WILTON — The Board of Selectmen unanimously awarded the contract to clean up the Wilton Tannery property to a Farmington company.

The lowest of the five bids received was $196,367 from E.L. Vining & Son of Farmington, Jaime Madore, Ransom Environmental’s lead engineer for the project, told the board Tuesday. The highest was $520,000, she said.

“We’re pleased it’s a local contractor,” Nicholas Sabatine, geologist with Ransom Environmental of Portland, said. “It’s a good match.” 

A preconstruction meeting is set for June 24 and E.L. Vining & Son expects to start work by mid-July, Madore said. Completion is expected around the end of August.

The work includes cleanup of an estimated 60,000-square-foot tannery landfill on the southeast section of the 15-acre property. 

The town received a $200,000 federal Environmental Protection Agency grant in 2012 and a total of $187,000 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development to clean up the site for future economic development.  

The 12 contractors who toured the site to review the work prior to bid submissions were asked to estimate costs for partial and full demolition of the building, although the work was not included within the grant, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.

Demolition costs would be up to the town, because the work is not part of the EPA project that is funding the waste dump cleanup, Sabatine previously said.

Four firms responded on a full demolition. The lowest was $89,700 and the highest was $320,000, she said.

For a partial demolition of a portion of the building, two firms submitted bids of $38,000 and $55,800. The board took no action on them but wanted the information for future reference.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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