News Briefs

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
$5million FAA grant approved
    HOULTON — The town council met briefly yesterday in a special noon session to approve a grant between Houlton and the Federal Aviation Administration to rehabilitate Runway 5-23 at Houlton International Airport. By approving the grant, the town authorizes the town manager to execute all documents pertaining to the agreement.
    The $5,130,000 agreement requires some matching funds from Houlton and the state. Ninety-five percent of the total is federal money. The remaining 5 percent is equally divided between Houlton and the state. The town’s share, approved in the 2009 budget, is $128,250 which includes labor. Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary says the job will be bid out sometime in April.
    Town Manager Douglas Hazlett said several upcoming capital projects, including the airport runway renovation, mean good news for Houlton because it will provide work for local contractors and crews. Among the projects Hazlett cited are: a 28-apartment senior citizen complex in the downtown area, and renovations at Houlton Regional Hospital. Also, pending voter approval of the bond issue this month, 11 miles of sidewalk renovation and numerous road repairs will mean additional work for local contractors and laborers during a tough economic period as the nation struggles toward a recovery.
Snow removal keeps crews busy
    This week’s snowstorm freshened up dirty snow on the ground with at least six inches of the fluffy white stuff. But the blowing and the snowing made it look a lot higher in many areas. “We had a lot of drifting,” said Public Works Director Leigh Stilwell who had his crews out Monday morning at 4 a.m. and again Tuesday at 2 a.m. Those nighttime storms means crews have to work overtime and clear roads for the morning commute.
    One crew plows what Stilwell calls “the spokes to the town” or  the main drags, laying down salt and seven other crews plow the country routes with a salt-sand mix for a total of 36 square miles of coverage.
    Although the town manager says January and February were tough months, not necessarily abnormal for snow removal, the saving grace was the lower price of diesel fuel compared to last year.
    After the big storms in December which strained the remaining 2008 budget, Hazlett said it ended the year on a bit of a sour note. But, each January starts a new budget year. “We are coping within our budget,” says Hazlett who added, “A big component of our snow-removal budget is, in fact, the cost of diesel fuel.”
    However, storms are more than plowing. He says in addition to plowing, there is snow removal — hauling snow from downtown and main roads to the now famous snow pile near Aroostook Milling which did not melt completely last year until the end of July.
     He hasn’t said if there will be another contest to see who comes closest to the snow mountain meltdown. “It’s big, but it’s certainly nowhere near where it was last year. It’s probably only half of the size of what it was last year.”