PLEASE NOTE NEW MEETING LOCATION at Camel's Hump Middle School
The following is my understanding of the finances and timeline. I hope that people who have better information will join us at the meeting tomorrow night and correct any errors.
The developer Buttermilk LLC had an option to purchase the Creamery property from the former owner, Craig Caswell, for $100,000 that expired on March 15. Under the terms of the $500,000 clean up grant, Buttermilk could not take ownership of the property until the grant had been executed, and Buttermilk had not been able to complete preliminary work required prior to March 15. Buttermilk sent a message to Mr. Caswell requesting an extension of the option to purchase. He did not respond, but instead called Anne O'Brien and offered to sell the property to the Community Senior Center for $125,000. The CSC board borrowed $50,000 from a private individual, signed a mortgage with Mr. Caswell for a mortgage for $75,000, and bought the property.
The CSC informed the select board of the purchase after the sale was complete. At a subsequent select board meeting, Anne O'Brien said that the intent of the CSC board was to work with the town and access the $500,000 community development block grant to clean up the property.
The state agency that administers the grant subsequently made it very clear that the grant was tied to the specific proposal submitted by the town and Buttermilk LLC, and that Buttermilk needed to remain as the developer for the grant to be executed. Anne O'Brien asked me to facilitate negotiations between the CSC and Buttermilk in order to eventually establish the same kind of option to purchase that Buttermilk had had with Mr. Caswell. I was successful in bringing the parties together, but did not participate in the negotiations. Buttermilk has since publicly stated that they are willing to pay the CSC $125,000 plus closing costs associated with their purchase of the property. In a letter to selectboard dated 5/5/16 the CSC made it clear that they are turning down Buttermilk's offer, even though this meant forfeiting the grant.
The Community Senior Center is currently $125,000 in debt and is also responsible for paying property tax on the property ($8,000 per year) as well as the associated water and sewer allocation and other costs associated with securing the site. As related by Anne O'Brien, the CSC currently has less than $10,000 in assets.
For additional background, please read Greg Elias's article in the May Times Ink, and read FPF postings from 5/8/16 through today.
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