The cost of fitting the truck body and plow to a dump truck is less than anticipated.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

OXFORD – Selectmen agreed Thursday to buy a truck body and plow equipment from Tenco of Berwick for $46,654.

The body and plow will be fitted to a dump truck from Freightliner of Maine Inc. of Auburn, for a combined truck and equipment cost of $83,520.

Town Manager Mike Huston said the cost was around $17,000 less than anticipated when voters agreed to appropriate $75,000 from the non-designated reserve account at a special town meeting in September. Additional funds were taken from the $60,000 in the highway equipment reserve account.

Highway Foreman Steve Brown said he had some concerns about the compatibility of the Tenco equipment with existing town trucks. But Selectman Floyd Thayer said he had confidence the Tenco equipment would do the job, and save the town money.

Selectmen also authorized the purchase of a “pusher” snow scoop attachment that would allow town workers to push back the huge mounds of snow that tend to accumulate in the public safety parking lot.

In non-equipment related matters, selectmen decided not to join the Maine Service Center Coalition, a lobbying group that works on behalf of service center communities such as Oxford. The annual dues are $500.

Huston said the coalition was successful last year in getting extra funding for service center communities. But he said the coalition was geared more toward helping communities with “a significant defined downtown.”

Selectmen received one bid for the town’s 1993 ambulance, for $2,875 from Jersey One Auto Sales of Jersey City, N.J. Huston said the town’s rescue department was hoping to get at least $2,500 for the ambulance.

Selectmen also agreed to support a nomination by the Thompson Lake Environmental Association to have the boat launch area and the causeway on Route 121 included in the state’s Surface Water Quality Protection Program.

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