SUMNER – A request to lower the speed limit on a section of Route 219 through Sumner has been denied.
At their Tuesday meeting, selectmen read a letter from Brian Keezer of the Maine Department of Transportation, which stated that the speed limit on a 4.7-mile stretch from the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School to the west end of Sumner Flats would remain at 45 mph.
Selectmen asked last April that the speed limit between the intersection with Gammon Road and the intersection with Barrows Road be lowered to 30 mph. Although this request was denied, DOT has approved a request to perform a study on the remaining sections of Route 219 “as soon as the weather allows,” Keezer’s letter said.
In other business, Road Commissioner James Keach reported that he spoke with Bob Spencer of DOT about icing problems on Route 219 near Pleasant Pond. Keach said that although drainage was improved and a catch basin was made last year, which “helped some,” there is still significant ice build-up on the road.
In Keach’s opinion, more drainage is needed to accommodate water coming down a hill on the east side of Pleasant Pond. Selectman Thomas Standard agreed that the area is dangerous, saying, “Somebody’s going to get killed down there on that curve where the ice builds up.”
Selectmen agreed on March 8 as the date for a special town meeting. Voters will be asked to approve the appropriation of $2,750 for tax software. Town Clerk Susan Runes said Selectman Mark Silber has been updating the town’s tax program each year since 1982. The software package she would like to purchase from John O’Donnell and Associates maintains tax billing and collecting information, produces tax bills, and valuation books, in addition to other functions.
Also at the special town meeting, selectmen will ask for an as-yet undecided amount for a new printer for the town office. In addition, $500 will be requested to cover repairs made to the town office’s furnace last week.
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