Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — After almost an hour of an executive session followed by openly heated public discussion regarding various behaviors and mannerisms between town officials and Selectpeople, the Limestone Board of Selectpeople moved to the next item on the agenda.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie BazinetNicholas Hall, 6, of Limestone watches as a building on the Grand Falls Road in Limestone is torn down. The demolition of the building is the result of an increased interest by the Limestone Selectpeople to bring the town up to code.
Though the five Selectpeople were down in numbers during the meeting — Paul Poitras and Fred Pelletier were absent — Mary Morin, Walt Elliott and Jim Leighton proceeded to review the request for bids for town vehicle maintenance.
The proposed contract for vehicle maintenance, drafted by Morin and presented as a first draft to the board on June 17, after the Selectpeople agreed that last year’s contract needed revision, has been a reoccurring agenda item for that past few months. The last contractual details were effectively ironed out after about 40 minutes of discussion between the Selectpeople and a few in attendance, including a local auto dealership/auto repair owner who agreed that Limestone is very well protected in the new proposed contract.
“We have to make this contract so that the people in Limestone are comfortable with it,” Leighton said.
The Selectpeople voted to award the bid for loader tires to the lowest bidder, Highway Tire; Elliott and Leighton approved the $10,462.88 bid, while Morin opposed.
Under the new business portion of the agenda, the Selectpeople accepted the bid for tax-acquired property at 18 Access Highway for $7,125, which was one of two buildings the town had placed out to bid.
The physical state of both structures was inspected by Elliott and Leighton, who drove out to the building at 37 Long Road and were surprisingly pleased at what they found.
“The buildings are in disrepair, but they are structurally sound and it’s a good thing to walk through and see that,” Leighton said.
According to Elliott, the trend from buildings sold by the town is that individuals tend to comment that the building was either a ‘dump’ or worth way more than the bid was awarded for.
“This time, we wanted to have the pictures in the file so that if anyone questions the property, we have the documentation,” he said.
The tax-acquired property at 37 Long Road was placed out to bid by the town, but failed to receive any bids. The Selectpeople approved a motion to do some minor alterations to the property and place it back out to bid with a minimum bid.
The 1969 fire truck placed out to bid by the town did not receive any bids either, and the Selectpeople spoke briefly with Limestone Fire Chief Durepo about existing and potential options to relocate the vehicle.
Bids were received from two of six vendors regarding the Library Expansion Project loan; the town manager will review the bids.
In her manager’s report, Donna Bernier spoke with the Selectpeople again about the details regarding hiring David Wiley to write grants for the town and informed them that the new snowmobile trail groomer has been ordered.
During the elected official’s reports, Morin informed the board and those in attendance about the status of the project she’s spearheaded to clean up Trafton Lake.
“I spoke with the president of the Lake Association at the state level, and she says that we have a backing from them,” Morin explained. “All we need now is the people from the town to support it. I’m hoping to get enough names [of individuals interested in cleaning up Trafton Lake] to put together a group of people to attend a meeting,” she added. “If you have any interest in Trafton Lake, your voice will be very well received by me.”
Elected officials also spoke about updating the town’s Web page, fixing the local TV channel, and discussed an incident regarding the removal of a tree that a land owner wants replaced.
During the public comments, Limestone Code Enforcement Officer Rebecca McBreairty updated the board on the current state of various code violations. Discussing various properties and circumstances, the board is in agreement that code violations need to be rectified.
The town’s toughened stance toward dangerous buildings was seemingly well received during the meeting.
“I like the idea of putting teeth against your laws,” said Limestone resident Adam Kohler. “My hat is off to [the board of Selectpeople] for your willingness to stay the course, and my hat is off to Miss McBreairty who has not given up this whole entire time.”
“I think one of the reasons why we’re making progress in the last year is because Rebecca has not given up,” Kohler stated.
The next meeting of the Limestone Selectpeople will be on Wednesday,Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m., after the special town meeting at 6:15 regarding transferring funds out of the reserve account for the new snowmobile trail groomer.
