SAD 29 reviews candidates

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — The search for a new superintendent of schools for SAD 29 continues.
    According to board chairman Liz Anderson, the district has received seven applications for the position of superintendent. Members of the interview committee include board members Kim Thompson, Sandra Wilkins, Frances Grant, Lori Holmes and Anderson, as well as Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard and Houlton Elementary School Principal Candace Crane.
    Interviews are slated for Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 18-19.
Wood chip boiler
    The wood chip boiler project will soon enter the construction phase after the district signed a lease purchase contract. According to Anderson, the district entered into a contract to borrow up to $1.5 million to install a wood chip boiler that will replace the district’s traditional oil-based unit at Houlton High School.
    The total project is now estimated at $1.95 million. Of that amount, $750,000 will come from the Maine Forest Service in the form of a grant. The borrowed amount includes an $80,000 contingency and $20,000 for legal expenses.
    Anderson said the interest rate is still being finalized by Key Bank, but will likely be between 0.25-0.50 of a percent and that the annual payment should be about $63,000. The district will not have to make that first payment until the next school budget.
    “We really feel this is a great project,” Anderson said. “There are still some questions that we can’t answer, but we have been told it could be up and running by Dec. 31.”
    Board member Frances Grant asked if the district had entered into a contract with a supplier of wood chips.
    Edgecomb said no contracts have been signed for the supply of wood chips. Through conversations with various suppliers, he said the district could expect to pay $50/ton for wood chips, but exactly how many tons would be needed was not known.
    Funding for the wood chips will come from unspent money in the fuel oil account. Edgecomb said the district has roughly $60,000 remaining in its fuel oil account.
    “We have prepaid $30,000 in fuel oil which is enough get us through December, and you still have $60,000 remaining,” he said.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 29 school board will be Monday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.