JAY — Selectpersons voted Monday night to appoint a Community Development Advisory Committee as part of a workforce development training grant for Polycor.
The Canadian-based company is developing the North Jay White Quarry and plans to build a plant to make granite curbing off Old Jay Hill Road.
Voters approved the town applying for the Community Development Block Grant for the company for up to $100,000 at the April annual town meeting.
The state’s Office of Community Development invited the town into the project development phase of the CDBG Workforce Development Grant application process and reserved up to $100,000 for the project, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.
The next step is completion of the project development phase.
Polycor completed required income surveys and these have been submitted to the state. The public hearing and approval of the governing body has already taken place, as has an environmental review.
Some of the items on the state’s checklist will not be applicable to the project but need to be done anyway, LaFreniere said.
The Board of Selectpersons appointed Chairman Justin Merrill, Selectperson Terry Bergeron, resident Mary Howes, Polycor Director of Operations Kevin Jack and LaFreniere to serve on the advisory committee.
They also approved standards of conduct, a fair housing resolution and an anti-displacement plan, among other requirements.
In a related item, LaFreniere told the board that the town is accepting proposals for the engineering piece of rebuilding approximately 2,200 feet of Old Jay Hill Road. The town received a $250,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission Economic and Infrastructure Development Program. The section to be improved runs from the intersection of Routes 4 and 17 to the access road to Polycor, near a railroad trestle.
The town’s portion of the project includes $50,000 that Jay voters approved in June to be transferred from the town’s Public Works Department’s 2014-15 budget to the designated grant program reserve account for the match. It also includes in-kind work. The total project budget is $340,000.
Proposals are due by 4 p.m. Nov. 4. The proposal criteria is listed on the town’s website at www.jay-maine.org. Information may also be obtained by emailing LaFreniere at jmanager@jay-maine.org. A committee will review the bids and make a recommendation to the Northern Border Commission program.
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