AUBURN — Livermore is required to plow Wyman Road following a decision Wednesday by the Androscoggin County Commission.
Wyman Road residents Chris and Addie McHugh petitioned the county, appealing the town’s decision to discontinue plowing the road, which it has done for 60 years.
Selectmen in October voted to begin the process to discontinue a section of the road for winter maintenance. The board said it had an old tax map that indicated it was town property for only the first 135 feet.
Town officials consider the section beyond 135 feet to be part of the McHughs’ driveway.
The property is 150 feet beyond the 135-foot cutoff, commissioners were told.
Wyman Road is a dead end that connects to Federal Road, which is off of Route 4.
McHugh’s attorney, Ron Guay, presented commissioners with photos and a Maine Department of Transportation map, which he said did not agree with the town’s tax map showing the road to be only 125 feet long.
Roberta Manter, a Fayette resident and founder of Maine Residents and Owners on Abandoned and Discontinued Ways, spoke in support of the McHughs. Using the Maine DOT map and plotting coordinates from land records in the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds office, she determined the road does not stop after 135 feet, but continues straight past McHugh’s property.
The couple purchased the home in 2010, and the town assured the couple then that the road would be maintained and plowed, Chris McHugh said.
“I think it’s a little too late for the town to now say, ‘Oops, it’s not a town road,'” Manter said.
Commissioner Garrett Mason of Lisbon said he wanted to side with the town, but could not based on the state map. He added that the town did not provide the landowner with enough advanced notice of the pending change, saying he first learned of it on Facebook.
The board voted 5-1-1 to support the petitioners, with Mason, Brian Ames and Edouard Plourde of Lewiston, Terri Kelly of Mechanic Falls and Andrew Lewis of Auburn voting yes. Chairman Sally Christner of Turner voted no, while Roland Poirier of Lewiston abstained.
In other business, the board rejected the only bid it received to overhaul the HVAC system in the county building on Turner Street and the adjacent jail on Pleasant Street. Ganneston Construction Corp. in Augusta bid more than $8 million for the project, far higher than the expected $5 million.
Allied, the county’s consultant on the project, said it would work to adjust the scope of the project and make changes based on value engineering to lower the cost.
Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of three cruisers from Colonial Municipal Group of Plymouth, Massachusetts, for $41,925.90 per vehicle.
Last month, commissioners approved buying two of the vehicles from Quirk Auto Group, but those vehicles did not meet the county’s specifications, Sheriff Eric Samson said.
The 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe PPV cruisers do meet the county’s specs and are in stock, Samson said. By switching to Colonial, the county is saving more than $12,000 on the total purchase.
The board also accepted a civil forfeiture of $8,272.50 for the Sheriff’s Office’s assistance on a recent case.
A couple of towns in neighboring Kennebec County have inquired about having Androscoggin County handle their emergency calls. Those communities are losing their Public Safety Answering Point coverage July 1.
Androscoggin County’s current rate for its Public Safety Answering Point coverage is $2.68 per capita, plus a part of the county tax.
Samson had suggested a $4.25 rate, but Poirier was upset that no cost analysis was completed. He said any money received should offset taxes paid by Auburn and Lewiston since they handle their own emergency calls.
After some debate, commissioners agreed to set an out-of-county rate of $4.50 per capita.
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