PERU – Road Commissioner David Gammon told selectmen Monday night that the River Road bridge is unsafe, and the board voted to close it temporarily.

Barriers will be put up today.

There is one resident on the other side of the bridge. The rest are in Canton.

SAD 21 has been notified that the school bus should not go over the bridge, which the Department of Transportation has posted for a 4-ton limit.

Gammon said the railroad is in charge of the bridge, but River Road is a town road. He said he and Canton’s road foreman have both inspected the bridge and decided it was unsafe.

“I don’t want gravel trucks, firetrucks or ambulances going over that bridge,” he said.

He also reported he will be paving Main and Dickvale streets today. He said he was able to get around blasting ledge by running drainage down beside the ledge. He has gone some over budget on gravel and rock, but is saving some on culverts, he said.

Gammon said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited him for not having certified flaggers.

Selectman Jim Pulsifer asked what his reasoning was for not using them.

“To save money,” he replied.

“That is not a reason,” Pulsifer said.

Gammon said he was not sure when certified flaggers had to be used, and Selectman Kathy Hussey said she would find out exactly what the requirements are for town road work.

In other business, Med-Care Board Chairman Steve Brown and Director Dean Milligan presented to the board their intention to purchase land and construct a new ambulance facility next year.

Milligan said the service was established after 11 communities in the River Valley found out in 1988 they were losing their ambulance service. They formed a corporation to start Med-Care and in 1991 moved into the old Dairy Queen building in Mexico. This year the service had 3,800 calls and has outgrown its facility.

Brown said the total cost of the facility, including land purchase, is $2.4 million. It will be located on Route 2 in Mexico beside the Region 9 School of Applied Technology on six acres.

Selectmen were given packets of information on Med-Care and the financial impact of the project on each town. Milligan said they investigated various loans and settled on a USDA 40-year loan at a fixed rate of 4.25 percent interest with no penalties for early payoff.

Med-Care operates with 15 full-time employees and 50 part-time workers. It staffs three ambulances at the Advanced Life Support level with two of them at paramedic level 24 hours a day. It owns and operate six ambulances, two SUVs and a 20-foot mass casualty incident response trailer. Five of these must remain outdoors because of lack of space.

The new facility will eliminate this problem and make all vehicles available for immediate response.

The board appointed Selectman Corey Jacques to represent the town on the Med-Care board.

The state Department of Transportation sent the town notice to post the speed limit on Gammon Road at 35 mph and 25 mph on Hammond Hill Road.

The board announced a vacancy on the Appeals Board.

The next selectmen’s meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 4.