KINGFIELD — Public hearings on the reconstruction of Route 27 through downtown Kingfield could begin as early as June. The scope of the project will extend from High Street north to just before the Sprague property where the paved shoulder begins.

The Maine Department of Transportation has appointed a project manager who understands the issues of rebuilding the road through town. “This takes an enormous burden off the Route 27 Committee,” committee member David Guernsey told the Kingfield selectmen last Monday, Jan. 23. The project engineer will come up with some plans, “not just us coming up with ideas,” he said. Construction will likely not happen until 2013 because funds would have to be appropriated by the legislature in the next session.

Guernsey asked the board if they would appoint him as the primary contact person with MDOT, which has appointed Paul McDonald project manager, and most questions regarding Route 27 would go through him. The town should adopt a similar philosophy with one person answering MDOT’s inquiries with one person acting as a funnel for information, he said. McDonald requested there be one person appointed to be the contact person.

The board agreed Guernsey was a likely candidate to be the spokesperson because of his past history in dealing with MDOT and his previous service with the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee.

He pointed out that he has been working with the town’s new economic development director Rodney Lynch, Village Enhancement Committee Chair Cynthia Orcutt, Town Administrator Douglas Marble and selectman John Dill. They, plus committee members selectman Raymond Meldrum, and residents Linda Norton and Audrey Tague, have given a lot of input in connection with the project. There has been a lot of discussions about what community members want, he said, and there will be more.

Lynch’s efforts are geared towards helping find additional funding for things that MDOT may not fund, he said, assuring the board there would be no conflict between the two in Guernsey being the contact person. “We’ll be working with him so he can fill in the holes.” MDOT could fund up to 80 percent of the sidewalks and up to 50 percent of local interest elements. But they could fund much less on the local interest projects, he said.

There had been some discussion over merging the VEC and Route 27 Committee, but the VEC plans are so broad, they’ve decided it would be best to leave them as separate committees.

Guernsey assured the board that any suggestions or recommendations to MDOT would have to be first approved by the Route 27 Committee.

MDOT has a history of being receptive to ideas. Maybe everyone won’t get everything they want. However, he said the more they can relate to the town, and the better relationship they have with the town, the better a partnership will evolve.

The board set up the Route 27 Committee last summer to come up with ideas as to how to proceed with the project. They had anticipated having another three quarters of a year to come up with plans. But, he said MDOT received a number of low bids on projects and had the funds to put the project manager in place. This moved the project timeline ahead of what had been originally anticipated. Guernsey said there will be a number of public hearings on the issue before any plans are finalized.