JAY – Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to approve a three-year contract with unionized town office workers that gives them a 3 percent wage increase each of the years.

The parties agreed to go with a less expansive insurance plan, but it is still good insurance, which will save the town money, Town Manager Ruth Marden said.

An employee who takes a single plan will pay $20 a month toward the premium and a person with dependent coverage will continue picking up 20 percent of the premium with the town paying 80 percent, she said.

With the lower level of insurance, the town will pay out less money, Marden said.

A clothing allowance for workers was eliminated from the contract, she said.

The probationary period for a new employee increased from 60 days to six months.

The agreement includes everything selectmen wanted in the contract, Marden said.

“It was a successful negotiation,” she said.

The contract runs from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2011.

Three other contracts that selectmen and Marden are negotiating have gone to mediation. Negotiations on a fourth contract begin Tuesday.

In other business, selectmen voted to postpone issuing certificates of occupancy for new and renovated structures until more information is gathered.

The board set up workshops to discuss life safety codes and certificates of occupancy at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, and to discuss proposals to amend the road ordinance at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 29. Both workshops will be at the town office.

Selectmen also decided to wait on draining pipes on the upper level and just heat the basement of the former municipal building for another month.

The cost to heat the building during the last heating season was $5,511.98, Marden said.

There are three zones to the system and there was no money put in the budget to heat two buildings, she said.

Initially, Marden asked if selectmen wanted to drain all the pipes and not heat the building for the winter or if they wanted to heat it.

Some concerns arose about the foundation and not heating the basement, Chairman Steve McCourt said.

In another matter, the board appointed Jean Gilbert as a member of the Jay Development Committee and reappointed Bruce Roy for five years to the Board of Assessment Review.