JAY — Selectpersons voted Monday to buy a multiresolution seamless image program to create a full mosaic tile map of the town for $850.

The board voted in January to contract to buy 6-inch high-resolution images for a mapping project of properties in the town through the Maine Orthoimagery Program. The $10,000 cost was approved to be taken from the town’s allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act.

State and digital mapping consultants recommended the town also buy the additional program to create a whole map from the individual the tiles, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.

“This is a seamless ortho product that avoids having to pull up individual tiles when working on projects,” she said.

Franklin County commissioners voted Jan. 4 to have 18-inch high-resolution aerial photos taken of the county for $40,382 as part of a statewide orthoimagery program. Because the county agreed to participate in the project, municipalities are allowed to buy closer-resolution images for a substantial savings.

The flyover of the county will be done this spring. The county is also paying for the project with the federal money.

In other business, the board voted to accept the 38-article warrant for the annual Town Meeting referendum. Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 26 at the Spruce Mountain Middle School gym.

They also signed the notice of public hearing for the $5.5 million proposed budget for 6 p.m. on March 14 at the Spruce Mountain Elementary School gym.

In another matter, Tina Meserve, a commercial solar consultant for employee-owned ReVision Energy, gave a presentation on community solar projects. She went over the value of net energy billing credits required and how it works, among other aspects of a solar power billing formula.

Selectpersons requested a presentation and will have another one from a different company at another meeting.

Meserve, a former school superintendent, said she has been working to educate school departments and municipalities on community solar projects.

The company has been building and installing solar arrays for about 20 years. It started with two people in a garage in Liberty and has grown to about 300 employees.  ReVision Energy oversees the project for the life of the contract which is about 20 years.

It is “really committed to improve the environment,” she said.

There is a solar array on the Souther Farm in Livermore Falls. Among the groups that have signed on to it are Regional School Unit 73 in the Jay/Livermore area and RSU 9 in the Farmington area.

Jay’s current annual electric cost of $78,000, Meserve said. The town could save an estimated $229,739 in electricity costs over a 20-year contract, according to Meserve’s information given to the board.

 

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