PARIS — Selectmen voted Wednesday evening to call off a planned Nov. 14 town meeting on road spending when several members of the board asked for a more detailed plan on what repairs would be done of what roads.
The meeting started with a scaled-back request from the $1 million to $4 million figures discussed at previous meetings. Town Manager Phil Tarr cited concerns he’d received that the town was moving too quickly toward a road repair bond.
Tarr suggested the town take out a $250,000 bond at the Nov. 14 meeting so that before the June 2012 town meeting, the Highway Department could take advantage of the warm weather and complete ditching and culvert work in preparation for pavement repairs.
The bond would have paid for materials to ditch the roads and for three temporary employees to help complete the work.
Board Chairman Ted Kurtz was in support of Tarr’s recommendation. He said ditching would bring down the water table on the roads, reducing the damage by frost heaves.
“It’s money well-invested,” Tarr said.
Kurtz gave a statement on the severity of the condition of Paris roads. He said that if the town spent $500,000 a year on road repairs, it would take until 2022 to repair the 19 worst roads.
“Every year we wait and do nothing out there on the roads, the problem’s going to get worse. It’s going to get more expensive,” he said.
Other selectmen didn’t agree. Ryan Lorrain said he wanted more information on how the $250,000 bond would fit into future road plans.
Selectman Jean Smart said she couldn’t support the bond. “I’m reluctant to bring a half-baked plan again to the public,” she said.
Selectman Robert Kirchherr called for a schedule of when and which roads would be repaired. “It seems to me maintaining the roads hasn’t been addressed completely yet,” he said. He also expressed concerns on how the town would pay for repairs.
Selectman Kenneth West asked Highway Foreman Daniel Nowell if approving a bond before next year’s town meeting would make a difference if the construction season probably wouldn’t start until May.
Nowell said the earlier ditching work started, the better off the town would be when it came time to pave.
The Budget Committee had unanimously agreed to reject a $4 million, 10-year loan proposal presented at the Oct. 24 meeting. According to the minutes, committee members were concerned at the amount of interest the town would pay, and the difficulty some residents were having paying taxes now.
After a motion by Smart, the board voted unanimously not to hold a special town meeting on Nov. 14 and to wait for Tarr to develop a well thought out plan.
treaves@sunjournal.com
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- The Paris Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday to cancel a special town meeting planned for Nov. 14 because it wants a more specific plan on roads before presenting it to voters. From left are Ryan Lorrain, Kenneth West, Robert Kirchherr, Chairman Ted Kurtz, and Jean Smart.
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