LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted on Monday to upgrade three emergency, radio communication repeaters, hire a part-time custodian and buy two new front doors for the town office.

Fire Chief Gerry Pineau told the board that the repeaters for the Police, Fire and Public Works departments are essentially dying and need to be replaced. The repeaters that are on a communications tower on Moose Hill for police and public works are not bad, he said. However, the repeater for the Fire Department is in poor shape, he said.

A repeater is a piece of equipment that receives a signal on one frequency and re-transmits it with increased strength on another frequency simultaneously in a two-way radio communication, according to the Internet.

“When I talk to my radio I talk to the Moose Hill repeater and then it goes to (Androscoggin) County,” he said.

Half the time when firefighters are being toned out for a fire or accident, they can not hear county dispatchers, he said. Pineau said he has had to call dispatchers on his cell phone to communicate with them at times during emergency situations.

It is a safety issue and people’s lives are at stake, he said.

Pineau said he contacted Radio Communication Management and they checked out the system and gave recommendations to improve it.

Next year, the town and other public safety agencies will have to change to narrow band for radio communications as required by federal law, he said.

The good news is all of the equipment on the street, except for one radio, is narrow band compliant, Pineau said.

The company checking the system gave the town a deal, he said, that includes replacing repeaters with narrow band capable units and coming back next year to reprogram the system when the change over to narrow band takes place.

Interim Town Manager Kristal Clerk said there is $20,000 in contingency that could be used to fix the problem.

Selectmen voted to spend up to $10,926.41 for the upgrade.

In other business, Flagg brought to the board’s attention that there is no one to snow blow, shovel and sand the walkways and other areas at the municipal office building and library. There is also no one to do maintenance, she said.

The current budget eliminated the building and grounds custodian’s position that was held by Ron Morris for many years.

People have complained, she said.

Flagg and Tax Collector Dawn Young fixed a leaking faucet in the town office, she said.

“I’m just thinking we need somebody to come help us,” she said. “The library is in the same boat.”

Flagg said she contacted Ron Morris to see if he would be willing to help out at the town office and library.

He would be willing to work 15 hours a week for 16 weeks, she said.

“It would be roughly $1,600 for us and $1,600 for the library,” Flagg said.

It amounts to about $14 an hour. There is money in the budget for snow removal and maintenance, she said.

There are maintenance items that need to be done on a regular basis, she said, that are not being done.

Elaine Smith concurred with Flagg. Her husband, Kenney Smith has had to change light bulbs and shovel and sand the walkways.

Selectmen approved the request.

They also agreed with Flagg to change the front doors to the town office that are not energy efficient and are a hazard to people coming into the building when someone is coming out, she said. The wooden doors have no glass in them and open out to the walkway.

There has been one incident of a child being hurt, she said.

The board voted to contract with Portland Glass for $2,521 to replace the doors if there is enough money in the appropriate account.

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