JAY — Selectpersons agreed Monday to hold a special town meeting Aug. 26 related to the Routes 4 and 17 project, administrative ordinance and a fuel island, Town Manager Ruth Cushman said Tuesday.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. with the place to be determined.
The town is looking to borrow up to $865,000 in interim financing in relation to sewer projects when the Maine Department of Transportation does Phase Two of the Routes 4 and 17 construction project. The state is proposing to reconstruct about 1.25 miles of the road from Pineau Street north to just south of Tweedie Street in Jay.
In 2011 and 2012, the state reconstructed about 1.1 miles of Routes 4 and 17 from Bridge Street in Livermore Falls to Pineau Street in Jay. Both towns had new sewer lines installed, and the Livermore Falls Water District had new water lines installed.
If Jay’s sewer infrastructure is found to be solid once the road is opened and not in danger of failing, it will not be replaced, Cushman said. There are known sewer-related issues that need to be taken care of, he said.
Once the state reconstructs the road, there is a five-year moratorium on reopening it. If there were an emergency, the town would need to dig up the road and replace the whole section of the road that would be disturbed, rather than digging a trench.
It would be very expensive, she said.
“Once a road is destroyed, it is never the same,” Cushman said.
When the project is finished, the town will go for a bond and the interim financing will be paid back.
“I don’t know if selectpersons will have us go out to bid on the interim financing, where Androscoggin Bank has been giving us excellent interest rates, and they are our bank,” she said.
Another issue voters will address is amending the town’s Administrative Ordinance adopted by voters in January 2003. Several items are outdated, including when the board meets, the agenda format and prohibiting selectpersons from sitting on committees. The ordinance still refers to the Jay School Committee, which became defunct as of July 1, 2011. The Jay schools consolidated with those in Livermore and Livermore Falls at that time.
The board also wants a more gender-neutral name: Board of Selectpersons, she said.
Selectpersons voted to approve new bylaws in June that changed the name to Board of Selectpersons. They suspended those bylaws pending adoption of an amended administrative ordinance.
Another item on the town meeting warrant is expected to be a fuel island at the highway garage. The pumps at the garage are antiquated and need to be replaced, Cushman said. There also are two 20-year-old underground tanks holding diesel that could go at any time, highway foreman John Johnson told selectpersons in June.
Selectpersons Justin Merrill and Tom Goding are working with Johnson to determine what needs to be done. They will make a recommendation to the full board. Town vehicles that use gas, including police cruisers, fill up at a local service station.
Police Chief Larry White Sr. told the board last month that he would like to see the town go back to having tanks for gasoline and diesel. He said it is a “public safety” concern, since sometimes police are busy and cannot fill up before the gas station closes at 9 p.m.
The estimated cost to offer both is as much as $120,000.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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