Commissioners turn down request seeking major overhaul of Blanchard-Shirley Road

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Earlier in the month the Piscataquis County Commissioners opted to take no action on a citizens’ petition requesting that the town of Shirley be ordered to make repairs to the Blanchard-Shirley Road from the Blanchard town line north several miles to 33 Blanchard Road. During a Sept. 15 meeting, the commissioners voted to accept a maintenance plan from the Shirley Board of Selectmen for the travelway in question.

“Everyone agrees the Blanchard Road in Shirley is below I-95 standards,” Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said. “It’s passable, you can only go 25 mph on it and it’s really a woods road.”

Shirley officials had cited the significant cost to fix up the Blanchard Road, the municipality’s annual budget totals just over $400,000, as the reason why they were asking the commissioners to not grant the request made in the petition. Culverts have been installed and trees have been cut, and the grading contractor retired and once a replacement is hired this work will be done.

“I would have trouble advocating for the expenditure of that much money given the relative small population,” Lizotte said. “My recommendation is you do not order the town of Shirley to upgrade that road and do not act on the petition.”

“I drove the road last Monday, it was safe and trees did not scrape my vehicle,” Commissioner James White said. “It could use some gravel and be graded. As far as being passable there was nowhere I had to slow down below 20. It was far better than most camp roads. It didn’t beat my vehicle up, it didn’t beat me up.”

“I would like to see them put some gravel on it like they said they would,” Commissioners’ Chair Fred Trask said.

In other business, Lizotte said he has received a letter from the Harfords Point Association, with over a half dozen reasons, asking the commissioners take a formal stand against the creation of a Maine Woods National Park and Recreation Area.

“We haven’t talked about that here,” Lizotte said, saying the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) has not taken a position either but the Penobscot County Commissioners voted 2-1 against the proposal.

“If you are going to do that you have to hear from both sides,” Trask said.

“Throughout my political career I have always made it a habit to listen to my constituents,” Commissioner Jim Annis said. “I haven’t heard anyone speak in favor of it.”

“I’m in favor of it,” said Angela Arno in response to Annis, with Arno saying she was speaking on her own and not in her position as executive director of the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce.

“You’re the first one,” Annis replied.

White said the Harfords Point Association has presented some very compelling arguments, but he agreed with Trask in that the commissioners should hear from both park opponents and proponents. “At the current time I don’t think it’s necessary for us to go either way,” he said. “Until our neighbors decide what they need to do we need to just stand down and see what happens.”

The commissioners voted to table a decision on a proposed national park indefinitely, and Lizotte would write a response to the Harfords Point Association. One idea mentioned was having the PCEDC hold a public information session on the plan.

The commissioners did act upon a recommendation from Telecommunications Supervisor Dave Roberts on a candidate for a full-time dispatcher position.

“We have been through the application process and the interview process,” Roberts said, with Sarah Plourde being the name brought forward. Roberts said Plourde would come to the job fully trained, having worked at the Maine Department of Public Safety’s  Regional Communications Center in Houlton.

“She kind of was a shining light in our interview process,” Roberts said. “She’s very, very qualified and had accolades of approval from everyone we talked to in Aroostook County.” He added that the hire would bring dispatch to full staff for the first time in about two and a half years.

The commissioners approved another recommendation of Roberts to bring the salary of part-time dispatchers up by $1 an hour to a rate of $13. He said this may help bring in dispatchers who work elsewhere for shifts during their off days.

“If this is an advertisement for someone to look at us, it’s a great thing,” he said, adding that the hourly increase would add up to less than $1,000 in the annual budget.

The sheriff’s department had been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to update the communications area by replacing an outdated, homemade dispatch console system in the jail. “It’s a work in progress, we have had to go back to the drawing board a few times because it’s a confined area, but I think we will see something before the end of the year,” Roberts said.