MINOT — A solution to the flooding problem at Shaw Hill Road’s Indian Brook crossing could be close at hand, Town Administrator Arlan Saunders told selectmen Monday.

Saunders reported that he and Scott Parker, supervisor of the Highway Department, had met with JoAnne Mooney from the Maine Emergency Management Agency and a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier in the day to examine the site firsthand.

“It looks very promising that we will receive a letter of grant approval by the end of December,” Saunders said.

The existing culvert has proved inadequate to handle spring runoff, and periods of heavy rain at other times of the year have also produced flows that caused Indian Brook to flood Shaw Hill Road.

“That’s one of the highest impact areas in town, the road going to the school,” Selectman Dan Callahan said.

The flooding has not only been a nuisance for local traffic, but has proven costly when portions of the road were washed out.

Saunders said it appeared all parties agreed that it would make more sense to spend money once to install a culvert that can adequately accommodate expected flows rather than to repeatedly fix what they know will be undone the next time the waters rise.

The town is seeking a $53,000 grant from FEMA’s hazard mitigation funds, with town labor used as the local match, to replace two small culverts with a single, 50-foot-long, 6- by 8-foot box culvert that’s open on the bottom to allow natural stream flow.

“If we get the money, it’s something we’ll jump on next summer,” Saunders said.

August would be most likely time to undertake the project, according to Saunders, a time when it is apt to be relatively dry and there is no school.

“But for right now, it has to be approved in Boston,” he said.

In other business, selectmen authorized Saunders to sell two of the town’s 11-foot, one-way dust pan plows, and a 7-and-a-half-foot minute mount plow that had been bought to use on a skid steer to plow at the school.

Saunders estimated their total value at about $3,000 — money that probably would be set aside toward a new door for the town garage.

Selectmen also approved a property tax abatement in the amount of $858.66 for a property on Highland Drive that had been accessed for work that had not yet been completed.

Saunders also reported that the search to replace retiring Town Treasurer Connie Taker has narrowed to three candidates, all of whom present good credentials. Twenty-eight resumes were received.

Copy the Story Link