Waste shed construction OK’d in Millinocket

MILLINOCKET – A Howland firm will build the town’s first universal waste storage shed for $6,900 and thereby help the town comply with new state recycling laws.

The council voted 7-0 during a meeting Thursday to allow J.D. Storage of Howland to build the shed, although as a cost-saving measure, public works department workers will build the cement slab it will sit on, and will do the electrical work required, Town Manager Eugene Conlogue said.

The cost savings will allow the project to proceed, he said.

Since Jan. 18, a new state law requires mercury to be removed from the universal waste stream. As of July 20, landfills will no longer be allowed to accept mercury-laced devices. These include televisions, computer monitors and mercury electrical switches.

The shed will be built on the town waste transfer site on or before June 30 to comply with the new law.

Public works employees have said they expect the level of mercury waste left for recycling at the town’s dumps or recycling centers to increase as the law becomes better-known, but already town workers are being diverted to handle the new task.

East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket officials are studying ways to combine efforts or services to defray costs expected to increase because of the new law.

In other council news:

. Town and state officials have begun meeting with Robert Moscone and Richard Day Jr. of Moscone Bantam Boiler Co. LLC to discuss the $400,000 state economic development grant the company will use to build a boiler factory in town, Conlogue said.

The first meeting was Thursday. More are expected.

Under the terms of the grant, the town will co-sign a contract with Bantam for the grant and be liable for the return of the $400,000 until the company hires at least 13 full-time workers, as the grant requires. Then the town is off the hook, state officials have said.

According to the application, Bantam will use the grant to revitalize parts of the 57,000-square-foot former Business Resource and Innovation Center at 10 Katahdin Ave., hire at least 15 full-time workers, and start building steel heating boilers for residential and commercial sale by August. The money also will buy some manufacturing equipment.

Bantam is still in negotiation to acquire the building.

. The council voted 7-0 to pay Civil Engineering Services Inc. of Brewer about $72,500 to design a new community pool to fit within the existing footprint of the town’s 50-year-old structure.

CES surveyed the pool in December for $12,100, presenting the council with a range of options two months later. Replacing the open-air seasonal pool with a similar modern structure would cost $1 million to $1.3 million.

If the new pool is built on time, it will be open from late June to late August.