LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen voted Tuesday to accept the Farmington ladder truck and to have it certified before it arrives in town.

The town bid $105,000 for the truck in January. Farmington selectmen initially awarded it to a higher bidder who later backed out of the process. It was then awarded to Livermore Falls.

Livermore Falls will pay to have the truck certified, Town Manager Martin Puckett said Wednesday.

Livermore Falls selectmen had a mechanic inspect the truck on Jan. 4, prior to the town submitting a bid. The board wants to ensure as a precaution that if there are any repairs needed they’ll know ahead of time before the truck arrives in town, Chairwoman Julie Deschesne said.

The only condition the town put on its bid, she said, was that it be maintained in reasonable similar condition as when it was inspected earlier.

The plus to having the certification done before the town gets the truck is that it will be ready to go into the fleet when it arrives, Deschesne said.

“I think we’re just trying to be very careful to make sure its ready once we obtain it, and we’re being careful with taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said.

In other matters, selectmen awarded the Highway Department’s 1995 General Motors Co., 1-ton pickup truck to high bidder Allen Adams of Adams Auto Sales in Livermore Falls.

The town received six bids and Adams’ was for $4,551.10.

Selectmen also received good news from the auditor, Ron Smith, Puckett said.

The town is in better financial shape with about $150,000 more in the town’s reserve account due to frugal spending, he said. That brings the undesignated fund account to about $850,000, which is close to what auditors recommend the town should have in the account, he said. Auditors say that a town should have one-quarter of a year’s expenditures on hand in case of an emergency. In Livermore Falls, that would be about $900,000.

Selectmen also voted to start investigating sewer line replacement in coordination with the Livermore Falls Water District, which is replacing water lines in the Park, Oak, Maple, Chestnut and Walnut streets area as well as Highland Avenue, Puckett said.

Wright-Pierce Engineering estimates that the project would cost about $246,000, with some of that money slated for repaving the streets after the work is done, Deschesne said.

The auditor said the upgrade should be able to be done without a rate increase, Puckett said.

The board also approved the NorthStar Emergency Medical Services contract for ambulance service at a cost of $43,514, the town manager said. The new contract that will run from July 1 to June 30, 2008, is $7,000 more than the existing one, he said.