OTISFIELD — Selectman Rick Micklon will seek clarification of a legal opinion on whether the town can pay for maintenance and repairs on a dry hydrant on private property.
At last week’s March 2 Board of Selectmen meeting, Micklon questioned a legal opinion from the Maine Muncipal Association the board requested to determine whether the town could legally use town funds to pay for maintenance and repairs on the hydrant located in a private association.
For years, the Silvaqua Association and the town had an informal hydrant agreement in which the association shared the initial installation costs and plowed the road for emergency vehicles. When repairs became necessary last year, the issue of who should pay arose. Association members say the hydrant is for public use so they should not be liable for costs.
In the Feb. 17 email to the board, Richard P. Flewelling, assistant director of Legal Services Department for the Maine Municipal Association, said he was “skeptical” that using public funds to build and maintain dry hydrants on private property would serve a public purpose.
Citing Maine law used that prohibits using public funds for building and maintaining private roads, Flewelling said, “If private communities or associations believe a dry hydrant would enhance the town’s ability to provide fire protection to them, typically they will build and maintain it themselves but make it accessible to the fire department by conveying an access easement to the town.”
“We thought it was a slippery slope to do anything about it,” Selectmen Chairman Hal Ferguson said about paying for hydrant repairs on private property. He said he believes the town is not legally responsible for it, based on the MMA opinion. Selectman Len Adler agrees with the interpretation, but Micklon contends it is not that blakc and white.
Selectmen also met with Craig Zorhurst of Western Maine Transportation to discuss the need for public transportation in Otisfield.
For years the town has been assessed about $400 from Oxford County for the service selectmen say they haven’t received. But this year, the agency picked up matching funding from Oxford County so towns did not have to come up with direct funding.
Finance Committee Chairman Quentin Henderson had multiple questions for Zorhurst ranging from the trip fees to routes and funding methods
Zorhurst said drivers are now picking up four people in Otisfield and are looking to expand the service in this area.
Toward that effort he is hoping to speak to officials in some of the smaller towns that feel they have been paying for little or no service and to find out what they can do to increase service.
Anyone can call the agency to get a ride to go shopping, to get to medical appointments or go out to lunch, including locations in the Oxford Hills and Lewiston-Auburn.
In other business:
– Selectmen unanimously agreed to pay Norway directly for the services of General Assistance Administrator Shannon Moxcey. Moxcey works for half a dozen towns administering benefits.
– Selectmen also clarified previous discussion that kayaks donated to the Seeds Of Peace camp are no longer owned by the town, so the town is not liable for their use.
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