FOXBORO - Town manager Andrew Gala has raised liability and other concerns about a proposed town takeover of the Neponset Reservoir Dam after the structure is repaired.

In the meantime, proponents have organized to convince selectmen and other residents to favor the takeover.

Selectmen are scheduled to take up the issue at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium of Foxboro High School.

Town meeting approval would be needed for the town to assume ownership of the 160-year-old earthen dam.

In a heavily attended selectmen's meeting last week, former Selectman Robert Hickey presented a report by a new local group, Friends of the Neponset Reservoir Association, giving 28 reasons for the town to take over the dam after completion of a $625,000 repair to meet state safety requirements. "The current powers-that-be and citizens have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-create a lasting and positive legacy for future generations of Foxboro residents to enjoy," is the first reason given in the report.

Gala said later he realizes the group disagrees with him, but he stands by his June 3 memo to selectmen challenging the idea of a town takeover of the structure.

"I am concerned about this offer because the conservation commission could have accepted this dam as conservation property. They do not want it because of future maintenance and liability issues," Gala wrote.

He said conservation Commission Chairman Robert Boette said the conservation department does not have the manpower or budget for future maintenance of the Neponset Dam.

Currently, the town is under state orders to repair five town-owned dams, at a cost of $1.2 million, Gala wrote.

Under a draft memorandum, four parties, including NRRC, a corporation formed by the town to manage a reservoir cleanup settlement fund, would pay a portion of the costs to repair the dam.

The Neponset Revervoir Co. owns land under the reservoir, as well as the Neponset Reservoir Dam and the Crackrock Pond Dam. The stock in NRC is owned by Hollingsworth & Vose Co. of East Walpole and Covidien of Mansfield.

In his memo, Gala also wrote that Hollingworth and has not agreed to repair the culvert that carries water from Crack Rock Pond under North Street.