ROXBURY — Town officials met Friday morning with a Maine Municipal Association representative for guidance on replacing a bridge deck, building a sand and salt shed, repairing a support wall and installing three dry hydrants.
The workshop on engineering those projects was attended by Selectmen Timothy Derouche and Rodney “Bing” Cross, and Renee Hodsdon, deputy town clerk, tax collector and treasurer .
Judy Doore of MMA’s Risk Management Services suggested they send out requests for proposals to engineers within so many miles of Roxbury. He said Hodsdon could pull the requests for proposals templates off the MMA website and change them to fit Roxbury’s needs. Before sending them to engineers for estimates, he suggested they have an attorney review them to ensure they contain the right language to protect the town.
The projects are:
* No. 1 — A full inspection of the only bridge the town maintains and guidance on how to pursue decking replacement with Maine Department of Transportation specifications. It is approximately 3,500 feet from the intersection of Route 120 and Main Street.
* No. 2 — The design and all necessary permitting for a new sand and salt storage shed for 450 tons of salt and 3,000 cubic yards of sand. Derouche said the town shed “does not handle our needs, causing salt to be on the edge of being stored improperly.”
* No. 3 — A support wall in disrepair along Main Street and Ellis Pond. Derouche said the town wants to remove the wall and install a new one between the road and the Ellis Pond shoreline. He said the spot is a popular swimming area for visitors and Roxbury residents.
* No. 4 — Installation of three dry hydrants to assist the Fire Department. “We may have a handle on this one, but any direction would be appreciated,” Derouche said.
* No. 5 — Creating a town website. Officials asked the MMA if it has any request for proposals templates to assist in the search for an estimate from a website designer.
Doore gave them handouts from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection on the support wall project and provided contacts.
For the dry hydrants, she also provided information and told Hodsdon how to access additional information from the MMA website.
Derouche said they got estimates from an engineer for three sites, but the person never visited the sites before providing the estimates.
“It was a very high cost for what seems like a low-cost project,” he said.
“You definitely need an RFP for comparisons for that,” Doore said.
As for the website, Doore advised against sending out requests for proposals after Derouche said they’d probably do one for that, too.
“An RFP for a website is very difficult because you don’t know what you need and there are so many options out there,” she said.
Doore provided advice on how to choose a website developer. “Once you choose one, people will love (the website for what it can offer), so be prepared for growth,” she said.
She also told them to decide whether they want the developer to maintain and update the site or have a town official do it. Hodsdon said she could do it if it wasn’t daily.
Three meetings are set for Tuesday, March 24, at the Town Office: 10 a.m. cell tower workshop with Jim Miclon of the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris; 4:30 p.m. engineering projects workshop; 6 p.m. selectmen meeting.
The Planning Board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9.
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