TURNER — Selectmen on Monday denied a request from RSU 52 to provide a space to wash school buses, because there are no suitable locations.

The town garage area is locked when no employees are there and the Fire Department area must be kept clear for emergency vehicles, the board explained.

Selectman Denis Richardson got a laugh from board members when he suggested the buses be taken to Leavitt Area High School so students serving detention could wash them.

Selectmen reviewed the Maine Department of Transportation list of proposed improvement projects. Chairman Angelo Terreri and Selectman Ralph Caldwell strongly supported the board’s decision to request that the DOT’s top priority be to reclassify and repair North Paris Road.

Terreri said the road was a “dangerous high accident rate road.” He asked Town Clerk Eva Leavitt to compile accident statistics to send to the MDOT.

“Traffic patterns have changed and now five times as many trailer-trucks use that road as did five years ago,” Caldwell said. Deep ruts in the road make it very dangerous, he said.

Selectmen agreed to ask that repair to Upper Street be considered the next highest priority for DOT.

In another matter, Caldwell suggested the town could save $2,500 per year by not testing the water in local swimming holes. He said no one ever took any action on the reports so they were useless.

Richardson convinced the board to continue testing by sharing his boyhood experience. He said he spent a week in the hospital fighting an infection he caught from swimming in a local pond. His hospital bill was $45,000. He said a young girl had an even worse experience with the infection.

The contamination came from a chicken house that was built too close to the water, and at that time there were no water tests to detect the contamination, he said.

The board also did considerable work reviewing job descriptions for the town manager and Public Works director. They adopted Terreri’s suggestion that the name of the documents be changed to Job Guidelines.

He said that since the details of the jobs were spelled out by town policies, there was no need to get into great detail with job descriptions.

They agreed that the town manager’s job was largely controlled by state regulations. They also agreed that the new position of Public Works director, if it is approved by the voters, should work closely with the town manager but was to report to the board.

Annual town reports were mailed Tuesday. Annual elections are Friday, April 13, from 1 to 7 p.m. in the Municipal Office Building. The annual town meeting will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 14, in the Leavitt Area High School cafeteria.

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