Alna selectmen still don’t know if the town will recoup any of the $10,000 paid to a contractor before they halted his work on the salt and sand shed. But they’re working on it.

Meanwhile, work by another contractor was scheduled to start this week, moving the town closer to being able to receive this year’s sand supply.

First Selectwoman Billie Willard on Monday night said she has been in touch with the Maine Municipal Association’s legal and insurance staff, and with contractor Ronnie Hopkins’ insurance company to try to determine a way for the town to get back money spent on the project.

Selectmen issued a stop work order nearly two months ago, amid numerous concerns. Since the order, Hopkins has made no further contact with the town, Willard said.

As of Monday, the town had not gotten additional information it was seeking from Terracon Consultants Inc., the Scarborough-based firm that tested samples of Hopkins’ cement work.

Earlier this month, Terracon provided data showing the test results. But with no summary statement included, selectmen concluded they needed the firm to explain the data in layman’s terms.

Town Clerk Amy Warner called Terracon and left a message two weeks ago. That message had not been returned as of the beginning of this week, according to Warner and Willard. But Willard said that the data itself may be all that is needed for the town to recover the money paid to Hopkins. (Warner has said a Terracon representative told her the cement that was sampled was "significantly below strength.")

In other developments with the shed, Barry Concrete was scheduled to start work this week on a wall that selectmen said Hopkins had not built, by the time they stopped his work. Selectmen earlier this month agreed to have Barry Concrete do the wall, so that the next year’s sand and salt supply can be delivered. Terracon’s testing involved Hopkins’ cement work on another wall.

Willard told fellow board members Monday that Barry Concrete owner Barry Miete and the town’s sand supplier, Nathan O. Northrup, are in contact with each other to coordinate when Northrup will be able to deliver the sand.

Road Commissioner Mike Trask emphasized to selectmen Monday that time is growing short.

"We’re going to need sand and salt in the building," Trask told the board, in a telephone conversation on Willard’s cell phone. Willard had asked Trask to call her on it, so everyone could listen to him on the phone’s "speaker" mode. Trask was unable to attend the meeting.

Last July, town meeting voters approved spending about $30,000 on the repair project town officials said was needed to avert a possible collapse of the shed. Officials later projected the shed would be ready for new sand by the beginning of September.

Now that the project has been dormant for about two months, Willard said she is letting Northrup and Miete come up with their own timetable for Northrup’s delivery. "They can coordinate their own schedule, without us trying to do it for them," she said. "They seem very capable of it."

Selectmen on Monday said they believe that with Barry Concrete’s new wall protecting the interior from the elements, the shed will be able to handle the new supply and hold up through the winter. Any redoing of Hopkins’ cement work could then wait until spring, they said.

"If it starts to crumble, it’ll be easier to take out in the spring," Willard said.