During a special meeting Friday with road commissioner Michael Trask and a few residents, Alna selectmen were unable to reach an agreement over the existence of a conflict of interest with the road commissioner’s work.
They decided to refer their question to the Maine Municipal Association to come up with an answer.
In an unrelated issue, Trask, who also serves as the town’s fire chief, said the fire department needs a new engine.
The roadwork issue came to the fore a couple of weeks ago, when selectmen questioned Trask’s using his company for road work and renting his own equipment for town brush cutting.
After a lengthy discussion and in the face of some frustrations expressed by residents, Selectmen David Abbott and David Seigars said they were not convinced the work for which the road commissioner charged the town represented a conflict of interest.
By the meeting’s end, Selectman Tom Smith maintained there was a conflict of interest. He suggested town officials establish a bidding process for roadwork.
“When we have officials that are overseeing funds,” Smith said, “we need to make sure that there is public confidence that there’s a difference between the person who is administering funds and who is benefiting from the funds being spent.”
Smith said the road commissioner should work with selectmen to draw up plans for the roadwork and prepare them to be bid out. The road commissioner should oversee the work being done, he said.
The three or four other residents at the meeting interrupted the conversation between selectmen and Trask to express their support for the road commissioner and their opposition to Smith’s argument. Trask, who challenged Smith’s assertions, said the major roadwork projects have gone out to bid. The smaller jobs that vary on a daily and weekly basis have not gone out to bid, he said.
Selectman Abbott said he did not agree the smaller jobs, such as cold patching to fill potholes, should go out to bid.
“If we rebuild a piece of road or if we’ve got a project that’s going to be $10,000 or $15,000, then we should put it out to bid,” Abbott said, adding competitive bidding on such projects benefits the town.
Town treasurer, Nick Caristo, said the discussion came about as a result of the conflict over the foundation work for the town’s sand and salt shed. He said he wasn’t sure “conflict of interest” was the right term to describe Trask’s contract work for the town. He said one of the reasons for meeting was the town does not have a written ethics procedure.
Caristo referenced the town of Boothbay’s public works department, which refers to state statute in their administering policies and procedures. He said he felt the town is paying more money than it should, for salaries, insurance and other costs and could save some of this money by further defining the town works procedure.
Trask said the bidding process thus far has worked to save money for the town. Contractors are not interested in the maintenance work he and his crew have been doing and he said some projects put out to bid come back with high cost estimates. Insurance and other costs are covered by the contract price, Trask said, to which Abbott said he agreed.
Asked by Smith about some larger upcoming road projects, Trask mentioned paving and grading work, as well as culverts needing to be replaced and roadside ditching. This work is in addition to the patching and other roadwork needed around Alna.
The town has roughly $50,000 for road improvements, plus $15,000 left over from last year, he added. Following Smith’s queries and suggestions for town officers to plan ahead, Trask warned the town needs to keep some funds for unforeseen work, such as road washouts and other repairs from storm damage.
Firefighters took the department’s 1986 GMC to two different sources to test the pump and found the cost of repair would exceed the truck’s value. Trask said they had not anticipated buying a new fire truck so soon.
A newly rebuilt pump has been estimated to cost approximately $20,000 and even after spending the money, the GMC would be worth at most $15,000, Trask said.
“Dumping $20,000 in that truck is like wasting your money,” he said.
After some discussion, selectmen agreed the town could host informational meetings for the purpose of putting the question of a new fire truck purchase on next year’s town warrant.
“The problem is, it reduces our ability to fight fires,” Trask said.
The fire department has the GMC, a 1995 pumper tank engine and another truck used to haul equipment. They rely on the mutual aid system, where fire departments and emergency personnel respond to neighboring towns and cover other department headquarters during emergencies.
“As a town we need two pieces of fire apparatus to fight fires adequately,” Trask said. “We have to rely on mutual aid even more.”
A new truck is estimated to cost around $200,000 and the fire department would need to take out a loan, Trask said.
