As the owner of the Bowdoinham Recycling Barn, who for over 30 years has leased the building to the town, I write to correct information in relation to the Dec. 23 article, “Bowdoinham selectmen give recycling barn owner options.”

Under our agreement, the town has benefited for three decades from a low lease payment, presently $1.02 per square foot per year, on an as-is agricultural building. In part, the lease payment has been kept low because leasehold improvements have been the responsibility of the town. As the landlord, my responsibility has been to maintain the existing structure in good repair. I believe I have done so.

Inspections by Calderwood Engineering (CE) in both 2013 and 2020 agreed. They revealed nothing broken, and nothing needing repair. Calderwood’s recommendations are for structural improvements, not repairs.

Our lease even states in Section 6 that the town may at some point wish to make the very improvements Calderwood recommends, and outlines a process for this to happen.

When asked this fall at a public meeting why this process had not been followed, rather than abruptly shutting down the program, the previous Chair of the Select Board admitted he did not know what was in the lease, though he has signed to renew the same lease more than once.

Adding fuel to the fire, Calderwood’s June 2020 report contained several unprofessional and defamatory errors, causing the town to overreact and the townspeople to lose a valued service for many months. An incendiary Calderwood letter dated Sept. 11 was also based on these errors. Calderwood has since retracted the errors, but the damage they have done is irreparable.

Which errors? First: floor load upgrades made at Calderwood’s own direction in 2009 were ignored or forgotten. This astonishing oversight was the primary reason the Barn was ordered closed. Second: two floors of a 288-foot wall framed with 2-by-6s were mistakenly measured as walls built of 2-by-4s. This meant their actual resistance to bending stresses from wind load was more than twice what was calculated. Third: roof reinforcements I made after the historic storm that collapsed the Kennebec Ice Arena were entirely ignored. These improvements, which the engineers also failed to acknowledge, had in fact doubled the strength of the roof system on the south side, where snow accumulates. It is now twice as strong as it had been for its first 50 years.

When confronted with their many errors, the Calderwood team did issue corrective guidance, but this was vague, unclear, and inadequate to undo many months of misunderstandings, lost trust and lost services. It also failed to acknowledge the harm their mistakes had caused.

Despite both the engineer’s defamatory errors and the current board’s fundamental misunderstanding of our lease agreement, I recently offered to pay for all short-term improvements, recommended in Calderwood’s latest letter, to reopen the Barn. I have also begun fire safety improvements, although these have never required building closure. My offer to the select board was met with a new set of goalposts.

If the town does wish to renegotiate our lease, which expires in six months, we may still be able to do so. Accurate engineering, accurate reporting, and clear understanding of our previous, as-is lease agreements will be necessary to move forward in good faith. 

For over 30 years I have been fortunate to help the Town provide space for residents to meet socially and to enjoy the fullest range of reuse, recycling and solid waste services at the lowest possible cost. I hope to continue to do so.

David Berry designed and led Bowdoinham’s solid waste and recycling program for 30 years. He lives in Bowdoinham.

Comments are not available on this story.