DIXFIELD – Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to seek bids on paving projects for two roads and the town office sidewalk.

They also unanimously OK’d appointing Sigrid Houlette as emergency management director.

Following an unattended public hearing regarding Dixfield’s ban of through-trucks weighing more than 12 tons from Common Road, Town Manager Tom Richmond told selectmen that he’d gotten information from contractor Bruce Manzer that will help him draft bid specifications for work to replace the town office sidewalk.

Richmond suggested going with paving rather than concrete, which he thought would be more expensive but subject to more repair work than hot top.

“If cement floats and moves, there’s no way to replace it, but you can repair paving,” Richmond said.

He then moved into paving work needed to complete Sugarloaf Avenue, which the town has already spent $65,000 on in construction work.

Selectmen also spoke about crack sealing Webb River Drive before a motion was made to send all three projects out to bid. Selectman Chairman Bettina Martin also asked Richmond to get bids for the town office sidewalk for both concrete and hot top.

Prior to the board’s voting on the three projects, Martin said that just because they’re going out to bid, doesn’t mean all of them have to be done this year.

In other business, selectmen gave fire Chief Scott Dennett permission to give his call force a pay raise comparable to what call force firefighters get in Rumford and Mexico to better recruit and keep firefighters.

Dennett said that such a raise can be covered with money in his operating budget. He estimated it to cost between $800 and $900 overall.

Selectman Raymond “Tiny” Carlton notified the board and Richmond that residents on Pine Street are having a problem with some all-terrain vehicle drivers speeding up and down the road during day and night hours.

“It’s a growing problem and they’re getting pretty reckless,” Carlton said. “It’s not everybody, it’s just a certain few.”

He said he has been unable to contact Dan Mitchell, president of the town’s ATV club, to get the problem addressed before selectmen take action.

That action could see the board revoting their ATV downtown road access ordinance and removing Pine Street from the list of roads on which ATVs are allowed.