By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Caribou’s City Council approved a bid to repair the city’s public library roof at their meeting held on Monday evening.
The project was awarded to lowest bidder, Kevin W. Smith & Sons, based out of Gorham with employees in Presque Isle. The decision to go with Smith was not unanimous, however, as Caribou contractor Powers Roofing and Sheet Metal had also bid on the project and Councilor Philip McDonough voiced his opinion that the work should be given to a local company.
Smith’s bid was $91,000 and Powers’ bid was $92,754, making the difference between the bids only $1,754. City Manager Austin Bleess explained that the Maine Municipal Association does not require awarding a contract to the lowest bidder, but it was determined that the bid request that was sent out for the library project did specify it would be awarded to the lowest bidder.
Based on that information, Mayor Gary Aiken voted to go with Smith, breaking a split vote with councilors Joan Theriault, David Genthner and McDonough voting against going with the bid presented by Smith, and councilors David Martin, Aaron Kouhoupt and Ken Murchison voting for it.
An additional $7,000 in engineering costs will be added in, making the total cost for the project $98,000.
Bleess then asked the council to consider whether interest should be waived for a Caribou citizen who has several years’ worth of delinquent taxes owed on personal property, totaling $6,642. The citizen has not owned the property since 2005, but the back taxes extend far beyond then.
An agreement was signed for the citizen to pay $140 per month beginning in May. At the time they signed the contract, the citizen asked if the interest could be waived. According to Bleess, this is not the first time a payment plan had been offered, but it was the first signed agreement.
Theriault questioned whether the interest could be waived after the principal was paid. Mayor Aiken asserted that he did not like the idea of waiving interest as he felt it sent out the message that there is no reason to pay taxes on time as there is no penalty. Aiken agreed that it might be best to hold off on waiving the interest until the principal has been taken care of.
Again, council was split on the decision with Martin, Murchison and Kouphout voting to waive the interest and Theriault, Genthner and McDonough opposed. Mayor Aiken also opposed waiving the interest, so the motion was not approved.
Council did unanimously approve adopting a Fair Housing Resolution at Northern Maine Development Commission’s request as part of their HUD sustainable community planning project, putting out to bid a large list of tax forfeiture properties, awarding spring painting and culvert work projects , totaling $24,172 combined, to the lowest bidders, and purchasing three new sanders for Public Works at $12,500 each.
A consent agenda that approved the March financial statement, renewed licenses for Caldwell Sanitation and Rossignol Sanitation, authorized a quit claims deed for the Caribou Utilities District for property on the Grimes Mill Road, and appointed Kouphout to the Nylander Board, CADET program and airport committee, the same committees former Councilor Mary Kate Barbosa was on, was also unanimously accepted.
There was no public input at this meeting.
Council will hold a special meeting on Monday, April 29, at 6 p.m. regarding an abatement request that had been tabled for further review. Their next regularly scheduled council meeting will be Monday, May 13, at 7 p.m.
