Level Order

03 March 2016: PretiFlaherty Files Motions for Stays of Suits

[dropcap]Last[/dropcap] Monday, February 29th attorneys representing Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) filed motions requesting a Stay of Proceedings in two pending suits, the February 2014 Water Level Order appeal in Superior Court (No. AP-14-1) and the recently filed appeal of the recent lower court’s ruling in the Maine Supreme Court (No. LIN-16-63). The stay requests are for 30 days and end on March 26th. The Law Court action was initiated when Pleasant Pond Mill LLC appealed the January 25th Superior Court ruling granting the State’s motion to dismiss (see PPM Appeals Superior Court Ruling on Motion to Dismiss).

Stay tuned.

14 February 2016: What’s Happening?

[dropcap]It’s[/dropcap] been over 2 weeks since the foreclosure/auction of the Clary Lake dam allegedly took place and we still don’t know who the new owner is, or if a transfer took place at all. Nothing has been recorded in the registry of deeds, and DEP has not to my knowledge been notified that there is a new owner of the dam. And Butch Duncan isn’t talking. So what are we to think? I have been getting calls and emails from people wanting to know what’s going on but sadly, I don’t have any answers. I could speculate, but I won’t. I must admit I expected we’d have heard something by now, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by what is happening.

It seems Medius L3C is the key to sorting all this out, but good luck trying to contact them for answers as the company has no mailing address or phone number, and no contact name. This is no doubt by design. The current registered agent, a reputable company in Readfield by the name of Public Information Resource Inc., is owned by a man named Ken Keene. When I asked him for contact information for Medius L3C he gave me the name and address of Ms. Merritt Carey who was the former registered agent. However, if you contact her she claims to have nothing to do with the company any more and refers you back to Mr. Keene. You end up chasing your tail. In short, nobody including the registered agent knows who owns Medius L3C or how to reach them. Apparently the only way to contact Medius L3C is via their email address: mediusl3c@gmail.com.

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03 February 2016 Lincoln County News: Result of Clary Lake Dam Auction Unknown

Jefferson resident and Clary Lake waterfront owner Butch Duncan submitted the only bid at the auction for the Clary Lake Dam Jan. 29. (Abigail Adams photo)

There is a fascinating article in this week’s Lincoln County News by staff reporter Abigail Adams about the recent foreclosure and auction of the Clary Lake dam. I’ve read it several times and keep finding new things to ponder.

The big question of course, namely who is the new owner of the Clary Lake dam, remains unanswered. The article states that auctioneer Greg Dorr had indicated that the property would be awarded on Monday, February 1st. However, as of press time, neither Butch Duncan or Paul Kelley had been informed of the result of the auction and we’re left guessing as to who now owns the dam. The auctioneer was supposed to drop the bids off at the Yarmouth office of Medius L3C but it appears they never got there. What happened to Butch Duncan’s bid?

Having been involved with numerous real estate transactions and more than just a few foreclosure/auctions over the years in my role as a Professional Maine Land Surveyor, I can safely say that this situation is rather unusual.

Anyways, enjoy the article:

Result of Clary Lake Dam Auction Unknown

01 February 2016: About that Dam Auction

“Dog and Pony Show” is a colloquial term which has come to mean a highly promoted, often over-staged performance, presentation, or event designed to sway or convince opinion for political or commercial ends.

The anticipated foreclosure and auction of the Clary Lake dam took place Friday morning at 11 AM on the steps of the Lincoln County Court House in Wiscasset. The auctioneer was a man named Gregg Dorr who introduced himself as a retired attorney from Camden, hired by Medius L3C for the sole purpose of running this event. When questioned, he said his only contact at Medius L3C was with a “managing partner” of the company by the name of Matthew Staples, from Vermont. When questioned about the new Medius L3C Registered Agent, he explained the change in Registered Agent from Ms. Merritt Carey to a Commercial Registered Agent from Readfield was due to a serious heart condition requiring that she give up the job immediately. If you’re interested, here is the Change of Registered Agent Form from the Secretary of State’s website. Continue reading →

30 January 2016: Superior Court grants State’s Motion to Dismiss

I must apologize, all the hype and hoopla surrounding the recent foreclosure and auction of the Clary Lake dam property has unfairly eclipsed a much more exciting and significant event that I’m only now finding the time to write about: I learned a couple of days ago that on Monday, January 25th the Lincoln County Superior Court issued a ruling in favor of the State’s motion to dismiss. This is fantastic news and represents a major victory for the Attorney General’s Office, and for DEP and it opens the door for aggressive enforcement action.

The Order itself is quite short and a little hard to understand so I will excerpt and explain as best I can the relevant portions from my lay person’s point of view. If you just want to see the order, scroll to the bottom of the post where I’ve included links to the Order and the briefing documents. First keep in mind that the phrase “motion to dismiss” does not mean that the State has asked the court to dismiss the whole appeal of the water level order, as pleasant a thought as that might be. It means that the State has selectively identified parts and pieces (and in this case, parties) that they feel are not relevant to the case, not applicable under the law, or for some other reason just shouldn’t be in there. Typically when a party files a lawsuit they toss in everything including the kitchen sink. It is the responding party’s prerogative to then ask the Court to cut it down to its essential worthy elements.

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30 January 2016 Central Maine Papers: Clary Lake dam auction draws a single bid

My apologies for not posting something before this about yesterday’s auction of the Clary Lake dam, but I’ve been a little busy. I know there’s a lot of interest in who showed up and what happened. To start, there is an excellent article on the Central Maine Papers site this morning (the print editions being the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel) by Staff reporter Jessica Lowell that will answer some of your questions:

Clary Lake dam auction draws a single bid

20 January 2016 Lincoln County News: Clary Lake Dam Up for Auction

The Clary Lake Dam in December 2015. Due to a foreclosure, an auction has been scheduled for the Clary Lake Dam on Jan. 29. (Photo courtesy Clary Lake Association)

There’s a well-written, factual article in this week’s Lincoln County News by staff reporter Abigail Adams about the upcoming foreclosure and auction of the Clary Lake dam.

Lincoln County News: Clary Lake Dam Up for Auction

See related article from January 5th in a post on this site entitled Enos assigns Clary Lake dam mortgage to Maine company.

20 January 2016: Clary Lake Association withdraws from settlement discussions

As many of you know, the Clary Lake Association has been in settlement discussions with Paul Kelley to buy the Clary Lake dam for some time now in the hopes that we could end this lake level crisis that is now heading into its 5th year. At the same time we have also been negotiating to purchase the Clary Mill property, either separately or as a “package” which property is owned by Richard Smith of Aquafortis Associates LLC. It’s not that we want to own the Mill (we don’t), we’re only interested in the dam but the properties are so entangled that it is virtually impossible to peacefully purchase and own just the dam without owning, at least briefly, the mill property as well. This is because of the restrictive covenants placed on the properties in 2013 and the red building (with its attendant easements and maintenance issues) on top of the dam, which building happens to belong to Aquafortis Associates.

These and other factors together have horribly complicated what in theory should have been a simple real estate negotiation. Whether by accident or design, the Clary Lake dam has become so hard to purchase and unattractive to own that on the advice of town counsel, the Whitefield Select Board has voted TWICE to waive foreclosure of the dam for unpaid back taxes because of concerns over “legal entanglements.” The first vote was at a Special Select Board meeting on March 24, 2015, and the second just two weeks ago at their regularly scheduled Select Board meeting on January 5, 2016. Back taxes for 2014 and 2015 totaling just $398.87 remain unpaid. Continue reading →

27 December 2015: Lake Level now where it should be this time of year

The December 2015 water level chart for the day after Christmas showing the lake level has finally risen above -24″ below the top of the dam and is now in the allowable range for lake levels under the Clary Lake water level order.

[dropcap]Sometime[/dropcap] late on Christmas day the lake level, which has been gradually rising for the past few weeks, finally rose above -24″ below the top of the dam. This marks the first time since the Clary Lake Water Level Order was issued in late January of 2014 that the lake level has actually been at or near where it is should be for a particular time of year. Yes, it has been higher a few times in the past few years, and in fact it came within 12″ of the top of the dam last spring, but at that time it was still a foot short of where it should have been at ice out. And while it’s nice to see the lake more or less where it should be going into winter (at or near 2 feet below the top of the dam), we could really have used the water this past summer when the lake sat for months at historic lows, to everyone’s dismay. Continue reading →