Courtesy / Center Theatre
The concrete pillars that hold up the Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft are in need of repair, which may be partially funded by a USDA grant.
April 5, 2021
Dover-Foxcroft theater told it can apply for USDA grant without county support
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft, a nonprofit, is applying for a USDA grant to shore up the concrete pillars below the building.
By Maureen Milliken
The Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft will move ahead with a plan to undertake structural repairs, despite a lack of support from Piscataquis County Commissioners. It received word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the project is eligible to apply for a grant that would fund part of the project.
While a structural grant application doesn't seem like an incendiary issue, the application process over the last month has enflamed a political kerfuffle in the region.
The commissioners last month shot down a request from the nonprofit theater, when the organization asked for a letter of support for an application for a USDA Community Facilities grant, which the theater hoped to use for building repairs. The no vote was an unusual move, given the theater has applied for, and been awarded, similar grants in the past.
The three-member commission, which voted down the request 2-1, questioned whether a business should be using federal money, but also brought up the fact members of the organization had protested the commission's January anti-mask resolution.
Support of the government entity that represents the area of service is one of the factors that goes into grant approval, theater Executive Director Patrick Myers said. He told Mainebiz that the theater has applied for previous grants from USDA Rural Development with no problem.
The theater shows movies, hosts live performances and community events, educational programs, and hosts the annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival
The USDA told Myers Friday that the theater has "significant community support" to go ahead with the application. The USDA Rural Development office in Bangor didn't immediately have a comment this morning.
Commissioners say no, community says yes
The commissioners on March 23 said they would not support the project, questioning the fact that the money was going to a business. Commissioners also approved a resolution to audit previous grant spending by the theater.
Another issue, board members Jim White and Andrew Torbett said at the meeting, is that Myers and theater board Chair Cynthia Cyr had hurt local businesses by speaking out against the commissioners' January anti-mask resolution.
The resolution calls the coronavirus the "Wuhan virus," and says "research and study of the history of pandemics shows that face coverings and lock-downs only worsen and lengthen the time of the virus" and "the same research shows that face coverings, while not preventing the virus, cause respiratory disease and pneumonia, with far worse devastation to the populace."
Torbett had also edged Myers in the election for the District 2 commission seat in November.
Cyr and Myers have said they opposed the resolution as private individuals, and weren't speaking for the theater when they protested it.
The commissioners initially tabled the grant application support request on March 9, saying they needed more information.
Myers made an appeal to the community for support and and acknowledgment about the theater's economic impact. Myers told Mainebiz that the theater is an economic and cultural anchor for the community.
"In a normal year, we draw over 20,000 people whose entertainment dollars would otherwise be spent elsewhere," he said. "We also are a draw for tourism as well as an asset for local businesses looking to recruit professionals to relocate." He said the theater's Maine Whoopie Pie Festival "has also created a signature event that brings immense financial and promotional benefits to the entire region."
Before the March 23 vote, the county had received 105 emails, letters and phone calls in support of the theater and just one in opposition, County Manager Michael Williams told the Bangor Daily News.
The USDA description of the program, which also provides loans, says community-based nonprofits are eligible. The program provides funding to help "develop essential community facilities in rural areas." The list of entities eligible includes community centers that provide community support, including things like fairgrounds, child care centers and more, as well as public facilities, health care centers, educational entities and others.
Priority is given to towns with a population of 5,500 or less and a median household income below 80% of the state nonmetropolitan median household income, both of which apply to Dover-Foxcroft. Its population is just above 4,000 and the median income is $35,521, according to U.S. Census data; 80% of the state's AMI is $37,700, according to latest U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development statistics.
The money can be used to buy, construct or improve the property, as well as to buy equipment and pay related project expenses.
An expensive repair
The grant, if approved, would pay 55% of the cost of repairs for the 20-year-old concrete pillars that hold up the building, which juts out over the bank of the Piscataquis River in downtown Dover-Foxcroft. The theater would raise the other 45%, Myers said. The bid process has been delayed while the grant application situation has been unfolding, so there's no estimate for the cost, but he said he's heard from engineers it could be around $32,000, but possibly more than $50,000.
He said the USDA nod doesn't mean the application is approved. "But it does mean that we are eligible to apply for the grant and the whole process can move forward." The next steps are to complete the application and send out the bid packet to find out the cost for the work.
There's no timeline, but the grants are usually decided on within 45 days of application, the USDA said.
James Sewall Co. in Old Town is doing the engineering work to assess the extent of the project.
Cyr said that the work is in an area below the theater on the steep river bank. “Given the challenging location and lack of easy access, we expect it will be quite expensive, but we take our responsibility to care for this special building very seriously,” she said in a March news release from the theater organization.
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