CAMDEN – Select Board members in Camden will have three contract submissions before them Tuesday evening to consider for the town’s  proposed Megunticook River restoration project, as well as a proposed contract for a paid parking pilot project on the Public Landing.

The board will meet at 6:30 p.m., May 24, in person in the John French Meeting Room on Washington Street. The board meetings also incorporate remote participation.

The May 24 agenda also includes various liquor license renewals, the appointment of Janice Esancy as interim town manager while Audra Caler is out on leave, the appointment of Police Chief Randy Gagne as inland harbor master, amendments to the personnel policy, an update on of the property revaluation, and a presentation from the DOT concerning a Sea Street sidewalk reconstruction (named the Camden Slope Project) and update on the DOT’s Route 1 north project.

A paid parking pilot project has been designated for the Camden Public Landing, and a proposal from independent consultant John Burke outlines an IPS Group Multi-Space Pay Station system that includes two solar-powered coin and credit card parking pay stations, with accompanying software.

Such a system, which has been used in Bar Harbor, as well as 300 other municipalities, according to Burke, would cost Camden $27,584, plus ongoing monthly operational fees of approximately $3,000.

The proposed rate is $2 an hour, May through October.

Megunticook River Restoration

At the same meeting, the board will also consider proposals from three separate consulting companies interested in carrying forward the town’s Megunticook River Restoration and Climate Change Resiliency Project, as laid out in the 2021 analysis produced by consultants Inter-Fluve.

The restoration project includes consideration of dam removals along the Megunticook River to allow fish passage, flood protections, and enhancement of public use of the river. 

The three proposals from private consulting firms offer varying degrees of tasks and activities that further the project goals.

Source to Sea Consulting, with offices in Hallowell and Portland, has proposed a budget of $15,000 to establish a framework, interview stakeholders, identify key issues, and refine a scope of activities.

FB Environmental Associates, based in Portland, based its quote on helping Camden with project implementation outlined in the Inter-Fluve report, facilitate communications, apply for funding and environmental permitting, and work alongside Inter-Fluve contractors, “to help bridge communication between the technical components of the project with stakeholders and the community.”

FBE delivered in its proposal the labor rates its staff charges, ranging from $156 an hour to $71 an hour. 

Biohabitats, based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, submitted a proposal to provide project management, funding acquisition and stakeholder engagement. It created a budget to, “focus on what can be accomplished within a fiscal year, as a starting point, such that the town can reassess the need for these project management/agent services on a yearly basis.”

The fee for project management and findings implementation, plus grant application and grant administration, and stakeholder engagement and communication, would total $91,625, according to the proposal.