Commissioners table request to expand Elliottsville snowmobile access

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The E-Ville Riders Snowmobile Club has been using part of the Elliottsville Road from Ledge Hill to the Willimantic town line to access their trails for the past two years.
    But a request to add part of the Onawa Road and Bodfish Valley Road in Elliottsville to the access list was met with a cool reception by the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department at last week’s County Commissioner’s meeting. So commissioners tabled the request pending additional information.

    Lt. Jamie Kane, an investigator with the sheriff’s department, said that his objections were based strictly on safety concerns. “When you put a snowmobile on a paved road, it’s not like they’re on a groomed trail,” Kane said. “If you get into a corner and the snowmobile is struggling to turn, it’s going to go straight.”
    Fred Trask, chairman of the County Commissioners, said that as a snowmobiler, he understood Kane’s concerns. “But we want to be accommodating to snowmobilers because we are a recreation area. I don’t know how these requests tie into their trail system. Obviously, there must be no other alternative,” Trask said.
    Commissioner Eric Ward said that if there were no complaints about the section of road already being used, “I’d have no problem leaving it just as it is.” Kane said that, to his knowledge, there haven’t been any issues.
    But Sheriff John Goggin said that he also has an ATV and snowmobile and knows the difficulty of “getting from point ‘A’ to point ‘B.’ But one problem is that not all of the people using these trails belong to the clubs that maintain them. A lot of people from downstate and out-of-state ride these trails and they don’t always follow the policies of the clubs.”
    Ward also pointed out that some land in the Elliottsville area owned by Roxanne Quimby is being open for additional recreational use “so maybe we should look into this before we make a decision.” The commissioners voted 3-0 to postpone any action until the Wednesday, Oct. 23 meeting, also in Dover-Foxcroft.
    In other business at last week’s meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the hiring of Kelly Nelson of Old Orchard Beach as a new sheriff’s department dispatcher. Goggin said that there were 25 applicants, four were selected for interviews and Nelson was the unanimous choice of the search committee.
    The sheriff said that Nelson has 12-1/2 years’ experience with the Kennebunkport Police Department, is an advanced EMT, has full-time experience as a reserve officer and has also worked security at the Portland Jetport. Nelson is a Milo native and wants to move back to the area, he added.
    Commissioners also tabled action on the 2014 fire prevention contracts for the unorganized territories. County Manager Marilyn Tourtelotte compiled a chart that showed how costs were divided among the Milo, Monson, Brownville and Greenville fire departments, but noted that the percentage of costs shared by some townships may need adjusting.