MINOT — Selectmen Monday awarded the bid to provide sand for the town’s roads this winter to local company Washburn Excavating LLC at a bid price of $4.90 per cubic yard, delivered to the town garage.
Two weeks ago selectmen opened bids from eight firms responding to the town’s call for winter sand and then proceeded to test sand samples taken from the pits being used by the four lowest bidders to determine whether the sand met Maine Department of Transportation specifications.
The tests, conducted by the engineering firm of S.W. Cole, showed that the sand that all four lowest bidders intended to use passed the sieve tests.
Town Administrator Arlan Saunders said Washburn is expected to begin hauling sand on Tuesday, Oct. 9, from Albert Hemond’s pit in Minot. The contract is for Washburn to provide 4,000 cubic yards.
“The hope is we can get it done that week, in four days, a 1,000 yards a day, though it isn’t that critical now that we have our own stacker,” Saunders said.
In other old business, Saunders said that he had not heard definitively whether developer Chuck Starbird had paid the filing fee for an appeal of Code Enforcement Officer Ken Pratt’s decision not to issue him a building permit for a second lot on York Road Extension.
Last spring the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Starbird was entitled to a building permit on a lot he owns that abuts an unaccepted portion of York Road.
The town complied and issued a single permit, whereupon Starbird sought permits to build on two other lots along the same stretch of unaccepted road. One for a second lot that he owns and one for a lot owned by another party.
Pratt denied both permits, whereupon Starbird decided to challenge the decision not to allow him to build on his second lot.
“We need to verify that all has been done according to Hoyle,” Saunders said.
There appears to be some confusion over whether or not Starbird filed his appeal, and paid the proper fee, within 30 days of being denied his building permit, according to Saunders.
Selectmen suggested Saunders ask Starbird to produce his receipts.
Saunders also reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had inspected the new culvert on Shaw Hill Road and that it had passed inspection. He said he has submitted the required forms for reimbursement of about half the culvert’s total $51,000 cost. He said the town will probably see the money by the end of October.
Saunders also announced that the town has received a $3,124 dividend check from the Maine Municipal Association as a result of its good loss experience and loss prevention programs.
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