NORWAY — Voters approved Thursday transferring $50,000 from the surplus account and accepted a $199,500 grant to pay for a new firetruck at a special town meeting.
The federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant will help replace two older firetrucks, including one that was converted from a tractor-trailer and has more than 1 million miles on it.
About 40 voters approved the request unanimously.
“We’ll get two for the price of one,” Norway Fire Capt. Tim Yates of the grant he wrote.
The money will go toward a new tanker-pumper to replace a 1972 GMC and the 1979 Freightliner used to transport water to fires. In addition to the high mileage on the converted truck, both vehicles have major problems, including bad brakes, rust that goes through the metal and numerous issues that make them unsafe.
Yates said that many tractor-trailers have been converted to firetrucks over the years and this grant is being used in large part to try to get some of those units off the street.
The two old tankers can not be used again in the fire service so they will probably be offered to another town or put up for bid, officials said.
Voters also unanimously adopted the Property Assessed Clean Energy ordinance, authorizing the Board of Selectmen to establish the program. Under it, owners of qualifying properties will have access to low-interest loans from the state for energy-saving improvements.
Selectmen will now sign an agreement with the state to implement the loan program that the state will administer.
The request to adopt the program was made by a local woman who wanted to make energy savings improvements to her home by getting a loan from Efficiency Maine under the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.
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