FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to accept a proposal from Adams Masonry of Jay to repoint, resurface, grind and seal bricks on the north side of the county courthouse for $9,500.

County custodian Greg Roux said he talked to four people about the proposed work and three picked up proposal forms. One couldn’t do the work this year and the another didn’t submit a proposal.

While the work is being done, the entry on the Anson Street side of the courthouse will be closed. If there is good weather, the company expects to get the work done before to winter, Roux said.

Commissioners also voted to change Deputy Emergency Management Agency Director Olive Toothaker’s job from hourly to salary with no increase in pay or hours. Her current salary is $29,760.90, county Treasurer Karen Robinson said. The change is to give her the flexibility to fulfill her job requirements, which sometimes do not follow the county’s hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the courthouse.

EMA Director Tim Hardy said Toothaker did not request the change and was trying to fulfill both office hours and night requirements.

“She was getting so much comp time she just couldn’t use it,” county Clerk Julie Magoon said.

“We need flexible hours,” Hardy said, because of the workload. He said he posts a note on the door of the EMA office when no one is around, along with his cell phone number if someone needs to get in contact with him.

In other business, commissioners voted to keep Diane Serino, Sandra Collins and Richard Biegaj as part-time corrections officers at the jail and pay them $10.50 an hour.

They also acknowledged receipt of petitions from Madrid Township residents to have the private Sawmill and Silvernoggin roads, and Brookside Terrace maintained during the winter.

“I for one am not in favor of any new roads,” Commission Chairman Fred Hardy of New Sharon said.
A letter will be sent acknowledging receipt of petitions, and the county will consider them for public hearing after the roads have met state standards.

Commissioners also agreed to have unorganized territories Road Commissioner Jerry Haines do some clean-up work at the Elizabeth Dyar Memorial in Freeman Township. Trees have fallen and the memorial needs cleaning up. It is off the West Freeman Road.

Dyar “was one of the gals that decorated up the Indians for the Boston Tea Party,” Commissioner Meldon Gilmore of Freeman Township said.

According to the Internet, Elizabeth Nichols Dyar was one of three young women who mixed and applied the paint to disguise the men of the Boston Tea Party as Indians on Dec. 16, 1773. Dyar died on June 14, 1818, at the age of 67.

dperry@sunjournal.com