Am I mistaken here - or is the Town of Milo going in to the Real Estate buisness. Will the Town re-sll the properties if someone wanted to purchase the properties .

Would there be conditions placed on the properties - say like only to be used for businesses. Will the Town be making a profit on the re-sale of these properties. I cannot understand what the motivation is for the Town to own these properties. What is the matter with the free market place . Why does the Town want control of these properties ????

The real confusion is with the "town fathers" who continue to schedule special town meetings until they get the vote that they want. On January 5th they are offering a free supper to likely voters. Booney brings up a good point. Why is the town in the realestate business and why are they offering 4 times the assessed value??

The supper isn't free, it is being put on by Three Rivers Kiwanis and it is to raise money to renovate the Town Hall kitchen. The reason the town wants to own the properties is to make applying for grants a possibility.

The voters of Milo have a big decision to act on at the Special Town Meeting mentioned above. As someone who was directly impacted by the fire, and is now a businessperson who will not directly be impacted but a citizen who will be, I shall offer up my insight on the issue.

The grant money being offered to the town is ONLY available as a result of the fire and can ONLY be used to improve the footprint of the businesses lost because of that fire. The money can’t be used for any other purpose other than to improve or rebuild that exact area. If we don’t take the money, it won’t go back to the government to pay the national debt or lower our taxes. It will go to some other town who has suffered devastation to their downtown area.

The money is a grant that Milo will never have to repay. Granted (no pun intended) there are stipulations as to what can be done with the money: they are varied and the voters can have their say in how the other $400,000+ dollars are spent once the lots are purchased.

To those of you who have bought, sold or looked at properties in Milo, you no doubt see the price of the True Value lots as inflated. Perhaps, but when the application for the grant was being written, the amount being asked for HAD TO BE justified. The $48,200 for the True Value lot and $10,000 for the other lot was part of the itemization of costs in the application. When I traded my lot to the town for the hospital building, I sincerely thought that lot was worth $17,000 considering that the night before my closing to purchase the lot where Hobnobbers had been located, a Main Street business owner called the realtor and offered $20,000 for it. If you add that amount to the $10,000 Saviolis paid for the Flower Shop lot, $48,200 seems fair for the rest of the properties.

I certainly don’t want to waste the grant money on a building or complex that would compete with any other business in Milo. I don’t think we need condos or apartments. But there are some feasible opportunities I can see. Mr. Tom Harrigan has an amazing collection of artifacts and fossils that he would be willing to donate towards a museum. We have a fabulous Historical Society here in town with a vast collection of amazingly interesting items of Americana. Perhaps we could have a building that housed some of each collection, creating a draw to Milo like the Transportation Museum is to Owl’s Head. We need a building to sell crafts made by local people. We live in a state where “Going for a ride” is a legitimate recreational activity; What if we had a destination for that activity?

We have a local church interested in a Youth Center. Kiwanis, The American Legion and other groups have expressed a desire to help. What if we had a place for kids to gather for games and socializing a few days a week? There is money available for maintaining such things. What if we just put in a few square yards of cement and gave the kids a place to ride skateboards or BMX bikes? We would have a spot where it was well lit. And safe. I’m sure the folks at Rite Aid and MFU would welcome their parking lots being used for only parking and not skate parks!!

I understand the hesitation on some folks’ part, but I see this opportunity as too good to pass up. I hope you all consider coming to the meeting Tuesday night. Whatever the outcome, let’s at least make sure EVERYONE is heard!.

Attention Area Residents!!!

? Do You Like To Eat?

? Do You Like To Hang Out With Wicked Fun People?

? Do You Like To Eat Baked Beans, Brown Bread, Biscuits, Hot Dogs, Cole Slaw, Fiddleheads And Whoopie Pies?

? Do You Like To Name Your Own Price For Such A Feast?

? Do You Like Your Money To Go To A Good Cause?

Well, Do We Have The Dinner For You!!! Tuesday, January 5th at 5:30 at The Milo Town Hall Art Center, an ALL YOU CAN EAT Old Fashioned Bean Supper and the Cost is By Donation!!

Presented by Three Rivers Kiwanis to Benefit the Town Hall Kitchen.

Pardon me..the Flower Shop Property sold for $9,000.

Sounds like that property might be well redeveloped as a family restaurant if people need to go to a Kiwanis function for a good, reasonably priced meal in Milo.

Does the town manager really think dropping the asking price by $50 on a lot with a price tag of nearly $50000 will change the voters' minds? What a buffoon! This is a classic snow job - baffle 'em with BS and keep bringing the question up to vote until the "right" vote is tallied. It seems to me that this grant is just another opportunity for Milo's good old boy network to pad the pockets of a privileged few in town on the Fed's dime. Also, how tacky to say residents can "blow hot air out of both ends" when referring to the meeting and supper. What a backward, unbecoming image to portray. It's time for Milo's residents to speak up and advocate for the town instead of letting the "good old boys" and special interests suck out what little life there is left in the town.

Don't forget us "Good Old Girls"....