FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners are seeking bids to get a section of the East Madrid Road in Madrid Township surveyed to settle a dispute with a landowner.
The panel voted to put a request for bids out Tuesday. Clerk Julie Magoon said she was working on the bid specifications Wednesday and planned to visit the road.
There is an ongoing dispute with landowner Rufus Griscom on the width of the county road, commissioners said. Griscom believes the county is infringing on his property rights when it maintains the road.
In Maine, local roads typically are three rods wide, which provides a 49½-foot right of way that includes the road, shoulders, ditches and any back slopes or adjacent property, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
It is up to Griscom to prove it is not a three-rod-wide road, Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon said.
Commissioners have several options, including ending maintenance of the road or possibly discontinuing it, according to a letter from the county’s attorney, Magoon said.
“There is no question in my mind if the road is to be maintained, it needs to be ditched,” Hardy said. There is a big rock in the middle of the road, he said.
“The road needs serious maintenance and, as far as I’m concerned, ditching needs to be done,” he said.
It takes time to close a road, Magoon said.
There are one or two properties beyond Rufus Griscom’s property and one man said he was going to build a house there, Hardy said.
Hardy suggested that commissioners tell Road Agent Jerry Haines to hold off on maintenance for a while.
There is no winter maintenance, including plowing, done by the county beyond a turnaround in the area, Hardy said.
A 2009 survey of the road went to the four-way intersection with Potato Hill Road and Barnjum Road, he said.
“I would like to know the exact layout of the road,” Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay said. “I think we should have it surveyed instead of having someone else do it.”
Going from the four-way intersection to the end is more than a mile, Hardy said.
The first survey cost less than $3,000, Magoon said Wednesday. There is no money in the Unorganized Territory budget for a survey this year, she said.
McGrane said there is money in a perambulation reserve account to determine county lines.
Treasurer Mary Frank said there is $5,000 in the account.
“We could use those funds and replenish it at the end of the year,” Magoon said.
“We’ve had this argument for 20 years as far as I know, and it is not going to go away,” Hardy said.
McGrane said he didn’t want to see things linger and Griscom get his way.
Chairman Clyde Barker of Strong asked if Griscom would allow the road to be surveyed?
“They will get a true survey even if they have to have deputies go with the surveyors,” McGrane said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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