MINOT — The Indian Brook project is very much alive, Town Administrator Arlan Saunders says.

Saunders reported to selectmen Monday that he had heard recently from Maine Emergency Management Agency officials that funding for the culvert, proposed as a solution to Indian Brook’s chronic flooding of the low point on Shaw Hill Road, is on the docket for final approval.

“The money is there; it is just a matter of time for (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) in Boston to make the awards,” Saunders said.

The project, estimated to cost about $53,000, would replace a couple of small culverts with a single, 50-foot-long, 6- by 8-foot box culvert that’s open on the bottom to allow natural flow of the stream.

The cost to the town, Saunders said, would be to supply in-kind labor and equipment on the project that is expected to prevent Shaw Hill Road from becoming impassable during periods of heavy runoff.

“Due to the lateness in the season, I don’t expect any work to be done until spring,” Saunders said.

In other business:

* Selectmen gave Saunders permission to put one of the town’s sanders up for bid, agreeing to consider offers above a minimum bid of $4,500. The sander is no longer needed now that the town has purchased a new dump truck.

Saunders said he and Road Crew Chief Scott Parker had traveled to Berwick to inspect the new truck and had given the OK for it to be painted. Delivery, Saunders said, is expected in about two weeks.

* Selectmen agreed to contract with Dennis Durgin for a topographical survey of the Central Fire Station. The survey is needed by Smith Reuter Lull Architects of Lewiston as it prepares plans for the proposed addition to the station.

* Saunders reported that he had received a copy of the “Objection to Motion to Dismiss” filed by Chuck Starbird’s attorney, Scott Lynch, with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

The town had previously filed to have Starbird’s suit, which seeks to overturn a Superior Court ruling that Starbird’s original suit should go back to Minot’s Board of Appeals, dismissed from the Supreme Court. All of which is but the latest maneuvering in a case that began in June 2010 when the town’s code enforcement officer turned down Starbird’s application to build a house on his property that is situated on an unaccepted portion of York Road.