LIVERMORE FALLS – Eddie Black, a longtime Livermore Falls Highway Department mechanic, wasn’t ready to retire but that choice has been taken out of his hands.
“I have to get done,” Black, 64, said. “I have bad bones in my foot.”
The Jay man has been out of work since summer and is in the process of retiring because of his disability.
“I didn’t plan it this way,” he said. “I wanted to work another year or two.”
His wife, Juanita Black, said he has diabetes, which is causing brittle bones that keep breaking in his foot. He has undergone more than one surgery and has been in and out of the hospital.
“I’m hobbling around on crutches,” Eddie Black said.
Livermore Falls selectmen are scheduled to discuss filling the town mechanic position at their meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Town Office.
A memo from Town Manager Alan Gove to selectmen on the agenda items, notes, “It seems necessary for the well-being of our highway fleet to have a full-time mechanic.” The mechanic also does repairs on the firetrucks and police cruisers.
In a memo to Gove, Fire Chief Ken Jones sent a list of items that either need to be done or have been done at places other than the town garage since Black has been out. Jones also noted that Black also did installing of two-way radios and was there when needed in an emergency to keep the fire department’s equipment running and in service.
“We lost a good man,” Jones said of Black.
In other business Tuesday, selectmen plan to discuss a proposal to discontinue Pasture Lane Road, which is off Route 133, as a town road.
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