Houlton council OKs road work

HOULTON – Town councilors moved forward with a plan to do some spring cleaning in the community and officially accepted a grant that will benefit the Police Department at a meeting earlier this week.

During the Town Council meeting, the board accepted bids from several companies to spruce up its street markings.

Hi-Way Safety Systems Inc. was hired to lay machine-placed pavement marking throughout Houlton.

The Hanover, Mass., company edged out two other companies with the low bid of $6,307.

Councilors held a brief discussion about the matter before unanimously accepting the bid. The company placed the markings last year, and some councilors believed that the paint faded too quickly, especially on the crosswalks.

Town Manager Douglas Hazlett said he addressed the matter with the company and he was assured that the problem would not happen again.

Under the terms of the deal, the company is scheduled to complete the work by June 14.

Councilors also voted to hire Keyes Paving of Smyrna to lay down hand-placed pavement markings in town. The company also was the low bidder and will be paid $8,218 for its work, which is scheduled to be completed by June 21.

The board also accepted the low bid from Maine Potato Growers Inc. to supply approximately 20,000 gallons of liquid calcium chloride to the town. The town will pay $29,200 for the product, which is placed on dirt roads in the summer to minimize dust.

Houlton police Officer Eric Crouse also was at the meeting to tell councilors about the grant he successfully penned to secure $10,553 from the Department of Homeland Security.

The money was bestowed as part of the agency’s Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance grant program and will be used to purchase a thermal imaging camera and also to help pay for training to use the equipment.

The camera will help officers track anything that serves as a heat source, and will help officers locate a missing person or a suspect who is hiding.

The camera will allow officers to see a person’s body heat through dense fog or foliage, and in the dark.