AYER — Any resident and business may pick up salt, sand or both at the Department of Public Works (DPW) office.
The Board of Selectmen decided at its Dec. 18 meeting to endorse DPW Superintendent Michael Madigan’s recommendation to distribute those materials.
The DPW will post Madigan’s distribution guidelines at the salt and sand sheds.
Those guidelines are:
* The person utilizing the service must be a town resident or own a business in town.
* The maximum quantity allowable at one time is two 5-gallon pails.
* People requesting the material must make themselves known to office staff.
The last guideline will increase public safety by alerting DPW staff of people in the sheds and discouraging the abuse of the distribution privilege, said Madigan.
The DPW will secure the sheds by replacing the sliding gate at the entrance with a swing gate and locking the gate at the end of each day, he said.
The selectmen decided to defer to the DPW superintendent’s discretion rather than make town policy with regard to distributing the materials.
The review of the matter resulted from a letter, dated Dec. 10, the board had received from David Ross, principal with David E. Ross Associates Inc. on Fitchburg Road.
Ross noted his displeasure with the town’s former policy of restricting salt and sand distribution to Ayer’s residents only. Ross had taken exception to the DPW’s decision to allow a one-time-only exception to one of his employees who had requested for sand for his business.
