JAY — Selectpersons voted Monday to seek bids for renovating the Public Works Department garage.
Bids will be open in public session at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 6. An alternative bid specifying foam insulation will also be available for consideration.
The project consists of turning the lunchroom into a parts room, which is next to department Director John Johnson’s office, and adding a lunchroom away from the bathroom.
The public works crew will do some of the work, including moving everything, earthwork, painting and paving, Johnson said.
The back wall was removed to get the old furnace out and the new one in. A propane gas line has been set up, Johnson told the Select Board. A spur was also placed for a generator that will be housed outside.
There is $119,000 in the Public Works building reserve account and about $239,400 from the town’s allotment of the American Rescue Plan Act.
The board also approved closing part of Riley Road for the 30-minute ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Jay POW/MIA Remembrance Bridge on Sept. 16, the third Friday of the month.
Jim Manter, judge advocate of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3335 in Jay, said the ceremony will be bigger than usual. It will be held from 6:15 to about 6:45 p.m. on Sept. 16.
There is a lot of traffic during the annual event and it is very distracting, Manter said.
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, will be in attendance. The Civil Air Patrol will provide the honor guard and local students will sing patriotic songs, he said. It is the 29th year motorcyclists will participate, including United Bikers of Maine.
He requested that the board close the POW/MIA bridge over the Androscoggin River at the intersection of state Route 4 and Riley Road and at the intersection of Crash and Riley roads.
They have spoken to the Maine Department of Transportation about the closing and they are OK with it but the ultimate decision lies with the Select Board, Manter said.
He also requested that a Jay police officer be at one end to close the road and that possibly a firefighter and truck be at the other end of the closing.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office will escort the bikers from Food City in Turner to the event.
Manter said the plan calls for representatives of the Androscoggin Mill on Riley Road to notify workers of the situation. They will also distribute notifies to the public.
They also plan to ask Livermore to put out its electronic sign notifying motorists that the bridge and part of the road will be closed.
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