On Wednesday, March 4, the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen discussed digging up dirt.

Specifically, the board discussed when the town has to dig on a private landowner's piece of property.

The board agreed to pay a portion of an invoice from Pinkham's Plantation for work done last year to repair the landscaping around a resident's house during the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) project to repair Chapman and Church streets.

During the project, the scope of the work needed to be shifted, and that shift resulted in the need for additional catch basins and drain work. However, to get the work done, some of homeowner Dick Mayer's property had to be dug-up and several of the trees needed to be removed.

Selectman David Atwater said the timing of the request (the invoice was filed in spring 2014) was tricky.

“It threw me, because (the invoice) is from the last fiscal year,” he said.

Fellow selectman James Cosgrove said he had larger issues with the expense.

“With all the procedures used, how did this not get included?” he said. “How did this (expense) not get into the project from the beginning?”

Town Manager Matt Lutkus said the mistake was at ground level, and was unforeseen.

“I would say that this was missed at the project level,” he said. “The landscape restoration has to be done. These types of on-site activities are typically handled by the public works director.”

Lutkus said the added work of installing the new catch basins and overseeing the necessary landscaping is something that is usually handled by a clerk of the works. In the future, Lutkus said he would prefer the town to add in extra money for an extra position to keep track of everything that happens on the job site.

Voters on Wednesday also agreed to allow the town to move forward with a CDBG project to begin restoration on Elm and Theater streets. Lutkus said that if the town were to be awarded the grant, he would want more oversight during the project.

“My preference is, you hire a clerk of works, maybe you pay more, but in the end you can save that money (by preventing errors),” he said. “If the town is awarded the (CDBG Elm Street project) grant, I'll want an inspector-type on-site. We'll absorb that as a project expense.”

Lutkus added that the money to make up the difference has to come from the contingency fund, because all the funds for the CDBG Chapman and Church streets project was used. The board voted, 3-0, (members George Parker and Robin Mayer were not present) to take $4,402 from the contingency fund to cover the cost. Robin Mayer is married to Dick Mayer.

Dick Mayer said he was happy with the work Pinkham's Plantation did, and will pick up $2,000 of the original $6,400 bill. But, he added, the work done wasn't necessarily by choice.

“I'm willing to kick in $2,000, but (the landscaping work) doesn't help me one iota,” he said. “It was a difficult situation. They had to remove several trees, a garden, fence and run a ditch three-feet wide and eight-feet deep and it destroyed the lawn. It's not an improvement.”

The town had approximately $9,300 in the contingency fund before agreeing to fund the invoice.