AUGUSTA — A scholarship fund meant to honor the history of the former Edwards Dam and the industry, immigrants and culture its construction brought to Augusta isn’t generating enough interest income to provide any scholarships.
City councilors propose waiving a requirement of the council order that created the scholarship in the late 1990s to allow the principal amount of the fund to be used to resume providing annual scholarships, usually $500, to Cony High School graduating seniors. A previous council passed the order after the dam was removed following a landmark federal requirement to restore that section of the Kennebec River so it flowed freely through the city.
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With $25,535 currently in the fund, even if no additional interest is earned by the account, the fund could provide one scholarship a year for about 50 years before it runs out of money.
The original council order established the account with $26,000 in city funds and directed officials to award scholarships using only the interest earned on the fund and to not touch the principal of $26,000.
City Manager William Bridgeo said that provided enough money to award annual scholarships initially when interest rates were higher. However, now that interest rates are lower, the fund doesn’t generate enough money to pay out scholarships every year. Last year no scholarship was awarded and the account now stands at $25,535 because, Bridgeo said, a couple of years ago the city erroneously awarded a scholarship that caused the principal to go below $26,000.
Bridgeo said the scholarship was established at the request of the late Richard Dumont, a longtime city councilor and advocate for the city’s Franco-American people and heritage, as a way to try to keep the memory of the dam and what it brought to the city alive.
Cony students are required to write an essay about the dam and its impact to be eligible for the scholarship.
Ward 3 City Councilor Patrick Paradis, who is also of Franco-American descent, said the 1837 construction of the dam across the Kennebec just above what is now the downtown area of the city altered the history and culture of the city.
Without the dam, Paradis said, the huge former mill at the site never would have been built. The demand for a labor force to work at the mill brought French Canadian and other immigrants to Augusta, where many settled in the Sand Hill area and went to work at the dam-powered Edwards Manufacturing mill.
“The dam was an integral part of Augusta’s history,” Paradis said. “In the 1880s, when the mill was expanding, they didn’t have enough labor. So they (and other mill owners and officials) went to Canada and asked people to come to Maine. It changed the makeup of Augusta and added a new culture.”
Paradis said at the current low interest rates, it could take up to 10 years to accrue enough money in the account to resume awarding scholarships regularly again.
Instead, at Bridgeo’s suggestion, councilors are considering using the principal of the fund to provide annual scholarships immediately.
Paradis and other councilors said at their meeting last week they could go along with that proposal.
Bridgeo said the proposal will go to councilors for a vote at their business meeting Thursday.
Mayor David Rollins said there is nothing to prevent people from making donations to help keep the fund going, and interest rates at some point could rebound to provide more interest income for the account, but even if neither of those things happen, the fund should still last for about 50 years.
Ward 4 Councilor Anna Blodgett said that would help make local students aware of the story of the dam every year for at least another 50 years.
Ward 1 Councilor Linda Conti, an attorney with the state attorney general’s office who works in consumer protection, said trust funds of $25,000 or less are often problematic because they don’t generate enough interest income to provide scholarships, and it can cost more to maintain them than they generate in income.
Edwards Dam was breached and removed over the objections of some city officials, including Dumont, in 1999 following a groundbreaking federal order. It was the first functioning hydroelectric dam ordered removed over the objections of its owner by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @kedwardskj
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