The town is seeking competitive bids from companies to take on the town’s payroll duties. After rejecting a proposed contract with Advance Payroll Plus out of Bangor due to lack of notice and information, the Board of Selectmen directed staff to explore other options.

Town Manager Richard Chick reported to the board last week that he has started over in getting the town proposals from payroll services. Staff from School Union 29 and the town are working together to increase efficiency and to decrease overhead costs.

– Emily Tuttle
Poland:

Board releases tax-acquired land

Selectmen voted this week to release the deed to a 33-acre parcel to original owner Lloyd Merchant. The town recently received $2,850 for taxes owed between 1996 and 2003.

Selectmen voted 3-1 to let the land go so that Merchant could sell it to Morse Brothers, a mulch business on Hardscrabble Road. Selectmen Steve Robinson, Lionel Ferland and David Corcoran voted in favor of the transaction for reasons of returning the property to the town property tax roll. Selectman Glenn Peterson objected on the grounds that the town would be rewarding a property 0 owner who had failed to pay taxes.

– Emily Tuttle
Durham:

Excise taxes go up every year

Local excise taxes paid to register motor vehicles here topped the half-million dollar mark in 2003, for an all-time high of $520,925, according to Tax Collector Pauline Paradis. A five-year analysis showed that excise tax collections went up every year since 1999, when the town collected $329,488. In 2000, it was $342,724; 2001, $433,589; and in 2002, $473, 502.

– Connie Footman
Auburn:

Boards elect officers

Jeffrey Preble has been elected president of the Board of Trustees of the Auburn Sewerage District. Recent past president Patrick DeFilipp will replace Preble as treasurer.

Also last week, the Water District trustees re-elected officers. They are: Bruce Rioux, president; and Preston Chapman, treasurer.

Both boards re-elected Norm Lamie as superintendent and William Harnden as clerk. By charter, both boards must re-elect those two full-time positions annually. Both Lamie and Harnden have held their positions for many years.

– John Plestina
Auburn:

County hires servers

The Androscoggin County Commission has approved the hiring of three part-time civil processors for the sheriff’s department. Three of six applicants were chosen in a closed session. They will be paid per paper served. They are John Decker, Michael Farrell and Steve Ham.

– John Plestina
Auburn:

Society to

re-enact meeting

County commissioners plan to host a re-enactment of the first commission meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, at the courthouse. An open house and a real commission meeting will follow.

The Androscoggin County Historical Society will present the re-enactment and will provide period costumes, said County Clerk Patricia Fournier. The first commission was a 10-member board that met in Lewiston on April 4, 1854. The present courthouse was built three years later.

– John Plestina