RUMFORD — Voting 4-0 Thursday night, selectmen authorized an $11,000 appropriation for repairs to the 1990 E1 aerial ladder truck. The decision came in an emergency session after an update from fire Chief Bob Chase.

Urgent repairs are needed to rectify safety issues due to rapid deterioration of gears associated with the aerial’s turntable, which allows it to rotate 360 degrees, Chase said.

He presented the update during the agenda’s Department Manager’s Reports section, but because it wasn’t on the agenda, selectmen had to go into emergency session to discuss it and take action.

Chase said that on learning of the problem in the last inspection, he sought quotes on the repair work from the manufacturer, since the assembly is a manufacturer-specific piece.

That means some parts can be taken out and re-machined, but any modifications must be approved by the manufacturer’s engineering facility, he said.

Chase said the worst-case cost to repair the damage is $11,135.

Selectman Brad Adley asked if the truck is out of service due to safety concerns. Chase said it isn’t yet, but he must continue to evaluate it once or twice a week. He said the repairs would take three days once the parts arrive and the work would be done in Brunswick.

Adley then asked if Chase had made arrangements with mutual-aid towns for backup ladder truck coverage while their aerial was being repaired.

Chase said Dixfield Fire Co.’s ladder truck is scheduled to have work done at the Brunswick manufacturer’s business next week. He said he would make sure that the Dixfield truck was back in the area before sending the Rumford aerial truck down for repairs.

Selectman Jolene Lovejoy then motioned to appropriate $11,000 toward the repair, without specifying an account from which to take the money.

Chase stressed that the $11,000 was a worst-case estimate and that it might not cost that much if parts can be re-machined instead of replaced.

When asked by Lovejoy if he had the money in his repairs account, Chase said he didn’t due to budget cuts made by town-meeting voters.

He said his fleet repair account was $8,500, but he’d already used $4,000 of it for other repairs.

Chase said he would have to take the money from payroll, which could mean reducing manpower by not filling positions during vacations and paring overtime costs.

Adley asked if the money instead couldn’t be taken from the Contingency Fund, but Town Manager Carlo Puiia said that account doesn’t have enough in it either.

“I don’t think we want to buy another ladder truck,” Adley said.

The board approved Lovejoy’s motion. Afterward, Puiia said the town bought the truck used from West Hartford, Conn. That was back when former fire Chief John Woulfe III ran the department.

In other business, the board also voted 4-0 to remove two of three confusing signs for a loading zone on Congress Street from a pole by the Greater Rumford Community Center.

Additionally, Puiia said a sign like the one on Exchange Street would be added to the Congress Street location telling drivers not to park in the three-space spot between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The board also voted 4-0, approving a bid of $8,603 by the Overhead Door Co. of Augusta, to replace the large overhead door at the Public Works garage. Puiia said that door is damaged and replacing it is part of the energy audit.

Lovejoy motioned to approve the Augusta company’s low bid instead of the bid of $9,518 by Twin Rivers of Dixfield, provided it meets bid specifications.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com