Elliotsville Road getting prepped for July paving
DOVER-FOXCROFT — After a change in contractors was made earlier in the month due to health reasons, prep and ditching work is being done to get a 1.8-mile stretch of the Elliottsville Road in the township of the same name ready for scheduled paving next month.
“I just checked out the Elliottsville project and (contractor Bill London of William W. London & Son of Milo) is making good progress on that, he should be done by June 30,” County Manager Tom Lizotte said during a June 20 meeting of the Piscataquis County Commissioners. Lizotte said that London will be cleaning sand built up on the bridge, which is part of the scope of work.
The project involves creating ditches along the Elliottsville Road from the Willimantic line to the Big Wilson Stream bridge and then north from the bridge on the Bodfish Valley Road to the Borestone Mountain parking lot. The work includes replacing 16 culverts along the stretch of road to get the travelway ready to be resurfaced by Lane Construction next month.
London’s $30,750 bid was approved for the Elliottsville Road after previous contractor Jim Bennett of Bennett Construction in Guilford — who had a bid of $10,350 — informed Lizotte he would be unable to perform the pre-paving work on the Elliottsville Road due to health reasons. At the time the town manager said the county had never before had a situation where a contractor awarded a bid had to then pull out of the job.
The commissioners had a review of the county purchasing policy on the June 20 agenda, stemming from instances where contractors called to say they were unaware of various county projects.
Commissioners Chair James White said he had several calls of this nature, where he was told “‘I didn’t know those bids were coming up, please let me know when those bids are coming up.’”
White suggested the county website (www.piscataquis.us) have a page and “any bid that’s going out should be listed.” He said all interested contractors can review basic details “and they can have contact information where they can get the parameters.”
Lizotte said the www.piscataquis.us webmaster should be able to set up a page of bids. The county manager said that in the event of emergencies, such as a road washout or plumbing problem, the work would be done by someone among the list of contacts and the commissioners would be informed of this via email.
The meeting included the awarding of a bid for hot crack fill repairs in the county complex parking lot after head of maintenance Joshua York contacted several firms for bid estimates. York said Harvey Paving and Seal Coating of Bangor was the only firm to visit the site, and the company’s bid of $4,500 was approved by the commissioners.
Lizotte said in the spring the area was professionally cleaned. “Unfortunately when we had it cleaned it showed how many cracks we have in the county parking lot,” he said, saying hot seal could be used to help prevent further deterioration.
The county manager said it is difficult to get a company to travel up to the region for just one job, and there are no sealcoating businesses in Piscataquis County. “That’s why people have been non-responsive to Josh’s request,” Lizotte said.
The $4,500 will come from a maintenance account. He said Harvey Paving and Seal Coating “can come up some day after work or on a weekend, off hours” to fill the parking lot cracks.
In his report, Lizotte said the next meeting would be on Tuesday, July 11 to avoid a conflict with the Fourth of July falling on the regular first Tuesday of the month. He said plans are for this session to take place at the Greenville Town Office.
The commissioners would also meet on Tuesday, July 25 and then on Tuesday, Aug. 8 to avoid having weeks of consecutive meetings. “My suggestion is you have Aug. 8 and 22 as your meeting dates and then in September we would go back to the first and third Tuesday,” Lizotte said. He said one August meeting may be held in Milo.