This past December, the Brunswick Town Council authorized the District to seek legislation to amend its charter to increase the debt limit from $20 million to $25 million to fund the $22 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment facility. The Maine Legislature passed the charter amendment which became law on May 3.

However, the new amendment does not become effective until ‘the legal voters of the Brunswick Sewer District,’ which is to say our rate payers, approve the new debt limit in a referendum. We are now working with the Town to include this referendum vote in the November 2015 election cycle.

It is vitally important to the community that we continue our mission to improve the Androscoggin River. It is hard to believe that the 1967 wastewater treatment plant is already 48 years old. The last upgrade occurred in 1989-1990 when the secondary treatment process was added. That upgrade increased our solids removal from 30 percent to 90 percent, and that was 25 years ago. We now need to modernize the facility and add the technology staff requires to operate the facility more efficiently and cost effectively. This upgrade will automate many of the daily manual processes and allow staff to monitor and program the operations through automated systems. This technology is the next phase we need our continuing efforts to reduce the electrical, chemical, heating, and overall operating costs of the facility. Over the past five years we have reduced overall annual operating costs of the wastewater treatment plant by some $250,000.

We thank you for your continuing support of our mission, and encourage you to vote your approval of the charter amendment in the November 2015 election. Thank you.

Please visit us at www.brunswicksewer.org or www.facebook.com/brunswicksewer for continuing updates on District activities.

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Leonard Blanchette is the general manager of the Brunswick Sewer District.