NEW GLOUCESTER – Fire Department Chief Bruce Tupper told selectmen Monday that there are no funds budgeted to compensate volunteers who dispense weekend burning permits.

Tupper was seeking a better solution to address burning permit issues in light of recent heavy demand.

A Fire Department ordinance approved by voters this spring set the stage for compensating volunteer fire and rescue workers in the future, once funds are allocated.

Town Manager William Cooper is currently drawing up a compensation budget for the 2004-05 budget for the group.

Roughly $3,200 annually is needed to fund part-time personnel to issue burning permits on weekends.

Now Transfer Station staff issue permits on weekends. Sunday permits are handled by Tupper or volunteer officers on call after the public calls dispatch who page an officer on call who then sets up a meeting time to issue a permit.

The Fire Department issues approximately 1,200 burning permits each year. On a typical Sunday, Tupper says, he issues from 5 to 25 permits in the spring months, in the winter and summer months up to 10 per day.

Tupper suggested a Fire Department member be paid a fee to sign up in advance for weekend duties to issue permits. He suggested a two-hour block of time each weekend morning.

Selectmen agreed no funds are available at this time until a pay scale is established and included in a future fire/rescue budget that requires voter approval.

In other business, selectmen authorized the purchase of a truck chassis at $50,225, less a trade-in of $11,300 for the Highway Department. Public Works Director Bill Waterman suggested the truck be kept instead of being traded in light of upcoming road maintenance of sections of existing Route 26 that will revert back to the town when a bypass is finished in the next year. In addition, Waterman said three major subdivisions are pending voter approval for takeover as public ways.

Town Manager Cooper said capital reserve account moneys will be sufficient to purchase another truck earlier than 2006 when the workload increases.

In other business, a Pennell Institute task force met recently to review the discontinuance of use by SAD 15 of the property that is in a trust.

There are complex legal, historical and economic issues regarding the disposition of the property. The committee includes representatives from Gray, New Gloucester and SAD 15.

Specifically at issue is the appropriate distribution of the value realized from the disposal of the Pennell properties. Last week’s meeting brought a recommendation to form a study group tasked with studying the issues and report preliminary findings no later than Dec. 1.

New Gloucester task force member Selectman Jim Giffune said the issue needs to be decided in a fair way consistent with the terms of the original trust and in light of transfers made subsequent to it.

Henry Pennell bequeathed to the residents of Gray, upon his death in 1884, land, a building and a fund to be used to promote and advance the causes of learning, education and good morals. Pennell Institute opened in 1887 and was governed by the selectmen of Gray.

Until 1961, Pennell Institute was used by Gray, according to the trust provision. In 1961, the trusteeship of Pennell Institute was passed to SAD 15, which seeks to close the building and dispose of it as school property. No funds are earmarked to maintain the building by SAD 15 after June 30.


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