BETHEL — On Thursday and Friday, the town’s wastewater treatment plant crew will demonstrate a new process for de-watering sludge. The public is welcome to check it out.

The process could result in substantial cost-saving for ratepayers, Town Manager Jim Doar said.

The Rumford and Mexico plants have a good process, Doar said Wednesday.
“They use a press that turns sludge, a byproduct of treated wastewater, into a cakey substance,”

The Bethel plant plans to try to mix the de-watered layers with wood compost, which it could then sell to substantially cover operating costs, Doar said.

“Right now, we pay 4 cents a gallon to have it hauled to a sludge site, but we’re running out of room to put it,” he said. “Hopefully, this demo works out well and this product works and we can do that.”

The crew was busy setting up the equipment on Wednesday.

In other Bethel news:

• Selectmen at Monday night’s board meeting unanimously OK’d a low bid of $337,025 from Bruce A. Manzer Paving Inc. for hot-top resurfacing on 3 to 3½ miles of town roads.

Doar said Bailey and Intervale roads have the longest stretches that will be paved. Other roads getting section work include Paradise, North and Flat roads; Park and Mechanic streets, and Riverside Lane.

The work is part of Bethel’s 2009 Capital Improvement Plan. Other bidders were Pine Tree Paving at $359,872 and Pike Industries at $349,763, Doar said.

• Selectmen unanimously agreed to pre-buy heating oil for the upcoming winter at $2.358 from Brooks Brothers of Bethel. Doar said the town budgeted $1.98 per gallon for 7,900 gallons in this fiscal year.

 
• The board scheduled a special town meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, to handle two matters.

The first entails seeking town authorization to approve a cooperative agreement between the Maine Department of Transportation, Bethel, The LifeFlight Foundation and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Doar said LifeFlight, a medical helicopter service, recently installed an automated weather observation system at the Bethel Regional Airport and wanted to get paid for the work.

“The town was asked to sign this agreement, which transferred $65,500 in ‘designated entitlement’ funds to DOT, obligated us to abide by grant terms detailed in a grant written by DOT and submitted to the FAA, and transferred ownership of the AWOS to the town,” Doar said.

He said LifeFlight did the same thing at five other sponsor airports around the state and those town officials signed the agreement. Not so for Bethel.

Doar said town attorney Geoffrey Hole read the contract and thought the matter should go before voters.

The DOT agreed to submit a grant to the FAA to cover the cost of the weather system and to enter into a contract with LifeFlight to pay it directly for AWOS fees, Doar said. LifeFlight, in turn, agreed to maintain the system for the life of the unit.

The second special town meeting matter seeks voter approval of a Maine Department of Environmental Protection-required deed restriction for a buffer between the Androscoggin River and the new skateboard park being built in Davis Park.

According to that contract, the restricted buffer area must remain undeveloped in perpetuity. There are also strict rules for any removal of trees or other vegetation within the zone. Additionally, recreation and construction vehicles are not allowed in the buffer.

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