PARIS — Last week selectmen authorized Town Manager Amy Bernard to go out to bid on the first portion of work for the town’s new two-year rotating road plan.

At the Paris Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, April 13, Bernard gave a summary of the plan, which will readdress the needs of the town’s roads every 18 to 24 months. She’s been working on revamping the plan with Highway Director Jamie Hutchinson and Road Committee member Bruce Sargent to find the best way to protect the town’s investments in its roads and make sure every road is included in the plan.

This includes chip sealing, or laying down a one-inch surface, on the roads that were paved last season, including Elm Hill Road. Pavement is porous and water can easily seep into it and cause cracking, which is what happened on Elm Hill, Bernard said. The plan for this construction season includes putting down surface on Ryerson Hill Road and starting work on Brett Hill Road.

The upcoming budget has $525,000 allocated for road work, which includes $80,000 the town saved because it chip sealed Parsons Road, Bernard said. There’s also a request for $27,000 to hire three part-time employees to help with ditching, flagging and other road- and maintenance-related projects this season. The reason for hiring part-time people is to allow the highway crew to do more work in-house.

“We got a good grader operator now and that’s going to help us get a got more done in a shorter time,” Hutchinson said at last week’s meeting.

The plan initially focuses on more rural roads because of a potential catch basin issue in and around Market Square, Bernard said. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection could force the Paris Utility District to install new catch basins or divert the storm water that’s leaking out of its sewer system somewhere else.

“Fortunately or unfortunately for us, the majority of the good roads are in town,” she said.

Bernard previously said it doesn’t make sense to work on roads in town if the pavement is only going to be ripped up a short time later.

After selectmen unanimously gave Bernard the green light to go out to bid for the first year of road work, Selectman Sam Elliot commended the town manager.

“That’s good work Amy, thank you,” he said.

“Thank you Jamie and thank you Bruce Sargent for doing the leg work. It’s a lot of work,” Bernard answered, adding the team now knows it takes between four and five months to survey the town’s roads and enter them into the road maintenance surface program. “The really bad winter didn’t help us either.”

Once the bids are in, selectmen are expected to award one at a future meeting.

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