The family that unsuccessfully tried to build a patriot-themed flagpole park in Washington County has paid back just a fraction of the associated planning costs spent by Columbia Falls, despite previously offering to reimburse the town for that spending.
The company has only covered $28,291 of the costs, meaning Columbia Falls will have to pay off most of the roughly $122,600 in bills it has received from lawyers and consultants who helped to beef up local standards in advance of the now-scrapped project.
It’s just one example of the complicated relationship that Columbia Falls has long had with the Worcester family business, which is one of the largest taxpayers as well as the landlord for the town office and a contractor that plows local roads. However, officials are now considering leaving one of those arrangements.
Not long after the Worcesters first announced their Flagpole of Freedom Park, they made the offer to cover the costs for the small town — with a population smaller than 500 — to plan for the massive proposal.
The project would have rivaled a small community in its size, with the development of thousands of forested acres into roads and buildings, and the construction of an observation tower taller than the Empire State Building that would have doubled as the world’s tallest flagpole. It was projected to cost between $1 billion and $2 billion, according to town officials.
Upon hearing about the proposal in March 2022, residents and officials decided to upgrade their development standards so they could better manage its impact. The town adopted a 180-day ban on large-scale development — over the protests of the Worcesters — and hired attorneys and consultants to help. The town later extended the ban.
The Bangor Daily News obtained copies of the invoices the town received for those services between April 2022 and December 2023 through a Freedom of Access Act request. More than 40 invoices from three law firms and two consultants totaled roughly $122,600.
The Worcesters, who founded Worcester Wreath Company and Wreaths Across America, did reimburse some of those legal and consulting costs, but only for what the town incurred over the first few months of its preparations.
Selectman Jeff Green said the town went “back and forth” with the Worcesters about reaching a formal reimbursement agreement, but that they never reached consensus. Eventually, in September 2022, the Worcesters wrote the town a check for $28,291, but then declined to discuss reimbursement further.
“That was it,” Green said. “I wish we could have come to a formal agreement with them.”
The town can use some money it received through the American Rescue Plan Act to pay off its flagpole planning bills, but will have to use tax revenue to cover the rest, according to Green.
“The ARPA funds aren’t that much,” he said.
Tim Pease, the Worcesters’ attorney, said that after his clients sent the money, they “informed the town that the project was under internal review” and that they “would not pay the town’s additional legal and consulting fees until [they] had determined the project’s direction.”
Now that the project is dead, the Worcesters have “no further plans” to reimburse the additional costs, Pease added.
The town’s two other selectmen did not comment for this story. Tony Santiago, the chair of the board, declined to speak, while Jessica Bouchard did not reply to voicemail messages.
Planning for the next big development
Even though the flagpole project has been dropped, the town is moving forward with tighter development restrictions.
Residents first began considering zoning updates when a commercial solar project was proposed during the pandemic, although it was later withdrawn. Given that another developer could come along with big ideas at any time, voters will decide on March 19 whether to adopt the changes.
“My hope is there is a good turnout at the vote,” Green said.
The town’s planning expenses for the defunct flagpole project are not the only costs the Worcesters have had to consider in recent months.
Last year, their company Worcester Resources was fined nearly $24,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to report worker-related injuries and illnesses.
This past week, the Worcesters were fined $250,000 by state environmental officials for failing to get prior approval before building more than 50 rental cabins off Centerville Road in Columbia Falls. The development was named Flagpole View Cabins in anticipation of the enormous tower they hoped to build.
Aside from these fines, the Worcesters also struggled to figure out the financing of their flagpole project. After initially proposing it as a for-profit enterprise, they later considered establishing it as a nonprofit organization after veterans groups showed reluctance to lend financial support to a non-charitable venture.
Complicated ties
The company’s now-revoked offer to pay Columbia Fall’s planning bills is just the latest example of the complicated ties it has with its host community.
The Worcesters, who own large amounts of land throughout western Washington County, pay the town more than $140,000 in annual taxes on real estate that has a cumulative assessed value of more than $8 million.
But some of that money flows back to the Worcesters, who own a company called County Concrete that is contracted to plow and maintain 17 miles of town roads during winter. The current contract, which runs from last fall through this spring, is for $81,457.
In addition, Wreaths Across America literally owns the town office building, after the town gave it to the donor-funded organization a decade ago, with the rationale that the former school was expensive to maintain and that money could be saved by giving it to the organization. It had been renting part of the building previously.
In exchange, the town was given a renewable 20-year lease for its current offices with an annual rent of $1. The current lease is expected to renew in 2034.
But Columbia Falls is reconsidering that arrangement. Selectmen this year agreed to hire another lawyer to look for grants that could fund the purchase of land or a building for a new town office, according to board meeting minutes.
Green said communications between the town and the Worcesters have become strained. He thinks it might be best to eliminate the tenant-landlord relationship in order to avoid future complications.
“I’m concerned about that,” Green said. “I wish we had more conversations with them. The most important thing in any relationship is to sit down and talk.”
