SUMNER — The town's emergency management director told selectmen Tuesday night that Sumner, Buckfield and Hartford have received grants of more than $11,000 each to install generators in municipal offices for when the power goes out.

The grants are from the Maine Emergency Management Agency, EMA Director Tom Standard said.

Standard said it's important for municipal offices to maintain operations during emergencies. The generators will also allow the offices to be used as temporary shelters and keep fire engines and fire and rescue equipment from freezing.

In other business, Edwin Hinshaw and Larry O’Rourke spoke to the board about the water level of Labrador Pond. O’Rourke said that after the last 4-inch rainstorm, the water level rose 13 inches and he had 8 inches of water in the crawl space of his house. “Two weeks after the rain, the water level is still 2 inches above the norm,” he said.

Hinshaw said he had spoken to Dan Murch from the Maine Department of Transportation and was told that the first question to be asked was, “Who owns the dam on Valley Road?”

Town Administrative Assistant Cynthia Norton said she thought it had been determined that the town owned the dam, but town officials need to see what the property titles of abutters had as a boundary.

In other matters, Dana Stevens was appointed to the Board of Appeals, Clayton and Phyllis Schneider to the Ordinance Committee, Susan Runes as registrar of voters, Frances Babb as deputy registrar of voters and Susan Runes and Cynthia Norton as General Assistance assistants.

The board adopted a policy that says if a town employee loses a check which has been handed to them, they must wait 30 days before a new one can be issued. The policy came at the request of Town Clerk Susan Runes, who said too many people were misplacing their checks.

The board approved Norton to serve as secretary at an appeal hearing on the Butterfield Estates, if necessary. Runes said the owner of the mobile home park wanted to build a couple of sheds, but they don't meet the town's setback requirements so the Planning Board denied them.

Mary Standard is the wife of EMA Director Tom Standard.