WILTON – Selectpersons approved a grant application, vehicle and equipment bids and discussed updates for Kineowatha Park at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
After receiving approval from board members, Nate Carrier of Carrier Welding and Fabrication, with the help of advisors Darryl Sterling and Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Betty Gensel, will be submitting a completed application for funding through the Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $240,000.
If granted, the money will be matched with a $275,000 loan that will allow the company to create eight more positions and obtain the necessary equipment to expand the work load.
“This will really give us a boost. The big thing is we will be able to stop turning away work we can’t do. I had to turn down $100,000 worth of work this fall because we didn’t have the equipment. This will allow us to do the work and bring more jobs to Wilton,” Carrier said.
The application is due at the end of this month and will have a timeline of one year to create all eight of the additional positions. The state is often lenient with extending the timeline as long as progress is being shown, reported Sterling. Carrier said he already has a few skilled welders in mind for the positions, and that he hopes to work with Foster Career and Technical Education Center to recruit more.
Three bids were awarded by the Selectboard, bringing a new police cruiser to the department’s fleet as well as a new sidewalk plow to the highway department and granting a paving job to a company in Turner. After recommendations from Public Works Foreman Dale Roberts, the town’s paving work was granted to Spencer Paving. A new Kubota sidewalk plow will be purchased from R.S. Osgood & Sons in East Dixfield. At the recommendation of Chief Heidi Wilcox, Quirk Auto’s bid was accepted for the $22,100 purchase of a new cruiser, replacing an existing vehicle.
Due to the efforts of a student at Mt. Blue Middle School, the The East Wilton basketball court will be seeing some future updates after a total of $1,263 were raised in fundraising. Eleven-year-old Seth Pinkham organized and initiated a 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Academy Hill School last month. Participants paid an entry fee of $40 with 100 percent of the profits going towards his hometown court. Selectpersons approved the acceptance of the designated funds.
The owners of Expenet and Wilton Hardware donated their time and materials to renovate a horse shoe pit at Kineowatha Park.
“It’s another really nice thing that happened with residents lately,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.
Along those same lines, in an effort to get community members more active, Healthy Community Coalition is working on the implementation of a new disc golf course in the woods at Kineowatha. The project began with the purchase of new kayaks and paddle boards for the use of park-goers, and expanded to include the course. A grand opening will be announced in the near future.
A new Facebook page will help keep the public informed on events happening at Bass Park this summer as the summer concert series kicks off. The new gazebo will host live music on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, thanks to a $500 donation from Barclays.
The Wilton town meeting will be held next Monday, May 22 beginning at 6:30 p.m. As has been traditional, selectpersons will be grilling hotdogs and hamburgers for the town beginning at 5:15 p.m. Veggie burgers and gluten free buns will be available.
Who is in charge of booking the music groups at the Gazebo?
Contact Frank Donald, Wilton Recreation Director, at 645-4825.