Woodstock selectmen choose mid-range dam bid

    Woodstock selectmen Tuesday awarded a bid for dam reconstruction, wrapped up work on the town’s proposed 2013 budget and voted to support an effort to return rail service to the region.
 The board unanimously chose Cross Excavation’s bid of $71,000 to rebuild the Lake Christopher dam.
 Other bids included Korhonen Land Care ($49,200), Andre’s Construction ($109,000); Bancroft ($109,750), and Wyman & Simpson ($123,364).
 Selectman Ron Deegan said he favored Cross because the contractor brought a “concrete man” to a preliminary dam inspection with project engineer Jim Sysko, and the expert offered other options for doing the work.
  “That shows initiative,” said Deegan.
    Rick Young said was confident Cross had the resources to complete the job in the Aug. 15-Sept. 15 work window.
    The town currently has $102,800 available for the project. The bid chosen was lower than anticipated, allowing selectmen to reduce an additional $55,000 amount they planned to propose at the March 25 town meeting for the project. The board settled on $20,000. Other project expenses include the engineering fees.
    The board also approved a proposed 2013 budget of $2,491,698, up from last year's $2,416,977. The figure includes county tax and an estimate for the SAD 44 share.
    If town meeting voters approve the budget, the amount to be raised from taxes would be $2,136,993, up from $2,081,428.
    The mil rate would be 11.76, up from 11.45. 

Selectmen also met with Glenn Holmes, director of the Western Maine Economic Development Council, who asked them to sign a resolution to join a regional coalition for the purpose of “identifying, exploring, and implementing opportunities for regional collaboration in restoration of passenger rail for economic development.”
  Regional business leaders have been working for several years to gather support for restoring rail service.
   Holmes said it would  be a long-term effort, but it could in the end bring economic benefit to the area.
  “As long as they’re not asking for money,” said Young, he would agree to it.
 The board voted unanimously to support the resolution. Maxfield will represent Woodstock on the Androscoggin, Oxford and Coos Counties Corridor Coalition.
  In other business Tuesday selectmen:
  Approved a Request for Proposal format from the Woodstock Conservation Commission for a “source protection plan” for the Roadside Spring;
 Learned the Roadside Spring will reopen March 8 or 9, after being closed for cleaning recently when it barely failed an E. coli test, according to Maxfield;
  Learned area recreational summer sports teams will drop in number from 14 to 9 this season due to declining populations of children.