LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen heard complaints Monday about the mess left by a mower used by the town crew on several outlying town roads.

“It works well on some, but we need to send them back to clean it up,” Selectmen Bernal Lake said. “We’re trying to improve the image of the town, and you ride the outer roads and see this massive mess.”

For the $900 it cost to rent the flay mower, Lake said it would have been better to send the crew out with pruners.

Selectman Russell Flagg had a personal complaint. The mower had been used on his property on Diamond Road because the utility poles are on his land, and it left an eyesore, he said.

That is an unusual occurrence, Town Manager Alan Gove said, because most poles are in the right of way, and he had no knowledge of the special circumstances on Diamond Road.

Selectman Joyce Drake also said the town’s sidewalks were in bad condition, with grass and weeds growing in them. “At least the downtown should look good; this is just creating more cracks and then we’ll have to rebuild the sidewalks,” she said.

Gove said he expected that the work on Moose Hill Road would have been done by now, but rainy weather has delayed it. No date has been set for it to begin.

Gove explained that the rural development loan and grant received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture should cover the cost of replacing the sewer line on Main Street from Bridge Street to the Jay line, but that the loan portion could result in an increase to sewer users.

The grant was for $182,700, but the loan amount was for $223,300 and could result in a $3 to $4 increase in the quarterly fee, which is $45.

Gove will apply for additional grants to help with the expense.

The meeting closed with an executive session with the police chief on negotiations.