A solid majority of Dresden voters at a special town meeting on September 30 favored two measures to ensure the town would have snowplowing and sanding for its roads during the coming winter months.

The vote of about 30 people in attendance approved the raising and appropriating of an additional $37,000 this year, for each of the two years of the remainder of a three-year contract the previous contractor could not fulfill. The total the town will pay new contractor Goodall Landscaping of Topsham each year will be $176, 600.

The town also approved company owner Ed Goodall’s request for an October 15 start date of monthly installments of payments through April to his company instead of the original November 15 upon furnishing a guarantee from his insurance company for bonding.

The action, which took only 20 minutes, followed a scrambling in recent weeks to fill the gap created when former three-year contractor Holbrook Excavation of Woolwich backed out recently.

The town gave Goodall Landscaping the opportunity to take on the remainder of the three-year contract from which selectmen received a favorable response at the regular meeting of the Dresden Board of Selectmen on Monday, Sept. 23. Goodall had given a middle range bid last year while the low bidder could not meet the bonding requirement.

Recently, Holbrook notified the Dresden of its inability to meet the bonding requirement to fulfill its three-year contract with the town along with equipment problems. Afterward, selectmen contacted Goodall.

During the discussion on September 23 with selectmen, Goodall expressed some doubt whether the bonding would go through before October 15 but agreed to furnish a document guaranteeing the bonding for the contract.

Selectman Allan Moeller then said, “We just need some kind of guarantee.” Moeller expressed the concern that the town has that in writing, since Goodall requested a change in the payment schedule starting October 15 instead of the November 15 start date for the original contract with Holbrook.

“Having a bond in place, that won’t be an issue,” Goodall said.

The change in payment schedule was one of two warrant articles on the agenda this Monday along with the contract itself. It will mean a $25,000 payment October 15, which Administrative Assistant Trudy Foss said the town could do.

Goodall also told the board his company will have to purchase another truck for the job this winter. The company ha experience plowing and sanding roads in Harpswell, according to Goodall.

Original contractor Holbrook’s decision to withdraw came up during the regular selectmen’s meeting September 9 citing two reasons for withdrawal from the three-year agreement: lack of bonding and insufficient equipment for the task for this coming winter.