ROCKLAND — Rockland City Councilors on Wednesday evening, April, 23, voted to place a $1.6 million bond issue to repair a section of Old County Road on the November ballot. Originally scheduled for the June ballot, Councilor Eric Hebert asked for an amendment to move the bond issue to the later date saying, "We need more time."

Councilors heard concerns about the road’s subsurface and what to do with storm water runoff for almost an hour before they got to the public portion of the forum after apologies for Mayor Larry Pritchett for making citizens wait to speak.

That extra hour of intra-board talk came after Andrew Hedrich, of the Rockport-based Gartley and Dorsky Engineering, and Terry Pinto, director of the city's wastewater treatment plant, told councilors that the project requires more than just resurfacing the road.

Hedrich told councilors about the test borings Gartley and Dorsky Engineering did along the 7,100 feet of road. Those results were not available at the time of the April 7 special meeting when the bond issue was originally introduced. The geotechnical tests were borings conducted every 200 feet. A gradation analysis was done to determine if the substrate met Maine Department of Transportation standards.

The findings revealed that only two of the samples met those standards for gravel. Hedrich informed councilors that 6,000 of the 7,100 feet did not meet the DOT standards. He advised that the road be taken down two feet and rebuilt. Hedrich said the nature of the particles under the road allows water to mix and swell, creating the frost heaves and prevents water from flowing through, and  then binding up the road.

Regardless of the council’s decision as to how far to take the road repair, Hedrich said the city would still need to address the issues of shoulders and drainage.

Terry Pinto asked that the storm water from Old County Road not be introduced into the city's already taxed sewage system. He said that the city's system could not handle the increased volume and worried about ramifications from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Councilor Eric Hebert said the council was not ready to deal with a separate issue from the road resurfacing.

Pinto said the when the city is ready to proceed with the project, he hoped that storm water would be removed from the city sewage system.

"It's more important than you think," he said.

Hebert put forth an amendment to move the bond ordinance to the November ballot and it received unanimous support for council, passing 5-0. The amendment in place, the council voted 5-0 to place the bond ordinance for $1.6 million on the November ballot.