FARMINGTON — Bob Carlton of Freeman Township recently filled Clyde Barker’s seat for District Three on the board of county commissioners, after Clyde Barker of Strong, stepped down from his seat in early June.
According to the county website, District Three currently comprises the towns of New Sharon, Industry, New Vineyard, Strong, Avon, Phillips, Kingfield, Carrabassett Valley, Eustis, Rangeley, and Coplin Plantation, along with the townships and unorganized territories of Reddington, Mount Abram, Wyman, Freeman, Salem, Madrid, Lang, Davis, Stetsontown, Tim Pond, Jim Pond, Alder Stream, Seven Ponds, Massachusetts, Chain of Ponds, Kibby, Cobern Gore, Skinner, Merrill Strip, Beattie, Lowelltown, and Coburn Gore.
This will likely change considerably when two more commissioner seats and districts are added.
At the meeting on June 21, the commissioners discussed the Juneteenth holiday. Last week Amy Bernard, county administrator, contacted each commissioner individually to request their input on recognizing the holiday, after county employees had asked about the holiday. In that engagement, two commissioners agreed to recognize the federal and state holiday, while one was opposed to the idea. On Tuesday Bernard asked for the commissioners to retroactively recognize the holiday on Monday, May 20, and maintain that moving forward.
Commissioner Terry Brann of Wilton expressed concerns over the way the request was handled last week, saying that all their decisions need to be made in a public setting.
Brann is opposed to the holiday, he said. “I think many many states are opposed to it. They’re not following suit with the government. I think it’s just another government holiday.” He acknowledged that commissioners Carlton and Lance Harvell of Farmington had spoken in favor of the holiday but reiterated that the decision needs to be made publicly.
There was a concern about loss of services and money by adding another holiday. Bernard said that since the banks and post office, along with state offices, are generally closed on state and federal holidays, productivity in the offices would be limited even if they remained open.
Harvell and Carlton voted to establish the Juneteenth holiday in the county.
In other matters, an unexpected complication created a significant roadblock for the American Rescue Plan Act funded project to upgrade the security system at the county jail. Previously, contractors had been asked to visit the jail site and the staff at the sheriff’s office had been asked to source information from other county jails on which contractor they preferred. With this second round of information it became apparent that they were comparing apples to oranges, according to ARPA consultant Sue Pratt. One contractor was proposing to repurpose the existing wiring for the security system while the other proposed entirely new wiring.
The commissioners rejected the whole bid process and agreed to send it back to bid with a much more detailed project plan and outline.
The Schoolhouse Road in Madrid Township was a topic of discussion during the meeting. A property owner believed that the county owned the bridge on the Schoolhouse Road and that the county needed to perform repairs and maintenance. While Bernard agrees with the commissioners that there’s no proof the county has ownership over the bridge, the county’s attorney recommended that thorough investigation should be undertaken so the county has solid evidence to support their position.
However, the town’s records were burned years ago, so any reports available will likely be found in the state or university libraries. Maine Local Roads has no record of the bridge being owned by the county, the bridge doesn’t show up on county inventory of roads and bridges, and there is evidently no record of the county paying money to have road repairs done on it over the last two decades.
The commissioners decided against moving forward on this and agreed to see if the property owners requesting county repairs on the road make a move on it.
