TURNER — Selectmen on Monday evening discussed an apparent miscommunication that left waste transfer station workers using their personal vehicles to plow snow during last week’s nor’easter.
Residents waded through a foot of snow in some spots to drop off waste, after a highway department worker used one of the big plows, which couldn’t get into some areas.
The transfer station crew had to finish the plowing before the transfer station was usable.
Selectman Angelo Terreri said workers at the station should not be using their own equipment to clean up the snow because it’s a liability for the town.
The town plow driver “should be down there with a pickup truck,” Selectman Ralph Caldwell said, because the larger plow truck could not maneuver the space.
“It’s a lack of communication” between the highway department and the transfer station staff, board Chairman Kurt Youland said. “You can just get together and discuss it and figure it out.”
In other matters, the board voted unanimously to have Keenan Auctions handle the sale of the town’s tax-acquired properties. The vote included arranging for title insurance to draw more bidders.
Title insurance covers the loss of ownership interest in a property because of legal defects and is required if the property is under mortgage.
Town Manager Kurt Schaub said this “would likely increase the comfort level of both prospective buyers and potential mortgage lenders.”
The board also heard from John O’Donnell of John E. O’Donnell & Associates of New Gloucester on the timeline for the proposed property revaluation project, which voters will decide on at town meeting April 8.
The firm originally asked for $205,000 but agreed to do it for $199,000, provided it is given the town’s mapping business. The firm provides annual updates to tax maps ranging from traditional ink on Mylar sets to digital mapping integrated with Geographic Information Systems, according to its website.
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