JAY — Selectpersons voted Monday to continue the policy on tax and sewer property foreclosures and to have the recreation/tower lot marked for selective timber harvest.
The vote on foreclosures allows the town to give property owners an additional 30 days to pay all taxes and sewer fees owed to redeem properties, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.
The grace period will end April 4.
The board also agreed to allow Police Chief Richard Caton IV to bid on a cruiser the town of Van Buren is selling.
Caton told selectpersons he is putting money in the 2022-23 budget for a new cruiser. The Van Buren Police Department closed in December 2020, and the cruiser has been sitting in a heated garage since Dec. 6, according to information provided by Caton.
The 2020 Ford Interceptor hybrid has 7,310 miles on it and new equipment was installed before the department closed because of an officer shortage, Caton said.
It takes a minimum of 30 weeks to get a new cruiser, he said.
In other business, forester Steve Gettle of Jay gave the board an update on the timber harvest at the town gravel pit lot off the East Jay and Belanger roads. Selectpersons awarded the harvesting contract to George Merrill & Son Logging of Maine in a mixed vote last year.
About 80 acres of the 155-acre parcel has been selectively cut. Gettle previously marked the timber to be harvested. It has been the worst of the wood and the wettest area, he said.
Gettle said the harvest is going well. As of Jan. 14, stumpage payments sent to the town were $33,355.89. The part not cut yet is where the best quality of wood is located, he said.
“I think we are set up pretty well to capitalize on the market,” Gettle said.
The next area to selectively harvest is the section of the recreation/tower lot area behind the high school. Gettle suggested it be put out to bid in June or July and to have the harvest done between December and March 2023. The board approved Gettle marking the town’s share of the lot. Regional School Unit 73 owns the other section.
He estimated the cost would be about $1,400, which includes 45 cans of boundary line paint.
In another matter, Chairman Terry Bergeron said there is a public hearing on the proposed $5.5 million municipal budget at 6 p.m. March 14 at Spruce Mountain Elementary School gym.
Absentee ballots will be available March 25. The annual Town Meeting referendum is from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 26 at the middle school gym.
Candidates who returned nomination papers for elected positions are: Lee Ann Dalessandro and Esther O’Brien Nolin for a three-year term on the Select Board; Chantelle Woodcock for a two-year term and J. Lynn Ouellette for a three-year term on the RSU 73 Board of Directors. No one returned papers for another three-year term on the board.
In addition, no one submitted nomination papers for a three-year term on each of the North Jay Water District and Jay Village Water District boards.
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