ROXBURY — Concerns about an increasing number of drivers observed speeding on the newly-paved road at Roxbury Pond Village and fireworks use prompted selectmen to seek help from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.

Roxbury doesn’t have a fireworks ordinance; it relies on the state guidelines.

Chairman John Sutton said at Tuesday night’s board meeting that they were considering hiring a constable but were told that would be too expensive. Sheriff Wayne Gallant told the board at a previous meeting that a constable would cost $60 an hour or $30,000 for the summer.

Currently, Roxbury is covered by deputies and the Maine State Police, Selectman Timothy Derouche said. However, it usually takes deputies and troopers an hour to reach Roxbury from wherever they happen to be, so selectmen wanted to know the costs involved with multi-hour details for certain weeks.

In mid-August, the board asked Gallant for a proposal. He provided them one in which all details were four hours long.

The cost for four details a week would be $7,680 for eight weeks, $8,640 for nine weeks and $9,600 for 10 weeks.

For five details a week, the cost would be $9,600 for eight weeks, $10,800 for nine weeks and $12,000 for 10 weeks.

For six details a week, the cost would be $11,520 for eight weeks, $12,960 for nine weeks and $14,400 for 10 weeks.

Sutton and Derouche said Tuesday night that when the board gets into its budgetary process in January, they will contact Gallant again to find the best fit. In the meantime, they sought an increased presence by deputies this month.

“Now, did the increased presence over Labor Day make any difference?” Sutton asked Derouche.

“The people who noticed it were there,” Derouche said. “I had a lot of them come up and say, ‘The sheriff’s here, how come?'”

“It seemed to be pretty quiet Labor Day weekend, John,” resident Jean Shaw said.

“I’d expect more on the Fourth of July,” Sutton said.

“Except for the fireworks, which I found evidence of on my front lawn,” Shaw said.

“Well, like Wayne said, call them,” Sutton said.

Shaw said she didn’t find the fireworks debris on her lawn until after the fact.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a three-year winter roads plowing bid of $299,439 from Pat Gorham. Roxbury has 13.6 miles of roads.

Derouche said now is the time to go out for sand bids, too. Selectmen agreed to seek bids for 1,000 yards of sand for the coming winter instead of 500 yards now and 500 yards midway through the season.

Derouche also told the board and Code Enforcement Officer Robert Folsom Sr. that he has several pictures on his laptop computer of people with camps at Roxbury Pond that are doing construction work within the shoreland zone and not erecting silt fences.

He asked Sutton and Folsom if the Roxbury Planning Board has been giving out permits without stipulating that people need to erect silt fences, especially in light of findings of the Roxbury Pond Watershed Survey work in May.

“It’s very frustrating,” Sutton said. “We spent a lot of efforts on that watershed survey. It’s very frustrating to do the survey and then have owners of these properties doing this.”

Folsom said it’s up to towns with Shoreland Zoning ordinances to enforce them, and if they don’t, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection can take the offending town to task for it. He said there are also stipulations with the Natural Resources Act.

Additionally, Folsom said Maine has a new law that anyone working in a Shoreland Zone has to be certified and could be required to have a permit by rule.

Sutton asked Derouche to share the photographs and locations with Folsom, who can check the sites to see if people are doing the work illegally or not.

“With Shoreland Zone ordinances, you should have silt fences if you’re building within 10 feet of the water,” Derouche said.

Sutton then read from a law book that states that any work within 500 feet of Roxbury Pond needs a permit by rule from the DEP.

Derouche also gave an update on summer and capital road work remaining and said the budget for the work has a balance of $74,103.70.

“So we’re still looking good to (reconstruct and pave) the Town Hall parking lot,” he said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com