LIVERMORE — Selectpersons on Tuesday decided to hold an informational meeting on the proposed sand/salt shed in early June.

Interim Administrative Assistant Amy Byron said there wouldn’t be time to have a special town meeting to vote on the project before the annual town meeting June 15. A separate warrant will be needed for the shed because the actual numbers won’t be available until after the town report goes to print. 

Selectmen want the project to go out to bid next Monday. Contractors would have 30 days to respond and selectpersons will review the bids at a separate meeting.

The informational meeting would be held within the first 10 days of June. Selectman Tim Kachnovich said the board would have real numbers by then.

Livermore is on a state list of municipalities that have salt leaching into the ground. Without a new shed, the town will lose its contamination waiver and be required to get a Maine Department of Environmental Protection license.

At last year’s annual town meeting, voters approved $20,000 for engineering and design work for a shed. Plymouth Engineering was hired for $19,200. Voters, however, did not approve spending $265,000 to build the shed.

The Maine Department of Transportation would reimburse the town 37 percent of costs if the town submits preliminary plans before the end of June. A construction loan at 1.5 percent interest is available through the DEP.

Selectpersons voted 4-0-1 last fall to use a laminated arch design for the shed, but when estimates put the cost at $400,000, instead of $300,000, they conferred with Scott Braley of Plymouth Engineers, Peter Coughlan of the Maine Department of Transportation, and Brandy Piers of the Department of Environmental Protection about options. 

Eventually, the board agreed to move forward with the laminated arch design but keep other options open. 

At the April 4 board meeting, Braley said Coughlan recommended installing an 18-foot-wide roll-up door instead of a 16-foot-wide one.

Board Chairman Peter Castonguay said Tuesday that Braley doesn’t recommend including a manual override for the overhead fans.

“Not putting in the manual override is a bad idea. Why run the fans while the doors are open?” Castonguay asked. He said the larger roll-up door would have to be custom made. Sliding barn doors encased with steel would basically cost what a carpenter would charge to build them plus the track.

Selectperson Tom Gould suggested putting the shed out to bid, asking for quotes on both door options.

“We need to get this out to bid. The inexpensive doors are probably the way to go. We can always upgrade them later,” he said.

Another question is the volume of the shed. The capacity might be slightly less than 3,600 yards, the highest volume permissible based on prior town usage. Coughlan suggested extending the size a bit to get the maximum volume allowable since the state will be paying part of the cost.

Gould asked if changing the dimensions would affect the building’s cost.

“If we can’t get numbers by tomorrow, go with what we have even if it doesn’t meet the maximum,” he said.

pharnden@sunmediagroup.net