Mars Hill’s highway department needs new garage
MARS HILL, Maine — The Mars Hill Highway Department is in need of a new garage, according to town officials.
“We need to do something. The big thing is what do we do with the current facility,” said Town Manager Dave Cyr.
Cyr said a recent review of old town reports showed him just how old the garage really is.
“We discovered it graced the pages of the 1965 annual report in Mars Hill, but it wasn’t new in 1965. It was brought from the Presque Isle Air Base to the West Ridge Road,” he said.
In recent weeks town officials have been discussing their options.
“We need to make some decisions. What’s driving this is the town of Mars Hill is eligible to receive reimbursement from the DOT for a sand and salt shed, then while we’re there, shouldn’t we replace the highway garage as part of the highway project,” said Cyr.
Given its age and condition of the building, Cyr said now is the time to talk “new.”
“It’s barely big enough to park our three plow trucks in. It’s not big enough; the trucks barely fit. The loader and grader are parked in an unheated part of the building,” he said, noting this adds to municipal costs since equipment in cold storage tends to wear out faster.
“The big question is how to come up with the funds. We’re not sure what it will cost to replace, but for both the salt/sand shed and garage we’re probably looking in excess of $800,000 to $1 million,” he said.
Municipal officials have several ideas in mind.
“We’re pursuing three options. One is to do nothing — in which case we’d apply for a DEP permit for the existing outdoor sand and salt storage, and do nothing with the garage. The problem with that is once you get a permit, they (DEP) increase the requirements to maintain the permit. If we’re given $34,000 and set aside $15,000 for a salt shed this year, we’d have roughly $49,000 in the back for the sand and salt shed — and another $10,000 for a garage. That’s option 1,” said Cyr.
He said the next option would be to find an existing building and site to convert into a sand/salt shed and garage.
“That’s with the understanding that whatever building we pursue has limitations, such as age and/or condition and/or suitability,” said Cyr.
Third, Cyr said, would be to build new.
“The biggest disadvantage to the last option is the cost,” he said.
While a new structure may come with a considerable price tag, Cyr said annual savings could be had with the reduction of expenses.
“It’s around $16,000 a year to heat. At one time we had a combination of five forced hot air and oil-fired boilers to heat the building. When the building was designed, fuel oil was 15 cents a gallon. The building has served our needs, but at what point do we admit that’s no longer the case?” said Cyr. “A new building could be heated using wood pellets or other more cost-effective methods.”
Cyr said aging equipment and facilities is a problem all communities face and that things need to be replaced from time to time.
“Our plow equipment is fairly new. In five years we’ll have to replace one of them. We have a lot of capital-intensive projects facing us going forward. The concern is at what point do we price ourselves out of our market,” said Cyr.
He said times are tougher today than decades past, as municipalities try to maintain services with ever-shrinking sources of revenue.
“It was easier to be in municipal government 20 years ago. Everyone had money, grants were available,” said Cyr. “We’re working on it (addressing the need for a new garage), but again the price tag is the big issue.”
Cyr welcomes suggestions for possible sites for a garage or input on the project. He can be reached at the Town Office at 425-3731.
