MEXICO – Selectmen approved stipend and meeting attendance fee increases for trustees of the municipal water and sewer boards at their Wednesday night meeting.

They also heard an update on myriad projects and grant applications aimed at improving the town’s economic climate from Town Manager Joseph Derouche.

The yearly stipend for the three Water Board trustees will go from $300 to $600 per year. Trustees will also receive an increase from $15 per meeting, to $25 per meeting, up to a maximum of 20 meetings annually. The last time stipends were changed was more than 20 years ago.

For the three Sewer Board trustees, the stipend will go from $200 annually to $300. In addition, regular trustees will be paid $20 per meeting for the first time.

No changes have been made in the stipends for nearly 40 years. The meeting fee was approved for up to 20 meetings a year.

Funds for the increases will come from ratepayer assessments, although Sewer Board member Anne Young said the raises will not increase the current rate.

Now with selectmen approval, the requests will be entered into the state legislation session through a local representative.

Derouche said he is applying for $10,000 from the state to assist with updating the town’s Comprehensive Plan. The town’s Planning Board began the revision of the decade-old plan a few months ago and meets twice a month, often with the assistance of John Maloney of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments.

He is also looking into a state Regional Challenge Grant and a federal transportation grant that could provide funding for the town’s under-development trail system, as well as into a low interest loan program from the Maine Rural Development Association that could help finance commercial development.

Work on replacing the Mexico Recreation Center’s 15-year-old boiler will begin on March 29 at a cost of $48,000. Derouche said he doesn’t know yet whether the town’s insurance company will pay any part of the cost.

In other matters:

• Announcement was made that a Maine Career Center Job Fair will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. April 13 at the Calvin Lyons Hall of the town office.

• Advanced Auto Sales, a new business adjacent to Labonville, is expected to open in late April or early May.

• An ad hoc committee was formed to determine the color the library will be painted.

[email protected]