Board: Minot Selectmen

Met: Monday night

Dispatch services

The scoop: Selectman Steve French reported that the county Public Safety Answering Point committee is trying to come up with a formula for sharing the costs of emergency dispatch services equitably between Lewiston and Auburn and the 12 county towns. The original proposed cost sharing plan, which would have increased annual costs for small towns five-fold or more while reducing costs to Lewiston and Auburn by about $800,000, met with strong opposition from the small towns. French advised that Minot’s cost could still double. Selectmen said a plan calling for small towns to pay more while Lewiston-Auburn pays less was not fair.

Up next: Negotiations on consolidating the county’s Emergency Dispatch Service will continue.

Town clerk

The scoop: Selectmen appointed Angeliec Goulding as town clerk, tax collector and deputy treasurer for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Sand pile

Issue: Winter sand piles should be protected from the elements.

The scoop: Road Manager Arlan Saunders said he won’t be applying sealant to the town’s winter road sand pile this year after sealants applied in three of the past four years failed to live up to expectation. Last year’s acrylic latex proved no better than the tree sap byproduct used previously, so Saunders will probably use silage tarps and ropes, similar to what was used last year after the sealant failed.

Sand mover

The scoop: Last week, an 85-foot MDOT surplus stacker/conveyer, which will be used to pile the town’s winter sand was transported from Baileyville to Minot for less than $2,000 – purchase and transport – less than the cost to rent one for a week. While the stacker is in decent shape, the highway crew will spend time this winter prepping it for use next fall.

Up next: A bulldozer will put up the pile of winter sand in October.

Spill prevention

Issue: State and federal law require the town to be prepared to handle spills at the town’s fuel depot.

The scoop: Road Manager Arlan Saunders is setting up a workshop on the town’s spill prevention control and counter-measure plan for highway workers, bus drivers and firemen from Minot and possibly Hebron.

– Winslow Durgin