POLAND — Following a public hearing Tuesday, selectmen approved adding three town roads to the list of those posted to heavy vehicles during the customary spring thaw.

Added to the list of roads forbidden to through passage by vehicles of 23,000 pounds and above are North Raymond Road extension and Tripp Lake and Herrick Valley roads.

In making the request for the additional roads, Public Works Director Tom Learned noted that in each case, truckers have alternative routes available on state roads that are less susceptible to damage.

The only member of the public to speak out was a Hackett Mill Road resident who complained of the lack of enforcement on posted roads.

In other business, Learned presented the board with an appraisal of the winter season and a preview of summer projects.

Learned noted that winter had been kind to Poland. The 14 ice or snow events to which the town crew responded left the sand shed half full and money in the overtime budget.

The early snowmelt meant that the highway crew was able to get a jump on what normally is summer work, clearing brush and even doing some ditching as early as February.

Learned said he expects the paving for the Johnson Hill Road project to take place in early July and that Carpenter Road will be ready for base paving in September.

Also:

• The board also met with Hilt Hollow resident Larry Hilt and set May 31 as the date for a workshop meeting to discuss and establish details for the continued upkeep of Hilt Hollow Road.

The parties have much to settle as, according to the terms of a court settlement, the town owns the land under the road, but the road itself is not an accepted road. The town considers it a private driveway serving the two residents of what was an abandoned subdivision.

• Town Manager Bradley Plante reported that Regional School Unit 16’s proposed budget, if approved, would increase Poland’s assessment by about $96,000.

Plante noted that this is about $50,000 less than earlier estimations and that property taxpayers could expect a tax increase, from increases on both the school and town sides of the budget, of about 19 cents per $1,000 in property valuation.

• Plante also reported that the prime factor for the increase in seagulls noted in the vicinity of Tripp Lake is farms placing open food waste in the fields for livestock, and that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is speaking to a farm owner about the situation. The seagulls are seen as a threat to water quality in both Tripp Lake and Lake Thompson and the USDA has billed the Tripp Lake environmental association $2,723 to deal with the matter, Plante said.

• The board approved the Poland Sno Travelers’ request to run bingo games at the 94 Plains Road pavilion, May through September.

• Selectmen set Sept. 24 as the date for the employee recognition dinner.

• They accepted a draft of the request for proposals for the demolition of the McConaghy House and named Jean Potuchek to the Conservation Commission.