Selectmen authorized Town Manager Rosemary Kulow to enter into a contract with Mechanic Savings Bank to provide the town with short-term financing at an annual percentage rate of 0.75 percent.

 

Town officials seeking to expedite the expansion were forced to take the move because the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, which the town intends to use for long-term financing, issues bonds only twice a year — with the next issuance scheduled for mid-October.

 

Mechanic Savings Bank’s offer was the lowest of four bids received by the town. The highest bid was 1.5 percent interest.

 

“These are the lowest borrowing interest rates I have seen in 35 years of public service,” Kulow said. “We are very fortunate to be financing this project at this point in time.”

 

Voters at the April 7 town meeting approved a $2.3 million plan to upgrade and expand the town’s Fire-Rescue Station on Aggregate Road.

 

The size of the building will be about doubled, expanding from the existing 7,392 square feet to 14,524 square feet.

 

In other business, selectmen authorized Kulow to prepare a request for proposals for striping town roads.

 

Kulow told selectmen that based on the list of roads submitted by Public Works Director Jim Scott and what the per-foot bids come in at, the cost would probably be about $4,300 of the $8,560 voters approved for the program.

 

Selectmen suggested the names of a number of roads that could benefit from center stripes that perhaps Kulow should add to the list.

 

Selectmen advised that Kulow should include in the request for proposals a provision that work must be completed by mid-September.

 

Meeting with Code Enforcement Officer Nick Adams, selectmen learned that the public has shown little interest in the new flood plain maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

 

Adams attributed this to the fact that it would appear that, while there may be some substantial changes around Auburn and Lewiston, there has been no updates of the old maps for the Poland area.

 

He estimated four or five people have been in during the past week. The public has until Sept. 5 to file an appeal disagreeing with flood boundaries.

 

Selectmen also authorized Kulow to enter into an agreement with RHR Smith & Co. to provide audit services; accepted and signed a certification for $76,012 to be made available to the town through the state Urban-Rural Initiative Program for the support of town roads; and voted for Kulow to serve on the Maine Municipal Association’s Legislative Policy Committee.