Tremont Public Safety Building Planning Moving Forward, But Don't Mess With Trivia Night
Select Board Saving Money on Plow Truck Issues
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Paradis Ace Hardware.
TREMONT—Everyone, even elected community volunteers like Select Board members, deserve and need a little time to relax now and then.
During the Tremont Select Board meeting on Monday, October 7, Chair Jaime Thurlow volunteered to be the Select Board’s representative on the town’s Public Safety Building Committee but said that he really hopes that the committee doesn’t regularly meet on Wednesday evenings because he cannot miss trivia night.
The committee has been having trouble getting a quorum of members to participate and both of the town board representatives, Howdy Goodwin, a Select Board member and Ben Harper, a Planning Board member, had recently left the committee. Thurlow will now fill Goodwin’s seat on the committee and Town Manager Jesse Dunbar said that he was waiting to hear back from the Planning Board on who may replace Harper.
Committee Chair Jim LaPrade gave a quick update on the progress that the committee has made. LaPrade said that the committee has been focusing on a needs assessment for the public safety building, grant possibilities, and working with other neighboring agencies and committees who have a part in planning for the future.
The committee has come up with a rough floor plan based on those needs. The committee sees the need for an ambulance bay, bunk space for at least one person, and is hoping to incorporate some workspace into the design.
LaPrade said it would be nice for law enforcement to have a workspace when they are in town, too. LaPrade reminded everyone that even though most of the crews are volunteers, some of them still have administrative duties and having a workspace would help to keep them from having to take their work and paperwork home with them.
Thurlow urged the committee to “stay realistic” with the needs and “keep it as close to what we feel like we can afford” as possible. LaPrade said that the committee is trying to be realistic and still create a space that the town will not outgrow in ten years.
LaPrade said that because the construction cost will be pretty substantial, the committee is only considering town-owned property at this time, but they are looking at all possibilities. The front running site would be part of the property where the town office currently sits which is where the Select Board had previously envisioned the building.
There was also discussion regarding publicly noticing the meetings and making them accessible to the public in the future whether they are in person or via an online platform. Select Board Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett said this is becoming a hot topic around town and that it would be good to have public access to the planning process.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 WHARF AND DOCK FEE CHANGES
The Harbor Committee members had discussed two fee changes at their last meeting. While historically, mooring fees have had a $20 late fee if not paid by June, wharf fees currently have no late fee. Dunbar said that he was told that sometimes when people get behind on paying their wharf fees they often get confused on what they are paying for, in terms of the calendar year, when they do pay. The Harbor Committee proposed a $100 late fee starting November 1 of this year. Wharf fees are due on September 1. So, that would give users a two-month grace period every year. The Select Board voted the new wharf fee late fee in unanimously.
The Harbor Committee had also proposed a new combination commercial use fee for the Bernard and Seal Cove docks. Currently, the fee to use the Bernard dock is $675 and the fee to use the Seal Cove dock is $400. The Harbor Committee proposed a combination fee for both facilities of $800, saving a user $275.
After some discussion regarding what falls under the commercial use definition and some direction to Dunbar regarding some language clarifications, the Select Board voted unanimously to enact the new combination use fee.
TOWN PLOW TRUCK REPLACEMENT
After having a new International plow truck chassis on order for two years and having authorized Dunbar to cancel that order at a previous meeting, the Select Board has decided how it will move forward with new plow trucks for this year.
Since the September 16 meeting where Dunbar was instructed to cancel the existing truck order, he has been gathering bids on smaller plow trucks and figuring out if the town’s truck one was in good enough shape to keep and rehabilitate.
Dunbar said that a mechanic had looked truck one over and feels that it is serviceable for couple more years. The repair of existing hydraulic issues and a servicing of the truck have already been completed, the old worn-out sander body has been removed, and the truck body is being painted to help prevent further rust. The sander body was the main issue, along with the hydraulic issues, that precipitated the attempted purchase of a new International truck body for $223,000.
The town can purchase a new sander body for approximately $15,000 according to Dunbar or he has found a used sand hopper in good condition for approximately $7,000. The Select Board voted unanimously to purchase the used sander body to keep the truck one rehabilitation costs as low as possible.
At that same September 16 meeting, the Select Board instructed Dunbar to obtain some quotes for a 550/650 size truck to replace the town’s ailing F-550 truck. Dunbar presented three bids to the Select Board at Monday’s meeting.
Ford F-650 with 10” plow and sander - $134,864,
Ford F-550 chassis - $74,470,
Dodge Ram 5500 chassis - $69,000.
The Select Board unanimously voted for and instructed Dunbar to purchase the Dodge Ram 5500 chassis from Quirk Dodge for $69,000.
SEAL COVE BID RESULTS
Dunbar had put out requests for bids for work on the Seal Cove Road and at the time of the October 7 meeting, he had not received any complete bid packages back. The Select Board voted unanimously to authorized Dunbar to continue seeking bids for this project.
PAVING PROJECTS
The Select Board discussed four road paving projects:
Repaving of the Bernard boat ramp which was damaged during the winter storms – $6,850.
Paving a triangle of the town office lot that had never been paved but was affecting the paved driveway due to washing out – $6,978.
Paving over five culverts on the Clark Point Road that had been replaced and had only been covered with cold patch at the time of replacement – $6,300.
An overlay paving of Clark Point Road between numbers 64 and 92 which is the roughest stretch of the road – $28,264.
All of the quotes were from Rings Paving. Seventy-five percent of the cost to repair the Bernard boat ramp is supposed to be reimbursed from FEMA due to the fact that the winter storms caused the damage.
Dunbar recommended that the Select Board earmark the $6,978 for the town office triangle to be taken from the remaining $34,127 of ARPA funds. These funds must be earmarked for a specific project by December 31, 2024.
Dunbar also recommended that the $6,300 for the culvert paving on Clark Point Road come from the road improvement reserve. These recommendations were taken by the Select Board and all three motions pertaining to these three projects were unanimous.
The $28,254 Clark Point Road overlay between numbers 64 and 92 was the subject of quite a bit of discussion and not knowing exactly which way it wanted to approach funding for this project, the Select Board decided to pause this project for now.
2024/25 WINTER HEATING OIL CONTRACT
The town received two bids for winter heating oil. One bid was from No Frills Oil for $2.499/gallon and the other was from Coastal Energy for $2.48/gallon. The Tremont School has chosen to go with Coastal Energy and the Select Board unanimously voted to also choose Coastal Energy. The town’s oil came from Coastal Energy last year as well but last year’s contract price was higher at $3.08/gallon.
TOWN OFFICE CLOSURE
The Select Board unanimously voted to close the town office on November 5, so that the staff can focus on the voting process. However, the town manager’s, bookkeeper’s, and code enforcement office’s phones will be answered throughout the day for customer service.
The next Select Board meeting is scheduled for October 21 at 5 p.m.
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