21 Oct Midcoast News 10-21-14

Checking up at Cook’s Corner

Efforts are underway by the town of Brunswick to communicate with the management of Merrymeeting Plaza and Cooks Corner Mall in hopes of finding ways to locate new tenants for store space being vacated in the Cooks Corner area. Town business development manager Linda Smith says the problem is rooted in both the national recession six years ago and the closing of the naval air station. Smith also says that some of the Cooks Corner retailers have indicated that they’ve seen some improvement in recent years, but some feel they can do better at other Midcoast locations.

Saving a slice of the shoreline

A plan is near completion for the purchase of a 25 acre tract of oceanfront land in Brunswick at Woodward Cove, now owned by the Brunswick Unitarian-Universalist Church. It’s a purchase that would allow for continuing public access to the property. The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust is attempting to raise funds from various sources, including federal grant money, to bring about the purchase, expected to carry a price in excess of 100 thousand dollars.

Postponed

Action has been put off until next week by the Brunswick town council on a contract that would finalize the appointment of longtime Brunswick finance director John Eldridge as town manager. The postponement stems in part from the fact that two town councilors were absent from Monday’s meeting. Questions also continue to swirl over 60 thousand dollars in vacation time accrued by Eldridge in apparent violation of an ordinance limiting town employees to an accrual of just 30 days.