Selectmen discuss hiring local contractor for Route 33 milling amid state manpower gaps

Board members told the Greenland Selectmen meeting on June 16 that the state has not completed planned milling on Route 33 because of manpower issues and asked whether the town can contract local vendors to handle hazardous sections.

One committee member asked whether Piscataqua could do the work; a staff member said the town has historically used a private contractor (Dan Sewell/Dan Sewell's crew) for certain town road sections and that contractor might be available to address specific dangerous locations, though not the entire route. "We have a vendor that does it... they probably will not do the entire route of 33, but the dangerous, per se, parts of 33, we probably can have them look at," a staff member said.

Members expressed concern about liability if the town contracted to mill state roadways. "My only concern... was about liability issues. If some sort of damage happens or if you damage a utility pole... I just wanna make sure that, you know, legally, we're all set there," one member said. Staff replied that the work would come from the highway maintenance fund and that the town would check existing contracts and liabilities.

The board asked staff to try to provide a copy of the relevant maintenance contract and to clarify whether future budgets should include funding for recurring work on Route 33 if the state remains unable to perform it.

What’s next: staff will attempt to provide the contract copy and costs for targeted milling; the board signaled willingness to proceed on dangerous sections while seeking clarity on liability and budget treatment.