Alna will keep taking its trash to Wiscasset, under a deal nearly flat with the 2013 tab. The $770 hike brings this year’s cost to $71,136.

The contract got Alna selectmen’s OK and their signatures on July 9.

“That’s pretty good that they were able to hold costs,” Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve said.

Recent years’ equipment buys have saved on fuel and maintenance costs, helping to offset hikes in the fees Wiscasset pays Penobscot Energy Recovery Company, Wiscasset Transfer Station Superintendent Ron Lear has said. But PERC’s fees will continue to climb as the Orrington plant approaches its 2018 closure, so more gains in recycling would help to control costs, Lear has said.

“It’s important to recycle,” Alna Town Clerk Amy Warner said as the board reviewed the latest contract with Wiscasset.

Thinking ahead for winter

With 29 miles of roads to keep safe for travel next winter, selectmen continued their work to line up a snowplowing contractor.

They discussed having the contractor get a performance bond or a letter of credit that the town could tap if the contractor doesn’t work out.

The step would ensure the town could hire someone else quickly to take over the work, members said.

The board dropped one measure that would have called on the contractor to buy any salt beyond two loads the town would provide.

The requirement might have encouraged salt-skimping or discouraged prospective bidders, members said.

“I don’t see how we can do that,” First Selectman David Abbott said.

Third Selectman David Reingardt agreed. “The wording will worry somebody.”

The board plans to advertise for bids. Selectmen’s efforts over a number of meetings have been their first major review of snowplowing in years. The board’s continuing contract with Mark Hanley was renewable as long as they remained satisfied with his work, which they were, Abbott has said.

The board is seeking bids this year because Hanley declined to renew his contract, Abbott has said.