MINOT — Winter can come to town any time now for, as highway Foreman Scott Parker reported to selectmen, the town’s sand pile is up.

“We about paid for the stacker with what we saved by not having to rent a dozer to pile the sand,” Town Administrator Arlan Saunders said.

The stacker, Saunders said, performed flawlessly.

“It makes a neat pile — which makes it easier to cover — and it allows the salt to be mixed in better than you can with a dozer,” he said.

Saunders estimated the town has about $3,000 invested in the stacker; $500 to the Maine Department of Transportation for its piece of surplus property, $1,500 to retrieve it from Baileyville and another $1,000 for the road crew’s time spent rebuilding it during spare hours. 

It cost about $3,000 to rent a bulldozer for the week and a half it takes to put up the 5,000 cubic yard pile but, Saunders said, the town owns an 87-foot, diesel-powered, hydraulic-driven stacker that’s probably worth $1,500 and which should be available for putting up sand the next several years.

“Before we left for Baileyville two years ago, I was afraid we could come back with a pile of junk, but it appears we did all right,” Saunders said. 

He also reported at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that R.C. & Sons last week paved Fortin Drive, at developer Don Fortin’s expense, and using the last of the town’s 2009 summer paving money, paved about 1,300 feet of Jackass Annie Road.

“They did an exceptional job on Fortin Drive and all we could ask of them on Jackass Annie Road,” Saunders said.

He said the tar on the hill on Jackass Annie Road was breaking up badly because that section of the road lacks a proper base. The old dirt road was simply graded and a layer of pavement applied. 

“At this time, the town can’t afford to redo Jackass Annie Road, but we had to do something so we could plow this year,” Saunder said.

Following a brief public hearing, selectmen approved amendments to the town’s General Assistance policy, bringing it in line with new state guidelines. 

In other business, selectmen approved a request from the local Cub Scout pack to use the Town Office downstairs meeting room Monday evenings during the winter and directed Saunders to prepare a letter of understanding that outlines conditions for use of the room.

Selectmen also approved Elaine Treemaine’s request for an abatement in the amount of $119.59. Treemaine took down an old barn last January, an event which town records failed to note.