LIVERMORE FALLS — The Planning Board voted Thursday to hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m., Friday, March 11, at the town office on a proposed ordinance to protect the Moose Hill Pond watershed.

The pond is the primary public drinking water source for customers of the Livermore Falls Water District.

The purpose of the ordinance is to prevent contamination of the surface water and ground water that feeds the pond.

The ordinance is proposed to go to voters in June.

Stakeholders, including owners of properties that abut the pond, have been involved in putting the ordinance together.

The reason the hearing is to be held on a Friday is to meet a 90-day requirement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires.

In other business, select board Chairman Bill Demaray informed Planning Board members there is a mandatory training session at 6 p.m., Monday, March 28, at the town office.

The town’s attorney will present the training so that members of all the town boards, including select board, Planning Board and Board of Appeals, will know what their duties are and what the law requires boards to do, Demaray said.

Town Manager Kristal Flagg and Code Enforcement Officer James Butler Jr. will also attend the meeting.

In another matter, Fire Department Lt. Corey Leclerc presented information on Knox-Boxes for businesses. The secured box would be located outside a business and have a key to the business locked inside for emergency purposes.

The Fire Department would also have a box in its possession and one key that would fit all the boxes. Only authorized members of the Fire Department would have a code to the Department’s box that holds the key to all the business boxes, Leclerc said.

Right now the Department has a big key ring with lots of keys to businesses that have been collected over the years. Some of the keys don’t fit anything, others, nobody knows where they go, he said.

The Knox-Box system would prevent unnecessary damage to a business such as busting down a door or breaking a window to let firefighters in, in case of an emergency, Leclerc said.

It would also make it quicker for firefighters to get in to take care of the emergency, he said. Sometimes firefighters have to wait an hour for a key holder to come to a business, Leclerc said.

The Department is going to ask businesses that don’t have 24-hour access to voluntarily participate, he said.

The Farmington Fire-Rescue Department uses a Knox-Box system in that town.

Planning Board member John Ross said he has one for the Postal Service to use to access the vestibule to a building where mailboxes are located.

“I think it is a smart thing,” he said.

Leclerc said the Department wanted to inform the Planning Board on what they plan to do.

“This is the starting point,” Leclerc said.

Code Enforcement Officer James Butler said that he has had inquiries from business representatives about the secured key system.

A basic box costs about $200, Leclerc said. The Fire Department would also have to invest in the system, which would record who went into the box, when it was entered and when it was secured again. He estimated the cost for the Department’s box to be about $500.

Fire Chief Gerry Pineau and Leclerc plan to present the idea to the Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce on Friday, March 4. They also plan to send out letters to businesses.

In other business, Planning Board members directed Butler to bring back more information in relation to updating the town’s rental housing code, which is outdated.

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