MINOT — Selectmen whittled the number of possible would-be winter-sand suppliers from eight to four companies at Monday’s bid opening.
This year, selectmen chose to require bidders to provide sand that met the same specifications used by the Maine Department of Transportation. They had Scott Parker, the town’s highway department supervisor, collect samples from the bidders’ sand sources.
On Monday, they told Town Administrator Arlan Saunders to send samples from the four firms that submitted the lowest bids to the engineering firm of S.W. Cole for testing.
“By using sand that meets MDOT specs, we probably will be able to use 20 percent less sand overall,” Saunders said.
The four firms with the lowest bids are: Peter Hemond Excavating of Minot, Pike Industries of Poland, River Brook Aggregates of South Paris and Washburn Excavating/Albert Hemond of Minot.
Selectmen authorized Saunders to award the winter sand bid to the lowest bidder whose product meets specifications.
The four bids ranged from a low of $4.90 to a high of $6.50 per cubic yard/delivered to the town garage pile. Last year the town paid $5 per cubic yard delivered.
Saunders also told selectmen that he had received an e-mail from Norman Rattey, the town’s attorney, informing him that developer Chuck Starbird had requested that the denial of a building permit for his second lot on York Road Extension go before the town’s Board of Appeals.
Selectman Dean Campbell suggested that Saunders verify with Code Enforcement Officer Ken Pratt that Starbird’s application is complete and the proper fees have been paid.
Starbird approached Pratt last spring with plans to build houses on two other lots that lie along York Road Extension, shortly after the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered the town to allow him to build a single house on an unaccepted portion of York Road.
Saunders said Starbird owned one of those two other lots, and that was the one he wants to build on.
Saunders also announced that the final figure for the Shaw Hill Road culvert upgrade stands at $51,343. The amount expended turned out to be $291.73 higher than the estimate made in 2010.
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