Penobscot County UT staff updated the commissioners on a year‑long effort to identify a location and a feasible design for a new sand/salt storage shed to better serve several town roads, saying they have a paid site plan and roughly $3,600 in engineering and soils work completed but that construction costs currently exceed $900,000.

UT staff described the operational problem: the county’s closest storage is not large enough to serve Drew, Prentiss, Kingland and McLawach (town names as spoken in the meeting) and current practices of leaving material exposed and moving it in during winter months are inefficient and costly. Staff said the site identified is county‑owned next to Kingman’s fire station and indicated a 50 by 75 foot building could hold about 1,200 cubic yards, but that the current cost estimate makes that option unaffordable without design changes or funding sources.

"All we've done so far is we got about $3,600 invested in engineering to identify a way we can build it legitimately," the UT director said, adding the next step is to pursue design approaches and contractor input to reduce cost. Commissioners suggested exploring fabric or modular structures and working with the Department of Transportation contacts to identify lower‑cost building options.

No construction authorization or additional engineering funding was requested or approved at the Nov. 26 meeting; staff said they will return with revised design options and cost estimates after further vendor conversations and value engineering.

The county also discussed environmental constraints and liability considerations for alternate county parcels that have existing contamination or limited buildable area. The next administrative step is further vendor outreach and a design proposal before the commission considers any appropriation.