JAY — In a 16‑minute meeting Wednesday, the Select Board took five actions to implement the results of the town meeting held the day before.
Four of the actions set public meetings for May 11, and one schedules a special town meeting by referendum June 9.
On May 11, residents are set to meet at the Town Office to consider articles covering the cost of trash pickup for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2027.
The town needs an additional $16,500 for the service. At the annual town meeting Tuesday, voters raised $200,000 for a new trash pickup contract, but that amount fell short after the original contractor withdrew following the signing of the town meeting warrant.
Before the board met April 13, Riverside Disposal of Chelsea told Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere, “We are unable to commit the necessary resources to properly fulfill the scope of work outlined in the contract.”
LaFreniere lined up Somerset Disposal Service of Madison to replace Riverside, but the contract cost was $216,500 — the second‑lowest bid after Riverside. Technically, the town will consider two warrants: one asking whether to “raise and appropriate $16,500 for curbside collection,” and another asking “to transfer $16,500 from the undesignated fund balance for curbside collection.”
The net result would be a full‑year contract with Somerset Disposal with no increase in taxation, because the $16,500 had already been raised for the undesignated fund balance.
The board decided in September to seek new bids after residents complained about scheduling and service by Archie’s Inc. of Mexico. The contract with Archie’s this year was budgeted at $155,000, but the company’s bid for 2026-27 came in at $290,000.
Jay usually conducts town meetings by referendum, but LaFreniere told the board earlier that the town can act more quickly by calling an in‑person meeting, since a referendum requires 60 days’ notice.
Meeting space at the Town Office, a former Bonanza Steakhouse, is limited, but one board member joked at the April 13 meeting that if the weather is good May 11, the meeting could be held in the parking lot.
Also on May 11, the board voted to hold two public hearings — one to review the June 9 town meeting warrant for a nonbinding referendum on police collaboration between Jay and Wilton, and the other to set sewer rates for the coming fiscal year.
The hearing on a possible police collaboration will be the first time the public has been asked to weigh in on the issue. The town meeting by referendum is scheduled for June 9, in conjunction with the state primary elections.
The board previously placed the warrant on the referendum ballot but has not held a public hearing. Jay is presenting voters with four options for working with Wilton on policing.
The warrant lists four possibilities for police collaboration and briefly describes each.
The options: make no changes, leaving both departments operating as they do now; contract with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to police both towns; have one town contract with the other to provide police coverage for both; or establish a “quasi‑municipal organization” governed jointly by the two towns to run a combined department.
Wilton residents are set to vote on the same options June 9.
The board also reviewed sewer rate options Wednesday, with LaFreniere presenting five and noting that more are available. The base rate is $320 a year plus 13.5 cents for each cubic foot of water a customer uses after the first 3,200 cubic feet.
The five options are: add 4 cents to the charge per cubic foot above 3,200; add 2 cents to the charge per cubic foot; add 1 cent per cubic foot; raise the minimum charge to $350 while keeping the overage rate at 13.5 cents; or leave the rates unchanged.
Fees paid by roughly 800 sewer users have covered Jay’s costs since 2022-23. Jay uses the sewer treatment plant in Livermore Falls and pays about 60 percent of its operating cost.
Jay’s population is 4,657 and Livermore Falls’ is 3,102, according to data compiled by Maine Demographics.
The town meeting and the public hearings on sewer rates and police collaboration are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. May 11, before the board holds its regular semimonthly meeting.
Polls for the special town meeting are set to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 9 at the Jay Community Building, 13 Community Drive.
In other matters, the Select Board unanimously reelected Terry Bergeron as chair and Tim Demillo as vice chair.
The board also reappointed members to its committees: solid waste and public works, Lee Ann Dalessandro and Demillo; roads and paving, Tom Goding and Bergeron; sewers, Bergeron and Demillo; Fire Department, Demillo and Bergeron; Town Office/finance/Police Department, Bergeron and Dalessandro; recreation, Goding and Dalessandro; unions, Goding and Dalessandro; cemetery policy, Goding and Dalessandro; Community Resilience Partnership, Dalessandro and Gary McGrane; Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, McGrane; and county budget, Dalessandro and Goding.
The board also approved a slate of other appointments: LaFreniere as town manager, police commissioner, roads commissioner, purchasing agent and Freedom of Access officer; Ronda Palmer as town clerk, tax collector, registrar of voters, agent to the Overseers of the Poor (the Select Board), building inspector and code enforcement officer; Joseph Sage as police chief and constable; John Johnson as addressing officer (E‑911) and deputy roads commissioner; Leslie Harding as public health officer; Bryce Cobb as plumbing inspector; Jill Gingras as treasurer; Christa Powers as animal control officer; Andrew Hogan as project manager; and O’Donnell & Associates as agent to the assessors (Select Board).
The board further approved a modification to the VFW Post 3335 liquor license to allow outdoor seating and issued a blanket letter of approval to the Gambling Control Unit of the Maine Department of Public Safety for the post.
The Select Board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for May 11, following public hearings set to begin at 6 p.m., all at the Town Office.
