Kevin Brann won the contract for snow plowing
and sanding.
NEW SHARON – Selectmen say they awarded a winter maintenance contract to the highest bidder because there were uncertainties about the sand pile with the lowest bidder.
However, low bidder Robert Ames says there were several options he was exploring to store the town’s sand and salt, including a town-owned site on Route 2.
Selectmen received two bids from an advertisement of a one-year contract of snow plowing and sanding town roads. Voters raised $94,000 in March for that purpose.
Nearly $10,000 separated the bids but it was a licensed sand/salt site that quenched it.
Kevin Brann, whose family has held the contract for about 25 years and who is also the elected road commissioner for summer maintenance, bid $93,925 for the job or $2,210 per mile.
Ames, a former New Sharon road commissioner, bid $84,957 for the contract or $1,199 per mile, and was willing to hold that price for three years if selectmen agreed to a three-year contract.
Both men live in New Sharon.
When selectmen opened bids Aug. 20, officials had questions on Ames’ bid and wanted to discuss them with him.
“We wanted to know specifically what equipment he would use and about the sand pile,” Selectman Bill Lane said.
As part of the contract the bidder has to provide a site for the sand/salt pile, Selectman Maynard Webster said.
New Sharon’s sand pile is on Brann’s property and has been for about 25 years. Brann’s site is licensed as a sand/salt site because it is grandfathered by the state Department of Transportation, Webster said.
But Ames claims the town is being held hostage by having the town’s sand/salt pile stored on private property. He also claims the site is near the town’s water supply, which Webster confirmed.
To discuss his bid, selectmen met Ames on Aug. 28, the first day Ames could meet after bids were opened.
Webster said Ames told them he had verbal permission to use the old Maine Department of Transportation site on Route 2 to stockpile sand and salt for the winter.
Ames also planned to buy equipment to fulfill the snow plowing and sanding contract.
Webster said he called the state Department of Environmental Protection the following day, Aug. 29, to see if the site was licensed as a sand/salt site.
“As it turns out that site is no longer licensed for a sand/salt pile,” Webster said.
The DEP requires a paved area and a covered site, Webster said, and the former DOT site wasn’t paved and needed to be relicensed as well as authorized for use by transportation officials.
“We can’t plop $20,000 worth of sand on a site without written permission from somebody with DOT authority to do it,” Webster said. The equivalent amount is 3,500 yards of sand.
Webster said a town-owned lot Ames was also considering is narrow and would need to be paved and licensed.
It wasn’t up to the town to worry about a site being licensed, Ames said, it was up to him if he received the contract.
Selectmen met Aug. 29 in a special meeting, not advertised to the public, to award the contract. Selectmen claim there was no time to alert the public because everybody was anxious and selectmen were being pressured by contractors to award the bid, Lane said.
Brann needed to know where he was going and Ames needed to know if he needed to buy equipment and find about sand/salt pile, selectmen said.
Because of all the problems with Ames’ proposed sand/salt site at former DOT site, selectmen awarded Brann the bid, Webster said.
Lane said he called Ames and Selectman Jim Smith called Brann that evening to tell them of the decision. Neither man was home, so selectmen left messages.
However, Ames said he never received a message.
Each selectmen received a letter dated Aug. 29 on Sept. 2 from Ames notifying them he was withdrawing his bid because he didn’t want to cause the town any difficulties. He cited contract longevity and sand pile issues as a basis.
Ames also noted that the “town should actively pursue relocating the sand pile to an area more suitable for future competitive bidders.”
dperry@sunjournal.com
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