JAY – Selectmen voted to buy a new John Deere loader and plowing equipment for the Highway Department at a cost of $130,855, board Chairman Bill Harlow said Tuesday.
The new loader was included in the department’s 2005-2006 budget, Harlow said. The money will come from the capital reserve fund.
The loader will replace a 1986 loader, which has snowplow gear from a 1966 truck, he said.
Also during Monday’s meeting, selectmen asked Code Enforcement Officer Shiloh Ring to seek more information on adopting a changeable-sign ordinance.
Otis Federal Credit Union has asked the town adopt its own ordinance so that the credit union could have its sign in front of its building on Main Street, also known as Route 4, change more frequently than state law allows. The Maine Department of Transportation oversees changeable signs on state highways and allows messages to change every 20 minutes or more.
During the last session, state legislators changed the law to allow municipalities to adopt their own ordinances.
The credit union wants to change it message every two seconds, the same as the state allows for time and temperature signs, Harlow said. A sample ordinance from the Maine Municipal Association recommends changing the sign no less than every 60 seconds.
“Safety is the big issue here,” Harlow said. “We don’t want people trying to read a sign and getting into accidents.”
Harlow said selectmen also want to know how the state is going to enforce the ordinance.
Trying to conserve
In other business, town department heads have come up with ideas to conserve energy in a time of fluctuating and higher gas and heating-fuel prices.
Board secretary Jill Gingras said Tuesday that selectmen have asked department heads to prioritize their lists. Some ideas have already been implemented, including no idling of vehicles, she said. Other ideas will be implemented as a last resort.
Bob Sanders at the transfer station is looking into a waste-oil burner, which could burn the used vehicle oil that is taken to the station for recycling to heat the station’s buildings, Harlow said.
Gingras said another suggestion from Sanders was to look into a new type of furnace that could either burn scraps of wood brought in for recycling or wood cut from the town’s land.
Other suggestions from department heads included reducing temperatures in buildings, insulating above the town financial director’s office, reducing trips to the animal shelter in Farmington by consolidating trips, car-pooling to police-related court cases, and reducing snow removal and the number of sidewalks cleared of snow.
Selectmen also appointed John Chouinard and Mike Pineau as regular Planning Board members and appointed Dennis Stevens as an alternate on the board, Harlow said. One alternate position remains vacant.
Comments are no longer available on this story