In a lopsided referendum, Lubec voters have rejected plans to demolish the shuttered high school wing of the Lubec Consolidated School. By a paper vote of 131 to 4, the article that asked whether citizens wished to raise and allocate $176,585 for demolition costs was turned down. The article was part of the annual school budget referendum, held June 23, with 176 registered voters present despite inclement weather. All other articles passed by unanimous voice vote, approving the MSAD 19 2015‑2016 budget of $2,088,478. This amount, without inclusion of the demolition cost, is a 1.3% reduction from the 2014‑2015 budget and does not involve withdrawal of unallocated funds.
     The meeting started with a public hearing hosted by AOS 77 Superintendent Kenneth Johnson, who quickly reviewed the proposed budget, section by section. Once the referendum started the first 15 articles passed unanimously and quickly by voice vote. Article 15A, if passed, would increase the facility maintenance budget by the amount allocated for demolition, and it was the only article requiring a written ballot.
     Whether to demolish the unused high school wing or to use it for social programs that are intended to benefit the town has been a topic of a sometimes heated debate for more than four years. In 2011 Barbara Sellitto, then a MSAD 19 director, hosted a series of four widely attended public "brainstorming" sessions to gather ideas on possible usages.      During those meetings many speakers urged consideration of daycare, senior center, youth recreation, vocational training and other usages consistent with a facility that is contiguous to a working school. Since that time many meetings have been held, some were contentious, but all were open to the public.
     During the meeting, moderator Cecil Moores, clearly frustrated by the crowd's eagerness to proceed with the ballot before questions were answered, was forced to use the gavel repeatedly before Cathy Arrington, executive director of the Lubec Community Outreach Center (LCOC), was requested to speak. The LCOC has presented plans repeatedly during the last four years to utilize the closed facility for a series of programs, such as the summer recreational program. Arrington repeated her organization's pledge that the use of the building "will not cost the taxpayers anything." The group plans to install metering equipment that will support separate billing for utility and heating costs, said Arrington, as a single furnace provides heat to the high school wing, the cafetorium and the gymnasium.
     Over the last three years the need to allow the Lubec voters to decide the fate of the building has been discussed during nearly every school board meeting and has been a frequent topic on social media. A handful of residents have been forcefully vocal in demanding demolition; however, those individuals were conspicuous by their absence during the June 23 public meeting.
     Future uses are now subject to negotiation between the MSAD 19 board of directors and interested parties, including the LCOC.