Town of Fryeburg Maine
Settled 1763,  Incorporated 11 January 1777

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Minutes Fryeburg Planning Board
October 9, 2007 7:00 pm
Molly Ockett Middle School

Board members present, Gene Bergoffen – chair, Kathleen Heggie, David Andrews,

Carol Gregory and Michael Holtgrefe. Ed Price has recused himself from the meeting.

Code enforcer Boni Rickett was also in attendance.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm and a quorum was declared.

First spokesperson was Bill Dale, the attorney from Portland, Maine. He discussed what the meeting tonight would be about. Mr. Dale stated that both parties should submit memos to the other side. Part of the process is to then send a memo to the town office to be put on display for time of the next meeting and if the public would be allowed time to speak on the issues. There are also new planning board members, so Mr. Dale suggested that they get together with past members to discuss and rehabilitate them with what went on in the past with Nestle. Foremost important tonight is to deal with the issue of Mr. Gene Bergoffen (chair) that may have a conflict of interest in this matter.

Rules for this process are enclosed with the minutes.

Mr. Gene Bergoffen read his letter to the board indicating his past and present dealings with Nestle. He assured the board that he has no conflict of interest in this matter.

After the reading of his letter with his explanations, (letter enclosed in the minutes) the board had time for a discussion and what their feelings were considering this issue.

There was discussion that for some time now there has been the appearance of a conflict of interest with Mr. Bergoffen and Nestle/Poland Spring. As a result, during the Town

Meeting several townspeople spoke of their lack of confidence in the Planning Board

and its chair. Most board members felt that the letter was a little too late for all the accusations that have been made in the paper and to planning board members. They felt that Mr. Bergoffen may not have done anything wrong, but that it was probably in the planning board’s best interest if he recused himself from this issue. After further discussion, a motion was made by Carol Gregory to recuse Mr. Bergoffen from the board on this issue. Michael Holtgrefe seconded the motion. A vote was taken by the Planning Board and resulted in a 3-1 vote that he be recused from the board.

Mr. David Andrews was also questioned by the Planning Board members regarding any dealings he might have with Nestle and the Fryeburg Water Co. Mr. Andrews stated that his wife worked for the Fryeburg Water Co. and that was the extent of it. He stated that he was not related to anyone who owned the Fryeburg Water Co. and had no interest or dealings with it. Attorney Bill Dale stated that it was not relevant at this time to proceeded with this issue.

On Tuesday October 24 th, the Planning Board will meet and deliberate on issues. Two weeks from October 9 th they will meet again and give each party a chance to speak with a limited time from each party, to be decided before the meeting. The next meeting will be on October16th at 7:00 at Molly Ockett (tentative). At the end of this meeting they will decide things for the following weeks meeting. At this next meeting the scope of the decision includes everything that they have received as of October 9 th.

These meetings will be posted at the Town Office and on the town’s website.

On October 19 th the summaries will be into the Planning Board. On October 24 th there will be a meeting at Molly Ockett.

The visions of scope are to be low impact issue and the natural resource based business.

The parties were given as to what to submit. Mr. Gamwell asked that the memo he sent not be read and should be disregarded. The board has been asked to refrain from phone calls, and e-mails.

Carol Gregory made a motion to adjourn and David Andrews seconded it. The meeting ended at 8:20 pm.

Respectfully Submitted, Ginny Manley

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