JAY – Selectmen held a brief public hearing tonight on a proposal to borrow money from a yet-unknown source to put in nearly $700,000 worth of new sewer infrastructure down Main Street.
The project, which could be completed later this year, is the result of a decision by the state to replace storm water drains along Route 4. With more than $60 million being pumped into Maine’s infrastructure by the federal government, the state is eager to kick-start the project, which was originally planned in 2004. They hope to start June 2009.
Their construction activity would severely damage existing sewer lines, many of which are extremely old. The town intends to put a plan it had previously developed into action, replacing those sewer lines as the state replaces its storm drains.
Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt expects the total project to come back at slightly less than $700,000, based on the $667,000 estimate from several years ago plus some associated fees with the loan.
The town is still shopping around for the best possible interest rate for the loan. The lowest would be the State Revolving Loan Fund, at 0 percent interest, which would likely be the town’s first choice if it could successfully apply. Other options include a loan through the United States Department of Agriculture at 4.125 percent or the state’s bond bank.
The public hearing is a requirement for a municipality interested in taking out a loan. Residents will still need to vote at the annual town meeting to approve the project.
“We have to have a public meeting so if anyone had any concerns they can be recorded,” Town Manager Ruth Marden explained.
In other business, the Snowmobile Club and selectmen agreed to work together to try and find that club a piece of land to keep a small garage-like structure on.
Club President Duane Gross said that while the town had been very helpful to the club, which uses land near the town garage to work on its trail grooming machine, it was interested in finding a way to keep their equipment out of the weather year-round. The club is chiefly concerned with its Piston Bully, a tractor-like device, which the town actually bought and the club has used for years.
“The parts for a Piston Bully really are very expensive,” Grose explained.
The club wants to build a heated garage where members can store their equipment. Grose estimated that a building 50 feet long, 30 feet wide would suffice. The club wants to purchase materials and provide the labor for the project.
“If you’re willing to build the building,” Selectman Stephen McCourt told Grose and the other club members, “we’ll try to find a piece of land for it.”
Possibilities include land behind the former Ames building.
Selectmen also heard a plan to convert part of the Canton Mountain Road into gravel. 1.34 miles of that road, which is in poor condition currently, cost the town roughly $111,000 to pave at current prices.
“Then you got to go back 10 or 12 years later and do it again,” Highway Department Foreman John Johnson noted, “because it’s Maine.”
Instead, the road committee recommended returning part of that road to gravel, an idea first raised by a resident living on that road. Selectmen were receptive of that idea, and Marden recommended dispatching letters to warn people on that road of the change.
