A massive concrete box culvert, carrying a tidal stream under Lynch Road is coming apart, just four years after it was installed.
“Now, we have a problem,” said Ron Grenier, the town administrator.
Meeting Monday night, Newcastle’s engineering consultant, Steve Reynolds, told the Board of Selectmen despite the culvert’s young age, it must be replaced.
“A couple more storms like the last big storm and we will lose the road,” he said.
During the meeting selectmen also considered a possible salary suggestion for a combined Newcastle-Damariscotta Public Works/Transportation Department and a proposal from Hagar Enterprises to extend the town’s snow plowing contract for an additional year.
Selectman Lee Straw, still irked over the construction problems from the last Lynch Road culvert project – a project which cost taxpayers $100,000 – said the current situation needs close scrutiny.
Suggestions that the culvert could be repaired or put back in place might be futile, said Straw. “All you are doing is sticking your finger in the dam.”
Reynolds said the problem is that the culvert was designed when the tidal stream was part of Sherman Lake.
The lake was drained when a Columbus Day 2005 storm took out a 1934-era dam that turned the Marsh River into Sherman Lake. The lake was dammed as part of a construction project that carried U.S. Rt. 1 over the waterway.
When the dam failed, Maine DOT officials declined to replace it, instead letting the lake revert to a salt marsh.
“This is now a tidal (stream),” Reynolds said. “It was a lake when the culvert was put in. Now it carries more water and there is a danger caused by the velocity of the water as it drops over (the lip) of the culvert. The water scoured the ground during the last storm, digging out the fill under the culvert’s outlet causing a section of the heavy concrete culvert to shift.”
Grenier said engineers are working on possible solutions and cost estimates for each possible course of action. He pledged to bring the engineer’s recommendations to the selectmen on April 26.
Grenier proposed to hire a superintendent to run the department with a total salary of $63,704 including $23,000 in fringe benefits and a laborer with a salary of $28,885, including $3700 in fringe benefits.
Under the agreement, the costs would be split between the two towns, with each paying $46,295.
The proposed public works employees would maintain roads, provide janitorial services for town buildings and other projects. While it could provide some initial savings, it could provide additional benefits in the future, through long range planning and a road maintenance schedule, Grenier said.
While voters have elected to maintain separate towns, they have urged officials to work together to save money, Grenier said.
The future value depends on the individual who is hired to head the department, said board chairman Ellen McFarland.
Grenier said another group of Maine towns are sharing some municipal services. The towns of Manchester, Wayne and Readfield have a similar cooperative arrangement.
Grenier said he and Damariscotta town manager Greg Zinser are scheduled to meet with officials from the trio of Kennebec County towns to see how the cooperative arrangement is working and seek suggestions on how it might work in the future.
Hagar is contracted to provide snowplowing services for the winter season of 2010-2011. They propose to extend it for another year to include the winter of 2011-2012.
Grenier told the selectmen Hagar was paid $35,195 for this year. They are scheduled for a $1400 raise for 2010-2011.
In consideration for the town extending the contract for a year, Hagar proposes their payment be the same ($35,195) for next year and the following year. This would save the town about $3000, said Grenier.
