JAY – The Board of Selectpersons discussed road improvements, a speed survey policy and sharing the town’s fuel pumps at Monday’s meeting.
Jeff Preble of Wright-Pierce, the town’s engineer for the Old Jay Hill Road project, reported on his firm’s progress in designing improvements for approximately 2,200 feet of the road. The town received a $250,000 Northern Border Regional Commission grant last year to improve the road for the benefit of the North Jay White Quarry operation. Polycor, the company operating the quarry and an associated curbing plant, will be building up an access road that will connect to Old Jay Hill Road next year.
Preble said the project would consist of box-cutting the roadway between the Polycor access point and the intersection with Mountain View Road. The road would be built up to accommodate loaded trucks, with a crown to improve drainage. Some catch basins will be moved, Preble said, with a collapsed drainage pipe at the Mountain View end being replaced. Granite curbing from Polycor would be used along portions of the roadway.
Wright-Pierce was waiting for more detailed schematics from Polycor regarding their access road, Preble said, in order to finalize that end of the Old Jay Hill Road project. The project’s time line would see the project completed in fall or early 2017, depending when the Polycor planning is complete.
Currently, that road is posted with weight limits in the early spring until mid-April. Highway Foreman John Johnson noted that would no longer be the case after the construction project is complete.
“They’re building the road so it won’t require posting,” Johnson said.
The board also reviewed a policy that would govern how requests to change road speed limits. The policy is adapted from one utilized in Bar Harbor, allowing a Maine Department of Transportation traffic survey to be conducted after residents submit a petition to the Board of Selectpersons. The issue has been discussed recently in Jay due to three residents submitting requests to lower the speed limit on their roads.
An MDOT survey sets the speed limit. Speed signs are provided by the town, costing approximately $80 apiece.
The board made several changes to the policy, prior to adopting it with a divided vote. They eliminated a clause that would have allowed a single selectperson to trigger a survey, although the police chief would still be able request a public hearing. The public hearing will be posted locally, but not advertised in the newspapers to save money, and the policy was clarified to indicate that the MDOT survey was contingent upon board approval after the hearing.
They also strengthened the petition requirement, increasing the number of signatures from residents along each section of surveyed road from 25 percent to 50 percent to trigger the hearing.
Selectpersons voted to approve the policy, with Chair Terry Bergeron, Keith Cornelio and Judy Diaz voting in favor. Selectpersons Tom Goding and Tim DeMillo were opposed.
The board also received a request from Regional School Unit 73 to utilize the town’s fuel pump system. The facility, which includes a 15,000 gallon above-ground tank, was built in 2013 for $93,000. The district wants to use the tank and pumps to fill its buses, approximately two or three a day. The town of Jay and RSU 73 already purchase diesel fuel together.
Johnson told the board that the pump system logs different users, so the Highway Department can bill each department the appropriate amount.
The school district was interested in speaking with the board about potentially paying a surcharge and splitting maintenance costs in exchange for using the facility. The board agreed to meet with the district about the issue.
