News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A car drives through the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Chisholm Street in Alpena on Sunday. The intersection is stained with paint, which has caused damage to some people’s cars. City officials are awaiting guidance from the Michigan Department of Transportation on whether to remove the paint or let it be.

ALPENA — The Michigan Department of Transportation will ask the contractor who spilled paint at the 2nd Avenue-Chisholm Street intersection to pay for cleanup, but, as of Friday morning, the state roads agency didn’t know which contractor was responsible.

The contractor did not work for MDOT, James Lake, communications representative for MDOT’s North Region, said Friday.

MDOT is responsible for painting that part of 2nd Avenue, which is part of M-32, and Chisholm Street, which is part of U.S.-23, but “on the day in question, our contractor was no closer to Alpena than Otsego County,” Lake said.

Alpena City Manager Rachel Smolinski earlier told The News the contractor did not work for the city. Steve Shultz, Alpena city engineer, told The News in an email on Friday he didn’t know who the contractor was working for.

The city will name the contractor to MDOT if the roads agency seeks reimbursement for cleanup costs, Shultz said.

Smolinski earlier refused to name the contractor to The News. She was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Asked to name the contractor to The News on Friday, Shultz said: “I don’t feel there is a need for this information to be revealed at this time.”

Some vehicles apparently drove through the paint while it was still wet and paint got on those vehicles. Some owners of such vehicles have asked the city to pay for repairs, but Smolinski said those vehicle owners would have to work with their insurance companies.

If damage is caused by an MDOT contractor, the state has a claims process. However, “in this case, because it is not one of our contractors, we do not have a mechanism in place for that,” Lake said.

Meanwhile, Lake said Friday the state is in talks with the city about the best way to clean up the spill, which happened several weeks ago and left a large splotch of what appears to be yellow road paint spread across the intersection.

They need to consider cleanup methods that don’t damage the roadway, such as power-washing, Lake said. They also have environmental concerns and need to make sure any solvent used to clean up the paint doesn’t make its way to stormwater drains.

MDOT and the city also have to consider that the intersection is a busy one and any work there could require detours.

Summer is an especially high-traffic time for Alpena.

MDOT did not have a timeline yet for when the cleanup might happen.

“We certainly understand that the paint in that intersection is not attractive and we would like to get that addressed as soon as possible, but it really depends on what method we arrive at,” Lake said.