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Selectpersons approve appropriation for sewer plant building; delay Hyde Road property sale

2 mins read
The Jay Board of Selectpersons.
The Jay Board of Selectpersons.

JAY – Selectpersons unanimously supported utilizing a reserve fund held jointly by two towns to construct a building at the Livermore Falls sewer treatment plant, in order to protect equipment through the winter months.

Up to $28,000 in appropriations would also need to be approved by the Livermore Falls board, which meets next week. Along with other, previously budgeted funds, the money will be used to construct a square, 24-foot building for between $55,000 and $60,000. The concrete building will be used to protect the headworks sewer treatment equipment through the winter, with Jay Sewer Superintendent Mark Holt saying the bulk of the building’s expense would be dealing with heat and moisture issues.

The construction was originally planned for the 2013 season, but plant officials ran out of time and had to make due with temporary shelters and portable heaters through the winter. The towns intend to use local crews to help keep costs down, Holt said.

The appropriation would draw the reserve down to a little more than $10,000. Holt noted that one of the top concerns at the plant, the $250,000 centrifuge that removes waste from water, had just passed an industry check.

“I think we’re safe,” Holt said of that piece of equipment. The funds could be replenished in a year.

Selectpersons approved the funds, which will also be contingent upon Livermore Falls’ board.

In other business, the board declined to put roughly two acres of property at the intersection of the Hyde Road and Rt. 133 up for sale, instead choosing to wait for the town’s assessor to get a value for the land, which includes a barn. The town previously tore down a house on the property, which was acquired as part of a Maine Department of Transportation project to improve the intersection, which was considered dangerous.

The town’s costs for the entire project totaled $149,000, less than the $200,000 raised for the purpose at town meeting. Costs associated with the property included surveys, tearing down the house and checking for asbestos. Those could be recouped at sale, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere suggested.

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