Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — The Limestone Selectpeople met on Nov. 4 to address the old business of approving the general assistance ordinance appendices and received a general update from the Limestone code enforcement officer. Board members also opened bids on tax acquired properties. While approving the general assistance ordinance was quickly passed by the selectpeople, the update from the code enforcement officer required the deliberation and mediation of the selectpeople; the Limestone select people, working closely with the code enforcement officer, have been moving toward removing buildings in the town dangerously in disrepair and blatantly out of code.
While the town has been making progress regarding the questionable structures, concerned citizen Dan Swanson brought to the attention of the selectpeople his thoughts that the cleanup of one recently demolished building on the Grand Falls Road was not done legally, due to the existence of a multi-plane concrete slab with unstable and unusable footings. He also stated that the site cleanup lacked completion as there is still debris at the location.
The Limestone code enforcement officer stated that she has found the building to be in compliance and extended her thanks to the landowners for their cooperation. While being granted an ample amount of time to arrange the demolition and cleanup, the landowners had requested an extension for the tear down and cleanup, which the selectpeople granted.
Swanson’s concerns about the questionable footings of the foundation led to a general discussion between those in attendance at the meeting about how many structures in Limestone have similar faults and it was expressed that the focus of cleaning up the town should remain on large projects.
While the select people put their trust behind the code enforcement officer, Swanson requested that each selectperson visit the site and speculate for themselves whether they believe the structure could pass as being up to code. The selectpeople agreed to visit the site individually.
In other business, the selectpeople voted by majority — Selectperson Morin abstained and Selectperson Fred Pelletier was not in attendance — to reject a bid on town-owned property located at 18 Access Highway. The bid was for $3,000.
During her manager’s report, Limestone Town Manager Donna Bernier informed that 643 individuals had voted in the Nov. 3 election, during which Wade McLaughlin was voted in as the newest selectperson. She also mentioned that Loring Development Authority officials recently met with Limestone Police Chief Mahan to discuss coverage.
Directly before the selectpeople held their meeting, a town meeting was held to vote on two articles.
Limestone Fire Chief Paul Durepo was elected as a moderator to preside during the meeting, and voters approved the authorizations of the town to issue general obligation bonds or notes in an amount not to exceed $140,000 to finance an addition and renovations to the Robert Frost Memorial Library.
