LIVERMORE FALLS – Town Manager Martin Puckett told selectmen Monday that he wasn’t going to extend his contract when it comes up for renewal in January 2008.

Puckett, 30, formerly of Old Town, now of Augusta, was hired in January and signed a two-year contract with the town. His salary is $45,000 for the first year.

It was a family-based decision, Puckett said Tuesday.

When he was hired he was not married and now that he is, both Puckett and his wife, Kari, are commuting. She is going to law school in Portland.

The couple wants to start a family, he said.

Puckett and his wife were development officers at the University of Maine at Orono when he was hired as town manager.

“Certainly I can understand his decision,” selectmen’s Chairwoman Julie Deschesne said Tuesday. “It is very difficult to commute to a job and participate in raising a family.”

In other matters Monday, selectmen agreed to put several items besides firetruck decisions before voters at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, at Livermore Falls High School.

Townspeople will also be asked to consider transferring money from the town’s undesignated fund for the solid waste operation.

To keep the transfer station operating as it is, an estimated $10,000 is required for department expenses, Puckett said.

Last year’s approved budget was $183,072 compared to this year’s approved budget of $184,372, a $1,300 increase. Voters cut the proposed solid waste budget of nearly $216,000 by more than $31,000 at a special town meeting in July.

Now with solid waste tipping fees increased by $2 to $80.50 per ton of trash disposal and the amount of solid waste increasing, town officials foresee a potential $9,000 to $10,000 shortfall despite adjustments in accounts made early on, Puckett said.

More information will be drafted for background so voters will know the impact of their decisions before they vote, he said.

Townspeople will also consider a petition seeking a recall of elected officials ordinance. It wouldn’t affect elected school officials but would affect selectmen and other elected town officials.

Ordinance supporter Joyce Drake, who collected signatures to put the issue before voters, will write the affirmative side of adopting such an ordinance and Scott Roberts will write the opposing side to give voters the pros and cons of the ordinance, Deschesne said.

Selectmen decided to remove the question of changing the town clerk and treasurer’s position from elected to appointed from the special town meeting warrant since the issue won’t need to be addressed until 2008.

The board also agreed to accept a $2,000 donation to the Police Department for cruiser purposes in memory of former emergency dispatcher and reserve officer Art Van Zwoll, who died after a long illness in 2000.