DIXFIELD — A formal agreement between the town of Dixfield and the Mexico Sewer District came closer to reality this week when the Dixfield Board of Selectmen tentatively approved the percentage of repairs the town would make on sewer lines when needed.

The agreement must go to the town attorney for review.

The agreed upon percentage of sewer line repairs was one of the options given to the town from the sewer district.

Anne Young, a Mexico Sewer District trustee, said her board is waiting for official word from Dixfield.

“I’m glad their board accepted it. We are waiting for their negotiating committee to contact us,” she said.

Dixfield selectmen voted to accept 100 percent of the responsibility for any needed repairs to the sewer line from the sewer main attached to the Webb River Bridge, to the gravity feed line near Dupuis Towing and Salvage in Mexico. From there to the sewage treatment plant, Dixfield agreed to pay 50 percent of any sewer line repairs. The remaining 50 percent would be paid by the Mexico Sewer District.

Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky said repairs are seldom needed to the line, but the percentage that would be the responsibility of his town would be higher than the previous 30-year contract that expired last year.

If both the town and sewer district formally agree to the new plan, the contract would be for seven years.

The inability of the town and the sewer district to come to a cost sharing agreement was part of the reason the state Department of Transportation withdrew its plans to replace the Webb River Bridge earlier this year. An MDOT spokesman had said that an agreement on repair costs was needed before the project could go forward. The bridge connects the two towns.

The opportunity for the state to pay for virtually the entire bridge replacement is expected to come up again. The town was approved for funding.

Young said once her board approves the agreement, it, too, will be sent to the trustees’ lawyer for review.

Also, she said once everything is formally agreed to, other details, such as setting up an advisory committee with members from both political entities, and establishing an on-call person for emergencies, would be worked out.

Once the trustees receive official word from the town, they will meet with Selectmen Norine Clarke and Bettina Martin,  who served as Dixfield’s negotiating committee.

The sewer trustees have a regularly scheduled meeting on Nov. 24. Whether the agreement will be officially acted on at that time is uncertain.

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