WILTON – Selectmen on Tuesday tabled a planned discussion on changing the annual town meeting to voting by secret ballot. The citizen who had requested the discussion was not present at the meeting.

Newly elected Chairman Paul Gooch said although he likes town meetings and feels they are the purest form of democracy, the discussion is one that should be held. The board decided to table the matter until the petitioner or others who are interested could attend a meeting.

The board also heard quarterly reports from the fire and highway departments.

Selectmen voted unanimously to allow the fire department to spend up to $2,000 to fix cables on the snorkel truck and have it go through the process of certification to see if there is anything else that needs to be done.

The certification process was stopped immediately, fire Chief Sonny Dunham said, and inspectors did not charge the $500 fee when they realized the cables were worn so quickly. Selectmen agreed that Dunham should have the cables fixed and try the certification process again.

They also listened to concerns about spending money to put a tank on Engine 5 or whether to look for a used tanker that is already certified. Dunham expressed concern about putting more money into the truck, which also has some wiring problems. He preferred to concentrate on the snorkel truck rather than Engine 5.

While the department does not have a tanker in use, said Selectman Russell Black, mutual aid is available, making the tank less of an immediate concern.

The board tabled the issue until the department’s next quarterly report.

After voters chose to raise and appropriate $110,000 for a replacement bucket loader Monday night at town meeting, John Welch told selectmen, during his Highway Department report, that the next step would be to write a bid proposal and seek bids. The bucket loader will replace a 1984 one being used at the transfer station, which will be traded in with an approximate $14,000 trade-in value.