JAY – The Selectboard gathered Monday night to discuss what to do with the foreclosed property on 2 Otis Street.
The property owed back taxes, sewage and water and became the town’s property after the owner failed to pay last month.
Selectboard member Gary McGrane suggested the town put the building and property up for bid.
Public Work Director John Johnson thought it best to have the building torn down and the lot sold. Citing that these foreclosed buildings are never properly fixed up and having seen the inside he didn’t believe this building would be.
The board voted to put the building up for bid at $10,000 which is enough to cover all the expense owed on the property.
The board also voted 3-1 to pave only one side of the Church Street sidewalk.
McGrane thought it would be best for the community to have both sides paved, but was met with disagreement from the rest of the board, who believed that it wasn’t worth the cost that it would take to move the 10 powerline poles that obstruct the creation of a new sidewalk.
Jay Fire Chief Mike Booker spoke to the board about the possibility of working with Central Maine Lost Recovery LLC.
The Job of Central Maine Cost Recovery is to recover the cost that the fire department spends on responding to an accident. They do this by filing a claim with the responsible party’s insurance company.
The program would put extra work on Booker, who will have to file an incident report to the company.
The town of Jay will also have to write up an ordinance to allow for this program and to specify in what situations they could use this program for.
Town manager Shiloh LaFreniere cited the town of Turner’s institution for it, which only made it applicable to certain roads, such as Route 4, or made it so claims wouldn’t be filed against true accidents.
The board was in favor of looking into it and will meet with Booker to write up a draft for a potential ordinance.
The board also unanimously approved the funds for proposed improvements by the Recreation Committee for French Falls and the Jay Recreation Area.
The improvements will pay for signs, trail materials and maintenance, a backpack leaf blower and many other developments. The approved $4110 will come out of the Tower Fund.
