Town tax assessing weighed

ER-FOXCROFT – Municipal officials agreed Monday to contract with a Springfield consultant to do the town’s tax assessing for the next eight weeks.

Lou Durgin, the former assessor, has left to take a similar job for the state in an unorganized territory.

Selectmen voted to contract with Lorna Thompson Consulting Services for the short term and to explore options for the long term. Thompson Services currently serves as an assessor’s agent for Stetson and Calais, among other towns. The firm, which will have office hours on Fridays and will be available at other times, will receive $37 an hour for the work.

Dover-Foxcroft Town Manager Jack Clukey said Monday that eventually the town may want to contract with a part-time consultant and contract out the assessing rather than hire another town employee.

In other business, town officials are negotiating with Bowman Bros. of Newport, the lowest bidder for the renovation and addition to the public works garage. Since their low bid exceeded the $425,000 earmarked for the project, Clukey said he hoped the site work could be done in-house to reduce the contract amount.

“I have a lot of confidence that we’ll get where we want to be,” Clukey said, of the negotiations. However, if an agreement can’t be reached, selectmen gave the town manager approval to negotiate with the second-lowest bidder, Frank Woodworth of Pittsfield.

Selectmen learned that the intersection of North and Summer streets, the site of a dozen accidents and many near-misses over the past three years, may need a traffic light. Clukey said the Department of Transportation plans to do a survey of the traffic and report back to municipal officials. If the state determines a traffic light is needed, the state will pay for the project, he said. Rather than conduct the survey now, town officials will recommend it be done during the spring or summer months.

Rain has delayed a couple of projects, selectmen were told Monday. Board Chairman Tom Sands asked residents to be patient with the Public Works crew who have been unable to complete the grading of some gravel roads.

Clukey reported that high water levels at Sebec Lake have delayed renovations to the boat launch at Greeley’s Landing. The Department of Environmental Protection has approved an extension for the work until Nov. 30.