MEXICO – Town Manager John Madigan was all smiles Thursday afternoon, but weary from Wednesday night’s nearly five-hour selectmen’s meeting.

Two lengthy public hearings on a contested road issue and the renewal of a local bar’s liquor license, turned what normally is a one- to two-hour meeting into a marathon session.

Selectmen entered into a scheduled executive session to discuss renewing Madigan’s contract about 10:30 p.m. and came out to give him another year with a salary of $54,900, Madigan said.

It represents a slight cost-of-living increase over the previous contract, he added. All municipal employees got the increase.

In a nonbinding survey at the June 12 municipal budget referendum and elections, a majority of residents said they were upset with road conditions in town.

“People really want the roads fixed,” board Chairwoman Barbara Laramee said Wednesday night. “They want us to increase the budget to get the roads fixed. A majority of the comments said our roads are horrendous.”

Budget Committee Chairman Byron Ouellette asked Laramee and Madigan how much the town budgeted for roads this year.

Madigan said $30,000 plus another $29,000 in state money.

“That’s ridiculous! That’s why our roads are the way they are. We should be putting in $100,000 to $150,000 (each year). That’s good money spent in the right place,” Ouellette said.

Selectmen and the Budget Committee have kept a tight rein on municipal spending for the past few years.

“If the mill rate goes up because of this, these people (who responded to the survey) aren’t going to be upset,” Laramee said about the future possibility of boosting the amount the town raises for road work.

Earlier, Road Commissioner David Errington presented the board with a list of crack-seal projects he wants to complete this summer, road maintenance projects that were initially estimated at $37,500.

However, he pared two roads out – Gleason and Brown – and lowered the cost to $20,629. Gleason, Errington said, was beyond this type of repair, and Brown needs its sidewalk reconstructed.

Roads that will get their cracks sealed, are, Munroe, Howard, Reed, Sanders, Carver, Burton and Grove.