PERHAM, Maine — The Perham Select Board held a tense meeting Monday during which members of the public expressed concern about the recently completed Blackstone Road project.
Some residents complained the road isn’t wide enough for cars to pass each other, and the drainage ditches are not deep enough on both sides of the Blackstone Road.
Residents also complained that the language of the Blackstone Road contract did not match the finished project.
“The [Select Board] and the contractor both agreed we were happy with the outcome [of the Blackstone Road project},” said selectman Anthony Huston after Monday’s meeting was adjourned.
Perham was awarded $73,500 in ARPA funds for four road projects last year that included the Blackstone Road, Tangle Ridge Road, High Meadow Road, and Mouse Island Road.
The Perham Select Board decided to approve just the Tangle Ridge Road and the Blackstone Road. Tangle Ridge Road project has yet to be completed.
Total costs for the projects are $147,000. The ARPA funds were awarded to Perham on August 1, 2022. The Perham Select Board allocated $73,500 to match the ARPA funds at an annual town meeting in March.
Perham matched the ARPA grant total of $73,500 by allocating excise tax revenues of $24,020, Local Road Assistance Program at $24,480, and Perham’s own ARPA funds at $25,000 approved in warrant articles at the annual town meeting.
The Blackstone Road project was completed two weeks after being awarded to Jim Bouchard of JBBC construction on July 23, 2023. The contracted amount was for $33,500 for the two sections of the north and south sides of Blackstone Road.
Bouchard declined to comment for this story.
Another complaint by residents was there wasn’t enough oversight on the project because Perham did not hire an engineering firm due to the cost. The task fell to selectman Huston who checked on the project three or four times, he said. But Huston’s claim of overseeing the project was disputed by some Perham residents.
According to the work proposal for Blackstone Road, the project was to reset three driveway pipes and a ditch approximately 500 feet long with a three foot gravel shoulder on the north side of Blackstone Road, while the south side had drainage ditches of about 700 feet in length placed on both sides.
The contract for the road projects was put out to bid using the ARPA funds at March’s annual town meeting with an update on the project happening at the Select Board meeting on April 24.
Trombley Industries is scheduled to work on the larger Tangle Ridge Road project during the fall. The details of the Tangle Ridge project are repairing ditches, frost heave repair, and laying down one mile of pavement, according to selectman Huston.
