An Act To Create the Fryeburg Water District
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1113
Committee: Utilities and Energy
Sponsors: MUSE, HASTINGS

Legislative Document 
No. 1113 
H.P.766 
House of Representatives, March 1, 2005 
An Act To Create the Fryeburg Water District 
Reference to the Committee on Utilities and Energy suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative MUSE of Fryeburg. 
Cosponsored by Senator HASTINGS of Oxford. 
Printed on recycled paper 
1J1~ 
/J7.7I/d£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. Territorial limits: corporate name. 
Pursuant to the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, chapter 64, that part of the Town 
of Fryeburg described as follows and its inhabitants constitute a 
standard 
district 
under 
the 
name 
Fryeburg 
Water 
District, 
referred to in this Act as "the district": 
Beginning at the point of intersection of 70°, 57', 4.11" 
longitude Wand 44°, 3', 14.76" latitude N; thence due south 
to the point of intersection of 70°, 57', 0.65" longitude W 
and 44°, 1', 19.63" latitude N to Route 302; thence east 
along Route 302 to the point of intersection of 70°, 56', 
32.66" longitude Wand 44°, 1', 26.8" latitude N; 
thence 
south to the point of intersection of 70°, 
56', 
29.08" 
longitude Wand 43°,59',56.34" latitude N; thence west to 
the Maine and New Hampshire border; thence north along the 
Maine and New Hampshire border to Route 113; thence east 
along Route 113 to Stevens Brook; thence south along Stevens 
Brook to the Saco River; thence north along the Saco River 
to the point of intersection of 70 0, 57', 51. 24" longitude W 
and 44°, 3', 14.42" latitude N; thence east to the point of 
beginning. 
Sec. 2. Powers: authority: duties. 
The district has all the 
powers and authority and is subject to all the requirements and 
restrictions provided in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, 
chapter 64. 
Sec. 3. Additional powers. 
The district is authorized 
into contracts with appropriate entities to 
arrange 
provide, continued service to existing customers of the 
Water 
Company 
who 
are 
located outside the territory 
district. 
to enter 
for, 
or 
Fryeburg 
of 
the 
The district is authorized to sell water 
exporters, subject to department rules and town 
with the approval of the town's planning board. 
to bulk water 
ordinances and 
Sec. 4. Power to take water. 
The district is authorized to 
take, to hold and to convey within the Town of Fryeburg and from 
any part of the town water from any surface or groundwater source 
within the town. 
Sec. 5. Number of trustees. 
The board of trustees of the 
district is 
composed 
of 
trustees. 
The 
trustees 
must 
be 
residents of the district but need not use the district services. 
Sec. 6. Election of first board. 
The first board is elected in an 
municipal 
officers 
of 
the 
election 
called 
by 
the 
Page l-LR0897(1) 
Town of Fryeburg by the voters in accordance with 
terms 
of the first board are governed by 'the 
Statutes, Title 35-A, section 6410. 
this Act. 
The 
Maine 
Revised 
Sec. 7. Terms of trustees. 
After the election of the first 
board, trustees are elected to 3-year terms. 
n 
Sec. 8. Authorized to acquire property and franchise of Fryeburg 
Water Company. 
The district, through its trustees, may acquire 
by purchase the plants, properties, assets, franchises, 
rights 
and privileges owned by the Fryeburg Water Company, including all 
lands, 
waters, 
water 
rights, 
reservoirs, 
pipes, 
machinery, 
fixtures, hydrants, tools and all apparatus and appliances used 
or usable in supplying water in the area of the district. 
The sale and transfer by the Fryeburg Water Company to the 
district of its plants, properties, assets, franchises, 
rights 
and privileges; the assumption by the district of all of the 
outstanding debts, obligations and liabilities of the district 
pursuant to this section; and the subsequent use of the plants, 
properties, 
assets, 
franchises, 
rights 
and privileges 
by 
the 
district within the limits of the district are subject to the 
approval of the Public Utilities Commission as may be required by 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, Part 1. 
Sec. 9. Eminent domain. 
Subject to the provisions of this 
section, 
the Fryeburg Water District has the right of eminent 
,~8 
domain and may exercise that right to acquire real estate or 
interests 
in 
real 
estate 
for 
the 
purposes 
of 
acquiring 
an 
underground 
water 
supply 
and 
to 
adequately 
provide 
for 
the 
storage, distribution or transmission of that water. 
Eminent 
'12 
domain powers may be exercised only for those purposes and only 
if the assessors determine that public exigency requires the 
immediate taking of those property interests, the corporation is 
unable 
to 
purchase 
those 
property 
interests 
for 
what 
the 
assessors 
consider 
reasonable 
valuation 
or 
the 
title 
is 
defective. 
In order to exercise this power, the assessors shall 
file with the clerk of the corporation and record in the Oxford 
County Registry of Deeds a written condemnation order and a plan 
'W 
of the property interest to be taken. 
The condemnation order 
must include a detailed description of the property interest to 
'12 
be taken, with reference to the plan, the name or names of the 
owner or owners of record as can be reasonably determined and the 
amount 
of 
damages 
determined 
by 
the 
assessors 
to 
be 
just 
compensation for 
the property interests taken. 
The assessors 
shall then serve upon the owner or owners of record in hand, or 
by certified mail to the last known address of the owner or 
'18 
owners, 
a 
copy of the condemnation order and a 
check in the 
amount of damages awarded. 
In the event of mUltiple ownership, 
the check may be served on anyone of the owners. 
The assessors 
shall also serve the condemnation order upon any mortgagees of 
record in hand, or by certified mail to the last known address of 
the mortgagees. 
Title passes to the Fryeburg Water District upon 
service of the condemnation order and check upon the owner or 
owners, or upon the recording of the condemnation order and the 
plan, 
whichever 
occurs 
first. 
Any 
person 
aggrieved 
by 
the 
determination of the damages awarded to the owner or owners of 
the property interests taken may, wi thin 30 days after the day 
title passes to the corporation, 
appeal the determination of 
damages to the Oxford County Superior Court pursuant to Maine 
Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 80B. 
Sec. 10. Continue to provide water. 
Nothing in this Act is 
intended to alter or affect or may be interpreted as altering or 
affecting the district's continuing to provide water service to 
the existing customers of the Fryeburg Water Company, including 
those customers that are located outside the district's territory. 
Sec. 11. Referendum; effective date. 
This Act takes effect when 
approved only for the purpose of permitting its submission to the 
legal voters within the territory described in section 1 at an 
election called for that purpose and held within 3 years of the 
effective date 
of 
this 
Act. 
The 
election must 
be 
called, 
advertised 
and 
conducted 
according 
to 
the 
law 
relating 
to 
municipal elections, except that the registrar of voters is not 
required to prepare or the clerk to post a new list of voters. 
For the purpose of registration of voters, 
the registrar of 
voters 
must 
be 
in 
session 
the 
secular 
day 
preceding 
the 
election. 
The subject matter of this Act is reduced to the 
following questions: 
Question A: 
"Do you favor creating the Fryeburg Water District?" 
Question B: 
"Do 
you favor permitting the Fryeburg Water District to 
acquire the assets of the Fryeburg Water Company?" 
Sections 1 to 7, 9 and 10 take effect for all purposes upon 
acceptance of Question A by a majority of the legal voters of the 
district. 
Failure to achieve the necessary approval does not 
prevent subsequent referenda held within 3 years of the effective 
date of this Act. 
Section 8 of this Act takes effect for all 
purposes immediately upon acceptance of Question 
of the legal voters of the district. 
Failure 
necessary approval does not prevent subsequent 
within 3 years of the effective date of this Act. 
B by a majority 
to achieve the 
referenda held 
The results must be declared by the municipal officers of 
the Town of Fryeburg and due certificate of the results filed by 
the clerk with the Secretary of State. 
SUMMARY 
This bill creates the Fryeburg Water District.