JAY — The Select Board voted Monday to approve completed work on damaged roads, repairs in progress and if needed, an emergency fix on sewer lines as a result of from a June 29 rainstorm.
The town’s preliminary estimate to repair damage from the torrential rains and flooding is $5,000 short of $4 million. That does not include damage estimates to state roads or the estimated $500,000 damage to a section of the state’s Whistle Stop Trail in Jay.
The figures were submitted to Maine Emergency Management Agency on Friday. The state’s threshold is $2.4 million to apply for a Presidential Disaster Declaration.
Terry Bergeron, chairman of the Jay Select Board, said a Maine Department of Transportation representative told him and LaFreniere it is going to cost over $1 million to fix state Route 133. The state is also working on or has fixed state routes 4, 140 and 156.
The major affected roads are Look Brook Circle, Woodman Hill, Davenport Hill, Canton Mountain, Masterman, Old Jay Hill, Macomber Hill, Morse Hill, Hutchinson, Lomie Rivers, Begin, Plaisted, Soules Hill, Bean, Davis, Beedy and East Jay.
Other roads were also damaged.
Also, roughly 1,300 feet of sewer main washed out in a line along state Route 4 on the south side of Jay Hill and the rail-trail sewer transmission line and access damage.
Some of the roads have been repaired to make them accessible, others are in progress or awaiting work.
Contractors Jean Castonguay Logging and Excavation of Livermore Falls is working on Soules Hill Road and Look Brook Circle to restore access, rebuild roads and repair/reset sewer lines.
C.H. Stevenson Inc. of Wayne is working on Canton Mountain and Woodman Hill roads to restore access, rebuild both and replace culverts. The company is also working to provide temporary access to Hutchinson Road.
The town crew is also working on road repairs. Pratt & Sons Inc. of Minot is available if the sewer lines on state Route 4 need to be done in an emergency, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.
“I have been impressed how everybody jumped in,” Bergeron said, including other towns to help Jay.
“Kudos to our employees,” LaFreniere said. The Public Works crew and the Fire Rescue Department and other employees have been working hard since June 29.
The Select Board also chose to have Main-Land Development Consultants of Livermore Falls do engineering work needed for permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and Maine Department of Environmental Protection, LaFreniere said.
Town representatives have discussed with the town auditor using money left in the 2022-23 budget, about $70,000 from the Sewer Department and $125,000 from the Public Works Department, she said.
More money will be needed to fix the roads and sewer lines. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds will play into this, if a disaster declaration is declared.
The money paid out so far has come from 2023-24 budget, she said.
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