LIVERMORE FALLS — A joint sewer committee is being established to look at the agreement that outlines cost-sharing and billing between two towns that use the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Livermore Falls Selectmen Bill Demaray and Louise Chabot and Town Manager Kristal Flagg will serve on the committee. The Jay Board of Selectpersons will appoint two members at 6 p.m. Monday, March 10, at the Town Office. Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere will also serve on the committee.
The committee will investigate what the future for the plant will be and whether the agreement should stay the same or a new one be drafted, or whether the system should be changed to a district, Flagg said. A district would mean sewer users from both towns would pay the user fees to the plant, similar to water district customers.
Livermore Falls owns the plant. Jay and Livermore Falls share the cost of operation and maintenance of it. The plant is a separate entity from the town of Livermore Falls. The Livermore Falls Sewer Department is also a separate entity.
Independent arbitrator Durward Parkinson encouraged the towns to negotiate a new or amended agreement to more clearly define responsibilities and billing protocol for operating and maintenance expenses of the plant.
Parkinson outlined his recommendations in a settlement agreetment after arbitration in July 2013 at a Portland law firm.
Parkinson concluded that the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant owed $31,643 to the town of Jay for overbilling related to employee insurance and benefits.
The arbitrator denied all other claims. Jay had claimed it was owed $283,316.
The dispute centered on different interpretations of an agreement for treatment of wastewater flows dated Dec. 1, 1997. The latter agreement was based on one that was established on March 27, 1972.
Parkinson wrote that while both sides have acted in good faith over the years and throughout the arbitration process, this might be the appropriate time to re-evaluate and redraft the agreement.
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