ROCKLAND — The Rockland City Council, in a special meeting, April 7, at City Hall discussed the repair of a 7,300-foot section of Old County Road that extends between the intersection of Thompson Meadow Road and Route 17, and considered a $1.6 million bond to be placed on the June ballot. The total cost estimate for repair is $2.3 million.

The Council voted 3 to 2 to put the bond proposal on the city’s June 10 ballot.

Issues with this particular section of Old County Road include potholes and shoulder drainage. Rockland’s public works department has been patching potholes all winter along the corridor.

“It’s been miserable, said Greg Blackwell, Rockland Department of Public Works Director, prior to the meeting April 7.  “It has been a tough winter. We use what’s called cold patch to repair the road. It’s an asphalt material, it’s not a hot material, it’s used during the winter because you can’t produce hot mix in the winter. It’s a temporary mixture that goes into the road. How long it stays depends on how the frost comes out, so it’s not a permanent fix.”

Old County Road, by Blackwell’s standard, is the worst in Rockland.

“Public works is responsible for maintenance, shoulders, drainage and pothole repair,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any potholes right now, but if you find one, you call me and we’ll get it fixed.”

Rockland’s Council voted to bond the road’s repair after hearing from Michael Burns, Maine Department of Transportation Manager Region 2, and Andrew Hedrich, of the Rockport-based Gartley and Dorsky Engineering talk about the repairs plans and funding opportunity.

In a March 31 letter to the city, Hedrich described the road as “severely degraded,” and in proposed plans included costs to replace 18 inches gravel over geotextile fabric prior to repaving. Plans also included widening the road to include a two-foot wide asphalt shoulder on one side and a four-foot wide shoulder on the other side.

Burns told the Council that while the DOT is sympathetic, Old County Road is not a priority with the state and there are no funds available this year for repairing it.

The DOT said the maintenance of the road is the responsibility of the city; however, he also said it is possible the state could offer up to $500,000 through a municipal partnership grant for its repairs. Burns said the program was initiated to help municipalities.

“This program was designed to help municipalities address certain roads,” he said.”Quite honestly, the state of Maine just doesn’t have the money to dig into it on our own. This gives the municipality an avenue to partner with Maine to get their roads fixed. It’s based on 50 percent — 50 percent state money and 50 percent municipality money.”

Burns said Old County Road, which runs along the outskirts of Rockland’s urban areas, serves as a bypass; however, he said, it serves a smaller area than Route 90, which the DOT plans to spend funds on upgrading this coming summer.

Burns said that while there are surface issues with Old County Road, the road itself is basically sound.

“We have to make sure Route 90 is up to standard and well maintained and has a good surface on it,” he said. “Looking at it holistically, we have Roue 1, Route 1A, Old County Road and Route 90. Of those, routes 1, 1A and 90 are the higher priorities for us. Old County Road is still classified [by the DOT] as state aid, which means we have responsibility. Traditionally, we would have come in and tried to rebuild it. Today, I’m sorry we just don’t have the money. If it gets to a higher priority locally that’s why we have this municipal partnership.”

Hedrich, of Gartley and Dorsky, said core samples had been taken every 300 feet along the road in an effort to determine its condition, but the results were unavailable at the time of the council meeting. He said those results should be available within the week.

Councilor Elizabeth Dickerson explained that as a state representative she does not serve on the transportation committee. She said she saw the DOT funding program as a shell game used to pass costs onto a municipality.

“I feel as though $1.6 million is a huge amount for the city of Rocklandto have to shell out to repair a road that is the state’s responsibility,” she said. “The state was supposed to be ensuring that the capital investments in this road were kept up in such a way that we could maintain it, which we can’t at this point. The state should be properly bonding out for infrastructure improvements rather than passing those costs onto the municipalities.”

Councilor Eric Hebert said he has heard enough complaints from residents to put the bond referendum before voters. Dickerson said they should wait for the November elections. Hebert said he did not think waiting for the possible outcome of November elections was a good way to get the road repaired.

Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf asked if the city could change the make up of the road to restrict tonnage of trucks and use.

Burn’s said that by state statue, the road is available to anyone to use.

To limit its use, Burns said they could talk about turning the road back over to the city. Burns reiterated that the road was structurally sound and its surface was the only problem facing the DOT.

Hedrich said that if the road was built right with proper drainage, then heavy trucks should not affect it. Hebert said that if the city waits for the state to fix the road, "we’ll have a dirt road before we have a resurfaced road."

In the end, a split council voted 3-2, with Dickerson and MacLellan-Ruf voting against, to place a $1.6 million dollar bond before the voters in June. A public hearing on the bond issue was scheduled for April 23.