WATERVILLE — The City Council is expected Tuesday night to consider authorizing City Manager Steve Daly to award more than $2 million in paving contracts for streets in the South End.
The special meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at The Elm at 21 College Ave. Those wanting to participate remotely may do so via links on the city’s website — www.waterville-me.gov.
Councilors are being asked to consider three paving contracts, the first of which is for $844,583 and would allow the city to follow through with maintenance and upkeep of seven streets in the South End that need repair, according to the resolution. The contract would also include rehabilitation of two city basketball courts, on Chaplin and Grove streets.
As part of the work, streets to receive shim and overlay are Autumn Court, Green Street, Healey Court, Oxford Street and Redington Street.
Vaughn D. Thibodeau II, a general contractor from Bangor, bid $844,583 on the project. Northeast Paving of Bangor bid $1.82 million.
The second contract for $431,613 is for maintenance and upkeep of eight South End Streets. Shim and overlay would be done on Gold Street, Gray Avenue, King Street and a couple of other streets. Thibodeau bid $431,613 on the project, while Northeast bid $942,789.
The third contract for $874,862 would be for rebuilding five South End streets. Full construction would be done on Carey Court, Lockwood Alley, Swan Street, Veterans Court and King Street. Ranger Construction of Fairfield bid $874,862 on the project.
Daly said Monday that Mayor Jay Coelho and former Councilor Erik Thomas, D-Ward 7, initiated the South End street projects, and the City Council agreed last year to borrow the funds. The city had planned to do the work last year, but the plans were not fully developed, according to Daly.
Each year, the city sets aside $200,000 to $250,000 for road projects. About $200,000 a year is generated by a gas pipeline tax increment financing program. That TIF requires the money be set aside for paving.
“What we’re trying to do is get on a 12- to 15-year schedule, and that just takes money,” Daly said. “This is a good start, with $2 million.”
The city is having to do less paving work than planned because costs have skyrocketed for materials, labor and fuel to transport the materials, according to Daly. Last year, paving mix was $85 a ton, he said. This year, it is $250 a ton.
“The goal is to maintain the streets in a way that we don’t have to spend more money than necessary to keep them in good condition,” Daly said.
Asked to describe the condition of Waterville’s roads, Daley said some are in good shape, some in bad shape and others in reasonable condition.
“Ideally, you’d want to have them looking like Kennedy Memorial Drive — even though they haven’t put the final layer of pavement on it,” Daly said.
Most of the streets in the city’s North End are in good shape, but Elm Street, which runs between North Street and Western Avenue, is “devastating,” according to Daly.
The city hired an engineering firm to put together a paving management plan that has yet to be completed, he said. Once that is in place, Daly said, the city will know how much to spend over what period of time, on what streets and in what order — and what need be done to improve them.
“The better we maintain the streets over time,” Daly said, “the less money we’re going to spend to keep them in good condition.”
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