PARIS — Selectmen this week unanimously chose a higher bid from a Paris-based company for a new heating system for the Highway Department garage.

J. Palmer and Sons Plumbing & Heating and Dead River Co., which has an office in Paris, submitted bids of $21,500 and $17,500, respectively.

Selectman Gerald Kilgore explained why he favored Palmer.

“Even though it’s a little more, he took the effort of getting his company’s people here to explain it,” he said, which made him confident in their work and in the products they use.

The board also discussed the need for a 1,000-gallon propane tank, which wasn’t included in the J. Palmer bid. A propane tank will cost the town an estimated $3,000, while Dead River Co. would bring one of its tanks, which only Dead River can legally fill.

Buying a tank will cost the town $7,000 total over the Dead River bid, although Selectman Robert Kirchherr noted that Dead River bid did not include removal and disposal of the existing heating system.

Resident Franca Ainsworth called it “a foolish decision.”

The board accepted a bid of $28,204 for a new police cruiser from Quirk Ford. It includes paint and customization. The cost for a 2013 Ford Interceptor includes trading in an older Ford Crown Victoria cruiser.

The board also accepted an updated version of the town’s Amusement Ordinance and gave the snowmobile club the OK to seek an alternate path around the gravel pits, avoiding the private crossing on Gravel Pit Way for its trail system

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