JAY – At the Jay Select Board meeting on Monday night, the board discussed the road work that needs to be completed on the damaged roads from the recent June 29 rainstorm that caused severe flooding.
The town of Jay’s cost estimate for the road repairs is $3,995,000. The estimated figures were sent to Maine Emergency Management Agency on Friday to determine if the town has met the thresholds to receive a Presidential Disaster Declaration. The state needs to reach $2.4 million in damages to public infrastructure in order to apply for a declaration.
Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere stated that there has been discussion with auditors about using the funds left in the 22-23 budget towards this work, which is approximately $70,000 from the Sewer Department and $125,000 from the Public Works Department.
The current list of roads that have been impacted include: Look Brook Circle, Old Jay Hill Road, Lomie Rivers Road, Bean Road, Woodman Hill Road, Macomber Hill Road, Begin Road Davis Road, Davenport Hill Road, Morse Hill Road, Plaisted Road, Beedy Road, Canton Mountain Road, Hutchinson Road, Soules Hill Road, East Jay Road, and Masterman Road, as well as the Sewer Line on Route 4, Whistle Stop Trail, and Look Brook.
LaFreniere stated that these are not all of the roads that have been impacted, but these are the ones that the town has been posting about and closely monitoring. Some of these roads have been restored to make them accessible, while others are still in progress.
East Jay Road has been repaired by the Public Works Department, allowing vehicles to go through that section. Look Brook Circle and Soules Hill Road are currently being repaired by Jean Castonguay Logging and Excavation of Livermore Falls to restore access and rebuild the road. C.H. Stevenson Inc. of Wayne is currently working on Canton Mountain Road and Woodman Hill Road to restore access, rebuild, and replace the culverts.
Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere reported that the State has also repaired Route 140, Route 156 and Route 4 so that they can be reopened, and further repairs will be made at a future date. Route 133 north of Hyde Road through Beans Corner is still closed.
The board also approved the payment for their portion of upgrading the Franklin County Information Management Corp.
At a previous meeting on Dec. 27, 2022, the board approved the memorandum of understanding for the town of Jay’s payment for upgrading the IMC. The total amount that the town owes in regard to the upgrades is $15,548.12. Based on the remaining funds in the Jay Police Department budget, a motion was made and approved to take $14,000 from the current year-end balance and the remaining $1,548.12 to come from the 23-24 budget.
A motion was made to approve the completed and in-progress work, as well as a motion to approve necessary future emergency work on the sewer lines. Both motions were approved unanimously. The board also voted to select Main-Land Development Consultants of Livermore Falls to do the engineering work to address culvert upgrades as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency process.
This meeting was recorded by Mt. Blue TV and is available for viewing online at MtBlueTV.org
