NEWRY – Town officials Monday expressed their displeasure with a recent paving job on the Skiway Access Road.
The work was done by Pine Tree Paving Inc., on a section of road that had been repaired by D.A. Wilson Co.
Wilson had fixed areas along a .3-mile section where sink holes have periodically developed.
While Doug Wilson was out of town recently, Pine Tree paved the repaired parts of the road as the next step on the project, which so far this year has generated bills of $30,918.
Wilson met with selectmen Monday.
“We’ve had some complaints on the paving job,” said Town Administrator Loretta Powers, who said she drove the road Saturday. “It’s just as bumpy with the pavement on it as it was when it was dirt. That’s an issue.”
Selectmen Chair Jim Largess said that one upper section “has waves in it. That one’s ridiculous.”
He said there were problems particularly with the joints, where the new pavement met the old.
The road, said Largess, “stands out because the Sunday River Road was so bad for so long, and now it’s so nice. The Jordan Road was so bad for so long. and now it’s so nice. All of a sudden, now the road that was not bad, is terrible. It’s become the worst section of the ride in.”
Wilson said he was not sure what had happened with the job. He said he would contact Pine Tree to see if they could do anything.
“If they say there’s nothing they can do, I guess we’ll go from there,” said Largess.
Contacted Tuesday, Pine Tree Paving co-owner Rob Robillard said he planned to look at the work.
“If there’s something we have to do, we’ll do it,” he said. “We’re good for it.”
Robillard said his company had been “asked to do, for lack of a better term, ‘some patching.’ There were some substantial patches put up there.”
The goal, he said, was to get some patches in this year, and in another year, “get an overlay.”
Powers said Wednesday that doing a pavement overlay of the entire stretch had been discussed by selectmen, but nothing had been finalized.
Other business
In other business, Powers said a Corridor Advisory Group for the Grafton Notch Scenic Byway is being re-established by the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. AVCOG has requested that Newry select three or four people to represent it on the new committee.
The committee will update the management plan for the byway.
The board also heard a presentation from Elmer Arbogast of Arbogast Energy Auditing on a proposal to audit the town’s buildings to possibly make them more energy-efficient.
Selectmen will consider the proposal at their next meeting, Nov. 21.
Also on Nov. 21, a public hearing will take place on several ordinance changes, including one that addresses wind power projects.
The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall.
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