By Gail Geraghty

Staff Writer

Getting enough road salt to keep the roads clear “is becoming a real issue” for Bridgton and other Maine towns, Bridgton Town Manager Bob Peabody said Tuesday.

Peabody told Bridgton Selectmen that road salt in the Northeast is currently being rationed, and for some time Bridgton has not been getting its full allotment.

“Apparently Boston is getting first dibs, and the remainder trickles down to (Maine),” he said in his manager’s report, with deliveries going first to the Maine Turnpike, then to the Maine Department of Transportation, and “towns last,” he said. Public Works Director Jim Kidder said the town did get “some” of the salt it asked for,” in a delivery a few days ago.

In other matters:

Lagoon dredging — Before the ice-over, Kidder’s crew dug test pits in the lagoon at the town-owned Salmon Point Campground on Highland Lake, and determined that between three and four feet of silt and mud would need to be removed to allow proper boat access in the channel. The town has begun its application for a dredging permit from the state, but must await a report from the Inland and Fisheries and Wildlife Department this spring to ensure that the dredging will not negatively impact wildlife. A formal application will be submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection by mid-May, and the review will likely take three months. “It should make quite a bit of difference, once the dredging is done,” Peabody said. Just where the silt and mud will be shipped to will depend on its composition, he said.

Mr. Selectman goes to school — Bridgton Selectmen have asked to be on the agenda for the next meeting of the SAD 61 School Board, in the hope of getting some answers on what the school department plans to do with the former Memorial School. Over $400,000 in state grant funding is in limbo until the town and SAD 61 negotiate an agreement on transfer of ownership, but to date no negotiations have taken place. Selectmen have directed Peabody to send letters seeking to move the process along, but those have had little effect, so selectmen decided to appeal to the school board in person.