Town hires E.C.I. for winter sand

WEST PARIS —  Selectmen at their September 13 meeting approved their winter sand bid for $11,700.

The town reviewed a total of three bids.

"For $1,000, I think we should save the sand in our pit," said Selectman Wade Rainey.

Chairman Randy Jones agreed. "At $4.85 per yard, versus $5, $5.50 or $7.50, I would say we keep our sand for another year," he said.

Selectmen unanimously decided to contract with E.C.I. Materials of Paris which will screen and deliver sand for the town from a privately-owned pit this coming winter.

E.C.I. bid $4.25 per yard for hauling of 500 cubic yards of sand from the town pit to the sand stockpile at the West Paris Public Works Yard by October 15, said Jones.

It also bid $4.85 per yard for screening of 1,000 cubic yards of sand screened in from a privately-owned pit. Emergency sand would cost $9.45 per yard, but only if the town needs it, said Jones.

"Looking backwards in the crystal ball, there's a pretty big chance we aren't going to need it," he said.

Town Manager John White said while he's not predicting another mild winter, he said even with the biggest winters the town doesn't normally ask for emergency sand.

He said the town usually has 1,500 cubic yards of sand stockpiled to use for winter roads.

The other bidders were RA Tibbetts of Wilton for $8,500, and Maynard and Sons of Sumner for $10,750.

If the town went with RA Tibbetts, screening 1,000 cubic yards out of the town's pit would cost the town $5 per yard, said Jones.

The other alternative was sand screened in and from a privately-owned pit, said Jones, also for $5 per yard.

Another option available, which RA Tibbetts didn't bid on, was hauling of 500 cubic yards of sand screened last year from the West Paris town pit to the sand stockpile.

RA Tibbetts also bid on screening 500 cubic yards of emergency sand from the town's pit to public works by October 15 for $7 per yard. 

"It's in case we need more [sand]," Jones said.

"If we have a real tough winter, buying 1,000 yards and doing the math, we are pretty close to what we usually stockpile – but we are not committed to buy it."

Maynard and Sons bid $3 per yard to haul 500 cubic yards of sand screened in from the town pit, $5.50 per yard to screen and deliver 1,000 cubic yards from the West Paris pit to public works and $7.50 per yard for sand screened in from a privately-owned pit.

Maynard and Sons also bid $5.50 per yard for emergency sand from the town pit and $7.50 per yard for emergency sand from a private pit for 500 cubic yards, said Jones.