OXFORD — The town may create an ordinance to regulate the water level of Thompson Lake, an attorney for the town said in a letter.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Thompson Lake Dam Advisory Committee, Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings presented a letter from town attorney Geoffrey Hole. Hole said the four towns bordering the lake — Oxford, Otisfield, Poland and Casco — must create identical ordinances and create an interlocal agreement. The commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection must approve the ordinances, Hole wrote.

Chammings said the board was concerned about its authority to regulate the water levels.

Committee member Peter Laverdiere was still concerned about the town’s authority, citing Hole’s letter. Hole wrote that “it is only after the interlocal agreement and ordinances are in place that the municipalities can regulate water levels.”

Chammings said he understood that the town’s current water level regulation, using the dam next to the former Robinson Mill, was lawful and that the DEP had no objection. “They’re not monitoring this at all anyway,” he said.

The Thompson Lake Environmental Association recommends a winter water level of 32 inches below the top of the Robinson Mill dam, which would be set by Oct. 20, to prevent spring flooding when snow and ice melt into the lake.

The committee voted to recommend that Oxford set out to create an ordinance on the lake’s water level.

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