D-F selectmen looking at plan to upgrade street lights
DOVER-FOXCROFT — A month after meeting with representatives from RealTerm Energy — which has contracted with about two dozen Maine communities and other towns across the U.S. and Canada — the selectmen discussed having a proposed uniform plan for upgrading municipal street lights, during a Dec. 18 meeting.
“(Finance Director Dave Johnson) and I had a chance to meet with one of the representatives from RealTerm, looking at some details and what we have for challenges,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said.
“What we would like to do is sort of get a tangible cost for what our upgrade would cost,” he said. Clukey said RealTerm would be informed of what type of light fixtures town officials would like to consider and wattage possibilities. The firm would later assist in the contractor selection process and plan implementation.
An idea that the energy company will be asked to consider is about 60 decorative lights from an area starting by Webber Hardware on East Main Street and going north to Foxcroft Academy on West Main Street and from the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce on South Street to the post office at the intersection of Summer and North streets.
“It was clear people envisioned a brighter light downtown, but not too bright and not the brightest, and dimmer lights in residential areas,” Clukey said, about the results of a survey during the annual Hometown Holidays event the first weekend of the month after three pairs of demo lights of varying degrees have been installed downtown.
A figure of 270 cobra head-style light fixtures across the residential areas of town was mentioned, which could feature manual switches while the downtown fixtures could be larger and more decorative and controlled by Bluetooth.
“We would want a small backstop of lights and fixtures because they are going to be ours now,” Johnson said.
Clukey said RealTerm would conduct an “investment grade audit” in order to “come back to us with a sample budget for tweaking.”
“We will give them these numbers and change it if we need,” the town manager said.
Johnson added that RealTerm would come to a future meeting and provide a visual presentation to go along with the street light proposal.
In other business, the selectmen voted to renew its contract with Bolsters Rubbish Removal of Burham for three years from Jan. 1, 2018 to the conclusion of the 2020 calendar year.
The agreement calls for the price per trip to increase from $220 to $225 per trip for waste hauled in town containers and provides for use of contractor containers at a rate of $245 per trip. The renewal provides for municipal solid waste delivery to PERC in Orrington, the future Fiberight facility in Hampden and other facilities if necessary.
In his report, Clukey wrote that the new Fiberight facility is largely on schedule, but company officials feel that they will not be able to accept waste deliveries until the paving can be done — likely sometime in May.
Clukey also said he, Police Chief Ryan Reardon and Public Works Foreman Geoff Chambers have been working on procedures for communication and enforcement of the winter parking ban,
“We have had a winter parking ban for many years, from Nov. 15 to April 15, and it’s all about public works letting the the police department know if they have an issue,” Clukey said. He said should a vehicle parked in the road end up blocking snow removal then public works will let the police department know so the vehicle owner can first be contacted to move out of the public way.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
LIGHTING UP DOVER-FOXCROFT — Some examples of larger, decorative lights for downtown and smaller cobra head-type lights were on display for the Dover-Foxcroft selectmen to view during a Dec. 18 meeting at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building. Town officials are working with RealTerm Energy on a plan to upgrade the municipal street lights.