BELGRADE — About two dozen voters dealt speedily Saturday morning with late bills for construction of the new Town Office.

The special town meeting, held in the large meeting room at the new Town Office, lasted about eight minutes.

In that time, residents approved taking $30,461.90 from the undesignated fund to pay for site engineering services from Thayer Engineering, of Farmingdale, and a 90-cent bill from Fabian Oil.

In the next breath, voters approved taking $14,661.26 from the town’s pit closure account and putting it into the undesignated fund.

They also authorized the transfer of $5,891.07 from the new Town Office account to the undesignated fund.

That amount represents credits from Hammond Lumber for $4,837.71 and Gagne Concrete for $1,053.36.

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Dennis Keschl, a former state representative from Belgrade and member of the town’s Road Committee, asked what the total in the undesignated fund is; Treasurer Melanie Alexander said it was $1.34 million.

The result of Saturday’s actions was a net $9,909.57 reduction in the undesignated fund balance.

After the special meeting. Michael Barrett, chairman of the selectmen, said, “We look forward to enjoying the use of the building,” It was opened in June.

Town officials also hope that the old Town Office, a few hundred yards farther north on Route 27, is sold soon because that money, too, would be put into the undesignated fund.

The building, which was once a restaurant, on less than an acre, is listed for sale for $155,000.

In August 2015, residents approved up to $1.2 million for construction of a Town Office on Route 27 in the town’s former gravel pit.

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Initially, the project had unanticipated costs of more than $206,000. That pushed the cost well beyond the $60,000 in contingency built into the budget, so residents in August authorized selectmen to use $157,000 from the town’s undesignated fund to cover the unexpected extra work.

The items that weren’t factored into the original budget included $52,100 for engineering services; $11,200 for a water filtration system for the entire building, which was added after tests showed a high level of salt in the water; $17,500 in additional site work to make changes to a drainage and retention pond and add a septic system for the water filtration system; $39,900 for loam and seeding; $17,700 for gravel needed to help raise the building 3 inches; and $68,100 to pay for materials that turned out to be custom or special-order items.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

 


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