The issue: Public Works Director John Hyde has received a mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to upgrade paint storage cabinets. The problem, Hyde told selectmen, is that the cabinets are only “bomb-proof,” not fire-proof.

Up next: With the board’s blessing, Hyde will spend $589.69, the lowest of three bids received, for the new bins.

The scoop: The Public Works Department’s front-end loader needs a new hydraulic pump and a bearing repaired. Total cost of the repairs is estimated to be about $2,600.

The issue: For several months one of the police department’s 2-year-old squad cars has displayed one electrical problem after another. Repairs so far total more than $4,000, according to Chief Tom Fales, but the gremlins persist. Now Fales believes the car is unsafe.

Up next: By a vote of 4-1, with Guy Desjardins in opposition, the board approved a maximum expenditure of $18,500 to trade the ailing cruiser to Quirk Ford in Augusta for a 2007 model. The new car, after a $5,000 trade-in, will cost $16,827.48, plus the added expense of equipping it for police duty.

The issue: Because of family illness, one of the transfer station’s employees has stopped working. Complicating the matter is that nobody applied to fill the vacant position, station manager Jerry Sabins said.

Up next: Town Manager Greg Gill said he would check at the high school for eligible and willing workers.

The scoop: Selectmen unveiled, and unanimously approved, the town’s newly defined mission statement. It reads, in part: “The Mission for the Town of Sabattus is to provide high level service in a cost-effective manner, display honesty, respectfulness and fairness in all relationships, and to address public concern promptly and effectively.”

Contact JT Leonard with local government news at 252-6040 or at [email protected].