The water district trustees and operations manager Jon Ziegra met on Tuesday, September 25, at the district office.

At the top of the agenda was approving warrants 54 and 55 relating to payroll; and warrant 56 to approve $75,000 for operational costs that included the dispersal of funds for the Reed Road project.

Ziegra reported that the Reed Road project was right on schedule and that a second drilling rig was arriving for blasting to "move things along."

Jim Lord, of Dirigo Engineering, has advised Ziegra that he will have to recalculate the yardage resulting from the blasting; the actual amount may exceed the amount estimated.

A community block grant is being sought for the replacement of a section of the water main on Sea Street where the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard is located.

The trustees had the Sea Street and Commercial Street main project on their list - but the multi-million dollar project was two years away.

"Four weeks ago, Bob Foster approached us looking to increase the service line for fire protection service; they also need to have sprinklers in some buildings for an upcoming high-end job slated for this winter," said Ziegra.

"We can't support it because the [current] water main was installed in the late 1800s, it's too small so we are unable to meet the fire code required for their expansion."

The district will have to install 100 feet of 12" main to meet the needs of the shipyard and code requirements.

Boothbay Harbor resident Amy Winston of Lincoln County Economic Development was hired by Ziegra to write the community development block grant.

CDBG grants are written by the entity requiring the assistance, but the applicant is the municipality, in this case, Boothbay Harbor.

The CDBG program is part of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is administered locally by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).

Winston advised Ziegra that grant awards would be in the spring.

Based on that information, Ziegra said work would begin in the fall of 2008 - as soon as the town would permit - with a completion date in winter 2009.

A joint meeting has been scheduled with representatives of the water department, the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, Boothbay Harbor town manager Tom Woodin, Boothbay Harbor's selectmen, Winston and her associate Margaret Laughton, and representatives from the Department of Economic and Community Development on October 25, 1 p.m. at the Boothbay Harbor Town office.

An open hearing will be held at some future date with residents of Sea Street and commercial property owners to discuss the impact of the Sea Street project on them.

For the last two years, Verizon has expressed interest in constructing a 150-foot transmission tower directly behind the water district office to clear up the "dead spot" in Boothbay Center.

The current proposal is that the water district would own the tower. Verizon (and any other carrier) would lease tower space from the district.

What's the hold-up? The communications company has yet to approach the town on the proposal.

The 180,000-gallon, 80-foot tank needs to be removed. Since the Kenniston Hill water tower was constructed, the 44-year-old East Boothbay tank is no longer useful.

According to Ziegra, the cleanest, least expensive way to accomplish this is to knock it over and cut it up on the ground. The department would remove the concrete pad.

No timeframe for this work has been set.

The cost estimate for the demolition, that was to be included in the 2008 budget, will be $12,000 to $14,000.

The water district trustees' next meeting is Tuesday, October 9 at 2 p.m. at the district office.

Visit www.bbrwd.org for minutes of trustee meetings and other community information.