RUMFORD — Town Manager John Madigan told the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday evening that the town will have to delay tearing down a building on Waldo Street because of asbestos discovered in one room.

“While the building was being assessed, it was discovered that somewhere in the house, there’s a 9- by 12-foot room with linoleum flooring filled with asbestos,” Madigan said. “I started looking into how much it would cost to have someone remove the flooring, and I was told it would be somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000.

“I thought that was way too high for just removing a section of flooring,” he said, “so I continued looking into other places. I called Acadia Contracts and was told they would charge $2,495. I was just surprised at how much it costs to remove flooring from a 9- by 12-foot room.”

Madigan said he found a company in Lewiston that would remove the flooring for $900.

Chairman Greg Buccina said that “in order to expedite this situation, we should see if the same people who remove the asbestos in the Waldo Street house can see if there is asbestos in other houses due to be torn down.”

Selectmen also heard an update from Roger Arsenault, president of the Black Mountain Board of Directors, on the status of Black Mountain of Maine heading into the 2014-15 ski season.

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“I would say that 2014 was a very good year overall,” Arsenault said. “It started off very bad with subzero temperatures, but over time, it became the longest season we ever had. We ended up staying open until the second week in April.”

Arsenault said Black Mountain’s ski tickets would increase from $15 to $25.

“It’s a very modest rate increase, but we didn’t want to stagnate our growth,” he said. “As for the fundraising, we’re not expecting the type of support that we had last year, but we’re still expecting a good turnout.”

Arsenault said Black Mountain will host a 5K road race on Aug. 3, a golf tournament in late September, an auction in November and an ongoing bottle drive.

“Last year, we made $28,000 from those four events alone,” he said. “We have a target goal of $60,000 for the upcoming season.”

Selectman Brad Adley asked Arsenault if there were any capital improvements that Black Mountain was hoping to complete during the 2014-15 season.

Arsenault said they were hoping to install air conditioners in the ski lodge for the summer months.

“The amount of events that we hold during the summer goes down drastically because of how hot it is in that building,” Arsenault said. “If we can get some air conditioning, maybe we can get more events.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com


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