BREWER, Maine — After finding out the city got a good deal on paving costs, City Council members decided Tuesday to add a third project to the list.
“I believe we got the lowest price for paving in the region,” City Engineer Frank Higgins said.
The council originally allocated $413,635 to resurface all of Parkway North and pave and fix drainage problems in the Brewer Auditorium parking lots.
That amount was increased to $639,000 to take advantage of the low costs, Higgins said, adding that is the amount the city set aside for this year’s paving.
“What we’re asking is to be authorized to spend up to that amount of money,” he told councilors before they voted.
The third project is a public works paving project, he said.
Pike Industries was the low bidder on the projects and was awarded the contracts.
Parkway North will be completed this November and any projects not completed this fall will be done in the spring, the city engineer said.
“They need to get in there and get that done,” Councilor Manley DeBeck said of the Parkway North paving. “People are reporting that they’re avoiding holes [in the road] by driving up on lawns.”
Shortly after the paving discussion, councilors discussed bag costs for the pay-as-you-throw trash program, which takes effect Jan. 1.
The bags will be orange and will cost $1.25 for a 15-gallon bag and $2 for 33-gallon bags.
DeBeck said since the zero-sort recycling program began in July, recycling has increased dramatically.
“I had 85 gallons of recycled stuff and half a bag of garbage,” he said. “I’m impressed with the program.”
Under zero-sort recycling, pizza, cereal and frozen food boxes and plastic food containers can join the newspapers, milk jugs and steel cans that have been recycled for decades. No separating is needed, so all recycling goes into one container that is placed curbside on trash pickup days during the first full week of the month.
Styrofoam, foam packing materials, plastic shopping bags, cling wrap, light bulbs, window glass, dishes and food waste are not recyclable, but basically everything else is, city officials have said.
Zero-sort recycling is commonplace in southern Maine and makes sense since it increases recycling and decreases the amount of waste that is burned or put in landfills, DeBeck said.
“I think it’s only a matter of time before it’s forced on everybody,” Councilor Larry Doughty said.
Councilor Jerry Goss added, “I think we’re a step ahead of the inevitable.”
During the meeting, the board also:
• Recognized Brewer police Cpl. Steven Boyd, firefighter Stephen Turgeon and police intern Anthony Lorenz for their involvement with the first Brewer Youth Academy, which graduated 19 middle school students this summer.
• Honored the Boy Scouts of America for reaching its 100th anniversary and recognized Brewer’s Troop 1, which held its organizational meeting four months before the national group formed.
• Heard from Lester Young, co-chairman of the joint Bangor-Brewer advisory committee tasked with finding ways the cities can work together and save money, that the committee will release its final report in December.
• Accepted a firearm that was seized in a recent crime case that was successfully prosecuted. The .357-caliber Ruger will be turned over to Brewer Police Department and added to its inventory.
• Authorized the sale of the old Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill site to Cianbro Corp., which years ago changed the site into a module manufacturing plant and first signed an option for the 41-acre property on Dec. 5, 2007. “We have the certificate from the DEP [that states] it’s completely cleaned,” D’arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer’s economic development director, told councilors.
• Issued an option extension to Maine Liquid Methane Fuels LLC for a piece of property within the Brewer Business and Commerce Park and then authorized moving forward with constructing a road to the parcel.
• Approved hiring two part-time personnel to provide front window coverage at the public safety building. In recent months, the doors were locked at noon and the public had to use an unreliable phone system, Police Chief Perry Antone said.