CARRABASSETT VALLEY — A special town meeting is set for 6 p.m. Monday for voters to consider financing a recreational bridge, a new snowmobile trail groomer and additional funds for a firetruck rebuild.

The meeting will be held at the Carrabassett Valley Library Building.

The town will vote whether to authorize selectmen to spend $13,000 from the Recreational Endowment Fund to match grant funding for a recreational bridge over the Carrabassett River, located on town airport property, Town Manager Dave Cota said.

The town has already invested $6,000 along with $6,000 from the J.V. Wing Snowmobile Club, for state permitting, civil engineering and surveying, he said. The additional $13,000 requested and the previous $12,000 make up a matching amount of $25,000 needed for $100,000 in grant funding. The anticipated project cost is $125,000.

There will be no project, at this time, unless the grant is received, he said.

The project includes building a trail head off Route 27  to meet multiuse trails. This coincides with the existing snowmobile trail and ties into an ATV trail, the Maine Huts and Trails network and the Narrow Gauge Pathway, a five-mile nonmotorized trail along the river used by walkers, bikers and cross-country skiers.

“There’s a lot of community support for the project,” he said.

Another article asks voters to authorize selectmen to purchase a new snowmobile trail groomer, spend $40,000 from the town’s undesignated surplus funds, accept donations and grant funding for it and enter into a lease agreement with the J.V. Wing Snowmobile Club.

With about 65 miles of snowmobile trails to groom, the club was not able to find a good used groomer and found the newer models are much more efficient on fuel, club President Bill Munzer explained.

For the groomer, costing $150,000, the J.V. Wing Snowmobile Club anticipates matching the town’s $40,000 with a $5,000 donation and $35,000 from the sale of their present groomer. They also anticipate taking a bank loan of $32,500 and receiving a $37,500 grant from the state.

The club brings new people and business to the area by having nicely groomed trails, Munzer said.

Selectmen propose entering into a lease/maintenance agreement with the club until the machine is paid for and then it will be turned over to the club, he said.

Work completed on a rebuild of the town’s Multi-One firetruck exceeded expected costs, Cota said. The town is asked to spend $5,600 from the Fire Department Reserve Account to pay the additional costs. Another 10 years of use from the truck rebuild is expected, he said.

The town will also consider transferring funds, about $8,000 this year, received from Sugarloaf Mountain Corp. for lease of the Outdoor Center, to a capital maintenance account for the center and authorize selectmen to use it, as needed, for projects such as major plumbing or heating repairs, window replacement or exterior painting.

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