LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen voted Monday to hold a special town meeting Aug. 30 to ask residents to consider buying a new police cruiser a year earlier than normal.
One of the town’s cruisers slated to be replaced next year has transmission problems that was estimated to cost $2,000 to repair.
Selectmen discussed repairing the cruiser or going to special town meeting to see if residents were willing to pay $10,000 this year toward the price of a cruiser, and the remainder next year.
The Police Department usually buys a new cruiser every two years, with voters raising half the amount one year and the other half the next year.
Selectmen directed Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. to get bids on cruisers.
Selectmen opened the two bids Monday, with Augusta Ford giving a bid price of $21,330 for a 2005 Crown Victoria and Farmington Ford submitting a bid price of $23,330.50 for a 2006 Crown Victoria. Both bids offered a $500 trade-in and interest rates on a two-year lease option. The option would allow the town to pay $10,000 this year and the remainder next year.
Selectmen voted to go with the Augusta Ford’s bid and to ask residents if they wanted to buy the cruiser over the two-year period or buy it outright and take the remaining money from surplus.
The special town meeting is scheduled tentatively for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30 at the Municipal Building.
In other business, selectmen took the following actions:
• Accepted two bids for $201 each from Adams’ Auto to buy a 1989 F-150 pickup truck and a 1990 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Both have rusted frames and were unable to be inspected, Selectman Russell Flagg said.
• Decided to advertise for a new code enforcement officer in newspapers, on the town’s Web site and on the Maine Municipal Association Web site.
• Accepted C.N. Brown’s bid price of $1.859 per gallon for No. 2 fuel oil to heat buildings, in a joint bid with SAD 36.
• Approved the town’s personnel policy with an amendment.
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