From where I stand the Article 7 issue appears to have a side that is not being fully considered or ignored completely and that is our ability to fund the project or the lack of.

I am not quite sure why the Town Manager and the Select Board want to support a project for which there is only a percentage of the required funds available.  In this case partial funding apparently depends on the availability of federal and or state grants,   Assuming we know what the town’s matching responsibility would be for the difference, where would that money come from?

Additionally, all of the current discussions are directed at only the Montgomery Dam and spillway.  Are there any facts available related to how much additional money will be needed to finish the whole project?  By whole project, I mean the analysis and cost estimate for improvements to the upstream dams that would be needed in order to open the entire migration path.

While concerns about fish migration is a nice fuzzy discussion point, in my opinion it is not the main issue. 

I believe the real issues are:

1) Whether or not the money is available to complete the current project and what about its associated ongoing maintenance requirements;

2) What is the PLAN to address the requirements of the  multiple upstream dams in order to complete a migration pathway; and finally

3) Is there any proof that the assumptions about the availability of government funding grants play in the equation and if so how much would be Camden’s matching responsibility.

In the end I think this situation can be best described by an example most of us are intimately familiar —the family budget.  The family budget indicates that there is only enough money to cover the household’s basic expenses, but the head of the family insists on going shopping for a new Mecedes. It’s time we got serious about how much money the town has to spend and what infrastructure really needs to be covered.

Finally, should we be putting any faith in funding coming from the federal government, when we already have proof that many federal departments are being dismantled, and grants are currently being reduced or eliminated through DOGE’s ongoing actions.

I would also like to direct your attention to the article published on Facebook entitled “My Two Cents” written by Eric Lebson of Camden, which in my opinion hits the bullseye dead center.

Paul Morelli lives in Camden