JAY — There will be no town-owned, lighted Christmas decorations, flags or banners on new utility poles along Route 4 this season, because there are no electrical outlets or brackets for them.
Selectpersons voted 3-2 Monday not to put any decorations up on the poles along the Main Street/Route 4 corridor or any other places they are traditionally placed. Selectpersons Keith Cornelio, Judy Diaz and Tom Goding voted in favor of the motion, while Chairman Terry Bergeron and Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo opposed it.
Firefighters are responsible for putting up the decorations each year.
There are no brackets or electrical outlets on the new utility poles that were installed in the southern section of town during the Route 4 reconstruction project.
The town’s brackets and electrical outlets had been on the old poles that were removed.
The cost to rewire each pole is about $200, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere told the board.
Another option was moving toward hanging holiday flags or banners. LaFreniere presented examples of both.
There were 15 to 20 poles that held decorations in the southern section of town from Tweedie Street down to the Livermore Falls line, Fire/Rescue Chief Mike Booker said. There are also about 14 from Riley Road up through North Jay, he said.
The town raises $500 each year, which buys just under three decorations, to replace older decorations.
If selectpersons wanted the poles rewired, a decision would need to be made that night, LaFreniere said. Tony Flagg, an electrician from Livermore Falls, could get it done. He could rewire the poles and hang the decorations, she said.
Cornelio said to postpone it and just put up what they have.
Goding questioned why Central Maine Power or the state took down the poles and did not replace the brackets and outlets.
It was not considered necessary at the beginning of the project, LaFreniere said. A CMP representative she spoke to said the electrical outlets and brackets were probably at a point that they had to be replaced.
Flagg could wire two poles an hour and, if the decorations were all assembled, put them up, Deputy Fire Rescue Chief Corey Leclerc said.
“I would lean toward flags and banners,” Bergeron said.
A 3- by 5-foot angle flag is $88 for a single-sided and $160 for a double-sided. If there is writing on it, two flags would be sewn together, LaFreniere said. Otherwise, the wording would be backward on one side.
The spinner poles are $14.79.
The more flags bought, the cheaper they are, she said. To buy 25, the cost for a single-sided flag is $38 and a double-sided one is $65.
The cost for a set of brackets for one banner is $79.
Two-ink design banners are $79 each, while one-ink designs are $69 each.
“I am the Grinch,” Fire Capt. Darren Roundy said, adding that it seemed like a waste of time. He suggested eliminating the decorations item from the Fire Department budget.
Diaz and Goding said they were also Grinches.
“I think (the decorations) are nice,” LaFreniere said, and look nice driving through town.
Diaz suggested it be an adopt-a-pole project. LaFreniere said that was another idea discussed.
Instead of just putting up some decorations in one part of town, the board opted to put up none.
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