BELFAST, Maine (WABI) – Both parties that submitted losing bids for the Hutchinson Center in Belfast are contesting the outcome of the bidding process.
On Tuesday, Waldo County Community Action Partners announced they will appeal the University of Maine System’s decision.
Waldo CAP joins the joint venture of Waterfall Arts and Future of the Hutchinson Center Committee, which told TV5 last week it would also file a formal appeal.
Last Thursday, UMaine announced that it had selected Calvary Chapel Belfast as the buyer for the Hutchinson Center.
The university has not commented on the financial terms of the agreement, but according to Future of The Hutchinson Center, it has made a cash offer of $500,000.
They also would save the system an additional $500,000 if an existing internet connectivity node remained, while the other proposals would require it to be relocated.
“I think the decision makers within the university need to look very carefully at the criteria they applied in making this decision. We think anyone who is objective would look at this and say, ‘This is a very odd decision,'” said Shane Flynn, spokesman for the Future of the Hutchinson Center Committee. “And this is a public university, funded by the state. It’s open to people within the state. I think they need to look very carefully at the decisions they made and also consider — how much inclusivity is there going to be in the future?”
Flynn says he was working for MBNA when the idea came up for the Hutchinson Center, which Bank of America then donated to UMaine in 2007.
Flynn also points to the hundreds of thousands of dollars he said were raised by bank employees and community members to invest in the center.
In a statement on the decision to appeal, Waldo CAP says:
“Waldo Community Action Partners (Waldo CAP) is appealing the University of Maine’s decision regarding the Hutchinson Center. Our evaluation of the scoring system used to compare applicants confirms that we submitted the best financial offer, that our intentions for the facility are more directly aligned with the University’s mission and values, and that we would use the center in a way that is inclusive and serves the diverse greater Belfast community in the spirit in which the Hutchinson Center exists to this day.”
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