JAY — The Select Board voted Tuesday to accept a $75,000 grant to complete engineering for two culvert replacement projects on Alden Hill Road and Davenport Hill Road that were heavily damaged by rain and flooding in May and June 2023.

The Community Resilience Partnership Community Action Grant is good for May 28 to May 14, 2027.

The town applied for the grant to collaborate with an engineering firm on designs and permitting for two critical culverts. Upgrading them will have a “significant positive impact” and receiving the grant to cover engineering costs will great enhance the project’s feasibility, according to the written scope of work.

The two culverts identified in the application are on Davenport Hill Road and Alden Hill Road. Each of the culverts and associated roadways were significantly affected by extreme storms in 2023. In May 2023 both culverts were overwhelmed by flooding and the culverts and roadways immediately surrounding them were destroyed. The locations were fixed, except for paving, prior to the June 29, 2023, storm.

The roads built over these two culverts support residents and others traveling through the community. They also support businesses in the area. Davenport Hill Road is a largely residential area but also includes a seasonal campground and home occupations.

The Alden Hill Road provides access to residents living in neighboring Canton and will also be an access point for the former Androscoggin Paper Mill, a location being developed for a new oriented strand board plant. Godfrey Wood Products is building the manufacturing facility on part of the former mill property.

Once the engineering is done, the town plans to apply for a grant from the Maine Department of Transportation Municipal Stream Crossing Program to help with costs installing the culverts.

The Select Board also voted to approve a request for proposals to seek bids to repair damage to the front northerly corner wall of the North Jay Fire Station. The section of wall was hit when a driver of a firetruck returning from a chimney fire was backing Engine 1 into the station and the right rear bumper corner made contact with the masonry corner of the bay door opening.  It displaced and fractured the brick facade and concrete block structure, vertical cracking and separation along the wall, and damage to interior wall panels near the emergency exit, according to Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere.

The Select Board also appointed two residents, Lisa Bryant and Jennifer Lynch, to serve on the Jay and Wilton Police Collaboration Committee. Also on the committee is Select Board Chairman Terry Bergeron, Selectperson Lee Ann Dalessandro, Police Chief Joseph Sage and LaFreniere.

The Wilton Select Board will appoint two residents to the committee at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilton Town Office meeting room. On the committee are Selectmen Keith Swett and David Leavitt, Town Manager Maria Greeley and Police Chief Ethan Kyes.

The first meeting will be at 10 a.m. June 9 at the Jay Town Office in the meeting room at 340 Main St. in Jay.