LIVERMORE — Selectpersons voted Tuesday, June 22, to approve $45,500 to slipline a culvert on River Road.
There aren’t many culverts available, highway foreman Roger Ferland said. The culvert is 16 feet deep and he estimated $40,000 just for parts to replace it. The other option was to slipline it, he said. Water levels are low now, he added.
“If we need to wait, it will be $90,000-$100,000 to replace it,” Ferland noted.
Is it failing, Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller asked.
“We’re trying to finish the River Road,” Ferland said.
The culvert is in a section of road planned for work next year, Selectperson Scott Richmond said. There’s about a one and a half foot sag in it now, he noted.
“We’re trying to get this done this summer so everything is prepared for next year,” Ferland said.
The slipline would be plastic filled in with cement to secure it, Selectperson Chair Mark Chretien said.
“We looked into getting grants through Main-Land (Development Consultants Inc.),” Ferland said. “It has to fail three times before we’re able to get grants for it. It hasn’t failed in so many years.”
Rebuilding the road before the culvert is taken care of would mean digging the new road up, which Richmond said he wanted to avoid.
Money approved for the slipline will be taken from the budget cycle beginning July 1.
Bids will also be put out for road paving.
Paving this summer includes topcoat on Waters Hill Road, shim and topcoat on Norlands Road from Route 108 to Waters Hill plus shim and topcoat the full length of Goding Road, Richmond said. The latter will probably be the biggest expense, he added.
Selectpersons also voted to pay four employees missed payments to their retirement accounts plus interest.
Auditors determined that four employees are owed contributions from the Feb. 3, 2020 payroll, Miller said. Investment accounts garner about 12%, he noted. He determined what they missed out on and recommended the board pay the missed amount plus that 12%.
“It’s not a tremendous amount of money,” Miller said.
The total amount approved was $668.30.
In other business, Fire Chief Donald Castonguay said he had received a call from the Androscoggin County Sheriff Department about people going around to fire department scenes trying to instigate problems.
“When I get called to a scene, the house is mine until I release it,” Castonguay said. “We don’t have the manpower to set up a perimeter to keep people out. We’re trying to do our job and can’t deal with the public with a phone in our face.”
Castonguay said he tries to be nice, tell them he’ll talk with them afterwards. There are no problems with the press, he noted.
“The biggest thing is accident scenes on the road, somebody stopping taking pictures,” he said. There have been fatalities where pictures are on Facebook and other places before the next of kin has been notified, he added.
“That’s criminally wrong,” he stressed. “The public needs to know, some things the need to know is later. Let us do our jobs.”
The positioning of a truck at a fatal scene, things like that were suggested by Miller.
“My responsibility is to my guys,” Castonguay said. “This is coming from Lewiston, Auburn, places like that. People, they like to instigate stuff. They get pissed at us for stopping them. People are in a hurry.”
Other actions taken by Selectpersons included:
• Approving a medical marijuana store license for Karen Ashmore/Midnight Farms, LLC.
• Electing Mark Chretien as Chair of the Selectboard.
• Electing Brett Deyling as Vice Chair of the Selectboard.
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