SUMNER – Road Commissioner Jim Keach reported to selectmen that tires are being dumped on the former Timberland company lot on Redding Road.

Selectmen Tom Standard and Keach will inspect the lot to see if they can determine the owner of the tires. Standard is more concerned with having the tires removed than making it a legal issue.

Standard questioned Keach about long-term plans for Valley Road. One-eighth of a mile is unpaved and in rough shape.

“Other than grading regularly and adding gravel, there is not much else that can be done,” Keach said. “There is no money in the budget to rebuild the roadbed or pave.”

Selectman Mark Silber explained that Valley Road is a corduroy road made of logs sunk into mud and covered with gravel, and much work would need to be done before it could be paved.

In other business, Standard asked Keach about the progress on the Russell Road bridge. Keach informed selectmen that he is waiting for the lumber to be cut.

Standard and Selectman Cliff McNeil discussed a miscommunication with Hartford selectmen concerning cost sharing of the project. Hartford Selectman Dave Bowen told McNeil at the May 14 Hartford selectmen’s meeting that he “wanted an estimate before agreeing to share the cost.” Both towns have received a cost from R.E. Lowell Lumber of Buckfield for their portion of the lumber, but Sumner selectmen never sent an estimate to the Hartford selectmen. Standard will put an estimate in writing and McNeil will deliver it to Hartford selectmen and apologize for the oversight.

Nomination papers for town offices are available and due in to the town office by July 12. Positions to be filled are:

• Selectman, three-year term.

• Road commissioner, one-year term.

• Two school board directors, one three-year term, and one to finish a term through 2004.

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