‘Divots’ are nothing unusual, says EMS director

Piscataquis County EMS photo  WATER OVER THE DAM — The Mayo Mill dam has a few worn spots, but it’s not public safety hazard, according to the county EMS office.

By Mike Lange

Staff Writer

 DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Mayo Mill dam in Dover-Foxcroft, like many other similar structures across the state, has a few places where the cement has deteriorated.

 So when the current is strong, some residents have voiced concern that the dam is being breached when they see the water hit the openings.

 But there’s nothing to worry about, Emergency Services Director Tom Capraro told the county commissioners last week.

 “They’re like divots,” he explained. “It’s been going on for at least 16 years that I know of.”

 Capraro said that a summer resident with a camp on Sebec Lake reportedly contacted an engineer about his concerns with the dam, and the issue snowballed to the mill’s owner, then to State Sen. Paul Davis and eventually to the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

 Capraro said that the structure is considered a “low-hazard dam, so you don’t even need an emergency action plan for it. In other words, if that dam just crumbled away, there would be very little damage to the area.”

 On the other hand, there are three other small dams in Dover-Foxcroft that are rated high-hazard because if they failed, there would be noticeable flooding in the community.

 Capraro added that a state dam inspection, Tony Fletcher, has also offered to check out the structure sometime this week as part of his routine tour.

 In other action taken at last week’s meeting, county commissioners approved hiring Leann Thurlow as a full-time dispatcher for the communications center.

 Thurlow already works for the county part-time, according Communications Center Director Dave Roberts, and she has completed training for both dispatch and corrections. “She has filled in almost on a full-time basis since Maria (Landry) took on the jail administrator’s position (in January),” Roberts said. “She has been the most reliable part-timer we have. She has never refused an assignment, even at the last minute.” Thurlow was also a finalist for a previous full-time opening.

 Commissioners also approved the bid from Dave’s World in Dover-Foxcroft to install new flooring in the jail. Landry said that only two vendors responded to bid proposals – Dave’s World and Paul White in Bangor — and Dave’s World was the only one that offered a 10 percent discount for doing the entire renovation. Their gross bid was $49,400, but the discount would bring it down closer to $45,000, Lizotte said.

 Landry said the only flooring that has been replaced in recent years was in the lobby area and that the carpeting is now “disgusting — really gross” in some places.

 Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said that the county has a “really healthy capital improvement account for the jail. So far this year, we’ve done two major projects already: the new generator and the surveillance system.”

 Lizotte and the commissioners also discussed the new sheriff’s office construction project which will be going out to voters in a referendum this November.

 One major question was how much money the county should ask for. The original estimate was around $700,000, but Lizotte said that by using inmate labor from the Charleston Correction Center for carpentry work, the cost could be lowered to around $610,000.

 Lizotte said that the average interest rate on a general obligation note is around 3.5 percent. But the difference in finance charges between a 10 and 20-year note is almost $130,000 for the longer period, he added. “Since I’m cheap, I definitely favor the 10-year note,” he quipped.

  The county commissioners also met on July 7 in Greenville and their next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 21 in Dover-Foxcroft at 8:30 a.m.