JAY — Selectmen agreed Monday to revisit a request from residents to install signs asking truckers to limit use of engine brakes.

Previous boards of selectmen have denied requests for the signs because the state Department of Transportation has said the brakes are a safety function of a truck and the signs are unenforceable, Town Manager Ruth Marden said.

Select board Chairman Steve McCourt, resident truck owner and operator, Justin Merrill, and a DOT letter read by Richard Rowe of Route 133 in Bean’s Corner, all said that engine brakes would not make the loud noise residents complained about if they were working properly. Instead the noise would come from an illegally altered exhaust system.

Rowe requested that signs be made up with the wording “Please limit use of engine brakes. Thank you.”

Rowe and resident Don Macomber of Route 156, near the Route 133 intersection, said they are tired of hearing the loud noises especially in the early morning hours.

Rowe said a DOT representative told him that the town could be asked to consider installing the advisory signs.

Not all truckers are disrespectful of the residents, Macomber said.

Resident Al Landry, who lives at the other end of Route 133, said if the town puts up signs at that end, it should put them up at his end.

“I’ve got the same problem all night long,” Landry said.

“It’s gotten to the point it is unreal,” Rowe said. “I think a sign is needed to let them know that we are serious and we need some consideration and respect.”

Both McCourt and Selectman Steve Barker said they thought it was time to do something about the situation.

Merrill suggested that if the town is going to install the signs, it should be placed at all major entrances.

Marden will get an estimate of cost for the signs and bring it back to the board in a month.

In other business, Selectman Tom Goding said a resident businessman, who owns an apartment building, called him to voice his concern over having to pay a tipping fee for demolition debris for that building.

But if the demolition debris was from a residence, Goding said, the owner would not have to pay to dispose of it.

Transfer station and recycling center coordinator Bob Sanders said rental businesses such as apartment buildings are treated the same as businesses and have to pay to dispose of demolition debris. The cost is 5 cents a pound, he said.

He inherited the price schedule with the job, Sanders said.

Sanders’ interpretation of the town’s ordinance is an owner-occupied rental building would not have to pay for demolition debris even if a contractor did the work.

Sanders said he thought everyone knew about the fees, which he said are on the town’s Web site. The businessman in question, Sanders said, was very unhappy when he was given the bill for disposal of about 1,000 pounds of debris.

All Jay citizens have to pay for disposal of refrigerators, tires, large pieces of furniture and any items that contain Freon, he said. They don’t have to pay to dispose of trash.

“Basically Jay residents pay for very little. Jay businesses pay for a little more, not much,” Sanders said.

Contractors bringing demolition debris from other towns and residents of other towns have to pay to dispose of it, he said.
Sanders said he looked to selectmen for guidance.

Demolition debris is currently revenue that lowers the tax rate, Marden said, and the town has to pay to dispose of it.

Marden will bring back more information to the board on the issue.

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