CV Select Board Celebrates Book Award, Discusses New Personnel Needs and More

BySue Davis

At its January 12 meeting, the Carrabassett Valley Select Board discussed a book award, fees for use of the CV library Begin room, possible new personnel and approved the doubled expense of July 4th fireworks. Discussed as informational were transfer station stickers, the possibility of a modest terminal addition to the airport, dedication of the Town Report and announcement of the new Recreation and Fire Department heads.

BOOK AWARD

A Town Built by Ski Bums: The Story of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, has been selected this year as a winner of the International Ski Association’s SKADE Book Award to be presented in Utah in April. Author Virginia Wright was invited by the Association to accept the award in April but is unable to attend. John Beaupre who chaired the book committee has offered to go. There will be no need for the Town to pay his expenses as he will combine the trip with another of his own. Hotel, food and two tickets to the event are included with the invitation.

BEGIN ROOM FEE

The Select Board reviewed a fee schedule for use of the Begin Room at the Carrabassett Valley Public Library and Community Center. The building was built with CV tax dollars, determining their practice of catering to local non-profits and other groups.

Free use included municipal entities and officials, the library board and programming events booked by the library, local non-profits and businesses providing presentations of educational civic, or cultural interest. Also included is one annual meeting per local associations, home owner associations, etc., and impromptu use by individuals (i.e., for remote work) when the room is available.

Charges of $40/hour up to $200 max for up to 8 hours apply to everyone else. A $20 cleaning fee is charged as necessary. After a discussion of “how local is local,” the SB determined that decisions would be at the discretion of the library Director Andrea DiBiase until such time as change might be needed.

CARRABASSETT VALLEY NEEDS TO CATCH UP WITH ITS GROWTH

Town Manager Garrett Corbin presented his recommendations to the Select Board for new personnel in 2026 for their consideration of potential expenditures. These requests reflect his effort to assure CV is the best it can be.

  • A Full Time Receptionist is needed –Town office staffing has not kept up with Town growth. Year-end auditors pointed out that compared to other towns handling similar-sized budgets, the CV town office is understaffed. The backlog in some cases is years, not months. The current budget included a part-time position that covered a recent hire who didn’t work out. Registration takes the most time, often tying up the treasurer or town clerk, who’s time could be significantly relieved by a full-time receptionist answering questions, etc. Former Town Manager Dave Cota use to help the treasurer, for example, but TM Corbin’s plate is already full.
  • Full-time custodian – The current budget covers multiple part-time custodial duties. A fulltime position was brought into focus when the person doing it at the AGC suddenly left. The amount of deep cleaning there requires a dedicated person. Currently, AGC front desk staff are keeping things clean but deep cleaning and front desk are too difficult to manage together. Offering a full-time position with benefits would make the job easier to fill.
    Currently CV is paying $40,000 for custodial help. Making it full-time with benefits would raise this to $60,000. Responsibilities for a full-time position would include 20 hours at the AGC, with the other 20 hours dedicated to the Town Office, library/community center, day care, Outdoor Center and trail head facilities. Chair Luce pointed out that AGC cleaning has been a problem since the beginning. As there are new people in nearly all top positions—CVA, the Recreation Department, the Fire Department—it would make sense to have a joint meeting to discuss this proposal.
  • Full-time firefighter: approved by Budget Committee in 2025.
  • A part-time Outdoor Center staff person was proposed. There has been some discussion about Carrabassett Region-New England Mountain Bike Association (CR-NEMBA) helping the Town operate the outdoor center outside of the ski season. There would have to be a schedule of which months CV and CR-NEMBA would be covering.
  • Reserving funds for a deputy CEO/assessor to start in 2027. Corbin believes that the Town does best with an in-house assessor, noting that the current assessor will be retiring soon. Chair Luce suggested that the Town handle this when the time came rather than trying to address the issue this far in the future.

PERSONNEL POLICY

The Select Board tentatively approved updates to the Personnel Policy at the December 22, 2025, meeting, pending updates at this meeting. Campbell had one minor correction, otherwise there were none. The Board chose to let the December approval become permanent. Job descriptions were mentioned as a possible improvement at a future date.

FIREWORKS DOUBLED IN PRICE FOR 2026

The Recreation Committee was consulted about keeping the fireworks on July 4th or changing the date for better pricing. The vendor has increased the price from $7,500 to $15,000. The Committee supported continuing the tradition of having them on July 4. Noting that the offer made no mention of the price being cheaper for a different date, the SB chose to accept the doubled price and stay with the July 4 date.

NEXT MEETING DATE/LOCATION

Monday, January 26, 2026, at the Town Office.

INFORMATIONAL

  • The Town has ordered new transfer station stickers for taxpayers. A draft of the notice is going out on the website. Stickers are not yet available. Notice of their arrival and guidance for access will be publicized as soon as they arrive. Until then, residents and guests of properties in Carrabassett Valley can continue to utilize the transfer station during its normal hours of operation. Residents will have time to adjust to their need for stickers at the transfer station after the stickers have become available.
  • Waste Management has communicated that the tipping fee for municipal solid waste (MSW) (not construction waste) will be the same in 2026 for residential dumpster tonnage, regardless of the commercial dumpster servicer. Per the Dec. 22, 2025, Select Board discussion, the Town intends to continue reimbursement in 2026, now at a consistent rate.
  • The Airport Manager and Town Manager are working on an application for an FAA grant that would cover the majority of costs to build a very modest “terminal” building at the airport.
  • Corbin asked the Select Board to consider to whom to dedicate the 2026 Annual Town Report at its next meeting. They will consider the dedication for a living person at the front of the report and possibly a memoriam for those who died last year at the back of the Report.
  • Following the year-end retirement of longtime staff members Deb Bowker and Courtney Knapp, the Town is pleased to announce the new Director of Recreation is Alison Thayer and the new Fire Chief is Sprague Wise. Corbin reports that they are off to a great start. More information about them will be available on the Town website.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The Budget Committee meetings dates were confirmed as Tuesday, January 27 and if necessary, the following Thursday, 1/29. Meetings will take place at the Town Office, starting at 5:00 with pizza generously provided by Jay Reynolds/The Bag, with the meeting itself to start around 5:30. Corbin is targeting January 23, the Friday before, to have the budget documents ready for the SB to study.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

The Board then went into executive [not execution] session to discuss personnel matters.

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