PARIS — Town officials have invited trustees of the Paris Utility District to hammer out differences over a prospective deal to turn a riverside parcel into a park. 

Selectmen asked the district trustees to sell the town a 7-acre parcel at 1 Pikes Hill along the Little Androscoggin River for $1, the same price the town sold it for in 1967.  

At their meeting Monday evening, selectmen said they were confused to learn district trustees want an undisclosed sum for the land.

Selectwoman Janet Jamison, a former PUD trustee, said she was frustrated by the “adversarial” tone discussions had taken.

“I don’t understand what all of this BS is about when there’s a beautiful lot down there the town can take care of better,” Jamison said.  

Town officials hope to transform the former site of the PUD headquarters into a recreational park and renovate the one-story building there into offices for the Recreation Department. 

Residents are said to use the site informally for skating, kayaking and swimming. 

The district maintains a pump station transferring a large portion of its waste to its treatment plant, although it has boarded over several unused wells. 

After believing the deal was progressing smoothly, selectmen said they were surprised to read in the Sun Journal following the trustees Nov. 17 meeting that any deal with the town must include compensation for $400,000 in debt the PUD incurred when it acquired the property. 

In response, Paris selectmen Monday evening said district trustees are sending mixed signals.

Trustees previously said they support the idea of selling the parcel, but emphasized that any deal must reflect the best interest of some 900 ratepayers in town, who swallowed the debt in the form of higher rates five decades ago. They did not name a sum they’d be willing to settle on. 

Trustees also instructed wastewater treatment plant manager Steve Arnold to contact state regulators and a lawyer over easements to the pump station and necessary filing information. 

When asked for a clarification from Town Manager Amy Bernard the next day, Arnold said he had contacted the Maine Public Utilities Commission and he was moving forward with the deal, according to emails provided by the town. No mention was made of the monetary value of the deal.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Ryan Lorrain said both sides appeared to be on the same page when he and fellow Selectman Robert Wessels met to discuss the deal earlier this fall. 

“The correspondence seems different when we’re not there,” Lorrain said.

On Tuesday, Bernard indicated that the town has supported the PUD financially in a variety of ways over the years since the sale, but declined to elaborate in advance of talks. 

“I think we need to work together and continue that partnership moving forward,” Bernard said. She is “staunchly” against paying for more than the sale price for the lot, she said..  

“They have 900 ratepayers — taxpayers — who will be asked to pay for this twice,” she said.

Selectmen have asked the PUD to attend its regular meeting Dec. 22.

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