July 18, 2025
Sangerville’s spotlight of the week goes to Numberall. Numberall is a 4th generation business that’s bed designing, manufacturing, and servicing a complete line of quality marking equipment since 1930 made completely in the United States.
In 1930 Max and Emma Bayerdorffer started Numberall in Staten Island, NY. Max worked towards patenting several poultry products and found a need to stamp every product for identification. He produced and patented the rotary stamp, realizing there’s a market for this product among utility workers, saving them time from finding each individual stamp.
In 1968 Numberall moved its headcounters to Sangerville Maine recognizing the strong manufacturing labor pool of local machinists. In 1980 Numberall incorporated some of the first CNC machines in Maine, producing one piece numbering wheels. In 2020 Numberall hit a sales milestone selling its 15,000th model 40B.
Numberall provides metal shipping equipment used on items found everywhere such as Gas cylinders, security seals, automotive and aviation products, agriculture tractors and equipment, and metal tags on telephone poles. Some big-name companies using these products are Motorola, 3M, Ford, General Mills, GE, Black & Decker, Eaton and Soda Stream for example.
If your interested in learning more about these products and this 4th generation company visit their website at https://numberall.com, Call 207-876-3541, Email at sales@numberall.com or visit on Facebook at ”Numberall Stamp & Tool Co., Inc.”
July 18, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, it was a relief to see the weather for this weekend, it looks like we should have a perfect day for the Two Knights Festival tomorrow. The festival will begin with a parade on Main St. from the cemetery to the Veterans Memorial Park at 9:00 am. The remainder of the festival will be at the park from 10:00 am until 4:00 PM. There will be music at the gazebo, games for kids, vendors, food, car show, touch a truck and a 3-point contest. The Darlings Ice Cream truck will be there from noon until 2:00 PM. This should be an awesome event for the whole family. Many of our citizens including most of the fire department, the recreation and parks committee and others have put a lot of work into this event for everyone’s enjoyment and to foster pride in our community. Please come out and enjoy at least part of your day with us and please share this event with others.
At the select board meeting Wednesday evening Orman Gray of Sangerville was awarded the plowing and sanding contract for the next three years. We acted on a complaint about parking on Church St. We will be restricting parking on parts of Church St. for safety. The current parking situation on the street would make it nearly impossible to get an emergency vehicle up the street at different times. The forestry committee was officially seated and terms assigned: John Armstrong is the chairperson and will be serving a three-year term, Toby Hall will be the vice-chair and will also be serving a three-year term, Dennis Campbell and Roy Lemieux will each be serving two-year terms. Blaine Nuite as the planning board representative on the committee will serve a one-year term, and Cynthia Hall will serve a one-year term as alternate. I will be serving the committee as a non-voting member and as recording secretary. The next meeting of the forestry committee will be on Thursday August 14, 2025, at 5:00 PM at the fire station. Michelle reported on the draft of the audit we received, there were no problems with the audit only a couple of minor procedural recommendations by the auditor.
We also signed a warrant for a special town meeting for Monday July 28th at 6:00 PM. The purpose of this meeting will be to adjust the discount time frame and when interest will begin on taxes. The reason this needs to be done is that at the annual town meeting these articles were approved with specific dates. With the delay we have in committing taxes, due to the failed school budget those specific times will not work but as they were passed at a town meeting, they can only be changed by a town meeting. If the school budget does not pass on July 24th, we will have to reschedule the special town meeting.
For road work this week, we finished with the ditching and culvert work on the Knowlton’s Mills Rd. and continue to work on prepping the Line Rd. for paving. Orman has been working on getting calcium-chloride spread on all our dirt roads to keep the dust down and minimize loss of surface material to erosion. Next week we will be doing some ditching on the Townhouse Rd. as well as continued work on the Line Rd.
Our business of the week this week is Numberall Stamp & Tool Co., Inc. Numberall is one of the few manufacturing businesses still active in our community and we are fortunate to have them as part of our community, so thank you Numberall.
I hope everyone enjoys the nice weather this weekend and we hope to see you at the Two Knights festival tomorrow.
Brian
July 15, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville, I want to remind everyone that the SAD 4 budget hearing will be this evening at 6:00 PM at the elementary school. Again, I recommend everyone that can attend this should do so. It is the best way to understand the budget you will be voting on July 24th. If you cannot make it tonight and have questions, please contact a school board member or the school board chair, Niki Fortier.
The Sangerville select board will meet tomorrow night at 6:00 PM at the fire station. As all of our community meetings are, this is open to the public and our citizens are most cordially invited. On the agenda we will be opening plowing and sanding bids for the 25-26 winter. I will update the select board on our 6 Mill St. situation. The select board will discuss a concern about parking on Church St. I will give the select board an update on the forestry committee meeting last week. Michelle will discuss the annual audit.
We will be working on the Line Rd. to continue to get it ready for paving this week and we will also be applying calcium chloride to our dirt roads for dust and erosion control.
Please remember Saturday is our Two Knights Festival with a parade starting at 9:00 am and events at the park following the parade until mid-afternoon. There will also be a concert at the Gazebo this Thursday evening.
I will be in the office both Thursday and Friday mornings this week from 9:00 am until noon and I will be in and out of the office both afternoons.
Brian
July 11, 2025
Sangerville’s Spotlight this week is shining uniquely on 2 businesses: a husband-and-wife duo located on both sides of route 23 at 850 North Dexter Road. Black Dog Blooms specializes in locally farm grown flower arrangements and Castor Fell Disc Golf offering an 18-Hole course through the beautiful Maine woods.
Black Dog Blooms specializes in weddings, events and weekly subscriptions. Daily arrangements are available for pick up, delivery or shipping 7 days a week. A huge benefit with Black Dog Blooms is 70% of the flowers that are used are grown right here in Sangerville and available for about 8 months of the year despite our harsh winters.
As many know, in this rural location we live in, there are not many places to hold an event. At Black Dog Blooms they offer an event space for baby showers, bridal showers and birthday events. Occasionally host workshops and private events geared towards flowers and flowers arranging. If this is something you are interested in contact Abby at 207-924-2161, stop into the shop at 325 Garland Road Dexter Wednesday through Friday 9AM-5PM Saturday 9AM-12PM, visit ”Black Dog Blooms” on Facebook or www.blackdogblooms.com.
Castor Fell Disc Golf is open dawn to dusk 7 days a week seasonally for $7.00 unlimited play. Suggested to put a bit of bug spray on before heading into the course as deer flies are still hanging around.
Work is being done daily to improve the course. Some new additions are brooms, benches and concrete pads to accompany every tee pad. Metal signs are in the works thanks to a local entrepreneur.
It’s a beautiful day to head out and throw a few discs around. Stop on by 850 North Dexter Road, call 207-735-5470 or visit on Facebook at ”Castor Fell Disc Golf “.
July 11, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, hopefully we are all taking the opportunity to enjoy summer, which seems to have finally arrived in the last couple weeks. I finally got my kayak in the water for the first time this year last weekend on Center Pond. It was a beautiful weekend to spend on the pond.
This week on Wednesday the select board and the town hall committee met with town hall engineer Steve Govoni of Wentworth Partners and Associates, the engineering firm we have hired to oversee the town hall renovations. We had concerns that the roof work was approximately double the estimate we were given earlier this spring. Steve explained there was far more damage to the underlying roof on the North dormer as well as some previous renovation work on the roof that was not done well that led to the increased costs. It was noted that the roof work done to date has been exceptionally well done and that the company doing the work is the only company in Maine that does this type of historic slate roof work. After an extensive question and answer session the town hall committee voted unanimously to continue the roof restoration with the current contractor. The select board endorsed this with a unanimous vote of their own to continue the work but with a caution to the engineering firm that future numbers on other phases of the project could not be this far out of line.
For road work this week we did some ditching and culvert work on the Knowlton’s Mills Rd. Next week we will be continuing with some work on the Line Rd. in preparation to pave the section North of the Starbird Siding Rd. intersection. The paving of that and of Maple St. is still waiting until Pike opens their Dover plant for the summer. Hanson and Son Earthworks has completed the spring grading and next week we will begin working on applying calcium chloride to our gravel roads for dust and erosion control.
Our forestry committee met last night and discussed some organizational business and will be recommending to the select board to hire a forester to bring the town wood lots in compliance with the town’s forestry plan and make recommendations to the committee and select board about potentially harvesting some wood from these lots. The forestry committee is also providing their support to the town’s efforts to develop multi-use trails in town.
Please remember next weekend is the Two Knights festival and parade in town. Two Knights Brewing will also be kicking off their summer concert series that evening with The Breeze, a Lynard Skynard tribute band.
Tuesday is the school district budget hearing at 6:00 PM at the elementary school in Guilford. We will have a regular scheduled select board meeting on Wednesday the 16th.
Our business of the week is Black Dog Blooms a very impressive local florist in town with a shop on Spring St. in Dexter as well. Please see Kelsey’s write up on Black Dog Blooms.
Have a great weekend everyone. This is University of Maine Alumni night at the Portland Sea Dogs, so Liz and I are headed to Portland to watch a baseball game and fireworks.
Brian
July 10, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville, just a reminder that our first concert at the Gazebo will be tonight at 6:30. Also, there will be a forestry committee meeting from 5:30 to 6:30 tonight, followed by a planning board meeting.
July 7, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, this week’s meetings are a special select board meeting Wednesday the 9th at 6:00 PM at the fire station with the town hall committee and the project engineer for the town hall to discuss the roof work that still needs to be completed. The forestry committee will be meeting Thursday evening at 6:00 PM at the fire station.
Michelle is on vacation this week, so it is just Kelsey and I in the office. My schedule for the week is that I will be in the office today until noon and then from 2:00 PM until 5:00 PM. Tomorrow I will be in the office from 10:00 am until 1:00 PM and then from 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM. Wednesday the office is closed. Thursday I will be in the office in the afternoon, I have to be in court for the town in the morning, so I am not sure what time that will finish but I will be in the office until 5:00 PM. I will be in Friday from 8:30 until noon and then I will be taking Friday afternoon off. Have a great week.
Brian
July 3, 2025
Happy Independence Day Sangerville, in my last post I said I would let you folks know what was happening for local Independence Day festivities. Dexter will be having fireworks tonight at dusk, with a rain date of July 5th. There will be a parade in Dexter tomorrow at 10 am. Greenville will have a parade tomorrow at 11 am and fireworks tomorrow evening. Sebec has their annual celebration with a list of activities including a parade in the village at 9:30, you can check their website for a list of other events. Please remember we will be closed tomorrow in observance of Independence Day.
Our trail meeting with the ATV clubs Monday evening was a huge success. We had fourteen people in attendance. The Sangerville Knights ATV club is working on becoming active. Troy Grass the new club president and Theresa Tilton the new club secretary were present. They were able to pick up some new or returning members that were at the meeting and get a lot of help from the members of the other clubs. As soon as I have more information from them about how to join, club activities, etc. I will pass that on to you. As for now we have another solid partner in the plan to develop multi-use trails in town.
The select board met last night. We briefly discussed 6 Mill St. The property has now been condemned for over thirty days as a dangerous building and the owner has not taken any action to address the issues. I advised the select board that I have requested cost estimates for activities ranging from cleaning to demolition from several companies, so that we can get an idea of what it will cost to make this property safe. We also had an executive session phone consultation with the town attorney on eminent domain process for the South Sangerville Grange Rd. I would advise people to listen to the recording of the meeting that we will be posting to the town website to get the most accurate sense of what we can share in regard to that session.
We also had a presentation from Niki Fortier the school board chair to help explain the school budget and school budget process to us. This was a very helpful presentation. The initial figures that I put in a post a few weeks ago did not include the state subsidy. I apologize if I mislead anyone, but I was operating from the figures provided to us by the school district. There will be another district budget meeting at 6:00 PM Tuesday July 15, at the elementary school. I would strongly recommend attending this meeting if you have questions about the school budget. The next school budget vote is on Thursday July 24th. We are asking that people learn the facts about this budget, either by attending the budget meeting or talking to Niki or one of our school board members if you have questions, also listening to the recording of our meeting on the town website could be helpful. Your informed vote is important.
We have had inquiries about taxes and the mil rate. We discussed this and feel because of the number of variables in this equation that it is in everyone’s best interest to wait until we have final numbers from the school district and can provide an accurate mil rate as opposed to a guess. What this means is, that if the school budget passes on July 24th, we will commit taxes on August 1st. If it does not pass, we will be delayed further and will update you as information becomes available. If the school budget passes, we will have a special town meeting on July 28th to adjust the dates passed at the annual town meeting for discounts and interest.
Yesterday I met with Tom, the owner of Pro Seal, the paving company doing our paving this summer. As soon as Pike opens their Dover asphalt plant, Tom will get with me to schedule our work. He is estimating they will have that plant open in about three weeks. It is better if we can get the asphalt from that plant because it holds heat better being transported a shorter distance and the hotter the mix when applied the better the result. Otherwise on roads we will be finishing on the Burrough’s Rd. in the next few days and moving on to do the final prep for paving on the Line Rd.
Our summer concert series at the gazebo in the park will kick off a week from tonight on the 10th, with the Crosby Community Band out of Dexter. On Wednesday July 16th it will be Sharon Hood and Dixie Rd. band. Please remember the Two Knights festival on Saturday the 19th with a parade at 9:00 am followed by music, food, car show and other activities at the Park from 10 am until 2:00 PM. Have a safe and fun holiday weekend everyone.
Brian
June 30, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville, just a couple of updates. Please remember we have a meeting with the ATV folks on multi-use trails at the fire station tonight at 6:00 PM. We would like to hear from any and all residents in Sangerville on the topic of multi-use trails. As always, this is a public meeting, so everyone is welcome.
A reminder the select board has their regular meeting this Wednesday evening. It will be at the fire station beginning at 5:30. The first thirty minutes or so will be executive session, we will be having a conference call with the town attorney about the appraisal process for the South Sangerville Grange Rd. We will also be having school board chair Niki Fortier addressing the select board and answering questions about the school budget. If you have concerns about the school budget, you should attend this meeting.
The select board and I are getting frequent questions about the mil rate. To have an official mil rate figure for tax bills we need a school budget to be passed. However, we have contacted Hamlin and Associates, our assessor’s agent and asked if we can get a ballpark mil rate based on the proposed school budget. Currently, they are very busy because three other towns they serve are in the process of committing taxes. They are going to try to provide us something as soon as they can.
Road work this week: Hanson and Sons Earthworks will be grading in town this week. We are also continuing work on the Burroughs Rd. ditching, culverts and gravel, that will be closed to all but local traffic for most of the week. I am meeting with Tom from Pro Seal Wednesday morning and hopefully by the select board meeting Wednesday night will be able to share the paving dates for Maple St. and the Line Rd. Have a great week.
Brian
June 27, 2025
This week’s Sangerville Business of the week goes to Pizza Shack.
Family owned and operated; Pizza Shack is located at 201 North Dexter Road in Sangerville specialize in pizza’s, sub’s, nacho’s, lasagna, Chicken wings and a variety of deserts. Pick-up and delivery options available. Cash and Credit are accepted. Gift Certificates available.
Open Wednesday through Saturday 1PM-7PM.
If you’re looking for some great food at great prices, head over to Pizza Shack on North Dexter Road in Sangerville, Call (207) 876-3232 or visit “Pizza Shack” on Facebook.
June 27, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, this post finds us at the end of the last full week of June, which means next week we celebrate Independence Day a week from today. Let’s hope we can celebrate it with a little sunshine. I believe Dexter will be having an Independence Day celebration this year with fireworks on the 3rd and a parade on the 4th, but I have been unable to confirm that yet. I will try to have more information on their celebration and other area celebrations next week.
In Sangerville we will be having the Two Knights celebration on July 19th this year with a 9:00 am parade followed by a car show, music, food, vendors, children’s games, a bounce house and three-point contest at Veterans Memorial Park. Later that evening Two Knights Brewing will kick off their summer music series with a performance from The Breeze, a Lynard Skynard tribute band.
We are hoping for both good weather and a good turn-out of folks for this event. We are still looking for floats for the parade in particular and we are asking everyone to pass the word on social media about this event.
On Monday evening at 6:00 PM at the fire station will be our rescheduled trails meeting. Everyone is welcome, this is part of an initiative to develop a network of multi-use trails in Sangerville, both for recreation and economic development.
On Wednesday evening is the first regularly scheduled select board meeting for July. It is tentatively set to begin at 5:30 PM and go immediately into executive session for a conference call with our attorney on the South Sangerville Grange Road appraisal. The regular meeting, open to the public will immediately follow. We will have a special guest at this meeting, Niki Fortier, the chair of the SAD 4 school board will be doing a presentation and answering questions on the proposed school budget. I strongly encourage everyone to attend this meeting if they are able. I believe Niki will address the questions and concerns that surrounded the last vote.
On the subject of road work, Hanson and Son Earthworks is continuing the spring grading. Because the Brockway Mills Rd. was in such desperate need of attention, they did their best with the small grader last week while waiting to get their large grader back from the shop. Erik and I looked at the road yesterday and we both felt it should be regraded with the large grader; the small machine was not able to cut deep enough to remove the potholes. We are afraid after this weekend’s rain that we will have a road full of potholes again, so the current plan is to regrade Brockway Mills with the large grader at the first of the week. Erik is not charging the town for this regrade. They will then move on and finish grading the rest of the roads in town that have not been done with the large grader. We have completed the ditching and culvert work on the Line Rd. I am still working on scheduling a meeting with Pro Seal to get the paving on both Maple St. and the Line Rd. scheduled. As soon as that work is scheduled, I will let everyone know. We are currently doing some ditching and gravel work on the Burroughs Rd. just East of the section we rebuilt last summer.
Our Sangerville business of the week is the Pizza Shack, once again Kelsey has done a nice write up on this business for us. Everyone that knows me personally knows I love to eat, (a little too much in fact), so I will say I am a big fan of the Pizza Shack, great pizza, great whoopie pies and great service.
We will not be able to commit taxes until after the school has a budget passed. That will not happen until later in July so instead of being able to pay your taxes on July 1st, it will most likely be August 1st. That does create a need to have a special town meeting to adjust the dates for the discounts and interest that were passed by the voters in March. We will schedule that special town meeting after we know the school has a budget passed. Unfortunately, we will not know the mil rate increase until the school budget has passed as well. As soon as we know the new mil rate, we will make that information available.
Please remember we will be closed Friday to observe Independence Day.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Brian
June 24, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, a quick post to let everyone know I have rescheduled the trail meeting this evening until 6:00 PM Monday June 30th at the Fire Station. This is because our meeting space is in a steel building that the sun beats down on all day and does not have air conditioning. The weather service is forecasting the heat index to be over 100 degrees today, I don’t think we will accomplish much if we are all that uncomfortable. Sorry for any incovenience.
Thanks
Brian
June 23, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville, I wasn’t planning to write anything today, but I just learned that Sangerville received some unique National recognition that I want everyone to know about. The National Civic Organization is a national organization founded to assist and support municipal governments across our great country. One of the famous men that helped found this organization in the 1890s was an occasional visitor to rural Maine, his name was Theodore Roosevelt. This organization produces a publication known as the National Civic Review.
This afternoon Catherine Conlow from the Maine Municipal Association reached out to me to congratulate our town on being mentioned in a story known as “the Quiet Power of the Potluck Supper’. Much of the story centers around the author’s visit to a potluck supper at the East Sangerville Grange. We have posted the story on the town website, it can also be found easily by typing National Civic Review into a search engine, the story comes up on the first page.
My first thought and most important one is to thank Dyan McCarthy-Clark and the members of the East Sangerville Grange for bringing this positive attention about Sangerville to the nation’s attention. Of all the things a town can be known for, being a place where you can find a good variety of home cooked meals and the opportunity to socialize with your neighbors is a very good one in my opinion.
The article emphasizes the importance of social connection that is the backbone of these suppers, which has been lost in much of America and that loss of social connection actually has a negative impact on public health. Organizations like the Grange, Masons, Kiwanis and many others help keep small town traditions alive, particularly the one of neighbors helping neighbors. Our ancestors in Sangerville and small towns across the nation held these suppers and created this tradition to make sure we were looking out for one another as neighbors and they talked and exchanged ideas to improve their communities. Many good ideas throughout American history evolved from these gatherings.
I believe it is important for all of us to keep this tradition alive and thriving, community involvement is synonymous with life itself in a small town. What a great legacy we will have if we are known far and wide as the small town in Maine where you can still find a good potluck supper.
Brian
June 20, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
Unfortunately, we had a break-in at the park recently and Pirate Rec lost some baseball equipment. I still don’t have a lot of information on this, but I am told it is the second time it has happened in the last couple of years. In conversations with the select board, we are going to look into getting some security cameras for the park. If anyone has any information on the break-in, please contact Sgt. Guy Dow with the Sheriff’s Office. I have been told, thanks to the generosity of some kind citizens that donations have been made to replace the equipment.
At the select board meeting Wednesday evening we opened paving bids for the Line Rd. and what the select board felt was the best bid was from a company called Proseal from Waterville, who also had the best bid for Maple St. Tom from Proseal and I are supposed to get together next week to plan the work on both Maple St. and the Line Rd. Our grader operator is all ready to go as soon as Mother Nature gives us the green light. We can grade on a day with a little drizzle, but we don’t dare to grade when they are forecasting downpours like we have had in the last 24-hours. When I talked with Erik on Wednesday, he thought Sunday or Monday if the weather forecast held, they would be able to get out and get our grading done. We are also working on the Line Rd. this week and next week preparing that for paving. We are doing some ditching and adding some gravel. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but that road will be closed to all but local traffic much of the next several days.
We had a meeting on the Two Knights Festival this week. To remind everyone that is on Saturday July 19th. It will start with a parade at 9:00 am that will run from the Village Cemetery to Veterans Park. Starting at 10:00 am at the park we will have a car show, games, touch a truck and a bounce house for kids, a three-point contest, vendors, food, Darlings Ice Cream truck and music at the Gazebo. We are really working to get the word out on this so please share on your social media accounts and let people know. The other area we want to generate some interest in is in getting some floats for the parade, we have received very minimal interest in that so far, so if you have ideas of how we can generate interest in floats for the parade please let us know. Have a great weekend everyone.
Brian
June 16, 2025
Good morning Sangerville,
Just a couple quick announcements for a Monday morning. First, tonight at the fire station, the Two Knights Festival Committee will have what will probably be our final planning meeting. That meeting will be at 6:00 PM and anyone interested is welcome and encouraged to attend and participate.
Road grading has been a challenge this spring, because of weather and changing contractors. I spoke with Erik Hanson this morning, and I offer an apology from both he and I. We were planning to grade the Brockway Mills Rd. this morning but that will be delayed until Thursday. The reason for this is that Erik had his grader into the shop for a transmission rebuild that was supposed to be complete last week but some of the parts needed did not get delivered to the equipment dealer when they were supposed to. The current plan is to have the grader on the Brockway Mills Rd. with the other roads that have not been done to follow beginning this Thursday morning. Again, you have our apologies. Have a great day everyone.
Brian
June 13, 2025
This week’s Sangerville business spotlight goes to Stutzman’s Farm Stand & Bakery.
Stutzman’s Farm Stand & Bakery is located on Douty Hill Road in Sangerville, specializing in home cooked meals with ingredients grown right on site.
At Stutzman’s you will find brick oven pizza, sandwiches, salad, burritos, soup and desserts. They offer take out, eat in and outside seating. Cash, check and credit cards accepted.
Open Thursdays for lunch 11-2 and Friday-Saturday 11 to 7 for lunch and dinner.
If you are looking for some good food with fresh, locally grown, no preservatives added ingredients, head over to Stutzman’s Farm Stand and Bakery at 891 Douty Hill Road in Sangerville, call 207-564-8596 or visit “Stutzman’s Farm Stand and Bakery” on Facebook.
June 8, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
I want to remind everyone to vote on the school budget tomorrow. The polls will be open from 8:00 am until 8:00 PM at the Grace Bible community room on the Douty Hill Rd. If you have specific questions on the budget, it is on-line on the SAD 4 website, or you can call one of our school board members and ask them.
On the subject of roads, work will resume on Maple St. tomorrow. I just spoke with Erik Hanson, our road grading contractor. He has been able to do everything feasible with the small grader over the past two weeks. His large grader has been having a transmission rebuild and will be back to him this Friday. His plan is to begin in Sangerville next Monday and be here until all remaining roads are graded, beginning with the Brockway Mills Rd.
Thanks
Brian
June 6, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
The first thing I would like to discuss is to remind people to take time this coming Tuesday to go to the polls and vote on the school budget. We will be voting at the Grace Bible community room on the Douty Hill Rd. Polls are open from 8:00 am until 8:00 PM.
On this subject, I have been asked several times since town meeting what the mil rate will be this year. We do not know that until the school budget is passed. As town government we have no control or even input on the school budget and by law we are required to pay what we are assessed by the school budget process. You, as the citizens of the town and school district do have a voice and that voice is your vote on June 10th.
I just reviewed the minutes from the May 28th SAD 4 budget meeting. What you are being asked to approve for the Sangerville’s share of the school budget is $1,872.229.16. This is the largest share of any town in the district, although only about one hundred thousand dollars more than Guilford. It is a $677,303.33 increase over last year’s school budget, if I did my math correctly that is approximately 57%. The source I used for this budget information is the minutes of the budget meeting provided by the school district.
This will cause an increase in the mil rate, although we have not had the opportunity to calculate what exactly that change will be. Please understand I am not asking people to vote against the school budget. Your vote is yours and yours alone. I am asking people to try to understand that an increase in assessment this large will impact your tax bill. As with town meeting articles, state and national elections, I am just asking people to participate in the elections, take the time to do your civic duty and vote, and be as informed a voter as possible. You can view the budget on the SAD 4 website.
We will be having our select board meeting rescheduled from June 4th on this Wednesday evening June 11th at 6:00 PM at the fire station. I only know of one additional agenda item and that will be a recommendation from the forestry committee to hire a professional forester to assess the town woodlots and make recommendations to the forestry committee. I was asked recently by several citizens to bring the forestry committee back together. We believe they last met in 2020. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s this was a very active committee that successfully helped the town receive grant funding through project canopy to help manage forests in town.
The town of Sangerville owns approximately 500 acres of town forest. This is the result of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937. As America was recovering from the Great Depression in the late 1930s this act was passed to help tenant farmers, (sharecroppers), buy farms and also was used to allow the federal government to by marginal farms that were viewed to have little hope of becoming successful farms. The majority of these were likely dustbowl farms in the Midwest but it also applied to all areas of rural America. There were a few farms in Sangerville that were purchased by the government under this act and the land was donated to the town in 1943. Those areas are on the Bean Hill Rd. and the South Sangerville Grange Rd.
It is necessary to have a forestry management plan and do select harvesting off these lots every so many years. The forestry committee will be recommending to the select board that we hire a professional forester to get our management plans current and that may result in us doing some select cut logging on these lots.
The good news is that provides the town with some additional revenue.
When the government purchased these struggling farms under the Bankhead-Jones Act and donated them to states and municipalities, one of the purposes of the land was to be for recreation and enjoyment of nature of the citizens. With the grant money coming available through Maine Trails, I am in hopes we can possibly develop some multi-use trails on these town owned lots which will provide great recreation spots for our local citizens while at the same time fulfilling the original donation of the lands to the town.
Our business of the week is Two Knights Brewery. I can say I often enjoy a beer at their establishment and although they have a small food menu, everything on it is excellent. Congratulations Two Knights. Have a great weekend everyone. I have attached a copy of the warrant to be voted on Tuesday to this post. Please remember to vote.
Brian
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June 6, 2025
This week’s Sangerville business spotlight goes to Two Knights Brewing Company.
Two Knights Brewing Company is a family-owned and operated craft beer brewery located atop the hill on Mcphetres Road in Sangerville. TKB is open Friday through Sunday weekly.
Two Knights Brewing is named in honor of the two Sangerville Maine- born men that went on to be knighted by the royal family of England.
TKB is a great place to make new friends, have a party or a rehearsal dinner. There will be seven concerts this summer starting July 19th with the band The Breeze.
If you are looking for great food and drinks in a fun and welcoming environment stop on by.
Any questions or interest in upcoming events call 207-876-4200, visit their website www.twoknightsbc.com or on Facebook at “Two Knights Brewing”.
May 30, 2025
This week’s Sangerville business spotlight goes to Piscataquis County Collision.
A local auto body shop located on Douty Hill Road, specializing in comprehensive collision repair, accessory instillations, vehicle detailing and expert rust, dent and scratch repairs. At Piscataquis County Collision they are ASE certified, offer onsite rental and provide free estimates.
Their moto is a “One Stop Shop” and they really are. Gary and Drew are great to work with and can answer any questions you may have.
If you’re looking for any of these services give them a call 207-343-0308 or visit” Piscataquis County Collision” on Facebook.
May 27, 2025
Good morning Sangerville, I want to do a quick update on Maple St. as I have had some questions. Tomorrow and Thursday Scott Reynolds will be doing some prep work, culverts, ditching, etc. Unfortunately, there may be some dust and some delays, but we will do the best we can. Wednesday June 4th at the select board meeting we will be opening the sealed bids for paving. Once we award a contract, we will have a paver come in and do the shim and overlay as soon as they can do it. I will keep you all update.
Thanks
Brian
May 23, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville, we have arrived at the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, which many consider the unofficial start of summer. The temperature was 43 degrees on my way in to work this morning, so I would consider it a very unofficial beginning to summer. Memorial Day weekend to many in recent years has become a long weekend celebrating the transition of spring to summer with first trips to camp, barbecues, fishing trips, etc. all activities I enjoy as well but as with many holidays, we should all stop and take a minute to remember the purpose of Memorial Day.
Memorial Day began unofficially as Decoration Day following the Civil War with a purpose of placing flowers on the graves of those killed in the war. It eventually evolved into our current Memorial Day which has come to be a day when we remember all those who have passed on, particularly our war veterans and the sacrifices they made for the freedom of our nation.
It is usually the American Legion that places the American flags on the graves of veterans but our local Legion is doing the best they can to fulfill their mission with very few members, many who are quite elderly. I volunteered to make sure the veterans in graves in Sangerville had flags placed on them and Michelle and Kelsey volunteered to help. On Wednesday afternoon they placed flags on the veterans graves in the Bailey, Jackman Corner, Gilman, French’s Mill and Townhouse Rd. cemeteries. Yesterday with the help of Jennie from the Dover-Foxcroft Legion I did the Village and Knowlton’s Mills cemeteries. As a veteran myself it was very important to me that we get this done but earlier in the week to be quite honest, I was looking at it as a chore that I was not completely excited to do. As I was walking through our cemeteries, placing these flags and reading the tombstones, considering the lives of those passed veterans, it ceased to be a chore, and I realized it was a true honor to be doing this work. To think that 250 years later we are still showing respect due to a sixteen-year-old young man from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that volunteered to fight for the freedom of our new country and then moved on to settle in Sangerville Maine is something in which to take great pride. Not to mention recognizing all those who have served in every conflict since then.
So, my Memorial Day message to everyone is enjoy the weekend to the best of your ability, no matter the weather, spend time with friends and families and enjoy the unofficial start of summer, but please take a minute to remember all of those who gave up a piece of themselves and their lives, or in some cases their very lives to stand up for America for the rest of us to be free. A great way to do that in Sangerville is to attend a brief ceremony conducted by the American Legion at the Veteran’s Memorial at 8:30 am Monday morning.
As we develop our business of the week plan here in the town office we are starting this week by recognizing Big Rock Center Pond Campground. I will leave it to Kelsey to provide our write up on Big Rock, I will just say Mike is a great guy and a proud citizen of Sangerville and we are happy to recognize their business.
At the select board meeting this week we decided to move forward with replacing the chassis of the fire department rescue truck. To recap that discussion we opted to buy a used truck, model year 2010 that is in great condition to replace the 1987 chassis which needs approximately $13,000 worth of work to pass inspection. We all agreed that to continuously throw money into a truck that old is not the best use of the taxpayer’s dollars. This plan has us transferring the rescue body, which is still in great shape to the new, (used), truck. We should be able to get another 5-10 years from this truck before it needs to be replaced, we can do this for approximately $25,000.00 from the fire department reserve account, so it will not impact taxes.
We also met with the engineer for the town hall project. The roof work should be complete in the next several days. We are in the process of evaluating what we can afford to do for the remainder of this year. We are in hope of securing some grant funding but delays in those programs look like it may limit what we will be able to do this year.
I spoke with Blaine yesterday afternoon and have some South Sangerville Grange news to pass on. Tomorrow evening, the 24th, from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM, Wooden Project, a very good local blue grass group will be playing at the Grange. The price is $15 a person, it should be some great entertainment. They will also be doing their semi-annual bean hole bean supper on Saturday night the 14th of June, if you want to mark that on your calendars. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone and please remember the office will be closed Monday in celebration of Memorial Day.
Brian
May 23, 2025 - Sangerville Business Spotlight
This week’s Sangerville business spotlight goes to Bigrock Centerpond Park.
The park is open 9AM to sunset May through October. Bigrock is located on a beautiful 6.7-acre lot off McNaughton Hill Road. Bigrock Campground has 6 camp sites, a pool, Friday night karaoke, arts and crafts, a playground, board games, hiking and rock climbing activities. Firewood is for sale on site for $5.00 and ATV access to local trails. A two night minimum is required to reserve sites and a fourteen day maximum July and August.
A little history on the park- Established in 2019 by the Smith family whom has owned since 2005. This piece of property was once park of the land owned by the McNaughton family in the early 1900’s.
At one time the property housed cattle, pigs and grew apple trees. During nature walks you can find remanence of the old barn foundations and a large rock measuring 31.3 feet above ground.
If anyone has any questions, would like to book a campsite or just speak with Mike Smith call 207-717-2231 or visit “Bigrock Centerpond Park” on Facebook.
May 16, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
A couple of announcements to start the post, I spoke with Jason Higgins, our parks and recreation committee chair this morning. He and I both want to again express thanks to all those who have been working on the park the last couple of weeks. It is prom weekend, and the gazebo is all prepped for those that choose to use it for photos. Also, on the topic of the gazebo, we have received a $6,500.00 grant from the Maine Community Foundation to do concerts at the park this summer. Thanks to Jason and Rhonda Taylor for their work on this grant as well as all the other volunteer work they and the rest of the parks and recreation committee do for the Town of Sangerville.
I have had recent email conversations with Brian Knowlton, the commander of the American Legion post in Guilford. There will be a brief Memorial Day Ceremony at the Veterans Memorial at 8:30 on Memorial Day. The American Legion is a great organization that does a lot for our veterans and remembering veterans no longer with us. That said, I know from conversations with Brian that the Guilford post does not have many active members, for that reason, I am volunteering to place the flags on the veterans graves in the Sangerville cemeteries this year and am planning to do that next week.
I have spoken with Chris and Warren, they are ready to start sweeping streets, intersections, etc. but they are waiting for the best weather conditions. We believe this next week will provide those conditions. Basically, we need enough light rain to keep the dust down but not so much rain as to create mud.
Several people have asked me about painting crosswalks. I am looking into that with the intention of getting it done early this summer if possible. I am just looking for the most cost-effective option.
The select board will be meeting this coming Wednesday at the fire station at 6:00 PM. One agenda item will be Steve Govoni, our engineer for the town hall will be here to meet with the select board and town hall committee so we have a clear working plan for the summer and all of us are on the same page. Another item of discussion will be the proposed plan to replace the chassis of the fire department rescue truck. Some select board meetings are mostly straight forward town business that many residents will not want to give up an evening and we understand that. This will be a good meeting to attend because there will be a lot of opportunity for discussion, and we want the people’s voices to be heard.
Another good meeting for everyone to get on their calendars is Wednesday May 28, at 6:30 PM at the elementary school in Guilford. The schedule the district provided to us is that this is the budget meeting and the information session on the budget is from 6:30 to 6:50 with the vote of the school board following that session. This is an opportunity for people to learn about the school district’s proposed budget before you vote on it in June. They are asking to increase the budget which translates to an increase in your property taxes. Now to be fair to the school district, their budget increase request may be completely valid and may even be conservative. There are many working parts to a school budget and we all know nothing in life is getting cheaper. My suggestion that you choose to attend this meeting is that unlike the town budget which I have to know intimately, I cannot answer questions accurately about the school budget. This meeting should give you better understanding to make an informed vote on the school budget on June 10th.
Finally, we just received a flood advisory from emergency management for Greenville, Monson, Blanchard, Elliottsville and Shirley for this afternoon. It doesn’t appear we have to worry about it as much in our corner of Piscataquis County but use caution if you are planning to go North this afternoon or evening. Have a great weekend everyone.
Brian
May 13, 2025
Good morning Sangerville,
I would like to update you all on a few items. Road grading has started. John did the Line Rd. yesterday, and I believe they are moving to the Burrough Rd. today. We have got the docks repaired and in the water at both ponds. Orman started mowing yesterday with the park and is planning to move to the village cemetery today. Alan Burgess and his group from the Recovery Center spent yesterday repairing and painting the dugouts at the park and did a great job.
I acknowledge with all the hats that go along with being town manager, my time in the office can be somewhat sporadic. As road commissioner, especially during the months we are doing work on the roads, I need to be out checking work and conditions on a regular basis. I am working on trying to set some days and times when I will be in the office that are consistent each week. At this point, I am trying to be in the office regularly nine to noon each weekday, except Wednesday, when we are closed, as well as Friday afternoons from two until five. I will be in the office other times as well, but I am going to try to always be here those days and hours and if not, I will post that I am not available those times. I do check my email first thing every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I can be reached at tmsangerville@sangervilleme.com. I can also be contacted by phone or text at 279-6791. Hopefully everyone can enjoy the nice weather forecasted for this week.
Brian
May 9, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
I hope everyone is enjoying this fine spring weather. For those of us that enjoy a nice quiet, rainy Saturday, tomorrow is forecasted not to be disappointing, after all, who needs a sunny Saturday. The good news this weekend is that Sunday, (Mother’s Day) is forecast to be quite nice.
We are doing everything we can with roads in spite of the weather. We replaced two cross culverts on the Line Rd. this week and will begin grinding the asphalt on that road next week. This road will have a reclaimed asphalt/gravel combination surface resembling a dirt road for the summer with a plan to repave in the fall. We were able to give the South Sangerville Grange Rd. some needed attention this week with another culvert replacement and much needed gravel to the surface. Road grading is scheduled to begin next week, and we will begin preparing Maple St. for paving late next week or the week after.
The select board met Wednesday evening, we had the continuation of our public hearing on condemning the building at 6 Mill St. as a dangerous building. After the hearing, during the regular meeting the select board voted unanimously to condemn the building. What that means in practical terms is that we take legal action that prohibits anyone from living in the building until the dangerous conditions are corrected. In these situations, it is the responsibility of the owner to correct those conditions. If not corrected in a timely manner the town has the option to take further action.
The other most significant topic of discussion was the Fire Department Rescue Truck. This truck, which is essential to safe operations of the Fire Department is a 1987, officially an antique, its inspection is due at the end of this month, and we believe the repairs required to get it to pass inspection will be in the range of $15,000.00. The situation is that the rescue body, although old, is in great condition, the truck it is sitting on is worn out. We believe the most cost-effective solution is to transfer the current rescue body onto a newer, high quality used truck, so that we can get another ten years out of this vehicle before we need to replace it. We believe this can be done for less than $25,000.00, which we have in the fire truck capital reserve account, that exists specifically for this purpose.
Hopefully everyone sees this week’s Piscataquis Observer. “Sangerville is on the move”, is the front-page story. Stuart did a great article on the positive direction in which we are moving in Sangerville. If you get a chance, please take a look at this article.
Michelle is on a much needed few days off, so Kelsey and I had a brainstorming session this morning. I know some will say that were a brain short and some might even say we were two brains short, but we did our best anyway and I believe came up with a few good ideas. We are considering a plan where we highlight a different Sangerville business each week. This would consist of us possibly putting up information about the business on signs or posters in the town office, perhaps on Friday wearing t-shirts or other attire of the business of the week, we would do an informative article about the business for the town website and include it in our social media. Our goal with this is to promote our Sangerville businesses in any way we can to help them and our local economy. We are hypothesizing that there are some businesses in town that many of our own residents do not know about and if we can help their business we want to do so. As with everything we do, we would really like some public input on this, especially from the business community. So please let us know your thoughts. You can email Kelsey at dtcsangerville@sangervilleme.com or me at tmsangerville@sangervilleme.com, or as always, please feel free to stop by the office and visit us. To all mothers, Happy Mother’s Day and I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Brian
May 5, 2025
May 1, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
Another beautiful spring day today. The grass is getting green, so fortunately, the wildfire danger is decreasing. However, please remember to get a permit before doing any open burning.
The beginning of May usually brings the beginning of some of the best fishing of the season. With this in mind, we did some work on the Center Pond public landing road this morning, please remember if you use this landing that there is no public parking at the landing and the road adjacent to the landing is also private. Please be respectful of the private property owners if you use this landing. We will be putting the docks in at both Center and Mahanock Ponds, probably next week, we need to do some repair work on them before we can put them in the water.
We had a special select board meeting last night to open the grader bids. Lawson’s of Dexter was awarded the bid, and they will begin our spring road grading either the end of next week or the beginning of the week after.
We also held a public hearing that we advertised on condemning an unsafe building on Mill St. That hearing had to be continued because the owner is contesting any action on the building and neither she nor her legal counsel was able to be present last night. The hearing has been continued until next Wednesday evening at 5:00 PM at the fire station, just prior to the first scheduled monthly select board meeting in May.
The park and recreation committee met at the park on Tuesday evening to discuss upcoming work and plans for the year. The gazebo will be ready for prom pictures by the 17th. There are plans to do some maintenance work on some of the dugouts. We will be grading the road into the boat landing. We are also planning to build a one mile, loop walking trail around the park this summer and volunteers to do this work are welcome.
We are still in the planning work phase for the Two Knights Festival and parade on July 19th and again, volunteers and ideas are welcome. Enjoy the weekend, I understand we are going to get a break from the sunshine and warm temperatures again this weekend and have a few showers.
Brian
April 25, 2025
Good morning Sangerville,
It appears spring has finally arrived. Yesterday was a nice day, as today is supposed to be as well. Of course, it is supposed to rain all weekend once again, but at least they are not forecasting any snow.
Our road committee met last night, and we decided that it is now safe to take down our road postings, I am planning to remove signs this coming Wednesday the 30th. I noticed on my way into work this morning that MDOT has removed their signs on the Douty Hill Rd. We also discussed in detail next winters plowing and sanding contract, which I will be putting out an invitation to bid in the next couple weeks. We discussed Maple St.; our current plan is to begin prepping that for paving in the next two weeks. I will be preparing an invitation to bid on the paving for that in the same time frame.
Another sure sign of spring is that Stutzman’s has opened for the season. The downside to that is that I am really going to have to increase my exercise to offset the pizza and whoopie pies I regularly consume from there, but it is well worth it. It is great to have them open for the season.
Mike from Big Rock Center Pond Campground let me know they have done a big spring cleanup and are ready for the camping season. Also, on the topic of spring cleaning, Mid-Maine Solid Waste Association is having a free disposal day on Saturday May 3rd. You can get rid of up to 5 passenger vehicle tires, 1 refrigerator or air conditioner and 1 TV or computer monitor for free. You do need a current permit for Mid-Maine Solid Waste Association, which as a Sangerville resident you can purchase here at the town office for the cost of one dollar.
I want to remind everyone that we do have a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday April 30th at 5:00 PM at the fire station to hear public input on a dangerous building located at 6 Mill St. That will be followed by a special select board meeting at 6:00 PM that we scheduled, primarily to open bids for road grading for the town this summer.
Finally, I want to keep our Two Knights festival and parade this summer at least in the back of everyone’s mind. We would really like to get several floats in the parade and are discussing the possibility of having some trophies and prizes for some of the floats. To do that we really should have a theme for the parade. We are looking for ideas for a theme. If you have any ideas for a good theme, please contact Matt Blockler or me and let us know. Have a great weekend everyone, enjoy the rain.
Brian
April 18, 2025
Good afternoon Sangerville,
Tonight is the 250th anniversary of the famous midnight ride of Paul Revere, immortalized by the Longfellow poem. Although much myth surrounds the event, Revere did in fact ride from Charlestown, (now part of Boston) to Lexington and Concord to alert local militia. Revere’s home, the old North Church, Bunker Hill and the Charlestown Navy Yard are a few stops along the Freedom Trail in the North End of Boston, which is a great walk if you are visiting Boston on a nice day.
On April 19, 1775, British troops marched into Lexington and Concord to seize arms stockpiled by the colonists and arrest members of the Sons of Liberty. The colonial militia forced the British to retreat to Boston. To commemorate this event the Massachusetts legislature had declared the third Monday in April as Patriots Day, a legal holiday in Massachusetts. Sangerville being incorporated by the Massachusetts legislature on June 13, 1814, six years prior to Maine becoming a state, obviously has strong historic ties to Massachusetts.
In recognition of this Maine and Massachusetts state holiday, our office will be closed this coming Monday, April 21st. Also, of interest Patriots Day is the when the Boston marathon is run and the Red Sox always play at home that day with the game starting at 11:00 am so the crowd can leave Fenway and catch the end of the marathon. This is a busy day in downtown Boston.
On to news about Sangerville, after a recent post, I was asked what the Two Knights Festival is. The second annual Two Knights Festival will be held this year in Sangerville on Saturday July 19th. It will consist of a parade from the village cemetery to the veterans park, and then a day of events at the park with plenty of games for kids, touch a truck, a car show, live music in the gazebo, food and vendors. In the evening following all this, Two Knights Brewery will begin their outdoor summer music series with the Lynard Skynard tribute band “the Breeze”.
The purpose of this event is to celebrate Sangerville. It was conceived of last year by the Fire Department, and Friends of Sangerville Fire to help bring the town together after a very divisive spring in town.
This year, fortunately, we are celebrating a positive year in Sangerville. I told people when I accepted the town manager position last fall, my personal mission statement was to help turn “Angerville” back into Sangerville. I believe we have accomplished that goal together with more credit going to you the citizens of Sangerville than to me.
My new catch phrase, if one needs a catch phrase, is “Sangerville is on the move”. We had a very positive annual town meeting a couple of weeks ago, we have an active road committee and are getting started on some big road projects, roofers will be starting on the town hall, hopefully at the end of next week and the engineer is preparing for the next phase of the project. We are planning a big town wide celebration for July, and we are continuously looking for ideas to improve the town. I would say Sangerville is definitely on the move.
As I finish this post our fire department is working on its second wildland fire of the day, assisting Guilford on a fire in Parkman. I would like to remind everyone that a fire permit is required for open burning. You can get these online through the Maine Forest Service when weather conditions are permissible. Days like today are not good days to try to burn, it is windy with very dry conditions, a small fire can get out of hand quickly.
Have a safe and enjoyable Easter Sunday and Patriots Day.
Brian