BETHEL – At Monday night’s meeting, selectmen accepted an anonymous donation of four bicycles to Bethel Rescue.

Bethel Rescue is starting a bike patrol for special occasions such as Mollyockett Day, walk-a-thons, bike races, mountain rescue and other occasions when bikes would allow rescue crews to reach patients sooner than motorized vehicles, director Arlene Greenleaf said.

After an anonymous person donated four bikes at a cost of $639.60 each to Bethel Rescue, Greenleaf sent a memo to the board telling officials that she wanted to pay the $125 shipping cost out of the ambulance account. Selectmen OK’d it with a 5-0 vote.

In other business, the board also unanimously approved the proposed fiscal year sewer budget of $520,149. The budget includes borrowing $150,000 to replace the Clark Street and Lower Main Street sewer mains, the town’s only capital improvement sewer project this year.

Payback of the 20-year loan will be the responsibility of the sewer system’s customers not the town, Town Manager Scott Cole said.

“A 10 percent increase in customer rates is now proposed for implementation on July 1, 2003, rather than imposition of a 20 percent increase in July 2004 with no increase this year,” Cole said.

Under the 2004 budget, the uniform billing rate will be increased from $5.78 per 100 cubic feet to $6.36 per cubic feet. The minimum quarterly user volume of 1,500 cubic feet will be retained, with the associated charge being increased from $86.72 per quarter to $95.40 per quarter, Cole added.

As for the Clark Street project, the only bid received was $183,000. That was $33,000 more than the pre-bid estimate, Cole said. Construction costs accounted for the overage.

“In consideration of affected businesses and Mollyockett Day, a final completion target of July 3 had been set, with sewer work to be finished by June 24 and road repair a week or so afterward. However, in speaking with contractors, both pre-bid and post-bid, the deadline proved to be unrealistic,” Cole said.

As a result, work is not likely to be completed until sometime in July or August. Cole estimated the project would cause a disturbance of 30 to 45 days.

“The timetable, disturbance of Main Street, elevation drops and small number of customers relative to the total cost make this project challenging, both physically and fiscally,” he added.

Selectman Jack Cross said one problem to overcome is underground water because work on the main involves a 15-foot-deep hole on Main Street.

“You go down five to six feet now and you hit water,” Cross said, explaining why the project needs to be done later this summer when things are drier. “It’s scary going down 15 feet and you know you’re going to be in water.”

Sewer treatment plant operator Rob Gundersen agreed with Cross, saying, “This is really a relatively small job, but it’s not an easy one.”


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.