Somerset County commissioners approve most community benefit matching grants, reject Bingham panels request

Somerset County commissioners on an unspecified December meeting day considered a large slate of matching-grant requests drawn from the county’s community benefit fund and voted on a majority of them while rejecting at least one high-profile application.

The board approved funding for local nonprofits and municipal projects that commissioners said advanced tourism, public safety or mandated services. Resolutions passed or carried included a $10,000 matching grant for the Skowhegan Federated Church’s Sweet Dreams Christmas gift program; a $15,000 award for improvements at the Williams Dam Recreation Area in Solon; a $7,000 grant to the First Area Trails Club for a bridge repair over Moores Bar; a grant to the Fort Kent/Fort Bend Lions Club for electrical infrastructure upgrades at the fairgrounds; and a reimbursement-style matching award to a Portland town office for a fireproof records addition intended to meet state record-keeping requirements.

At the same time, the board rejected a request from the Biggum Area Development Corporation in Bingham for information panels and associated site work. Commissioners debated whether the Bingham request fit the statute and county guidelines governing community…