LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen voted Monday to have the town manager and highway foreman seek bids for a new gate at the transfer station and authorized the chairman and town manager to award the contract before July 1.

The money would from the $50,000 residents voted to transfer from the town’s undesignated fund in January to keep the station operating at the same level of service and cover more trash disposal and tipping fees.

Voters approved a reduced $184,000 budget for the transfer station last July, and the issue came before voters again in January with a request for $50,000 more when it was estimated it would take that much to keep the station operating.

So far, highway foreman Denis Castonguay said $185,000 has been spent.

Castonguay said there has been talk about a new gate for four years, and voters have been approving $1,000 a year for it but the money keeps going back into the general fund.

In the meantime, the cost of the gate is estimated to be four times more than the initial figure, he said.

The gate, which will be much larger than the one in place, is expected to prevent theft and illegal dumping.

Chairman Julie Deschesne said even though selectmen may or may not have voted to take money for the gate out of the existing budget, it was a new legislative body dealing with the issue with further information available.

“It’s not going to get any cheaper,” new Selectman Louise Chabot said.

In other matters, election of a chairman was tabled for further thought after two people were nominated for the position and no one seconded the motions.

Chabot nominated Deschesne, and new Selectman Ernie Souther nominated Jackie Knight.

Selectman David Lemire said he was not interested.

“I think it is good to have changes but I also think it’s good to have continuity … but everybody should have an opportunity to try it,” Chabot said.

Selectmen also awarded the contract for ditching about 450 feet of Moose Hill Road to Pratt & Sons Inc. for $120 an hour with a larger excavator than other bidders.

The ditch will be made deeper and closer to the road, Castonguay said, which would cut down on the size of the shoulders to about 3 feet or 4 feet. The road washed out during the Patriot’s Day storm.

Even though it cost more per hour for the excavator, it is expected to take less time, Town Manager Martin Puckett said.

It is estimated it would take Pratt & Sons eight hours for the job and would cost $960; with smaller machinery it would cost between $990 to $1,080, he said.

The board also made several annual appointments.

Appeals Board: Mary Young, two years; Betty Nadeau, one year.

Assessment Review Board: Tammy Greaton and Norm Brown, one year; Bill Demaray, two years.

Budget Committee: Mary Young, Fran Szostek and Ron Chadwick, one year; Bernal Lake, three years.

Animal control officer, Wayne Atwood; code officer, Kenneth Pratt; excise tax collector, Dawn Young; fire chief, Ken Jones; Planning Board, Kathleen Szostek and her husband, Fran Szostek; register of voters, Dawn Young; and tax collector, Dawn Young. All are for a year.