Alna selectmen on May 4 went with the low bidder for the next three years of plowing. Besides the savings, the board cited the job the contractor, Whitefield’s Mike Jewett, did in the 2022-23 winter, and the inclusion of subcontractors’ Ben Jewett and Calvin Cooper’s names in the bid. “We’ve seen their work, we know their work, we like their work,” Third Selectman Coreysha Stone said.

First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said of the firm’s service over the winter, he received no “valid” complaints; he even got compliments on it, “and I didn’t think that ever happened in nature.” He said the “contrast couldn’t have been greater” from the 2021-22 winter under a different contractor. Holbrook Excavating of Woolwich did not do the third year of its contract. Selectmen then hired Mike Jewett and, when the town requested bids this spring, his $300,000 a year bid and the $356,760 a year one from Waldoboro’s Gordon Libby were the only ones received, as the board announced last month. 

Second Selectman Steven Graham said Jewett’s bid listed far less, but much newer, equipment. Stone voiced “gratitude” to both bidders.

Also May 4, the board adopted a roads weight restrictions ordinance Pentaleri said – unlike land use ordinances – does not take a town vote. He said the town has been posting weight limits all along, but he recently learned those are not enforceable without an ordinance.

“This ordinance doesn’t do anything other than what we thought we were entitled to do forever before,” Pentaleri said. He said the roads committee recommended against allowing permanent weight limits. He and resident Cathy Johnson favored including a permanent option, for the flexibility.

Stone, who serves on the committee, said its recommendation to leave out “permanent” resulted from a lively discussion, and part of her support for that recommendation was to honor town committees’ efforts. And she confirmed with Road Commissioner Jeff Verney, selectmen could always extend a road’s seasonal posting. On a question from Beth Whitney, Pentaleri said since the ordinance takes only a board vote, selectmen could amend it if they wanted to permanently post a road. 

In the night’s public comment, resident Mike Trask continued urging selectmen to record the weekly “working meetings” they hold on off weeks from their night ones that are carried live on, and recorded on, Zoom. He later noted the “working” ones are at 11 a.m. on alternate Wednesdays, and according to alna.maine.gov, include an executive session for legal consultation. Pentaleri explained, the executive session does not always occur; it is on there in case it does.

Trask and resident Jeff Spinney said they cannot attend the day meetings, due to work. 

Selectmen noted minutes are kept of the working meetings, and the recordings take extra steps. “It’s just as important for me to be able to see your reactions, and your interaction with each other (than) me reading a set of notes that you have no context for whatsoever,” Trask said. Selectmen may discuss options at their May 10 working meeting. 

Pentaleri told Wiscasset Newspaper May 5, an executive session on a personnel matter, unrelated to the recording issue, was being planned for the May 10 working meeting. And a May 6 town email announced the May 10 working meeting would be at the special time of 10:30 a.m.