Minutes of NVC Utilities Committee Meeting of December 5, 2003

Present: Chairman Crofoot, Suellyn Fleming, by phone conference call (Judy Metcalf, Richard Brockway; John Fancy; Beverly Crofoot, Toni Mailloux, Ed Williams. Absent: Peter Spollett

1.      The minutes of the November 7th meeting were accepted: Vote 4:0

2.      Phase I and Phase II Construction Projects Work in November was negatively impacted by much rainy weather in the midmonth and bitter cold weather after Thanksgiving. Phase II work by Sargent & Sargent on deep water lines along Shore Road is all finished except for a handful of summer water services. Phase II work by Lynch Construction on the Shore Road wastewater line and storm drainage has proceeded more slowly. With winter closing in, the difficult decision of whether to pave now or in the spring was raised. Bill Magruder and the Northport Selectmen preferred a paved road to maintain this winter even though applying asphalt over frozen ground is an unknown quantity, and the roadway will still have to be dug and trench patched at several areas in the spring. Sargent & Sargent paved the entire road from Sea Street to the village limit with a 2-inch basecoat on December 4th and 5th. Lynch must still do three pump stations on Shore Road to complete the I&I project. This is essential in order to get adequate flow data for the ongoing work on Phase III Wastewater Treatment Replacement. They also have work to do in the core village including final cleanup, relocating a catch basin on Sea Street and Bay Street , Sea Street widening and paving, and a one-inch top paving coat on Broadway. These will not be done until spring. Lynch had also agreed to do three extra projects at relatively low cost, but it is unlikely they will be done this winter. These include placing a French drain across the bottom of Ruggles Park to intercept and redirect runoff, digging out the lower entrance to the Community Hall to prevent freeze-up and allow access, and paving/widening George Street in front of the Library (a town project). When it became plain that Lynch would not get these done soon, bids were obtained from Sargent; these came in much higher: i.e., French Drain Ruggles Park $4,609, dig out Community Hall & gravel $2,233, paving by Library $2,503. John Fancy will continue to work with Lynch to try to solve the Community Hall problem, but the Overseers would have to approve or bid these projects.

3.      Phase III DEP and Rural Development have reviewed the Woodward & Curran Engineering Study. There is some concern that not all avenues have been explored and that the proposed costs in the range of $4-6 million cannot be funded. By the standards of the 2000 census, the median income in Northport is such that we no longer qualify for grant monies from Rural Development. DEP does not feel they can fund more than a “few” million for this project. Richard Brockway, in discussion with Dean Manion at the University of Maine , has arranged for a group of engineering students to take on a project to study our problems and to see whether there are innovative technologies which might allow us to build a more affordable system. John Fancy said that he was happy to work with this group. Alternative means of dealing with effluent from a lagoon system including drip irrigation, spray irrigation, and wetlands discharge will be explored. A vote to endorse this study was unanimous 4:0. John Fancy will set up a follow-up meeting with the Town of Belfast in early January to fully discuss under what circumstances and at what cost Belfast would be willing to let us pump into their wastewater system. We will also meet with Rural Development, DEP, and Engineers toward the end of January.

4.      Financial Reports for the water and sewer departments were not available from the auditor. The next pay meeting is in one week.

5.      Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.