WILTON – Selectmen agreed Wednesday to write a letter to the Franklin County Commissioners in support of the county’s Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services.

SAVES representatives Doug and Judy Rawlings told officials the agency recently approached the county commissioners in an effort to shift funding for their agency from the municipal level to the county level. They are asking towns in the county to support their efforts.

Last year the town of Wilton donated $1,400 to SAVES. The County Commissioners have agreed to fund the agency at $11,395 per year. The Rawlings say a lot of time will be saved since they will no longer have to go to each town in the county to ask for donations. The move will also save money for the towns.

There are 48 towns, townships, and plantations in the county. While not all of them donate funds to SAVES, most do, the Rawlings said. SAVES provides services to everyone in the county. The services include a 24-hour crisis hotline, support groups, community education and legislative action.

In other business, Selectmen awarded a bid to Baynes Excavation of Wilton to construct a replacement septic system. The system will be paid for under the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Small Community Grant Program.

The DEP program provides grants to municipalities to help replace malfunctioning septic systems that are polluting a water body or causing a public nuisance. Grant applications are required to be submitted by the town the property owner lives in. The property owner’s income for the previous year must be $40,000 or less. Participants of the program are required to grant an easement to the town to allow the construction and inspection of the system.

Town Manager Peter Nielsen also told selectmen that William Rice will be the town’s new part-time office worker. Rice will begin his duties Nov. 13. He will work four hours per day, four days per week. Nielsen said the town received 25 applications and narrowed the candidates down to four.

Selectmen also signed liquor license renewals for Athena’s Restaurant and William Gore’s Billiard Parlor on Route 2.