Board: Mechanic Falls Town Council

Met: Monday Night

School budget vote

Issue: New legislation says that within 10 days of the approval of the school budget by the local legislative body, the public must approve that budget in a referendum vote.

The scoop: The council set the public referendum vote on the Mechanic Falls school budget for Wednesday, May 21, with polls open at the Municipal Office Building from 3 to 7 p.m. Absentee ballots will be available following voter action at the Saturday, May 17, town meeting.

Five corners

Issue: The Maine Department of Transportation, local government officials and citizens agree that the five corners intersection, where Winterbrook Road joins the intersection of routes 11 and 26, is dangerous but hold varying opinions on how to make it safer.

The scoop: Town Manager John Hawley reported that the April 15 meeting between staff and interested parties from Poland, Mechanic Falls and DOT officials to discuss the reconfiguration of the intersection went well but that the DOT believes a traffic light would cause more traffic problems than it solves, while petition signers, more than 500 from both towns, believe otherwise.

Up next: There will be some immediate traffic sign changes but it will be two years before any major reconfigurations are undertaken.

Brown Road

Issue: Mechanic Falls plans to reconstruct Brown Road from Milton Lane to the Poland town line this summer in conjunction with Poland’s rebuilding its section from the town line out to Route 26. The cost estimate to do Mechanic Falls’ 1,200-foot section has risen to $50,000, higher than the $30,000 budgeted.

The scoop: Tests show the road base to be mostly clay that must be removed and replaced by gravel for proper drainage and long life.

Up next: The council agreed that the project should go forward and, after approving signing a contract with R.C. & Sons Paving to do the 1,200 feet for about $23,000, authorized Hawley to commit the town crew to doing the subbase reconstruction and to use money earmarked for sidewalk improvements to make up the shortfall. Funding for the project is pending a vote of the May 17 town meeting.

Winter damage

Issue: The town has received an unusually high number of reports from residents claiming that town crews damaged their property during snow removal.

The scoop: Hawley noted that in an ordinary winter, when plows might chew up a bit of lawn or take down a mailbox here or there, the town might help out, but that this year, with the remarkable number of storms and amount of snow that had to be dealt with, damage was widespread and too expensive for the town to help with. He also noted that the town is normally not legally responsible for damage occurring in road rights of way.

Up next: An announcement will be sent with this year’s town report reminding people of the guidelines for rights of way.

– Win Durgin