LITCHFIELD — How much manure poses a road hazard?

That’s one of the issues selectmen will discuss at their 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Town Manager Michael Byron said it appears that a faulty mechanism on a manure wagon traveling down Plains Road is spreading a significant amount of manure on the road itself, prompting concern among town officials.

He said the board will discuss information from Seth Goodall, the town’s attorney, about whether it could constitute a hazard and make the town liable for damages in the event of a crash.

Douglas Read, chairman of the board of selectmen, said the town has numerous farms, and that manure winds up on the road both from vehicles and from animals crossing the roadway from one field to another.

“This time of the year everybody is clearing out their pits and spreading it so they can store more for the winter,” Read said, adding, “The only two times I’ve washed my truck this year were after going through deep manure.”

Both Byron and Read said selectmen might try to contact the person transporting the load and ask to have the wagon repaired.

Litchfield selectmen will deal with another roadway issue Tuesday involving what they believe is an encroachment of a town travelway.

Byron said five town officials and Goodall took measurements and photos last week and determined that a retaining wall on Perkins Road encroaches the town’s right of way and travel way.

Byron said officials gathered the material in anticipation of preparing a lawsuit that will seek to have the owner move the wall, which is topped by trees and shrubbery.

Read said he talked to the land owner, Don Richard, after the measurements were taken.

“He clearly doesn’t want to move it,” Read said. “To me it’s very unfortunate. I hate to see him have to move that wall, but we can’t have the own in such a position that it could be found legally liable.

“We have to resolve issue of who’s liable if there’s an accident.”

Richard did not return a call for comment left on Sunday.

Perkins Road is a gravel road, and the town has a 49.5-foot right of way with an 18-foot travelway.

So far, selectmen have put up red reflectors on the wall to alert motorists about it. “If we don’t act, then we’re negligent,” Read said.

In other business, selectmen will consider installing a culvert and bringing in gravel to build up the base of a low portion of Little Road, which is off Whippoorwill Road.

Selectmen also will hear Byron’s recommendation on whether the first 1,000 feet of Beaver Lane Extension should be grand-fathered because it mirrors a private road used years ago by a girls’ camp.

Byron said property owner David Southmayd has asked for the determination.

The site is off Hardscrabble Road.

Also on Tuesday, the board will open sealed bids on tree-length logs — containing an estimated 16 cords of wood — that were given to the town by Central Maine Power Co. following cutting for a corridor for high tension lines.

Byron said the money received will go to the Litchfield Fuel Assistance Fund. The fund is administered by the town and provides temporary fuel assistance to residents who need help but whose income levels do not qualify them for general assistance.

The fund currently contains about $2,000, Byron said.

Bids on the logs are due by noon on Tuesday. Four sealed bids were received by the end of the week.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

[email protected]