POLAND – George Sanborn updated selectmen and the public this week about the state audit of town books.

The audit was forced by a petition circulated by Sanborn and Glenn Peterson and signed by more than 500 Poland residents.

State Auditor Neria Douglass of Auburn has decided to hire an outside firm to perform the audit. Most recently, the state auditor put out a request for proposal and held a pre-bidder’s informational meeting.

Firms have until Nov. 16 to submit their bids, after which a three-member panel will go over the proposals and choose a firm by Nov. 28.

Both Sanborn and Peterson attended the pre-bidder’s conference to help bring the potential bidders up to speed on Poland’s situation. Sanborn said that during the conference, at least one bidder spoke of some “major red flags” that needed to be looked into.

After a firm is chosen, work is expected to begin on the audit by mid-December.

Also at this week’s selectmen’s meeting, the board addressed the issue of the town hall’s handicap ramp. Previously, the building of a handicap ramp had been contracted out to DCS Construction, Inc. The work, as described by many town officials and residents, was shoddy and incomplete. Much of it was not up to code, and the ramp was actually left unfinished.

The town has since had an architectural firm look at the structure and evaluate it. The firm, Grant Hays Associates, concluded that none of the structure could be salvaged for its intended purpose, and recommended rebuilding the entire ramp. They estimated this would cost between $120,000 and $145,000.

Poland’s attorney has assured the board that it can legally go forward with trying to rebuild the ramp now, since it gave DCS Construction a reasonable amount of time and notice to fix it.

The board also expressed that it would like to look into suing DCS Construction for damages, but held off on a decision until the town attorney can supply them with an estimated cost of pursuing such a lawsuit.

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