Salt-sand mix used by county road contractors could be ‘spot checked’

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Piscataquis County Road Agent Carl Henderson met with county commissioners last week to update them on the condition of the highways and respond to any concerns they had.
    While only a few questions cropped up, Fred Trask, chairman of the commissioners, asked Henderson if there was any way to verify the salt-sand mix formula used by the winter road contractors.

    Henderson acknowledged that the issue hadn’t cropped up during his short tenure on the job. He was hired last May to succeed Tracy Lord who retired and moved to Florida.
    “The only way you could do that is to ask them (the contractors) for the receipts of the sand and salt they bought,” Trask said.
    Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said that Henderson “might be able to do an occasional spot-check. You take a couple of contractors each year and tell them you’d like to come to their yard when they’re actually doing the mixing. It’s just to keep them on their toes.”
    Lizotte emphasized that there have been no documented problems, such as contractors “shorting the county” on salt. “I’m not saying that’s a possibility, but certainly you’ll keep them honest if you don’t know when you’re going to show up,” Lizotte said.
    Trask also said that he’d like to do more “structured summer maintenance” on the unorganized territory road. He cited a lack of adequate paving after a culvert was replaced in Williamsburg as one example.
    Lizotte agreed, noting that a lot of summer maintenance scheduling was based on what was done the previous year. However, the new budget calls for additional plowing in a section of Orneville next winter where some former seasonal homes are now being used as permanent residences.
    Henderson said another project on the drawing board is widening part of Chipmunk Lane in Harfords Point to make winter maintenance easier. Lizotte said that vegetation has “encroached on the area and there’s no place to push the snow.” Apparently, some disputes have arisen between a homeowner and the plowing contractor, Lizotte said, so this could resolve this issue.
    “Overall, the contractors are great guys,” Henderson said. “They always let me know if there are any problems.”
    Commissioners also noted that they originally had planned to put $200,000 into summer maintenance of UT roads this year, but it was cut back to $120,000 because it would have sparked a higher tax increase.
    In other action taken at the Jan. 20 meeting, commissioners approved liquor license renewals for Northern Pride Lodge in Frenchtown, Libby Camps at Millinocket Lake and Shatosha Inc. and Friends of Squaw Mountain in Big Moose Township.
    Longtime county employee Phyllis Lyford announced her retirement after working for the last several months with her successor, Finance Administrator John Baiamonte.
    Lizotte also announced the departure of Ken Woodbury as community development director of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council. Woodbury started his new position as Sangerville town manager on Jan. 20.
    Applications are being taken for a full-time PCEDC executive director and the organization hopes to make a hiring decision by early March.