Lincoln County commissioners appointed Hamilton Meserve Oct. 19 as the third member of a State Claims Commission hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8. The hearing pertains to Maine Department of Transportation’s Boothbay Highway Project. Prior to the hearing, Meserve and the two other commission members would view four Boothbay land parcels owned by John Savage of Fairfield and Shane Savage of Oakland; Virginia Delaney-Black, trustee of Virginia Delaney-Black, of Grosse Point, Michigan; Jeanne and Robert Olsen of Trevett; and PGC3, LLC of Boothbay. 

Neither County Administrator Carrie Kipfer nor Boothbay Town Manager Dan Bryer knew what the Boothbay Highway Project is. The Boothbay Register is waiting for a response from MDOT regarding project details.

In other action during the bimonthly meeting, Sheriff Todd Brackett received authorization for subscribing to a cloud service for storing body cam videos.  Video evidence is currently stored on the department’s server, but Brackett is concerned about overloading the system. “All data would be uploaded at the end of the day. It’s a challenging situation, and the best and most reasonable way is storing it in the cloud,” he said. “This is better than overburdening our department’s server and replacing it every two years at a $25,000 cost.”

All three commissioners supported the proposal. Brackett hasn’t received an invoice for cloud storage so he will present one at a future meeting. Commissioners also approved Brackett’s request to equip each department vehicle with a repeater. Commissioners authorized $6,572.82 to buy radio repeaters. “The repeater remains in the vehicle and would boost deputy sheriffs’ radio transmissions when they are away from the car,” he said. 

Brackett also received approval to seek bids for replacing a detective’s vehicle. The sheriff told commissioners he would provide bids at the Nov. 16 meeting.  The department is hosting an alternative sentencing program at WAVUS from Oct. 22 to 24. Brackett expects nearly 40 inmates will participate.

Commissioners approved a three-year plow contract with Steele’s Landscaping of Wiscasset. The contract will pay Steele’s $17,400 per year for three years to plow the courthouse campus and Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission parking lot. Kipfer reported Steele’s wasn’t the low bidder, but provided reliable service in the past. She also based her recommendation on Steele’s having 15 employees, and the low bidder being a one-person operation. 

Commissioners meet next at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2 in Lincoln County Courthouse.