MEXICO – The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday to approve a letter of support to the Maine Department of Transportation to replace the bridge between Mexico and Peru.
Town Manager John Madigan said the MDOT is attempting to apply for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant and it requires a letter of support from the town.
Selectman Reggie Arsenault said he is in favor of the bridge being moved, but wanted Med-Care Ambulance Service to be “kept in the loop,” since it responds to several area nursing homes and is sometimes required to drive to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
“We don’t want to be impairing the ability of our drivers to get through there,” Arsenault said.
The board voted 5-0 to draft a letter of support.
In other business, the board unanimously approved adopting a resolution that would place Mexico on a list of towns seeking federal money for damage from ice storms in December and January.
Madigan said he received an e-mail from Paris Town Manager Amy Bernard about possibly adopting such a resolution.
“A lot of towns this year got hit real bad by the ice storm we had in December of 2013 and at the beginning of January 2014,” Madigan told selectmen. “Some of the towns attempted to file for Federal Emergency Management Agency money, but apparently FEMA changed the rules and said that road treatment costs due to snow and ice are no longer prerequisites for towns to become eligible.”
“This resolution states that we would be in support of towns asking for emergency money due to the damage done as a result of the ice storm this winter,” Madigan said.
Selectmen said they favor the resolution.
“If our government can send millions of dollars overseas to another country, they can put aside a little bit of money for us small towns too,” Arsenault said.
Selectman Byron Ouellette agreed, adding that the winters are only going to get “more extreme” due to climate change.
“The government’s going to have to do something to help us out eventually,” he said.
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- Mexico Town Manager John Madigan reads a resolution asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide money to pay for damage from last winter’s ice storms. The Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 Tuesday to support the resolution.
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