POLAND — Residents from Birch and Westview drives presented a petition with 72 signatures to the Select Board on Tuesday night requesting maintenance on their roads.
The primary issues cited include poor surface conditions, culvert clearing, roadside ditching and removal of excessive vegetation growth that affect the “94 tax-paying lots” the petitioners say run alongside the two roads.
Public Works Director Adam Strout said at the meeting that the vegetation issue will be addressed in the coming two weeks throughout the town. He said some culvert work and ditching work will also commence shortly.
As to repaving, Strout said material expenses have increased steadily in recent years. It costs about $280,000 a mile to pave a road and Poland has nearly 60 miles of town roads, he said.
Strout said travel use and traffic volume are main factors in deciding when to repave and it isn’t necessarily the worst road that gets priority.
Town Manager Matt Garside said additional funding resources and grants will also be investigated.
In other business, Garside told the Select Board the town must make a 20% match to the $598,000 awarded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in June to improve the capability and capacity of its waste Transfer Station. He said the town needs about $60,000 more to meet the matching amount of $149,500.
The board decided to look into how much money would be available in contingency accounts before next year’s budget is planned.
The grant money is available for use by 2030.
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