BETHEL – Since February, selectmen and Town Manager Scott Cole have been working to correct last winter’s flood damage at Davis Park.

Now, voters can take the next preventative step to save the popular park at a special town meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 18, in the town office.

After choosing a moderator, Article 2 asks voters to authorize selectmen to accept an estimated $303,983 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the estimated $405,310 project.

Voters are also being asked to appropriate the federal money to stabilize several hundred feet of Androscoggin River bank at the park, and to replace a sewer outfall pipe at the same location that was washed away.

Davis Park is located along Route 26 opposite the Parkway road intersection. The Androscoggin River makes a sharp bend at the rear of the park.

Selectmen recommend a yes vote; Budget Committee members did not have a quorum present, but of the four members present, three favored a yes vote, the fourth was opposed.

But the grant requires a 25 percent match from the town of $101,327. So Article 3 asks voters to determine how much money to appropriate from the town’s undesignated fund balance as the local share for the project.

Selectmen recommend $101,327; three Budget Committee members recommended the same amount, while the fourth member remained opposed.

The portion of total project cost related to sewer work is estimated at 18 percent, or $18,239. That money is expected to be paid by sewer system users from the sewer plant’s undesignated fund balance account.

A disclaimer on the warrant under Article 3 states that passage of the article is expected to result in short-term borrowing by the town in anticipation of taxes.

In mid-December, Bethel became an isolated island when one storm dumped nearly 3 inches of rain in the area.

That deluge, coupled with releases from waterlogged upstream dams in New Hampshire, caused flooding that blocked routes 5 and 26, and submerged Route 2 in Bethel and Davis Park.

When the water receded, several large trees and several feet of riverbank at the park, along with the sewer pipe, had been swept downstream.

The missing sewer pipe meant discharges since then have been occurring at riverside, not away from the bank and into the river as permitted.

That put the town out of compliance with Maine Department of Environmental Protection regulations.

And, according to a review of the damage by FEMA officials earlier this year, there was an increased risk of a washout at Davis Park.

“It’s not severe yet, but there’s no saying when more damage will occur,” Cole said Friday morning.

Cole sought to get the work done this summer, but selectmen opted to gamble on the weather, believing that the park and pipe problem could wait until this fall.

Subsequently, construction plans have been prepared and the work recently put out to bid. On Sept. 24, two bids were opened.

Swasey Excavation’s low bid of $293,247.50 was tentatively selected, Cole said, but it is subject to final town and federal authorization.