RANGELEY – On the agenda for the Rangeley selectmen tonight will be a discussion about discontinuing maintenance of Taylor Road. Selectmen had discussed the matter at a previous meeting but may come to a decision today.

Taylor Road runs from Loon Lake Road to its terminus at the Van Hoosier property currently being leased by the Rangeley Lakes Cross-Country Ski Club. Also on the road is the Rangeley Mining Co., a garnet-mining operation, and the Rangeley Airport.

According Town Manager Perry Ellsworth, the section of road just beyond the airport access road is in question. The end of the road beyond the entrance to the Van Hoosier property has already been discontinued and the remainder is no more than 2,000 feet, Ellsworth said. He estimated it to be more like 1,300 feet.

An expansion plan for the airport will also be discussed. A plan to construct a storage building for plows, some bathrooms and a pilot sign-in lounge must be finalized by mid-January to apply for a grant for terminal improvements. A 95 percent federal matching grant can gain the airport $400,000, with the state matching 2.5 percent and the town the remainder. For the cost of $10,000, the airport may be able to accrue $390,000, Ellsworth said.

Selectmen will also need to decide how to address the denial of the Franklin County commissioners to fund their budget request for town services to nearby unorganized territories. Most pressing of the services at issue is the ambulance. Controversy over the ambulance budget for the unorganized territories stemmed from questions on the hospital’s billing and service contracts. The town of Rangeley owns the ambulances that serve the townships of Davis, Langtown, Redington, Seven Ponds, Stetson, D and E though Franklin Memorial Hospital handles the service’s billing. Ellsworth told commissioners at a meeting in November that the budget including requested funding for parks and recreation and cemeteries was an all-or-nothing deal.

Other items on the agenda include a report on the status of a lawsuit against the town by a developer who sued because the Planning Board denied a proposed subdivision; a discussion about applying for a Community Development Block Grant for a water pumping station and the status of a related Oquossoc water district grant; an airport manager update and a community gateways grant to “dress up entrance areas” to the town with gazebos and signs.

Selectmen are also expected to sign a contract with Verizon and Central Maine Power allowing them to hang decorations on utility poles. Ellsworth said he currently has a temporary tentative agreement with the utilities.