WELD — Voters here will be asked Saturday if they want to buy a tanker truck for the Fire Department for $16,500, with $1,500 added for any modifications or minor repairs.

Residents will also consider giving more paid holidays to the road foreman and changing that appointed three-year term position back to an elected position as requested by a resident.

The town meeting is set for 10 a.m. March 5 at the town hall. Town and school officials will be elected from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 4, at the town office.

Former Selectman Wayne Dubois is running unopposed for a three-year term as selectman, assessor and overseer of the poor. Selectman Laurie Pratt is not seeking re-election, Town Clerk Carol Cochran said.

Cochran is running unopposed for one-year terms for both town clerk and tax collector. She has served in those capacities for more than 30 years.

Margot Joly is also seeking re-election in an uncontested race for a five-year term on the Planning Board. There is also an opening for a Mt. Blue Regional School director for a three-year term beginning July 1. The current director is E. Paul Druan.

Voters will consider buying a 1984 GMC Brigadier firetruck with about 21,000 original miles, Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Nancy Stowell said. She said it is in very good condition.

The truck, available in New Hampshire, would replace a 1969 pumper with an attached fabricated metal tank, she said.

Based on the age of the pumper, Northeast Emergency Apparatus in Auburn does not recommend an upgrade to this equipment, Stowell said.

If the tank is replaced, National Fire Protection Association standards require the new tank to comply with current standards and the truck itself must comply with the NFPA standards that were in place at the time it was first put into service, she said.

The cost of installing a new tank on the old chassis, outfitting it with a new portable transfer pump and complying with the two sets of standards would likely meet or exceed $20,000, Stowell said.

The truck voters will consider already has a poly tank. It is powered by a reliable Detroit diesel 671T engine, has an automatic transmission, is compliant with appropriate standards and offers many features that Weld’s existing tanker does not, she said.

There is also a larger request than in past years for the town’s bicentennial celebration that is coming up in 2016.

There is $10,359.61 in the account now with $600 of that raised last year.

This year the request is for $5,000.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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