POLAND — Residents should find buildings in the town’s municipal complex have water running again, Town Manager Bradley Plante told selectmen Tuesday.
“I am happy to report that as of late this afternoon, the Town Hall and the library have water,” Plante said. “Tomorrow morning, everybody will be up and running.”
The problems started Thursday, Plante said, when water pipes feeding the Town Hall and the Sheriff’s Office/Recreation Office building froze. Things got worse on Monday, when it was discovered Ricker Library had lost water over the weekend and they had to send everyone home before noon.
On Tuesday, the crew from public works, the Mechanic Falls Water Department, a private contractor and people from the Town Office came together to solve matters with plumbing inspector and Code Enforcement Officer Nick Adams directing the operation.
No one was really sure what had happened at the library, Plante said.
“Maybe the well went out,” he said, “ but what we did was bypass the well and put in a new line connecting directly off the public water supply.”
Plante said he didn’t know what the final bill for the work might be, but a lot of it was town crew. He also noted that the work connecting Ricker Library to the public water line had been planned for this summer, with the money coming out of next year’s budget.
The cold weather was definitely the culprit, according to Plante, who pointed out that Steve French, Mechanic Falls Water Department director, mentioned that he was having problems with freeze-ups all over the system, including places that had never frozen up before.
“I’d like to thank publicly everyone who was involved in getting it up and running,” Plante said.
Following a brief discussion, the board took no action on Regional School Unit 16 Superintendent Tina Meserve’s request that Poland give the school district an estimate of what it would charge for snow removal at Poland Community School.
The overall plan would also have Mechanic Falls Public Works plow the Elm Street School and for Minot to take responsibility for plowing at the Minot Consolidated School.
Plante said Public Works Director Tom Learned wasn’t excited about the idea of taking on the extra work but was willing enough to put together an estimate if the board desired.
Selectman Steve Robinson pointed out that the way the costs for supporting RSU 16 are divided up by Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, Poland would wind up bearing more than just the cost to plow the Poland Community School.
In the main business of the evening, the selectmen reviewed for the last time the 33-article warrant for the annual town meeting. The business portion is scheduled at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at the Poland Regional High School auditorium.
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