Failed
Bridge and empty buildings concern Council
By
Elizabeth Prata
Gray--A failing bridge, spending money to get money,
and empty buildings concerned the Gray Town Council
Tuesday night as they discussed and voted on short
agenda items that took a long time to decide.
The Hunts Hill Davis Bridge is an important route
for the townspeople, Public Works Director Steve LaVallee
said to the Council. When the area at the Meadows
just south of the Gray Plaza floods, as it does frequently,
and the road is closed, the Hunts Hill Road is the
escape route. The Department of Transportation, who
inspects bridges, issued warnings to the Town starting
in 2001 that the bridge was starting to get iffy,
and issued warnings since 2003 that it was beginning
to fail. This fall, the bridge was closed by the Town
after getting a DOT warning that it would reliably
carry loads any more.
The Town Council had wanted information.
They had wanted to talk with Mr. LaVallee and the
construction engineer, Al Palmer of Gorrill-Palmer.
They had wanted financials. Once all these ingredients
were assembled and readied for Tuesday's meeting,
things at began to cook.
Mr. LaVallee said that in 2003 he began the contracting
out process, and this fall the package was going out
to bid. But the bridge failed before the bids went
out and put the Town in a jam. There was $160,000
in the Capital Improvement Plan to pay for the bridge
and Mr. Palmer said that the company's goal with this
emergency project was to meet shortened timelines,
stay within the already-dedicated $160,000 in Capital
Improvement dedicated for this project, and meet current
capacity with water flows through the culvert that
is the main portion of the bridge.
Vice-Chair Andy Upham said that he would have preferred
not to be in a jam, having a short time frame to get
it fixed. He advocated for better planning so major
capital projects don't emerge suddenly. "I am
beside myself that we didn't get this sooner, it would
have been better for the people of Gray."
Chair Gary Foster asked Mr. Palmer about time frames
to complete the job. The road is closed now and has
been for several weeks. Mr. Palmer said they are anticipating
repairing the bridge and re-opening the road by the
second week of December, "if we can get pavement
back onto the roadway."
In other business, Planner Dick Cahill was on hand
to talk about the Downtown Village Revitalization
Grant. The Town had applied for, and was awarded a
grant that would supply $10,000 to the town with a
requirement that the Town kick in $1,000, to study
how to improve the Downtown.
Elements to be studied would be traffic, sidewalks,
parking, landscaping, parks, historic structures,
and public infrastructure. Mr. Cahill said that by
working through the first grant it enables the town
to apply for a bigger pool of grant money to fulfill
the recommendations coming from the initial grant.
Asked how much money, Mr. Cahill said he did not know.
Councilor John Welch was opposed to the grant expenditure.
He had asked several times at previous meetings for
specifics as to what was wrong with the downtown but
was not provided any answers to his satisfaction.
"I'm not saying there aren't things that could
be improved, but many of the items here call for improvements
to what is now private property. This grant mentions
'blight." Blight is subjective. Unless you want
government to pass ordinances banning unsightly buildings,
how can the Town prohibit that?" he asked.
Councilor Skip Crane thought the timeframes would
be better if they waited for the Bypass to be constructed
and any impacts to the downtown reviewed at that time.
Councilor Upham said that there were many of the elements
in the proposal scope of work that could be completed
by staff. "I made notes specific to the Comprehensive
Plan, most of what you want to do is addressed in
it. The Economic Development Strategy report, paid
for and completed by consultants three years ago,
is sitting on the shelf.
The Comprehensive Plan contains many recommendations
relative to the downtown, Mr. Upham said. As for traffic,
we already know we have traffic, and the DOT had given
us three reports on traffic in the Village center
and said that they will work with us. As for parking,
just count the parking spaces, and as for the rest,
we already have that data." He was opposed to
spending money to obtain data that the Town already
possesses.
Mr. Cahill replied that there is limited staff and
this was a lot of work. He also said that the Comp
Plan was not specific and the Economic Development
strategy focused mainly on commercial issues.
Mr. Foster asked if the grants that the Town would
be eligible for were total grants or if there would
be some portion that would be matching. Mr. Cahill
replied that they were matching, most at a 25% level.
Denise Duda aid that the money was voted on by the
taxpayers at June Town Meeting and as far as she was
concerned, it was a done deal. Mr. Foster said he
felt the same.
Gray Business Association President Leo Credit said
that he would like to see the Village Plan go forward,
because "We need to give people hope that you
are working to improve things. There's nothing to
lose by doing it and everything to lose if we don't."
The Council's vote was 3-2, with Mr. Welch and Mr.
Crane opposed.
The Council has been looking at the Town's capital
assets in preparation for developing the budget. The
old Post Office is an asset that has remained empty
for three years, the Library has requested money for
a building expansion, and if the Town is successful
in its pursuit to receive Pennell Institute from the
School Department, that would be another asset needing
money to fix up. Several Council members have not
been inside some parts of these facilities, so they
agreed to tour the three facilities on Nov. 15 from
3-5 p.m.
