Board reverses, takes on road maintenance

BUCKFIELD — In an about-face, the board of selectmen voted Tuesday for the town to resume winter maintenance on a stretch of McAllister Road previously considered abandoned.

A motion to resume winter maintenance on the road failed in a 1-1 vote during an October 2 board meeting.

On Tuesday, selectmen voted to reopen discussion on the issue, after being presented with more evidence by resident and former Town Manager Glen Holmes that the town road extended beyond what the town claimed.

He said that he had come to the conclusion after reviewing the evidence previously presented to the board on the issue. He told the board the measurements simply didn't match up.

"No matter what measurement I took and no matter where I started, the end of the road is not where the town of Buckfield currently maintains it, it's beyond that," Holmes told the board.

He provided the board with a determination that the town should resume maintenance on the road to a distance of 2,481 feet, or the next available safe place to turn around for winter plow maintenance.

According to Holmes, there is a safe place to turn around shortly beyond the fifteenth telephone poll on the road, a distance of 3,132 feet.

Holmes said he had spoken with Selectwoman Martha Catevenis, who voted against maintenance in October and the two discussed his position before bringing it to the other board members.

After hearing Holme's presentation Board Chair Robin Buswell, who previously abstained from discussing or voting on the issue, said he would like to participate in the vote.

Buswell said he thought the McAllister Road issue was similar to the board's decision to continue maintenance on Sodom and Mountain roads this summer.

He said it was in the town's best interest to resume winter maintenance on McAllister Road.

The board voted to adopt the determination prepared by Holmes and resume maintenance on McAllister Road to a distance 20 feet beyond telephone pole 15 on the road.

Buswell and Selectman Rodney Allen voted for the motion and Catevenis voted against it.

After the meeting, Roland Frechette, a McAllister Road resident who initially brought the issue to the board expressed his dissatisfaction with Catevenis' vote, despite securing winter maintenance.

"It's just not right that a junior selectman ignores the law and her senior constituents," Frechette said.