By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The state is putting pressure on the Town of Naples to pay the remainder of its portion of the Causeway reconstruction bill.

The poor quality of the boardwalk concrete is the reason that the town withheld a payment in the first place.

What the town still owes the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) is $154,430, according to calculations presented by Naples Town Manager John Hawley.

However, the Naples Board of Selectmen would prefer for Rep. Rich Cebra (R-District 68) to negotiate once more to have this amount either postponed or deducted.

The construction project that money is still owed on spanned the years of 2010 through 2013. The project was the replacement of the swing bridge with a fixed concrete bridge and the renovations to the Causeway.

“The state is looking to close out on this project. It has been nine years,” Hawley told the selectmen on Monday.

Hawley outlined the total amount for which the town had been responsible while the state footed the majority of the construction costs. MDOT is requesting that the approximately $154,000 be paid, he said.

“They are aware of the boardwalk issue. They are running out of patience,” Hawley said.

Chairman Jim Grattelo spoke.

“Well, it isn’t resolved. The concrete isn’t resolved,” Grattelo said.

Essentially, Rich Cebra met with the MDOT Director and got the okay for the town to put the debt of $154,000 toward fixing the boardwalk. Most recently, this autumn, a sealant peeled away after being applied. That was because the product that was originally applied has the quality of releasing the stain or paint.

Unrelated to the sealant, the actual concrete has noticeable imperfections ranging from small pock marks to chunks missing.

“What you are saying is they want us to pay up,” Grattelo said.

Hawley responded with a yes. 

“We accepted an inferior product. And, now we are holding them up and asking them to pay for an inferior product that we are responsible for,” Hawley said.

Selectman Bob Caron II expounded on Hawley’s comment, going back to what took place with the Causeway Renovation Committee was meeting with MDOT.

“When the product was mentioned, Craig Hurd said, ‘No we don’t recommend it,’ ” Caron said.

Hurd was MDOT’s Senior Resident Engineer on the Naples bridge and Causeway project .

“They [MDOT] recommended against it,” Hawley said.

Someone on the committee had stamped concrete around the pool at their private residence so the committee took a field trip there and decided they liked the product, which holds up much better at a single-family home than in a public place.

“We chose to go that route — we own it,” Hawley said.

Grattelo took the floor.

“Contact Rich. He is our state rep. Let’s ask one more time,” he said.

Caron said he didn’t think the town could get the state to pay for the cost of the boardwalk, given the history of how the decision was made to go with that product. “We are going to be on the hook for this,” Caron said.

Hawley advised that the town honor this bill.

“It could put other future projects of theirs on hold,” he said, listing the Route 302/Route 35 intersection project.