JAY — Jay selectpersons voted unanimously Monday to put the town-owned 2.05 acres and large barn on Route 133 and Hyde Road out to bid.

They set the minimum bid at $40,000, dedicating up to $5,800 of that amount to advertising and legal expenses associated with the sale and for work performed by the highway crew, including removing an entrance to the property from Route 133 and putting in culverts.

The town plans to put in an entrance to the property from Hyde Road at the farthest part of the property from the intersection.

The bids are due back by 4 p.m. on Sept. 22. The winning bidder will have until Oct. 31 to close on the property.

A previous motion by Vice Chairman Justin Merrill to set the minimum bid at $35,000 died for lack of a second.

The town previously spent $51,279.57 on the property, including its purchase and in-kind work to demolish the house, remove debris and so forth.

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The remaining $148,720.43 taxpayers raised in 2012-13 was paid to the Maine Department of Transportation for a joint project to improve the line-of-sight at the intersection.

The town’s assessing agent gave the property a new value of $40,430. The land is valued at $20,050, and the barn is valued at $20,380.

In other business, selectpersons voted unanimously to adopt an amendment to the joint sewer agreement between Jay and Livermore Falls, regarding the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The vote is contingent on the Livermore Falls sewer trustees adopting the amendment at a Sept. 16 meeting.

Two Livermore Falls sewer trustees, the selectmen, two Jay selectpersons, both town managers and both sewer department superintendents have worked on a new cost-sharing formula for several months. The committee continues to work on a new agreement.

The amendment to the 1997 agreement for treatment of wastewater proposes that 98 percent of the Livermore Falls Sewer Department superintendent’s payroll and benefits will be attributed to the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant. Jay will pay the appropriate percentage of these costs as outlined in the agreement. This year, Jay’s share is 52.3 percent, and Livermore Falls’ share is 47.7 percent.

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The proposal also calls for 82 percent of the two Livermore Falls plant operators’ payroll and benefits to be attributed to the plant, the costs to be shared the same way as the superintendent’s payroll and benefits.

Five percent of the Livermore Falls sewer clerk’s payroll and benefits and 1.25 percent of the Livermore Falls treasurer’s payroll and benefits would also be attributed to the plant. The costs will be shared the same way.

Jay would also pay a flat fee of $125 per month to Livermore Falls for Town Office administrative costs, such as heat, electrical power, telephone, copier, computer, office supplies and related items.

The town managers, two sewer department superintendents and the Livermore Falls sewer clerk would also meet once a year to determine if the five cost-sharing allocations are an accurate representation of the actual costs that are to be shared.

Jay Superintendent Mark Holt told the Jay board that it has been a very good process, and there have been good negotiations in developing the amendment and working on a new agreement. Once the latter is finished, it will go before the towns’ boards again.

“It was all give and take,” Holt said of the process. “Things are going very well.”

dperry@sunjournal.com 


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