By Theron Larkins
Staff Writer
WOODLAND — The Woodland Selectpeople met on Feb. 18 for a regular meeting. The session was brief, but the main article addressed was the Highway Department’s report, which is a regularly scheduled topic, however, with extreme weather recently experienced in northern Maine, the report was more dismal than Road Commissioner Steve Dumais is used to.
Not only have highway crews been busy with a series of snowstorms and the steady stream of inclement weather in the area, they’ve suffered a number of breakdowns and issues with equipment. At least four of the town’s trucks are either being worked on at Daigle and Houghton, or require work done by the Highway Dept. itself, from blown head gaskets to non-functioning water-pumps, the town’s maintenance vehicles have suffered a recent spat of malfunctions that Dumais says has dwindled the department’s equipment fund down to nothing. Dumais informed the board that he foresees that fund being completely dried up by the end of the winter season.
“It’s been a rough month,” said Dumais. “We can’t seem to repair one truck without something going wrong with another.”
Dumais explained that the blown head gaskets on one truck would cost upward of $3,000 while fuel injectors on another would cost approximately $1,200; the rest was still uncertain. His goal at Tuesday’s meeting was simply to give the board members forewarning.
“If and when the time comes that I have to come back and tell you I can’t fix anything because there’s no money left, I just wanted everyone to know the reason,” said Dumais. “It’s been a hard winter for us.”
Board members were left with the unfortunate news regarding the lack of equipment funds, and remain somewhat helpless, at the whim of the closing winter season. The board hopes the issue of no funds will not be one they will face in the upcoming month of March, but are also fully aware that things like weather are beyond anyone’s control.
