By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WILTON – Selectmen unanimously approved spending up to $9,900 in federal Homeland Security grant money on new hoses if the federal government approves the expenditure.

The money, left over from a 2003 grant, was originally designated to build a hose-drying tower at the fire station but hoses made from newer materials do not require long drying times and would soon render the tower obsolete.

Fire Chief Sonny Dunham said he was unable to reach contacts in the federal government before the meeting to ask if the money could be reappropriated for hoses rather than the hose tower. The money needs to be spent before Sept. 2 or it will be lost, according to Dunham. The department typically replaces about 10 to 15 percent of the hoses annually, he said, and it would cost approximately $30,000 to replace it all.

Selectmen agreed that the hose tower is obsolete. If the feds do not grant Dunham’s request, he will need to come back to selectmen to make a decision about a hose tower that will require an additional $6,600 from the town appropriated from the department’s equipment budget. The grant money may simply be passed over.

The board also heard a report from Russ Mathers, superintendent of water and sanitation, who reported that the Webb Avenue project that required a Main Street detour is complete. Mathers commended the state Department of Transportation for its work. The project cost the town between $25,000 and $30,000 but that cost included purchasing a new emergency pump station that is now available for future use.

Wilson Lake also came through E. coli contamination testing favorably after a resident lodged a complaint about the lake’s cleanliness recently. According to Mathers, Maine is the only state that does not have E. coli limits on which to base beach closures but he said Vermont allows for 77 colonies and Mt. Blue State Park allows for 100. The highest reading found on Wilson Lake was near Bass Park at 74 during a week of particularly hot weather. Last week, the same location yielded a count of 56 while readings at Kineowatha Park read four.

The biggest contaminant on the lake is “poopy diapers,” Mathers said. Children in diapers should don swim diapers when they are in the water.

“The pond is in good shape,” he said, due in large part to the water treatment plant.

Selectmen also:

• Appointed Dunham as emergency management director.

• Signed the highway department’s labor contract that included a 2 percent raise each year for the next three, reduced guaranteed overtime hours and slightly reduced bereavement leave benefits.

• Approved the sewer department budget at about $370,000, a decrease of about one percent from last year.

• Approved a $29,500 loan from the town’s new revolving loan fund for Kostas Kalkanis to purchase and renovate Athena’s Restaurant – this is the first loan from the $117,500 fund that is being administered through the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments who recommended selectmen approve Kalkanis’ application.