LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen were in a complaining mood Monday night, commenting on what they saw as shortcomings of the Police Department, the highway foreman and the town manager.

They opened and closed their meeting with complaints to and about Town Manager Alan Gove, ending with an executive session to discuss disciplinary action against him.

Gove, who started as town manager on Jan. 3, 2002, signed his first contract on March 4 of that year. The contract runs through June 30, 2006, but he has an evaluation due this month, prior to contract review in February, he said Tuesday.

At the meeting, Selectman Russell Flagg opened the attack on Gove. He questioned the town’s personnel policy, which he said had not been approved by the board, and made reference to events around the time the policy was discussed.

Minutes of the Aug. 3, 2003, meeting show the policy was discussed at length and sent to the Maine Municipal Association for review.

It was shortly after that meeting when Gove was absent from the town office, first for a week’s vacation, then on paid personal leave from Aug. 11, 2003. About a month later, the board issued a news release saying that Gove was returning to work. The release stated that selectmen “were satisfied with the results of the investigation and optimistic that the functioning of the town office will return to normal within a few days.”

Selectmen made quick work of other agenda items Monday night, moving on to the period when they bring up personal or constituent concerns.

Flagg continued with a litany of complaints, which included:

• His claim that an extra worker had been called in to plow snow, so that the for man could do paperwork.

• His asking why meeting minutes were not kept in a safe instead of someone’s office.

• His asking why the town was paying Gove’s share of the manager’s retirement cost.

• His questioning why Gove attended a meeting while on sick leave.

Little opportunity was given for response to Flagg’s rapid-fire accusations.

Gove suggested that copies of the minutes could be placed in the safe, and said that his retirement payment by the town was a benefit of his employment package, one enjoyed by previous managers.

Selectman Bernal Lake’s concerns dealt with the police cruiser’s being left running when not in use. “It needs to be better supervised, at the cost of gas today,” he told Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr.

Lake also cited an idling vehicle at the highway department, and asked why the foreman checked the roads each morning, then sent a man out to do sanding if needed instead of doing it himself.

In other business, the General Assistance maximums for 2005 were accepted and the board added new items to the Solid Waste Ordinance. Citizens must now recycle fluorescent tubes, batteries, mercury switches and PCB ballasts.

Area Youth Sports Board member Jackie Knight asked the board to support an insurance program for AYS that would cost participating towns, Livermore, Jay, Livermore Falls and Fayette, a total of $9,400 annually.

Selectmen had some concerns about the proposal and asked for more information on the coverage so it can be considered at budget time, which usually begins in February.

The town has sent letters of participation to the Maine Development Foundation seeking grants to cooperate with SAD 36 to plan joint services, and with the towns of Farmington, Jay, Wilton and Livermore to plan fire protection services.

More research will be done on discontinuing Pasture Lane, a road that is really a driveway to one home, which is now vacant and the property for sale.