The Wells Board of Selectmen held a public hearing on a proposed $50,000 gift from resident Howard Hall to pay for a hydrologic and capacity analysis of the Drakes Island tide gate by Atar Engineering, Inc. The board voted to accept the gift and authorized the town manager to negotiate a final agreement.

Town staff explained the legal basis for accepting private donations. Town counsel advised the board that under town code (charter chapter 3, subsection 3-4) the board may accept gifts and direct their use as specified by a donor, but the board had requested a public hearing so any objections could be heard before accepting Hall
nd Atar Engineering's proposed scope; the check from Howard Hall had been presented to the town but not deposited.

A resident attendee questioned contract wording that could make the town liable if Atar's total fee exceeded $50,000. The commenter read section language into the record and said the draft reads, in part, "liability shall not exceed our total fee of fee or 50,000, whichever is greater," and urged the agreement be corrected to "whichever is lesser" or to state clearly "not to exceed $50,000." The town manager said he would ask Mr. Wood (the Atar representative) to revise the draft agreement to match the board's intent and to reflect that the donor will not obligate the town if the consultantee exceeds $50,000.

Jake Amon, stewardship director at the Wells Reserve, asked the board to coordinate the proposed Atar scope with prior modeling and survey datasets already produced for the Drakes Island Road bridge replacement and other local studies. "There may be some duplication of efforts here," Amon said, and suggested having CMA Engineers, an on-call town engineering firm that has done prior modeling in the area, review Atar's scope. He also offered assistance from the Wells Reserve because the work involves land the reserve manages.

After discussion, a selectman moved to close the hearing and accept the $50,000 gift and authorize the town manager to negotiate an agreement; the motion passed, 5-0. The town manager said he would seek revisions to the draft agreement to ensure it reads "not to exceed $50,000" (or otherwise clarifies the town's liability) and to coordinate scope and available survey datasets to avoid unnecessary duplication of modeling work.