Council OKs cleaning contract for rest area

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON, Maine — The cost of providing maintenance services to the town’s rest area appears to be decreasing.
At Monday night’s Houlton Town Council meeting, the group awarded a bid to BA Services, Inc. of Hampden for continued cleaning and maintenance of the Tourist Information Center on the North Road in the amount of $25,000    The cost of cleaning and maintenance is only a portion of the overall cost of the rest area. Heat, water, sewer and electricity must also be factored in. Town Manager Eugene Conlogue said he had originally set a line item of $46,650 for the total cost, but after awarding the bid Monday night, that line will now be reduced to $41,650.
BA Services’ bid of $25,000 does not include the cost of cleaning supplies, paper and gasoline for mowers. The town must provide those materials to the contractor.
Conlogue told councilors there were four companies to submit bids for maintenance to the rest area. BA Services has been performing these services since the town took over maintaining the rest area and Tourist Information Center from the state Department of Transportation in July 2011.
The council was advised back in 2009 that MDOT was looking to turn ownership of the property over to the town, or risk having the state close the facility.
Initially, the cost to maintain the property was estimated at about $8,000 per year. That figure turned out to be erroneous, as the actual cost to maintain was $62,500 in the 2012 municipal budget. In 2013, the town has budgeted $52,000 to maintain the property.
Houlton received the deed to the property, with the caveat that it must continue to maintain the facility as a rest area and information center as long as the Maine Bureau of Tourism remains on the site. Should the bureau close, or the town decides it no longer wants to maintain the property, the deed would return to the state. The town would then have first option to purchase the property for fair market value. In 2012 the property was assessed at $763,500.
MDOT has pledged $10,000 to the town to assist with funding the rest area in 2014 and half of that amount has been received, Conlogue said.
The town has also been trying to entice other communities to donate to the cause, since the Tourist Information Center provides materials for all of Aroostook County.
Simply because the council approved a maintenance bid for the rest area, that does not mean the board may decide to eliminate funding for the facility during its budget-making process. Should the town opt to no longer fund the rest area, the contract for cleaning can be voided, provided BA Services is given four-weeks’ notice.
In other agenda items, the council accepted a grant of $10,000 from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety for the 2014 Drive Sober Maine project.
The next regular council meeting will be Monday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m.