ROXBURY — Selectmen opened bids Tuesday night for several projects but only voted to approve one bid. The others require the board to contact the bidders to negotiate prices to bring them in line with what town meeting voters approved for funding.
Brackett’s Pumping & Portable Toilet Service of Rangeley submitted the only bid for portable toilets at $90 a week. Board of Selectmen Vice Chairman Tim Derouche asked treasurer and tax collector Renee Hodsdon to calculate that cost applied for two portable toilets for 18 weeks from May 15 through Sept. 18 at the public beach on Ellis Pond and for one portable toilet for 24 weeks from May 15 through Oct. 28 at the town boat launch.
Hodsdon said it would be $5,400. Derouche and Selectman Rodney “Bing” Cross wanted Hodsdon to check with Brackett’s for a price breakdown for a total cost. Brackett’s provided the portable toilets last year.
One bid was also received for $2,300 from Wesley Cox for lawn mowing at the town cemeteries and the Town Office. Cox did the work last year for $2,000, which is what the town approved for the budget.
“How can we approve it?” Derouche asked. “We don’t have the money.”
He asked Hodsdon if she could find out what Cox can do for $2,000 or “what he can knock off it. I like the work he does.”
Later, it was suggested that money could be used from the cemeteries account to cover mowing at the cemeteries. Hodsdon will check on what’s available.
Cox was the lone bidder for the beach and boat landing cleanup work at $2,000. Derouche said voters raised $3,700 for that account, but he didn’t want to approve the bid yet. “It depends on what the Port-A-Pottys will cost us,” he said.
Selectmen will revisit these bids at their next meeting on May 12.
The board then opened five bids to demolish, excavate and remove materials for a tax-acquired building deemed dangerous. Bidders and bids were:
* Steve Swasey Inc. of Andover at $2,928.75.
* Clayton Pelletier Logging of Rumford at $6,500.
* Jean Castonguay of Livermore Falls at $3,061.
* Jim Barnett of Rumford at $5,000.
* C. Pappas of Roxbury at $3,750.
The board voted 2-0 to accept Swasey’s bid. Then Derouche said the work can’t be done until May, because the past owner has until April 30 to remove personal belongings.
“I went and looked at it and the roof’s caving in and there are old appliances and sofas inside and everything’s soaking wet,” he said.
An audience member who is an abutter asked if the 10,000-square foot lot will be considered a buildable lot once the work is completed.
After listening to Code Enforcement Officer Bob Folsom Sr. give his opinion, Derouche said the board won’t know the answer until the building is taken down and the materials removed.
“We need to wait and see when the building is down to determine if we put (the land) out to bid,” Derouche said.
The board also tabled a decision on accepting at quote from Archie’s Inc. of Mexico for $535 a year to begin picking up garbage from properties on Medawisla Way. Derouche said a concerned resident recently asked why there wasn’t any garbage pickup on the road, which is a town road.
Roxbury is in the third year of a five-year contract for trash pickup by Archie’s, so if approved, the amount will be added to the contract. However, Derouche said voters didn’t approve raising the money for the work at town meeting in March.
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