WOODSTOCK – Town Manager Vern Maxfield said Thursday that projects involving an electrical generator and a handicap-accessible bathroom at the fire station will likely be complete within the next few weeks.

“Both projects are about 98 percent complete now,” Maxfield said. “What remains to be done are mostly minor clean-up jobs that actually do not affect the operation of either facility directly.”

Maxfield said the generator, which will serve the town garage and fire station during power outages, is housed in the pole barn across from the fire station/garage entrance where it can be kept ready to run at a moment’s notice.

In other business, selectmen set Nov. 28 as a date for a special joint meeting between the selectmen, planning board and fire department to review the need to update the town’s fire protection ordinance.

“Our fire protection ordinance has not been updated since 1945 so everyone feels it had better be brought up to date to meet the needs of the town which are very much different than they were in 1945. So we saw the need for a joint meeting to share ideas and develop a new updated plan which can go to the voters at town meeting next March,” Maxfield said.

The special meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. and is open to the public.

Selectmen also are considering presenting another ordinance to the voters in March that will call for waste containers being on site during construction projects. The idea is to lower the amount of demolition and construction debris being deposited in containers at the G&W Transfer Station in Locke Mills.

“This is something we have been considering for some time and our partner town Greenwood agrees that contractors should assume the cost of disposing of construction debris on their own as they are being paid for the project they are in the process of doing. The cost from their project should not come out of the tax liability of all of our taxpayers. It should be up to the people having the construction done,” Maxfield said.

Selectmen also approved setting the town’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony for 6 p.m. on Dec. 1. This year the ceremony will be held at the Whitman Memorial Library in the center of Bryant Pond Village. The lighting will be followed by refreshments and a visit from Santa at the Woodstock Elementary School on Rumford Avenue.


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