DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 against moving forward with the Safe Routes to School project, nearly two months after residents voted against appropriating surplus money.
In early 2013, the town agreed to move forward with constructing 3,500 feet of sidewalk from Dirigo High School to T.W. Kelly Dirigo Middle School, and also constructing a sidewalk the length of Nash Street to the Regional School Unit 10 superintendent’s building. The cost would be split between the town and the Maine Department of Transportation, with MDOT paying 80 percent of the project and the town paying 20 percent.
The town abandoned the Nash Street section of the project last month because the $68,201 cost was considered too high.
During a special town meeting Oct. 1, residents overwhelmingly voted against appropriating $46,850 from surplus as a 20 percent match for building a sidewalk along Weld Street.
However, Puiia said he was told by the MDOT that “now would be an opportune time to put out a bid,” and if the town had funding difficulties, they could file an appeal for assistance.
Puiia said if the town decided they “definitely did not want to move forward with the project, they would be responsible for the $35,306 engineering costs for Wright-Pierce, and additional funds to the Maine Department of Transportation.”
“I’m not sure exactly how much we’d owe DOT, but they will let us know,” Puiia said.
He pointed out that the total cost the town would have to pay to the DOT as part of the 20 percent match would be around $72,000, and that the town has $68,991 in its sidewalk reserve fund.
He said if the DOT were to put the Weld Street project out to bid, and it came in at $72,000, the town “may have to budget a little more money to put into sidewalks.”
“I know that at our special town meeting in October, after the people voted against moving forward with the project, we assumed we were done with the project,” Puiia told the audience. “However, MDOT said that they had invested a lot of money into the project, and that we could file an appeal with them if we couldn’t convince the town to raise the funds.”
Selectman Dana Whittemore asked Puiia, “Is there any guarantee that if we file an appeal, we would get the money?”
“No,” Puiia said. “If we didn’t get a favorable appeal, then we just wouldn’t move forward with the project.”
Resident Peter Holman asked Puiia whether the town would still have access to the engineering plans that Wright-Pierce drew up, even if they decided against moving forward with the project.
“Yes, we would own those plans after we pay them,” Puiia said.
Selectman Mac Gill pointed out to Holman that if the town were to take the Wright-Pierce plans and attempt to build the sidewalks at a later date, the plans “would probably be out of date.”
“I feel that we have a civic responsibility to move forward with this project,” Gill said.
Selectman Eugene Skibitsky said the town “will never have another chance like this, to build a sidewalk at this price.”
Chairman Hart Daley said, “We’ve had two meetings with the public, and both times, they’ve voiced their concerns about how much it would cost the town to maintain the new sidewalks during the winter, and the fact that we would not be getting the Nash Street sidewalk, even though we’re paying the same amount of money.”
“I’m comfortable going with what the public has given us for guidance,” Daley said.
The board voted 3-2 against moving forward with the project.
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