The Board of Selectmen, on behalf of the Town of Kingfield, would like to express our sincere appreciation to NWNA/Poland Spring Water for being a wonderful neighbor and community partner since 2005. During this time Poland Spring has worked with the town and every local charity or organization to make not only our town, but our entire area a better place to live and work.

Poland Spring has always exceeded expectations with everything they do. From installing double the required erosion control devices at the beginning of construction to keeping the town informed through third party inspectors on water extraction, stream monitoring and DEP compliance, everything comes through to the town office for public inspection. It’s been six years since the first Kingfield Water District meeting and Planning Board meetings with Poland Spring. During that time Kingfield has received many items from Poland Spring that the taxpayers have not had to buy.

Poland Spring waited a year and paid for all expenses when the town chose to amend our ordinances to regulate “Aquifer–Dependent Industries.” Following this amendment, the permitting of the bottling plant required the town to hire a law firm to help in the review of the application; again all expenses paid by Poland Spring.

Maine’s Tax Increment Financing Program was researched by the town in an effort to help shed $20 million in new real estate value from the Town of Kingfield’s valuation, and to create a fund which can be spent on economic development in the town. All expenses paid by Poland Spring.

During the construction of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified bottling plant, intervale land was purchased by Poland Spring for $475,000 and then re-sold to the Town of Kingfield for $350,000 financed by Poland Spring at no interest over 10 years, all annual payments, paid by the TIF. Part of this land was permitted for municipal gray-water beds, the construction of which is paid by the TIF Funds annually. This allowed the town to charge a user fee of $70,000 which residents voted to put into the general fund.

The sewer department also had a much needed 5,000 watt Honda generator donated to it by Poland Spring.

A snowmobile trail had to be rerouted around the bottling plant and Poland Spring assumed responsibility and costs with relocating this trail so that there were no interruptions to the trail network. When the local ATV club approached Poland Spring for trail access, Poland Spring was more than willing to work with the club to establish a trail. They have also helped the town to preserve a 42 acre interval field view shed located at the gateway into Kingfield.

The fire department received donations such as the Jaws of Life and a new Life Flight Helicopter Pad. The fire department, public works department, the town office and schools all receive bottled water donations annually. Voters approved the purchase of a new one ton dump truck and plow for public works which half of the cost was paid for with TIF money ($25,000).

Poland Spring was a major contributor to the new playground located at the town park, replacing a 25- year-old outdated wooden playground structure.

The Kingfield Water District entered into a lease with Poland Spring allowing Poland Spring to lease the spring waterline that is in the right of way of Route 142 for an annual fee. The Kingfield Water District was also given $125,000 by Poland Spring for a future back up well in case anything happened to existing wells.

The Kingfield POPS concert, Kingfield Festival Days Celebration and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life have all received substantial donations from Poland Spring.

The employees at Poland Spring help monthly with part of the cooking and donate food to the Bridging the Gap program which provides homemade meals for needy or elderly residents in town. The employees also donate toys and gifts for families in Kingfield for Christmas. They have made generous donations to the United Methodist Economic Ministry food bank to help feed hungry families in northern Franklin County.

Poland Spring has also supported education in our area. Poland Spring has a program for freshmen at the high school that helps identify some of the processes the company goes through when testing and measuring water and stream flows, which involves math, science and social studies. They annually award scholarships to graduating seniors who have an interest in the field of environmental science. The local elementary school children in MSAD/RSU #58 (Strong, Phillips, Kingfield, Stratton) were going to lose their sports programs, until Poland Spring stepped in and donated the money necessary for the sports programs to operate.

Poland Spring has been and continues to be an excellent community partner and business leader. Thank you for all that you do for our community Poland Spring!

Sincerely,
Kingfield Board of Selectmen
Raymond Meldrum, Heather Moody,
John Dill, Wade Browne, Mervin Wilson
and Douglas Marble, Administrative Assistant