PITTSTON — Following ongoing controversy over road repairs in town, selectmen in Pittston have invited the town’s road commissioner to meet with them in workshop meetings to discuss road repairs and spending.

A week ago, Jane Hubert, chairwoman of the Pittston Board of Selectmen, called an emergency meeting to discuss repairs that Sam Snow, Pittson’s elected road commissioner, made to North Beech Hill Road.

While as an elected official Snow does not report to the Board of Selectmen, the board has repeatedly told Snow to keep it informed of planned road repairs because the board oversees the town’s budget. Board members have said while Snow has agreed to do that, he has not followed through.

Snow owns Sam Snow Construction Inc., and he has routinely taken on road repairs in Pittston at the Kennebec County state wage rate.

At the March 8 meeting, Snow said he had received a call from a couple who live on North Beech Hill Road; they said they could not drive down the road because of mud in the roadway.

“Let the road commissioner do it, Jane,” Snow told Hubert at the meeting. “That’s what I did.”

Advertisement

At that emergency meeting, members of the public debated whether that repair should have been treated as an emergency.

Spending on road repairs will come before Pittston voters at Saturday’s Town Meeting, when residents will consider whether to allocate $64,000 from a reserve account to cover spending in excess of what was approved in the current year’s budget for repairs to Jewett Road. The town paid an engineer to look at the Jewett Road paving project, as well as other culverts and road damage from recent rain storms.

On Thursday, Hubert said Snow had not produced a list of itemized expenses and road work in the town at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting  as he had been asked to do.

“He did produce part of a plan for mowing as rough cutting, but as far as the roads, I think we are going to have to meet more in a work session,” Hubert said. “He said he would go. I think more of a work session thing would work, rather than debating at Select Board meetings.”

The next workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 25 at the Town Office on Whitefield Road.

Snow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Copy the Story Link

Related Headlines


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: