Selectmen approve solid waste pick-up truck purchase

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The solid waste and recycling department will have a new pick-up truck, replacing a 2001 model, after the board of selectmen approved the purchase of a 2016 Chevy 3500 with bedliner and plow from Rowell’s Garage for $38,000 during a Feb. 8 meeting.

Town Manager Jack Clukey said the solid waste committee met the week before and “we got three bids” with two being made by Dover-Foxcroft dealerships. “The low price on all of that was provided by Rowell’s and it totaled up to an even $38,000.” Bids were also made by Prouty Ford of Dover-Foxcroft and Varney, at about $43,000 and $40,100 respectively.

In other business, the board approved an agreement with Fire Recovery USA for billing and collection services related to the traffic incidents ordinance. The contract is for one year and will automatically renew for the succeeding one-year periods unless a 30-day notice to end the agreement is given.

“I believe this is the last piece of the puzzle,” Clukey said, as the ordinance was adopted at last year’s town meeting and the selectmen approved a fee schedule several weeks prior. Billing is for traffic incidents involving non-residents, with fees calculated on a per incident basis using current costs for personnel and equipment at the scene.

The board also authorized Clukey to write a letter of support on behalf of Shaw’s to the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations as the grocery store is seeking to acquire a license to become an agency liquor store.

Clukey said for communities with populations between 2,000 and 5,000 residents the state allows for up to three agency liquor stores, and these towns can then petition the state to issue one additional license. Currently in Dover-Foxcroft Mountain’s Market, Rite Aid and Will’s Shop ‘n Save all have agency liquor licenses.

“A lot of customers are asking ‘do you have liquor, where’s your liquor?,” said Shaw’s Store Director Patrick Doak. He said should the license be granted, “We would would be able to give the town a lot more variety just because of the space we have and the volume we do.”

Doak added that a security camera system is already in place at Shaw’s. He said all liquor bottles would be capped with security tags that can only be removed at the registers, and cashiers are trained in the procedures needed for ringing up alcohol.

“First of all they would look at our request and basically decide if they would be interested in looking at Dover-Foxcroft,” Clukey said about the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations. “Then they would put a notice in the paper and invite anyone to apply.” From there license applicants would be reviewed and a decision would be made by the bureau.

When asked, Clukey said he was not aware of any businesses besides Shaw’s interested in becoming an agency liquor store.

Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr and board member Gail D’Agostino — who was the lone vote against the motion to authorize Clukey to write the letter — both wondered if the other three agency liquor stores in town had concerns about a fourth license being granted. Clukey said a public comment session could be held by the state as part of the process if the bureau proceeds with the Shaw’s request.

In his town manager’s report, Clukey said representatives from the Municipal Review Committee (MRC) are scheduled to speak at the March 14 selectmen’s meeting about proposed changes in solid waste disposal for after 2018. Under the proposal this operation would move from PERC in Orrington to a future facility in Hampden, operated by the Maryland-based Fiberight. The 187 MRC members will need to each make a decision on the organization’s proposal over the next few months.

“We should make sure the public’s aware that they will be here on the 14th in case they have questions,” Freeman Cyr said.

“The fire department got a grant, a small one, but it should help them out,” Clukey said. The grant of just over $1,720 is from the Maine Forest Service for Class A foam and other related items.