MINOT — This summer’s road paving program is proceeding on schedule, Town Administrator Arlan Saunders told selectmen Monday.

Two weeks ago the selectmen learned that R.C. and Sons, the firm that won the contract for the summer paving program, had locked its doors. The board immediately authorized Saunders to negotiate with other companies that bid on the work.

Saunders said there was no guarantee that any of the three other bidders would be in a position to jump in, with summer schedules firmed up.

“Everything fell in place. Pike Industries agreed to hold their bid price and their schedule opened up,” Saunders said.

Work had already begun on Jackass Annie Road. Dayton Sand and Gravel, working for R. C. and Sons, had already completed the reclaim work and the town highway crew had finished the gravel lift and fine graded it.

Pike Industries, when rain forced it to alter its schedule elsewhere, was able to come in and do the base paving.

“We’re very grateful they were able to step in,” Saunders said.

Pike Industries held to its bid of $174,000. The bid from R.C. and Sons had been $170,000.

Saunders noted that prior to R.C. and Sons’ sudden shutdown, the town had written out a two-party check in the amount of $10,000 to R.C. and Sons and Dayton Sand and Gravel.

“I also have been dealing with Dayton Sand and Gravel as they did the reclaim for R.C. and didn’t get paid,” Saunders said.

Saunders noted that 1,180 tons of asphalt were used for the base on Jackass Annie Road, three tons more than the original estimate.

He also told selectmen that Code Enforcement Officer Ken Pratt had received a request from Chuck Starbird for a second building permit on a York Road property.

Starbird challenged the town in court, taking his case all the way to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, where he won his appeal of the town’s decision not to allow him to build on the unaccepted portion of York Road.

Saunders said Pratt denied the new request, after consulting with town attorney Norm Ratty.

“Norm has stated that the court ruling is for one permit and Ken is denying the new request and if appealed it will go to the Appeals Board,” Saunders said.

Pratt recently gave Starbird a building permit for his property on the unaccepted portion of York Road. The second permit is for a building on a five-acre lot owned by someone else.

Saunders also reported that the town office’s telephone system received a direct lightning strike in Friday’s storm. While the system is still down, calls are coming in to a single telephone, a situation that Saunders described as less than ideal.

In other business, selectmen authorized town treasurer Holly Packard to write a prepayment check for the town’s new $150,000 firetruck and voted to accept the auditor’s report on town accounts for the 2011-2012 fiscal year that ended Jan. 31.