Thorndike residents will vote on the building type for its long-contested salt and sand shed, elect a full Board of Selectmen and vote on a municipal budget Saturday.
Residents will gather at 9 a.m. to vote on 44 articles at the annual Town Meeting, scheduled to be held in the parking lot of the Thorndike Fire Department.
“Everything’s pretty much routine,” Third Selectman Bob Carter said. “There’s the sand and salt shed, that’s the big item. But there’s going to be an engineer from A.E. Hodsdon to answer questions.”
Residents will vote by secret ballot on the type of building for the town’s new salt and sand shed. The choices are steel-frame fabric with a precast foundation or poured foundation, laminated arch building or conventional construction. The cost estimate for the steel-frame fabric with a precast foundation is $356,000; poured foundation $423,000. The estimate for a laminated arch structure is $447,000 and the conventional construction is estimated to cost $467,000.
The firm is giving the town a few building types so residents can choose what they want, Carter said.
According to estimates and bids in the warrant, the steel-frame fabric structure with a precast foundation has the highest life cycle cost. The poured foundation is significantly less expensive over time. For the most part the more the town pays up at the beginning, the less the shed will cost over time.
The town hired Waterville-based engineering firm A.E. Hodsdon as a consultant on the salt and sand shed project.
“They’re the same firm that did our fire building,” Carter said. “They do a lot for towns and are pretty reputable.”
Other big ticket items include raising $232,000 for winter road maintenance in 2021-22; $70,000 to pave Reynolds Road and part of East Thorndike Road; $65,000 for summer road work; $52,269.98 general administration budget; $48,750 for a reassessment of town property; $48,000 for the town office and $42,900 for trash pickup.
Voters will also elect a full three-member Board of Selectmen by secret ballot.
“It’s just your typical articles,” Carter said.
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