PARIS — The Board of Selectmen appointed a committee to advise the town on how to proceed on repairing crumbling roads. However, there was some disagreement as to the Ad-Hoc Road Committee’s job.

Appointed to the committee were James Hakala, Robert C. Jewell II, Joan Moorehead, Bruce Sargent and Calvin Woodworth. The committee can have as many as seven members, but only five applied for membership.

Selectman Ted Kurtz questioned whether the committee would make budgetary recommendations, such as how much the town should spend yearly on roads, or stick to engineering discussions. He said the current charge to the committee wasn’t specific on its budgetary role.

“This charge says to the road committee, ‘Well, go ahead, consider the finances of it,’” Kurtz said.

If the committee will touch on budgetary issues, Kurtz said, they should meet with the Budget Committee as well. Budget Committee Chairman Vic Hodgkins has said at meetings that Paris taxpayers can’t afford major spending on roads.

Chairman Robert Kirchherr said the committee’s work would be an open-ended project on what the town needs to do in creating a maintenance program for the town.

“I see what’s coming out of this group is a project to bring the roads back up to some semblance of good roads, but also to develop a plan within the town that’s going to address the ongoing maintenance issues that have to be addressed,” Kirchherr said.

He said the board would work from a plan by Town Manager Phil Tarr and Road Foreman Daniel Nowell, which includes budgetary recommendations. Tarr said he expected he and the committee could be ready by March to bring a plan to selectmen.

The Board of Selectmen will hold its next full meeting Jan. 9. There will be a special meeting Wednesday to discuss a labor issue in executive session.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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