LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted Monday to buy equipment for two new trucks, including plows and sanders, for $113,125 from Tenco New England of Berwick.
Selectmen voted at the June 15 meeting to buy two Freightliner trucks, a 4-by-4 and a 4-by-6 wheeler truck for a total of $159,751.
The combined cost of trucks and equipment is $272,876. The cost is more than the $260,000 allotted between voters approval of funds at town meeting and the use of equipment reserve and carry-over funds from the Public Works Department.
Town Manager Jim Chaousis is hoping the amount from the sale of the three trucks the town is getting rid of will offset the difference.
Selectmen also voted to hold a dangerous building hearing at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, at the town office on a 418 Campground Road residence.
It was previously condemned, Chaousis said.
The property is owned by Leo Copp of Livermore Falls, Chaousis said. The former owner, Cathy Ann Nichols, will also be notified of the hearing in case the deed is inaccurate, Chaousis said.
A management focus group that includes Chaousis and town department heads is trying to get buildings and lands cleaned up in town that have dangerous or health hazards based on state laws, Chaousis said.
In another matter, the board also approved salary or pay increases for some nonunion employees that were in the budget voters approved in June. The town manager is to make $45,000 per his contract. General assistance clerk pay will go from $20 a week to $28.50. That position has not had an increase for 15 years, Town Clerk/Treasurer Kristal Flagg said.
Flagg’s position will go from $19.91 an hour to $20.51. Selectmen will each get a $200-a-year raise and the health officer, a new position, will make $1,200 a year.
The board also authorized Chaousis to apply for a $179,000 federal loan and grant on behalf of the Sewer Department to help pay for the replacement of sewer lines during a state road construction project on Route 4. The sewer main was installed in 1911 and needs to be replaced, Sewer Department Superintendent Kent Mitchell said.
The $179,000 is needed in addition to the $406,000 the town secured in a low-interest loan and grant funds in 2004 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chaousis said. That funding has been on hold until the state does the road reconstruction project.
The town’s portion of the project was estimated to cost about $667,000 as of January, Mitchell said.
dperry@sunjournal.com