Alna should start saving to replace its salt and sand shed, Second Selectman Ed Pentaleri said a Maine Department of Transportation staff member told him. Pentaleri said he’d sought Peter Coughlan’s advice on the town’s 1987 shed, about to undergo its latest round of repairs.

Pentaleri told Third Selectman Doug Baston and a full meeting room in the town office Sept. 5, Coughlan said the shed has served the town well, but  that he would recommend starting to set aside money for a new one.

The board took no action. Taking questions after the meeting, members said if they decide to propose a reserve fund, the soonest the question would go to voters is likely next March.

As for the upcoming work, the board approved prepping the shed for materials to be applied to help preserve it. Voters at a special town meeting Aug. 22 tapped the shed maintenance reserve to fund the work up to $10,000.

Also Sept. 5, members projected committing taxes by Sept. 14. Town officials reiterated, the recent mailing on the new property values was not a tax bill.  “A lot of people thought it was,” Town Clerk Liz Brown said. Resident Jeff Spinney added, the mailing stated it was not a bill.

Pentaleri said 27 owners took John E. O’Donnell & Associates up on its offer to meet about their property values the New Gloucester firm’s revaluation yielded. Since then, the board has heard concern from one owner. “I think overall it’s an indication the process is going reasonably smoothly,” Pentaleri said.

The board picked Jeff Verney of Alna to do the site work for the new town office. Officials at the meeting did not immediately have numbers on his or four other contractors’ proposals. At the Wiscasset Newspaper’s request later, First Selectman Melissa Spinney, out sick from the meeting, explained via email, Verney’s proposal and the others, from Crooker Construction of Topsham, Hagar Enterprises of Damariscotta, Mike Jewett of Whitefield and Scott Griffin of Edgecomb were all well-detailed, and varied from one another in the work offered.

“(Verney’s) included everything we could have thought of, down to the tree removal necessary to put the driveway in and a well-engineered daylight basement foundation, for $55,000. Griffin was near that price but we would have had to negotiate the construction of the daylight basement for a little more. All had good plans and prices, but Verney’s seemed the most cost-effective and most suitable plans for a town office,” Spinney wrote.

The board also took another step in the town office project: Pentaleri signed a letter from Maine Municipal Bond Bank ahead of the 20-year, $260,000 loan. A rate has not been finalized, Baston said.

Selectmen signed paperwork for MDOT road funds. According to the document, MDOT estimates Alna will get this fiscal year’s $24,136 by Dec. 1. And Brown noted she heard from Bridge Academy Public Library at 44 Middle Road in Dresden, stating membership is free for all Maine residents. Brown said her mother Marguerite Fairfield graduated from Bridge Academy. Officials added, Alna pays Wiscasset Public Library yearly and many residents use it.