County commissioners
hold organizational meeting
HOULTON, Maine — The Aroostook County commissioners held a quick first meeting of 2016 on Tuesday by reappointing their chairman to his position and reviewing contracts for snow removal and ambulance protection in the unorganized territories.
During the meeting in Houlton, Paul Adams stepped back into his role as chairman of the county commissioners.
County Administrator Doug Beaulieu said Thursday that the commissioners also approved several contracts for services in the unorganized territories.
The first was a one-year snow removal contract for Township 17 Range 4/Shore Road which was awarded to Babin Construction. The second contract was a one year fire protection agreement for Connor Township with the city of Caribou. The third was an ambulance service agreement for Connor Township and Madawaska Lake with the city of Caribou.
Sheriff Darrell Crandall of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office also gave a demonstration of the body worn cameras that have been used in the law enforcement division of the sheriff’s office since November 2015.
The body cameras are worn by deputies when on duty. The resulting video can then be stored on the department’s servers.
“It was very enlightening,” said Beaulieu. “The sheriff has given a lot of training to his staff.”
He also updated the commissioners on Cary Plantation’s deorganization efforts.
On Dec. 16, 2015, residents of Cary voted 59-1 to move forward with plans to withdraw from School Administrative District 70 and 64-0 to start the process of deorganizing as a town.
“I basically updated the commissioners on [Cary’s plans] using an email I received and through news reports,” said Beaulieu.
He added that the commissioners then went into executive session to discuss a tax abatement and adjourned shortly thereafter.
“There wasn’t a lot of scintillating business this meeting,” he said Thursday.
