WINDSOR: Town to see increase in cost for roads winter plowing

by The Town Line staff

At their September 13 meeting, the Windsor Select Board unanimously approved the awarding of the plowing contract for the 2022-23 winter to McGee Construction.

McGee Construction had notified Town Manager Theresa Haskell that they were increasing their hourly rate from $110 to $125 per hour, making the price of the plowing contract $31,250, for 250 hours of service and $110 per hour over the contracted 250 hours. That is a $3,750 increase from last year.

Haskell indicated she would, or should, send out requests for proposals. However, the last time the town sent out RFPs it received no bids except for McGee. Select board member Ronald Brann said the town of Windsor is getting a great price even with the increase. He added that other towns are having a tough time to get contractors to do plowing.

Haskell said she has done a cost analysis with other towns and they were paying over $4,000 a mile, when Windsor would be paying $2,476.88 per mile under the new contract.

In other business, Haskell. reported revenues at the transfer station were down ($565.70) from this time in August of last year, for a total of $1,964.62 for the year.

Joel Greenwood from KVCOG, Jerry Nault and Carol Chavarie, both planning board members, were present to answer questions about the Draft Utility Scale Solar Energy Facility Ordinance. After much discussion, Greenwood said he will update the discussed changes and will report back to Haskell.

The select board also unanimously approved placing two questions on the November 8 ballot. The first is asking to authorize the board to accept, on behalf of the town, any coronavirus local fiscal recovery funds, also known as Americaan Rescue Plan or ARPA funds, received by the town from the federal government, enter into agreements or other documentation required, and appropriate and expend the funds, up to $185,000, for upgrading communications equipment for public safety purposes, including the addition of an automatic generator for the town’s telecommunications towers.

The second article asks to authorize the select board to accept and dispense ARPA money, in the amount of $35,000, to purchase an X Series manual monitor/defibrillator for the Windsor Rescue.

Haskell was appointed to represent the town with KVCOG, and Ray Bates was appointed the elected official.

Haskell asked the select board to hold a public hearing to adopt the General Assistance Ordinance GA Appendages (A-G) for the period of October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023. The board approved the meeting and was held on September 27.

It was noted that Town Clerk Kelly McGlothlin has received her town clerk certification and was congratulated by the office staff at the presentation at the Maine Town/City Clerk Association meeting.

Ray Bates was re-elected as chairman of the select board with three votes. William Appel Jr. and Andrew Ballantyne each received one vote.

The next meeting of the Windsor Select Board was held on September 27.