PARIS — The Board of Selectmen voted Monday night to give Selectman John Andrews permission to speak with a West Paris resident about cleaning and clear-coating the Civil War Memorial in Moore Park.
Andrews said he had been contacted by Caleb White, a veteran and a former South Paris resident, who “offered to lead the charge in getting the monument in Moore Park professionally cleaned and coated.”
In his letter to Andrews, White wrote that he wants to “pay to have a company called Consistent Coatings of Oxford professionally clean it and put a clear, protective coating on it so that it will not be weathered as fast throughout the years.”
“I am writing this not asking the town for money, but asking the town’s permission to take care of this memorial,” White added.
Andrews said he “wanted to get it on the board’s radar and to get your emotions on it.”
Chairman Rusty Brackett said that getting the monument cleaned “is something we definitely want to happen.”
“I know it has graffiti on it, which is a sad thing, and that it needs to be spiffed up,” he added.
Andrews said that White would be willing to do the work “pro bono,” whether by footing the bill or raising money through local businesses.
The board also voted to sell a small parcel of town-owned land to a resident for $1 so he can build a new driveway for his house.
Code Enforcement Officer Kingston Brown said resident Robert Kramer, a disabled veteran, approached the town about building a new driveway to his residence on Pine Ridge “in the path of least resistance.”
“The current driveway is more of a hindrance to him compared to the new location,” Brown said. “The problem is that in the subdivision, the residence is encompassed by town-owned land. Part of the new driveway is located on that land.”
Brown said that a new driveway would benefit Kramer, and that the Board of Selectmen would “need to go through the hurdle” of selling the land to Kramer.
The board agreed to sell the land to him for $1, and asked him to get the proper paperwork from a lawyer to make the sale valid.
Selectmen Chris Sommers, left, Scott Buffington and Gary Vaughn, along with Code Enforcement Officer Kingston Brown, standing, look at blueprints of Robert Kramer’s house on Pine Ridge at Monday night’s meeting of the Paris Board of Selectmen.
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