WILTON – The Selectboard unanimously approved signing a six-month contract to a specialist in community and infrastructure development at Tuesday’s meeting, expending money out of the town’s Comfort Inn tax increment financing district fund.
The board agreed to contract Darryl Sterling for a six-month trial period. Sterling will work to identify ways to improve town infrastructure, including elements of the downtown and gateway areas, and will assist in securing grant funding for any improvements. Many of the goals that Sterling will address, such as improving walking access to Wilton locations, are outlined in the town’s downtown development plan, although the position will look at the entire town.
He will also work with Maine Department of Transportation on any road-related issues and along the Wilson Lake waterfront, according to Town Manager Rhonda Irish.
Sterling would eventually spend approximately one day a week on average in town as necessary, and will also work from home. Tiffany Maiuri, a Selectboard member who interviewed Sterling for the position, said she was impressed by his realistic timeline, with the town seeing a return on its investment within two or three years.
The contract pays Sterling $60 per hour for his work, plus mileage and travel time. The board’s motion would allow up to $12,000 to be spent to pay Sterling over the next six months. That money will come out of the Comfort Inn TIF fund, which according to Irish contained $161,116 as of the last fiscal year. That fund takes in approximately $65,000 a year through the Comfort Inn TIF.
Those funds will also be used for other projects, including $10,000 to $12,000 to develop a Credit Enhancement Agreement for the Western Maine Development LLC’s Business & Technology Center on the Weld Road. Some of the money for a new aerial fire truck will also come out of the TIF account, if approved by residents at a special town meeting on Nov. 18.
The Selectboard also considered some draft requests for proposals for the Tannery property on Route 2 & 4. With the cleanup project complete, the town is looking to sell the property and return it to the tax rolls. The board discussed adding a bond or deposit of some sort that would guarantee that the tannery building itself would be torn down. The board is seeking to avoid having someone purchase the property and then leave the decrepit and partially-collapsed structure standing.
“We can’t have another Forster Building out there right now,” Selectman John Black said. He referred to the old Forster Manufacturing Co. mill on Depot Street, which was purchased in 2006 from a private owner.
