WILTON – Selectmen gave Water and Sewer Department Superintendent Russ Mathers the go-ahead to include $2,500 in next year’s Water Department budget for a water rate survey.

At last year’s town meeting, taxpayers questioned why they have to pay $144,000 for the rental of water hydrants. The town turned to the Maine Rural Water Association for legal advice about what would happen if taxpayers didn’t want to raise that amount and how the amount could be lowered.

The hydrant rental fees are a percentage of the rates those who use town water pay and is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. Those rates have not gone up for several years in Wilton. Mathers said the town could be sued for not meeting its obligation if it did not come up with the funds for hydrant rental.

Poland:

Kindergarten tops survey

POLAND – Many Poland parents want a full-day kindergarten and some want a tougher overall curriculum.

Those were some of the conclusions drawn from a survey of Poland Community School parents presented to the School Committee .

Carolyn Johnson, Poland Community School principal, told committee members the overwhelming majority of respondents were quite happy with the school. Johnson said about 180 questionnaires were turned in. There are 400 students at the school.

The survey asked such things as whether parents felt welcome in their child’s school, whether the school has a good learning environment, and whether parents respect the school’s teachers. On a scale of one to five, most of the results landed in the four range.

Minot:

Town, residents question developer

MINOT – Developers of the proposed Center Minot Heights subdivision will have to wait until January for the Planning Board to approve their plans.

The development is for 12 lots on 69 acres off Center Minot Hill Road.

The Planning Board delayed action so it could have engineers at Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District do a thorough review of the developer’s storm water study. Town officials and neighbors of the proposed subdivision questioned developer representative Mike Gotto on a range of issues, from how development work will proceed to how the subdivision will look when completed.

Lewiston:

Contract could open new talks

LEWISTON – A new labor contract with firefighters could open discussions about creating a city-based ambulance service.

The contract, set to go before city councilors mid-December, would set wages and costs for a city-based emergency medical service.

Actually creating an EMS service is a policy decision that remains to be made, said City Administrator Jim Bennett.

“If the community and the council decide that is something they want to pursue, that’s a decision that will come down the road,” he said. “This just sets the costs so we can discuss it.”

Livermore Falls:

Selectman resigns in seventh year

LIVERMORE FALLS – Clayton Putnam, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, resigned from the board Dec. 2.

Town Manager Alan Gove said Putnam called him about noon that day to tender his resignation.

Gove said Putnam said he had “run out of energy.”

“It was a surprise,” Gove said. “He put an effort in.”

Putnam was in his seventh year, Gove said, and he was recently elected to serve as chairman when Selectmen Bill Demaray resigned from the leadership position.

Wilton:

Draft sex-offender policy reviewed

WILTON – Town officials reviewed a draft of a policy regarding public notification of sex offenders living here. Residents who attended the public hearing gave their input as well.

Town Manager Peter Nielsen said policies from the towns of Bangor, Farmington and Lincolnville, as well as the Maine Chiefs of Police Association were gathered and a half -page draft was drawn up for selectmen to consider.

Former Department of Human Services Child Protective Services Worker Sandra Wyman told officials she thinks they need to find out when the state notifies towns of the presence of a sex offender and how much time the offender has to register as such.

Wyman, who was a Child Protective Services worker for 10 years, said she feels notification should be made within 24 hours rather than the seven days spelled out in the policy draft.

Farmington:

Madrid bridge estimates reviewed

FARMINGTON – County commissioners reviewed estimates to fix the decaying Beech Hill Bridge in Madrid.

County road agent Paul McKeen closed the bridge in early November due to safety concerns. Corroded bridge abutments are falling into Saddleback Stream, which flows into the Sandy River, making the bridge impassable, McKeen has said.

Located less than a mile off of Route 4 from the center of Madrid on Beech Hill Road, the one-lane bridge has an upper and lower deck.

Mark Rafford of Rafford Bridges Inc. in Ashland estimated that it would cost $28,000 for materials and manpower to fix the bridge. That bridge would be 40 feet long and have a 16-foot-wide roadway.

Oxford:

Town awarded grant for business park

OXFORD – Enterprise Maine announced that Oxford was awarded a $235,000 grant to use for development in the proposed business park.

The grant came from the Maine Municipal Investment Trust Fund, according to Brett Doney, chief executive officer of Enterprise Maine.

The money was part of two bonds totaling $10.3 million approved statewide by voters this year.

Business park plans call for it to be divided into four lots, each ranging in size from 8 to 10 acres. The lots are on land between Number 6 Road and Route 26.

Doney said the grant requires a match.

Its acceptance also is contingent on the town entering a tax increment financing agreement with Western Maine Development, an Enterprise Maine subsidiary.

Paris:

New college center completion date set

PARIS – The citizens advisory board for the new university and college center was told that the building would be done by Feb. 12.

The Western Maine University and Community College center is being developed in a two-story building next to Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on Route 26. Norcouer Construction of Westbrook is the contractor.

The board had a tentative completion date of the first week of January for the first floor and mid-February for the second floor. There were two completion dates because originally there was only enough money to complete the first floor, and it was bid that way.

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