It will take another special town meeting to appropriate money to explore options.
NEW SHARON – Voters missed an opportunity Saturday to appropriate money to move the sand and salt pile off private property.
Instead of amending an article that called for spending $272,760 to build a salt and sand building on a state-approved town lot, two-thirds of the voters rejected it. The town already has $155,800 in reserve for the building and planned to borrow $116,960 that the state has pledged to pay eventually.
Of concern to voters was borrowing money with hopes the state would reimburse them in five years or so, the size and cost of the building the state requires, and the location of the town site.
The state projected, according to a letter from selectmen in the town report, that construction costs could be $70 to more than $100 per cubic yard of capacity. A building to hold 3,400 cubic yards at $80 per cubic yard would be $272,000.
It wasn’t until voters reached an article to raise and appropriate $258,000 for construction and maintenance of roads, including snow removal contracts, that some realized they hadn’t dealt with an issue that dogged selectmen last year.
It will take another special town meeting to appropriate money to explore options to move the sand and salt pile to town property voters were told Saturday.
Selectmen plan to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, at the town office to discuss the defeated article, Selectman Maynard Webster said.
Selectmen said in September they hoped by putting the article before voters to build the sand and salt storage building on a town site, it would put contractors on an even footing when it came time to bid the town’s snow removal contract.
At the heart of the issue is the town’s sand and salt pile stored on private land, near the town’s water supply that is grandfathered under state law as an approved storage site.
Selectmen came under fire by some residents and the other contractor after selectmen awarded the contract Aug. 29, 2003, to the highest bidder.
Selectmen had received two bids for a one-year contract.
Nearly $10,000 separated the bids, but it was the state permitted sand and salt storage site on contractor Kevin Brann’s property that clinched the deal.
Brann’s family has held the contract about 25 years. He bid $93,925 for the job or $2,210 a mile.
Robert Ames had 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. The sites he was considering to store the sand and salt pile had not been licensed by the state as permitted sites yet.
Because of uncertainties with Ames’ bid, selectmen awarded the contract to Brann.
Ames sent a letter to selectmen dated Aug. 29 notifying them that he was withdrawing his bid.
Ames recommended in that letter, that the town should actively pursue relocating the sand pile to an area more suitable for future competitive bidders.
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