| Joanne Cole |
The storm that walloped the state and caused the Select Board to cancel their scheduled meeting became part of the discussion when the board convened on December 26. The topic: Public Works’ anticipated overruns from responding to October and December storms.
“When we planned the budget, we planned for 100 inches of snow,” said Public Works Director Ted Shane. “We don’t plan for 20 inches of rain.”
Public Works’ budget was already 55 percent spent at the half-year point, not counting the December storm’s costs, Shane told the board. The gravel budget line alone is over by some $30,000. The figure includes material used for regular maintenance of the town’s town’s 17 miles of gravel roads, he noted.
Shane said he has used up his stockpile of culverts, thanks to the recent storms. Culverts have been replaced on Brackett Road (off Route 26 near Pond Road), which washed out twice, and on Ayer Road and Durham Road.
Assuming something like a typical winter, Shane is projecting a $50,000 to $75,000 shortfall at year-end. He reminded listeners that Public Works’ budget is a bottom-line budget, such that savings in one area help offset overruns in another. The department still has some $400,000 available from now till June, Shane noted.
The board decided to wait until the annual town meeting in May to take the anticipated overruns to voters, rather than schedule a special town meeting sooner. The budget picture will be clearer by late April, they thought, and if winter packs a wallop and a special town meeting is needed, it can quickly be called.
A related agenda item, to request that Cumberland County be included in the Governor’s December disaster declaration for access to federal recovery funds, was deemed moot. Apparently all 16 Maine counties were ultimately covered, and Cumberland County is well short of the $1.3 million in losses needed to qualify for the aid. “We’re not even close,” Ted Shane said. Member Dustin Ward noted that the budget overruns the board had just discussed resulted from heavy summer rains and the October and December storms, not the December storm alone.
Recycling hauling agreement. The board approved a one-year contract with Corcoran Environmental Services to haul away some of the Transfer Station’s recyclables. Ted Shane clarified the terms of the arrangement in response to questions from Lauren Jordan, chair of the Environmental Resources Committee.
Under the agreement, Corcoran will sell for recycling what it hauls away — cardboard, plastic, paper, magazines – items that aren’t currently profitable for the town to handle. However, the town does keep cans for recycling: “There’s money in it,” said Shane. He added that there’s no market for glass for either Corcoran or the town, but the quantity involved is comparatively modest, so the town handles it.
Although Corcoran won’t be paying New Gloucester for the recyclables, it will be hauling them away at no charge, saving the town $85 per container in trucking costs. Board Chair Paul Larrivee saw the arrangement as a net positive: the material “is going to be recycled” and “we’re saving money.”
Larrivee hoped the Environmental Resources Committee would help publicize the new arrangement. Shane noted that the one-year term means that if the market for recyclables improves, the town itself can resume recycling as before.
Climate Resilience Partnership next steps. In other ERC news, committee member Doug Smith shared that New Gloucester’s application to join the Climate Resilience Partnership has been accepted. The Town is now eligible for community grants of up to $50,000.
Smith said the ERC hopes to meet soon with Manager Bill Kerbin and Planner Kathy Tombarelli to discuss grant criteria and the capacity of the Town. A late March deadline for the next round of grants is likely to provide an incentive to jumpstart those planning conversations.
View the video of the December 26, 2023, Select Board meeting at this link. Find contact information for Select Board members and links to meeting agendas, minutes and related documents at this link.
