Douglas committee faces leaking oil tank, asbestos at condemned Main Street building

DOUGLAS — April 15, 2026 — Douglas Building and Facilities Construction Committee confronts leaking oil tank at condemned Main Street building. The committee learned April 15 that a contractor walkthrough at 19 Main Street — the town-owned Brown Building scheduled for demolition — turned up what appears to be a dripping underground oil tank, adding an environmental investigation and tank removal to a project already complicated by collapsed floors that have converted the entire structure into an asbestos-remediation job; bids for the demolition are due the following week. Town Administrator Matt also updated the committee on an $820,000 to $830,000 petroleum spill at the Municipal Center, telling members the town's claim against a Peterson Oil class-action settlement fund faces demands for causality proof the town never independently gathered, and said he is "managing people's expectations" that the roughly $300,000 drawn from free cash will not be recovered. The fire station HVAC and electrical bid package, restructured after a prior procurement effort "blew the budget," went live the morning of the meeting, with a contractor walk-through set for the first week of May and bids due around May 18 or 19.