August meeting agenda

1) General Contractor Update

2) Grant(s) update

3) Volunteers? Need help to get “tin panels” to Mike Wallace at Dexter Sandblasting who is restoring them

4) Farm Adventures & meetings
• July 2nd field trip
o Fred Sherburne
o New renovated Grange Hall in Starks
With the help of USDA Rural $199K grant, Alternative Agriculture Association (MA3) turned the 130 year-old former Starks Grange Hall into a beautiful new space for collecting and processing local farm products. “the Beast” is a wood-fired brick oven! Paula Day & her husband Ed Ross received a USDA Grant and has worked on it for the past 2 years. They are continuing the local food movement and creating the Blue Heron Bakery, Catering & Local Foods Connection. They also have Trial Test (2 acre) Wheat Field at their farm, which is only a 1/2 mile or so from the Grange Hall. Crop & Soil Consultant Mark Fulford was on hand to talk about the test field, soil conditions, and LOTS more.

o Riverside Farm Market and Cafe in Oakland (riversidefarmmarket.com)
o Barrel’s Market in Waterville (barrelsmarket.com)
o Fossa General Store

• July 27th equipment hunting at Bubba’s in Newport

• July 28th Open House in Starks
o Made lots of great connections with USDA officials, Mike Michaud’s office and farmers, etc
o Want (need) a wood fired oven (how and if it can be accomplished)

• July 31st Bread Fair at the 2nd Annual Kneading Conference

5) Ideas we got from places visited: need to sell Maine wines & beer, fresh meat from Herring Bros., inexpensive lighting, diversity, wood oven, the need to be a full going kitchen when opening, maybe a restaurant license vs. certified commercial kitchen license

6) Still receiving phone calls from new farmers regularly & leads for futures commercial seeing of our products. i.e.: restaurants, etc.

7) UpNorth Magazine article on stands now featuring our farmers, Sherburne Farm, Leaves & Blooms & Midsummer Night’s Meadow Farm

7) General Discussion

Next meeting: September 6th at 7 PM

Vision Statement: Building our local economy and community with local people, farms and markets.
Mission Statement: Locally Grown, Locally Processed, Locally Marketed.

Contractors: INVITATION TO BIDDERS

INVITATION TO BIDDERS for the FOSSA BUILDING RENOVATION – PHASE I in DEXTER, MAINE
Dated: May 18th, 2010 ----- Bids Due: June 8th, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
The Town of Dexter, as a municipal corporation is a tax exempt organization.

Brief Job Description: Phase I Renovation shall include but not necessarily be limited to the following: exterior renovations to include new roof, windows and doors, new siding and trimwork, foundations in rear of building, new deck and deck railings, general painting; interior renovation to include structural repairs and replacement, new stairs and partitions, new finishes, ADA compliant bathroom, general painting, plumbing revisions, new power distribution and lighting, new heating system, and any other incidental work.

Sealed Proposals, from qualified General Contractors, for the construction of Phase I of the Fossa Building Renovation, Dexter, Maine, will be received at the office of the Town Manager, Town of Dexter, 23 Main Street, Dexter, Maine 04930 until 11 AM on Tuesday June 8th, 2010. Bid opening will occur at 12 Noon on June 8th, 2010 at the office of the Town Manager, Town of Dexter, 23 Main Street, Dexter, Maine 04930 and will be a public opening. This project is funded in part by a Community Development Block Grant. Therefore this project will comply with the Davis-Bacon Act wage rates. The Town of Dexter reserves the right to waive all formalities, and reject any and all Proposals or to accept any Proposal.

Proposals shall be on the forms provided in the Project Manual and shall include the following:
Bid Form, Bid Proposal Cost Breakdown, a satisfactory Bid Bond in an amount equal to 5% of the Proposal, a Contractor's Qualification Statement (contained in the Project Manual), and signed copies of all required Certifications as noted in the Information For Bidders (included in the Project manual).

Sealed Proposals shall be in envelopes plainly marked: Proposal for the Fossa Building Renovation, Dexter, Maine.

There will be a mandatory Pre-Bid Conference and Walk-Through at the project location for all Contractors at 1:00 PM on Thursday May 27th, 2010.

Bid Documents, and Project Manuals may be obtained for a nonrefundable deposit of $55.00 payable to: QA13 Architects @ 38 Columbia Street, Bangor, Maine 04401 on or about May 18th, 2010. Additional sets of Documents will be available for review on or about May 18th 2010, at the following locations:

Abbott Memorial Library
1 Church Street Dexter, Maine 04930
Construction Summary of Maine
74 Gilman Road, Bangor, Maine 04401
Dodge Reports
224 Gorham Rd Scarborough, Maine 04074

The selected Contractor will be required to furnish a 100% Contract Performance Bond and a 100% Contract Payment Bond to cover the execution of the Work which shall be in conformity with the forms provided in the Project manual.

Owner
Town of Dexter
23 Main Street
Dexter, Maine 04930

Architect
QA13 Architects
38 Columbia Street
Bangor, Maine 04401

BIDDING REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

New offers

I just got a phone call from Frankie Spizuoco from MaineMilitary.com. Said he had been reading the Dexter Gazette over the weekend and saw our story on the Fossa Building and knew that he had some stuff that we might be able to use. Frankie is very generous to the community and has been for years~

He has some dry goods display cases and some metal wall grid that you can use hanging stuff off from, or putting shelving up on.

Thanks Frankie!!!
Anyone reading this, if you come across kitchen supplies, coolers, etc. give me a call or email. I will posted in the near future some of the things we are going to have to have... ie, 3 hole sink, refrigerators, ice cream machine and even the small stuff to work in the kitchen with.

Thanks for reading... 'til later...

Volunteer Day take 2

It was a terrific spring day today which is probably why only 4 people showed up to work today.
Regulars, Dave P. and myself and 2 new volunteers, Tim Breen and Louise Robinson.

We worked on taking down the tin on the ceilings and got that job completed by noon!

I wish we had some 'safe' power, and we could have a radio playing and not listen to Dave and Tim singing their little songs about nothin'... Actually Louise mentioned that we should be writing down their lyrics for later... NOT!!! With those 2, the songs will never end... Don't tell 'em but they really are funny and entertaining, it will be our little secret~

Charlie Chabot is going to stop by some evening and hook up one outlet for us to use for now.

Here are some pictures from today... http://picasaweb.google.com/fossageneralstore/Volunteer050110

Volunteer Day ... again...

Can you spare a few hours tomorrow morning?

We are going to have another work day tomorrow, Saturday, May 1st starting at 9 AM. We all have lots to do, so we will only go until noon or so.
lease bring hammers, sledge hammers, or any tools you think to take down interior walls with.

Please bring gloves and safety eyewear if you want.

Any questions call Judy at 924.3067 or on Saturday at 207.1240 (cell)

We had a great time last week, and we can have more fun tomorrow with your help ...
Hopefully the RFP is going out to the General Contractor in a couple weeks, so we have a lot to do.
Judy

Generous offers

This week Tina Belair of Darby Creek (www.RandHillFarms.com) messaged me to say she has a display case, steam table and proofing racks that we may be interest in. Yipee!!!
AND Pam Fyrberg of DexterPrintShop.com offered her help in any print needs we may have.
It is so gratifying to have local businesses support our efforts for the Fossa General Store.
This afternoon talked with 2 of our interested farmers.
Gail from Leaves & Blooms in Dover-Foxcroft who has fresh veggies and baked goods for sale at her place on Rt 23.
New caller, Marie Kirven of Sweet Dreams Food & Farm in St. Albans. She is growing lavender, herbs, eggs, baked goods, jams, teas, and more. Can't wait to visit her place soon, but she is going to try and come to our meeting next Tuesday, May 4th!

FARMERS: If you haven't already, would you mind making out a survey for us? Your information will remain anonymous if you want.
You can find the survey at Dexter Farm Project website. Just fill out and send to Judy. Address is on the survey. This info will help us in knowing what we will have to offer our future customers.
thanks.... jc

Wednesday update

Our 3 volunteer workers, Priscilla, Crystal & Stewart are doing a great job at the store. They are working on removing the tin today from the walls with great care. Not sure how we refinish it, I will check with our architects. They have done stuff like this before.
Roger Brawn, Dave Pearson and I went in the 'rabbit hole' today under and between the Dexter Cafe & the Fossa Store. Holy hanna, it is like a cave down there~ No man's land! Steve Wintle is coming up with a plan for the rabbit hole I guess.
that's it for now... have a great wet day!