SABATTUS – Selectmen told a town resident Tuesday night that he must follow rules when obtaining sand from the town.

Selectman Chairman William Luce said Code Enforcement Officer Richard Behr caught Rick Therrien getting sand at the town garage. Luce said residents can take sand, but only from the transfer station and there is a two-bucket limit. He asked Therrien to keep the discussion civil.

“It was just sand and for them to call the cops on me. I wasn’t stealing town-owned property. My tax dollars paid for it,” Therrien said.

He also responded to a comment that he could have legally collected sand during the summer. “You can’t plan for winter snowstorms in the summertime,” Therrien said.

He also claimed that some people are getting away with illegally filling up pickup trucks with sand and salt at the town garage and using it on private roads. “I’m not going to name them. They’re going to the town garage at night,” Therrien said.

Road Commissioner Dennis Atwood said those people would be prosecuted if they are caught.

Atwood told the board that the transmission is going bad in the town’s one-and-a-half-ton Ford truck. The 1999 truck used for plowing has about 53,000 miles on it. It remains in service.

“You can’t drive it long before it is overheating,” Atwood said, adding that the cost of replacing the transmission would be between $3,000 and $5,000.

Selectmen voted 2-1 to authorize the purchase of a new Ford truck at a cost of a little under $30,000. With $20,000 currently in the equipment replacement fund, the cost to the town would be under $10,000. Luce voted against the buy.

The board voted to appoint new Town Clerk Suzanne Reading, making her position official. Reading has trained on the job for the position the past week.

Luce reminded the board that the town is growing with a population of about 5,000 people. The three-member Board of Selectmen will become a five-member board when elections are held in conjunction with the annual town meeting in March. Luce said Sabattus might consider hiring a town manager in the future. Currently the town has an administrator.