At the Nov. 28 Newcastle Board of Selectmen meeting, it was decided to begin a program to salt heavily traveled roads. Main Street through the village, Academy Hill Road, which is particularly treacherous after winter weather, Damariscotta Mills Road, Sheepscot Road, Glidden Street, and likely some roads through north Newcastle will be salted directly, it was decided after a discussion with Seth Hagar, whose company, Hagar Enterprises, holds the contract for winter road treatment.

Secondary roads will not be treated with salt unless absolutely necessary, such as after an ice storm. Hagar said the roads would be treated after storms, taking advantage of sunshine and potentially warmer weather to create a brine effect on the roads, which will cause the salt to stick better and have a longer lasting effect.

Hagar encouraged the town to replace the salt shed, which is not in usable condition and is slated to be removed, and to site the shed somewhere in the Damariscotta Mills area, where winter road treatment is most needed.

For this year, Hagar will store the town’s supply of salt and do some salt-only treatment on some roads, including Academy Hill, following winter storms. There is enough money in the roads budget to pay for the salt this year.

Hagar said that sanding alone has not proven to be effective, and that he has received complaints from people in certain areas, including Academy Hill Road and Sheepscot Road, because the sand simply blows around and makes little difference in road conditions.

Selectman Ben Frey said that while he has no objection to the salt purchase, which is expected to be about $30,000 this year, he wanted the rest of the board to understand that doing this will make it difficult to forego salting the roads in the future. “Once we decide to do it, we’ll have to fund it every year,” he said. “And we should invest in a building that will last for many years, not just one that will last for eight to ten years.”

Hagar and Roads Supervisor Steve Reynolds had drawn up plans for an inexpensive building to house the salt, but the board agreed to figure out a way to invest in a better building in the next fiscal year.

Newcastle acquired a 40-acre parcel of woodland on Estes Road, and it was agreed to have an arborist look at the property to determine whether it should be logged prior to sale.

A special meeting with Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt and Sherman Marsh residents has been postponed until Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. at the community room at the fire station on River Road.