WOODSTOCK — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Tuesday evening to pay part of a $22,525 bill for paving that it did not authorize.
The town hired Bruce A. Manzer Inc. of Anson to pave 3,240 feet of Lakeside Drive, from Route 26 to the entrance of the University of Maine 4-H Camp & Learning Center, this past summer. Manzer’s estimate was $78,788.
Town Manager Vern Maxfield said officials cut the cost to $40,000 by shortening the project to go from the railroad tracks to the camp entrance.
He said Manzer paved between 600 and 700 feet past the entrance and charged $62,525.
During the Dec. 16 selectmen meeting, Maxfield said town attorney Lee Bragg asked Manzer if he would be willing to split the cost of the overage 50/50.
“Bruce said that he could live with that,” Maxfield said.
The town manager said Tuesday that selectmen agreed to pay “around $11,300.”
“Right now, the bill is in the mail, and Manzer agreed to waive the other half of the fee, so we should be all done with the issue,” Maxfield said.
In other business, selectmen received a response from the Maine Municipal Association about selectmen being allowed to live out of town part of the year.
Selectman Stephen Bies told the board at its Dec. 16, 2014, meeting that “in the next couple of years, I’m not going to live in town during the winter.”
Maxfield said MMA advised that, “selectmen can be out of town and remain in office, as long as he or she remains a registered voter.”
In response to another question, the MMA said requests for poverty abatements must be handled in executive session.
Maxfield said the town received a request to amend the dog control ordinance that would require dog kennels, rescue shelters or similar facilities applying for a license or permit to notify abutting landowners.
“The selectmen agreed to have this put on the town meeting warrant, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 23,” Maxfield said.
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