By Winslow Durgin,Special to the Sun Journal

MINOT – Members of the town’s Recreation Committee told selectmen Monday night that they’re out of money for now, but extremely pleased by what volunteers have accomplished in opening up a future recreation area near Minot Consolidated School.

They said the volunteers have parlayed $8,700 in cash into what they conservatively estimated to be $50,000 worth of work.

“Unless someone comes forth with money for fuel, we are done for the season,” said spokeswoman Candace Benwitz.

She noted that work continued beyond the big push of Sept. 10, when more than 50 volunteers pitched in.

“We had six pieces of machinery in there this weekend, if you include the dump truck,” Benwitz added.

The results, she said, far exceeded the original goal of putting in a 1,200-foot road to gain access to the interior of the property.

Not only did they build a 1,500-foot road to the center of a future parking area, but between 10 and 12 acres are now stump-free and leveled to within a foot of the final grades for playing fields.

Baseball, soccer fields

The target for next spring is to begin work on a regulation Babe Ruth League-sized ball field and a soccer field.

“I’d like to see a soccer field ready for the fall of 2006,” said Benwitz.

During the winter, the Recreation Committee and Town Administrator Rhonda Irish will try to secure grants to develop a system of walking trails on 70 acres where the future playing fields will be located, as well as on an adjacent 65 acres of town-owned land. The adjacent land includes the Town Office complex in the Minot memorial fields.

In other business, Road Manager Arlan Saunders told selectmen that this year’s price for road salt, cooperatively bid through AVCOG, is $45.13 per ton, up from last year’s $41.80 per ton.

Saunders pointed out that while Minot’s cost seems high, it could be worse. MDOT in Region 1, in Scarborough, will pay $45.77 per ton, and Region 3, in Dixfield, will pay $52.39 per ton.

“In the overall scope of things, AVCOG has done very well for the towns,” said Saunders.

According to Saunders, the increase can be offset by greater efficiency in applying the sand/salt mixture through the use of delivery-control devices on the trucks, and by preventing the loss of salt by protecting the salt/sand pile with the organic spray covering that was used last year.

Saunders said that on Monday, working in a cooperative effort with Hebron and Mechanic Falls, he had hauled, mixed and stockpiled about 800 cubic yards of winter sand. He added that they will be piling Mechanic Falls’ sand pile next week, and Hebron’s the next week.

Fire Chief Steve French reported, with regret, that the Fire Department had retired tank truck No. 4 due to the fact that maintenance costs were becoming more than could be justified. The tank, he said, was more than 50 years old.

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