Repair Process Overview

In 2020 we had a civil engineer who lives on the Pond do a visual inspection of the Dam.  They determined that the degredation we were seeing was not structural.  We've been keeping a close eye on it since.

In September 2023 we obtained an estimate of $19,000 to repair the concrete and add protective plating to prevent future damage to the dam structure.  We realized at that point that we would have to do substantial fund-raising to be able to afford to repair the dam.  We initially set a fund-raising target of $25,000.

In 2024 after the annual meeting we began to develop a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a contractor to make the repairs to the dam.  In August we reached out to engineering firms to seek a proposal for them to review/provide input on the draft RFP.   The only slight interest we got was from one firm that proposed that we pay them $3,200 to perform a limited visual assessment upon which they would then produce an estimate for what they would charge to assist us with the RFP.  We opted not to proceed with that.

Instead we held a work party on 9/7 to remove debris, apply temporary patches to damaged areas, and better identify areas in need of repair, effectively performing the visual assessment ourselves.  We discovered more extensive damage to the concrete than previously identified, so we increased the proposed budget for repairs to $35,000.

We updated the draft RFP based on this assessment and released the RFP on 9/30.  As part of the release process we identified 6 potential contractors that had experience performing dam repairs in this part of Maine.  We successfully contacted 5 of these, and also posted the RFP to a public site that aggregates a large variety of RFPs for contractors and service providers.

     Click here for a copy of the Request for Proposals for Dam Repair.

Three of the Contractors we contacted directly submitted bids in response to our RFP.  While none of the bids were perfect, we deemed two of the bids worthy of follow-up.  We submitted a list of questions to these bidders, and in evaluating the responses we identified the bid that the TPIA evaluators unanimously agreed best meets the needs of the TPIA.  The expected cost of this work is $35,500 + some minor excluded expense items such as permits, removal of a pile of sand, abutter notifications, etc.  For contingency and extra expense purposes we are ensuring that TPIA has on-hand a spendable reserve of roughly 20% of the expected cost, or $7,000.  This yields a total project budget of $42,500.  To date we have raised approximately $16,500 specifically for Dam Repairs.

In December the TPIA Board voted to move forward with the Dam Repairs and request authorization from the Members to expend the funds needed to complete the Dam Repair.  In order for the repairs to be completed in 2025 TPIA needs to formally inform the selected Contractor that it is committed to proceeding with the repairs by February of 2025.  TPIA also needs to provide the Towns of Casco and Raymond with a final number for their respective contributions by February.  As a result, and to avoid another year of delay in completing the repairs, the TPIA President and Board are calling for a Special Meeting of the Members to approve the expenditure of funds for Dam repairs and improvements.

Assuming the approval of the Membership and Towns, and timely notice to the Contractor, the TPIA anticipates the work will be performed in October or November of 2025.