Alna selectmen are planning a closed-door meeting with a lawyer over the town’s losses from payroll tax issues. The Nov. 4 executive session with attorney Paul Gibbons will explore ways to recover the losses which are still being determined, but appear to be at least a few thousand dollars, Third Selectman Doug Baston said.

The town has just gotten a new bill from the Internal Revenue Service for about $26, town officials said. “It’s like random numbers floating around,” Baston said.

Until the issues are cleared up, the town might as well keep paying what the IRS says the town owes, First Selectman David Abbott said.

“The gift that keeps on giving,” Town Clerk Amy Warner said about the problems, which board members have at times described as the treasurer issue. They stemmed from Aaron Miller’s time as treasurer, selectmen have said. Miller resigned in April.

The board’s scheduling of next month’s talk with Gibbons was one of two developments Oct. 21 linked to accounting issues.

Selectmen firmed up plans discussed at recent meetings to hire the town’s former accountant, Bill Brewer, to amend payroll filings and address record-keeping errors. Selectmen have said those also occurred while Miller was treasurer. The board voted to hire Brewer for the work; he estimated the cost at $1,000 to $1,500, Warner said.

Talking plowing

Hagar Enterprises of Damariscotta would not charge Alna for plowing another tenth of a mile on Bailey Road, the firm’s co-owner Seth Hagar said. Selectmen told Hagar they plan to talk with Whitefield selectmen about Alna taking over that stretch of road to avoid the risk of a gravel pit’s owner asking Whitefield for it.

Plowing the rest of Bailey Road and then taking Route 218 would be a lot easier than turning the plow truck around, Hagar foreman Matt Bergmann said.

Seth Hagar also agreed to use only salt when treating the parking lots of the fire station and town office. Fire Chief Mike Trask had made the request about the station lot, to prevent a large buildup of sand.

Regional School Unit 12 board member Ralph Hilton reviewed this year’s school bus routes with Bergmann and Hagar. Hilton and town officials reminded them of spots in town that need extra treatment, including the West Alna Road-Cross Road intersection and Head Tide hill on Route 194.

“That hill is notorious,” Abbott said.

He told the two men that, other than a complaint of a damaged mailbox, he had only heard positive comments from residents about the plowing last winter, the firm’s first season in Alna.

The board agreed to Hagar’s request for lights and an exhaust fan at the town’s salt and sand shed. A former chicken barn fan at the shed stopped working, Abbott said.

“It’s hard in the dark,” Hagar said in asking for one inside light and an outside one.

Property issues

The board agreed to have Baston work with Alna Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz on a letter giving Clinton Rankin 30 days to get a renter out of a mobile home on Dock Road .The home is not hooked up to a septic system, Waltz told the board.

In another matter, the board asked Waltz to meet with Judy Fossel of Alna Road in followup to the town’s request that she seek a $10 business permit; town officials said Fossel advertised a bed-and-breakfast type of offer online.

Other towns are facing the same issue with property owners, Waltz said.