PHILLIPS — The town may lose its only bank in June, and several members of the business community asked selectmen Tuesday night for support to keep it open.

Camden National Bank announced plans to close its Phillips branch on June 28. Residents would have to travel to Kingfield, Rangeley or Farmington branches or do banking online.

Selectmen agreed to have Town Manager Elaine Hubbard express their concerns in a letter to the bank. Business owners, school officials and residents also can learn about the proposed closure at a 6 p.m. meeting Thursday, March 28, at the local branch.

In other news, residents continued to share concerns about potential traffic from a privately-owned Madrid Township gravel pit. Mark Beauregard of Rangeley owns the pit just beyond the Phillips town line and has applied for a permit from the Maine Land Use Planning Commission to excavate gravel.

Franklin County contractors, including E. L. Vining and Sons and Bruce Manzer, would buy and transport the gravel by truckloads from the pit via the town’s section of Reeds Mill Road.

Bert Lambert, a well-known Phillips land surveyor, shared copies of his memorandum to selectmen about this change of use of Reeds Mill Road, from the Madrid town line at Lloyd and Hope Griscom’s residence south to the Bray Hill Road intersection. All Phillips residents would lose a lot and gain nothing, he noted. Residents would lose a snowmobile trail in winter and an ATV trail in summer.

“Hunters, hikers, birdwatchers would lose enjoying this back road” he wrote.

If a truck broke down or rolled over and spilled fuel, people could lose protection of the watershed. Property owners would lose land value, Lambert said.

Adding heavy truck traffic would present safety problems on the narrow road. Taxpayers would be required to spend additional money for maintenance, reconstruction and snowplowing, he said.

Reeds Mill Road south of the Griscoms’ residence is used heavily due to a gravel pit owned by E. L. Vining.

Lambert said a safe road, built with a 20-foot travel section and four-foot shoulders on either side, plus drainage and other necessary features, from the Madrid line to the Bray Hill intersection, would cost about $400,000.

The town would see no economic benefits, he said.

“There are no dwellings or utilities beyond the (Lloyd) Griscom house north to the Madrid Township line,” he noted. “The land on both sides of this road is owned by the state in perpetuity.”

The road is used only during the summer and is so narrow that when two cars meet, one driver has to stop. The road is dry by late May or early June and is open to traffic until snow falls, Lambert said.

Currently, the town does minimal maintenance, which includes occasional culvert repair and minor grading. Changing the status of the road would require an up or down vote at a town meeting.

“I strongly urge that the status of the road remains the same and that an article is put in the town meeting warrant to post the road closed year-round to through-traffic to all commercial trucks larger than a pickup truck,” he suggested to selectmen.

Selectmen took no action other than to continue to review both the road information and the procedure to get the proposed article on the warrant.

Beauregard attended the meeting but was not asked to speak about his proposed use of the road.

After the meeting adjourned, he said he had not been approached by any residents or town officials before they petitioned selectmen at the March 12 meeting. He learned of the petition through a newspaper article after the meeting.

“I figured in case any questions came up, I should come to this meeting to address them,” he said. “I also sent a letter to the selectmen telling them I would like to work to solve whatever concerns they had.”

He said residents only had read information in his application to the Land Use Planning Commission, but he didn’t expect the traffic to and from the pit would approach the numbers of trips that residents were using as a basis for their concerns.