PARIS — Last week Interim Town Manager Sawin Millett gave selectmen an update on the stormwater separation project, which is on time and moving toward the next phase to meet the 2019 deadline.

At the Monday, Feb. 22, Paris selectmen’s meeting, Millett said he was in contact with Robert Prue of Pine Tree Engineering, which was hired by the town last year to address the issue.

It stems from stormwater flowing into 22 catch basins, traveling to the Paris Utility District and being unnecessarily treated alongside sewage, which increases costs to the district’s roughly 900 ratepayers, according to Sun Media archives. Millett said the water needs to be diverted into a separate location so it does not combine with the sewage.

Last January, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection gave the town a deadline of June 2019 to correct the issue, or else Paris could be fined.

The $4,800 contract with Pine Tree Engineering has three components to it, Millett said. Some site visits and dye tests to figure out where the stormwater is flowing were conducted last summer, which cost $2,400.

The next steps include a conceptual design for new storm drains that should be completed by mid- to late-March for $1,500 and construction cost estimates for $900.

“So far I am assured we are on track,” Millett said. “We’ll move that forward as quickly as we can. The June of 2019 is a ways off but there’s no point in dragging our feet on this one.”

Selectman Sam Elliot asked if there was any grant money available for the project.

Millett noted that stormwater needs to be redirected from 22 catch basins to a location “yet to be determined.”

“Once we get a cost estimate, we’ll have to plan for it in the budget [and grants can be explored],” he said.

Millett will update selectmen after the next phases of the project are complete. 

In other news, selectmen:

• unanimously approved the liquor license renewal for Yianni’s House of Pizza.
• accepted Katherine’s Mitchell resignation from the Norway Paris Community Television Committee due to a scheduling conflict. At the beginning of the meeting, she rescinded her resignation from the Paris Budget Committee and will remain a member. 
• were asked for the fee to use Moore Park be waived for the upcoming Spring Fling event, scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, April 30. No action was taken last week on the matter. 

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