The Rangeley Board of Selectmen met at the Chick Hill Pollution Control Facility at 5:00pm on June 21, 2021 prior to their 6:00pm regularly scheduled Town Office meeting.  The Selectmen wanted to increase their knowledge of the composition and operation of this important component of Rangeley’s infrastructure.  Town employees Dan Gacki and Keith Savage provided a detailed overview of the plant and the processes.
Approximately fifty million gallons of wastewater is collected annually in town and pumped to Chick Hill by four pump stations.  The pump stations are located at the Highway Department Garage, Main Street, the Rangeley Lake Regional School access road and on Loon Lake Road.  The wastewater goes into the treatment lagoon which has a thirty-four million gallon capacity.
The treated wastewater is dispersed in warm weather onto forty acres of spray fields using spray guns at a rate of up to 1,400 gallons per minute.  In the winter time the wastewater is put through specialized snow guns and distributed over twenty acres of snowfields at a rate of 350 gallons per minute.
The Chick Hill landscape also includes fourteen acres of septic sludge disposal fields, eight acres of fish waste disposal fields which are used by the Atlantic Salmon Fish Hatchery in Oquossoc, a shale quarry and approximately 350 acres of woodland buffers.  There are more than thirty monitoring wells strategically scattered around the property.  These wells are tested regularly to ensure pollution free groundwater.
Although there was much more to be learned from Dan and Keith the Selectmen ran out of time and thanked them both before heading to the Town Office.
At the Town Office the Selectmen opened their regularly scheduled meeting at 6:00pm.  Liquor license renewals were granted to The Shed and The Furbish Brew House.  Deborah Ladd was reappointed to a three year term on the School Board.  A $5,000.00 donation to enhance the fireworks on July 3rd, offered by Craig Sargent of Sarge’s Sports Pub and Grub, was accepted by unanimous vote.
The Selectmen authorized the Town Manager to sign a one year extension of the cleaning/janitorial contract with Suzanne Lord at the same cost as last year.  Suzanne cleans the Rangeley Town Office, Public Safety Building, Oquossoc Fire Station, Snow Removal Equipment Building located at the airport and the comfort stations in Rangeley and Oquossoc for an annual fee of $24,100.00.
The fund that contained the bond money for the Rangeley Town Park project ended up with a negative balance of $10,897.09.  The negative balance was the result of the project costs exceeding the bond amount.  The negative balance was moved to a fund with sufficient reserves to cover the deficit and the Park Bond fund was zeroed out.
The Selectmen authorized the Town Manager to sign Service Contracts for fire protection and solid waste disposal for some of the unorganized townships and plantations of Franklin and Oxford Counties.
June 30th was chosen for a 6:00pm quarterly meeting at the Oquossoc Fire Station with Dallas, Sandy River and Rangeley Plantations.  The main focus of the meeting will be a presentation from Town and Plantation broadband delegates on the current status of the improved broadband initiative.  The public is welcome to attend.
The next Rangeley Board of Selectmen’s meeting has been rescheduled to Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 6:00pm due to the holiday.
Have a safe and happy July 4th holiday!