Elevator, ATVs discussed by council

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON —The town office will soon get an overhaul as renovations to its elevator were approved at Monday night’s council meeting.
    The existing elevator, which provides access to the council chambers and the office of the town’s code enforcement officer, has been slowly deteriorating, occasionally failing to open its doors automatically when going up or down.
    Otis Elevator Company was the lone organization to submit a bid for the elevator repairs. The council unanimously approved that bid, in the amount of $43,275.
    Houlton Town Manager Doug Hazlett said the elevator had “outlived its usefulness” and was “beyond repair,” needing a major overhaul to continue functioning.
    “The original idea we had was this would be a $42,000 project,” Hazlett said. “The money for this project are in the budget as part of the capital improvements account.”
    Hazlett said he expected the work to start as soon as possible and would take about two weeks to complete.
    If the elevator was not functioning during the time that a council meeting was slated, that meeting would be moved to the first floor to meet the Americans With Disabilities Act requirement.
    Councilors also discussed the possibility of allowing All-Terrain Vehicles on any town-owned road, to provide access to ATV trails. The measure was brought up for discussion by councilor Mike Jenkins. Under current laws, ATVs are not allowed to drive on town roads and some ATV riders have been ticketed by local law enforcement officers.
    “You can have ATV access routes if they are designated by a local governmental unit, which is a municipality,” Hazlett said. “It’s really up to the council as to where you want to go with this.”
    The town could choose to designate only certain roads as ATV accessible, or could do a blanket policy allowing them on all roads, provided the rider is on the road to gain access to a trail. Hazlett said state roads, such as the Bangor Road, North Road, Calais Road and Military and Court streets did not fall under the town’s jurisdiction for allowing ATV access.
    “We brought this up before and I had no issue with it,” said Paul Cleary, council chairman. “The only issue from way back was the hours of operation. The second thing that I would not want to see is them operating downtown.”
    “Basically, we would be making roads ATV accessible,” Jenkins said. “That means roads are only to be used to gain access to the trail system. It’s not to drive your 4-wheeler down to County Yankee and back.”
    Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin said his only recommendation was for the council to work closely with the neighbors in certain areas to get their input on the matter.
    To allow ATV access on town roads, the council would have to draft a new ordinance, which would require a public hearing on the subject. The council will continue to discuss the ATV issue at its next regular meeting.
    In other agenda items, the council:
    • Approved a 2010 and 2009 tax abatement for Bruce and Michelle Harvey to correct an error in property valuation. For the 2009 tax year, the abatement is $667.71 including interest. The abatement for 2010 is in the amount of $595.60.
    • Accepted a reimbursement of $24,746.43 from the Finance Authority of Maine to pay for past costs associated with the Hows’ Corner Superfund site.
    • Listened to a presentation from SADC Executive Director Jon McLaughlin on the many projects SADC has been involved with in recent years.
    The next regular council meeting is set or Monday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m.