LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted 3-0 Monday to accept Bailey Brothers’ low bid of $22,894.95 for a new Ford Crown Victoria to be used as a police cruiser.

Four dealerships submitted bids for the new cruiser: Hight Chevrolet bid $31,325.05; Quirk Motors, $23,568 and Bessey Motors, $24,281 for a V6 motor and $25,099 for a V8.

Bailey Brothers has the car with a V8 motor at its lot in Livermore Falls, owner Brenda Brochu told the board.

Board Chairman Bill Demaray recused himself prior to the bids being read and sat in the audience because he works for Bailey Brothers, he said.

Selectmen voted to accept the high bid of $1,211.25 for the 2004 cruiser from Allen Adams and Rich Cushman. Five bids came in for the vehicle with the low bid being $300.

In another matter, the board voted 4-0 to pass costs of $14,214.83 to Roger LaPlante for demolishing his house on 1 Birch St. The town condemned the structure and had it torn down in July 2010. Voters voted in June 2010 to take money from the town’s undesignated fund to deal with dangerous buildings.

The process will work like a lien and if not paid, after so many months, the town would own the land.

Selectmen also voted to go with Androscoggin Bank for a lease purchase agreement to finance a new backhoe over three years. The first payment of $26,725 is not due until July 12, 2012, Town Manager Kristal Flagg said.

Payments for the 2013 and 2014 will be the same, she said.

The board also voted to have Flagg get in touch with Norm Paradis, an owner of the Chuck Wagon Restaurant, to produce the amount on the work that was done on his building that is standing and the one that was torn down in June to make way for a medical arts center. The company was one of several downtown to receive Community Development Block Grant funds to improve facades that called for $1-to-$1 match from the owner.

“The money should come back and be reinvested in the community,” Demaray said and be used for what it was intended.

The agreement for the grant was that if a building that the money was used on was sold within three years, the grant money would need to be reimbursed, he said.

There is not much sense in signing an agreement if it is not going to be enforced, Demaray said.

In other business, the board voted to give Code Enforcement Officer James Butler Jr. a $1 an hour raise to bring his wage to $17.

Butler has completed numerous training courses and has two certificates left to get, Flagg said.

Flagg also informed the board that the town along with several other entities including Jay, Turner and Mt. Blue School District in Farmington went in together to bid out for heating fuel and diesel.

The contract was awarded to Winthrop Fuel Co. Inc., Flagg said. The price of diesel is $3.17 a gallon and the price for No. 2 heating fuel is $3.25 a gallon for the year until to June 30, 2012, she said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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