PARIS — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Monday evening to sign and approve a non-standard use of Public Roads and Property form for the X-tra Mile ATV Club that will allow them to use 1.9 miles of East Oxford Road and Parsons Road.

The ATV club submitted the form in May after they found a portion of their trail impassable due to the heavy rains.

Town Manager Amy Bernard said in an email to the board that Interim police Chief Jerry Hinton talked with the ATV club and did not see a problem with the club using the road.

Resident Sarah Leighton said she approved of the club using the road, and that the club had “always been very respectful of those who lived in the road.”

Another resident agreed, adding that the club had “always been good about putting gravel in any holes they made and always slowed down for others.”

Selectman Robert Wessels suggested that the application be amended to include a provision that asks the riders to “stay as far to the right as possible” for a section of East Oxford Road that consists of a hill with a sharp turn.

“I say that for their own safety,” Wessels added.

Chairman Robert Kirchher agreed with Wessels’ suggestion and amended the motion to include it.

In other business, the board discussed whether the town should establish an extended sick leave policy for town employees.

Bernard explained to the board and residents that an employee of the town had recently suffered “a catastrophic loss” and was unable to return to work.

The policy, Bernard continued, would allow other town employees to volunteer their sick leave to employees who may have exhausted their own time coping with a loss or an illness.

“After reviewing several different policies that town attorneys had written in different towns, I found a policy that would work for our town,” Bernard told the board. “Most employees accrue more than 30 days of sick time and end up not using it. This would give employees a chance to give those days to somebody who might need them.”

Bernard said she looked into the issue after “other town employees approached me about volunteering their hours to this particular employee.”

Resident Jack Richardson said that the policy was “a gamble against the town’s future needs,” adding that “sick leave has no monetary value unless it’s used.”

“If those sick days that aren’t being used are traded to an employee who will use them, you’ll have to pay it out,” Richardson said.

He suggested that the town implement a policy where vacation hours are used instead of sick days, since vacation hours have to be paid out at the end of the year, while sick days are lost if they are not used.

Wessels said that he “loved the idea of being able to help co-workers,” but was concerned about paying out sick days that would not have been used otherwise.

“With where we are a town, financially, I struggle with that,” Wessels said.

Kirchher suggested that the board come back to the issue at a later date, but Selectman Ryan Lorrain said, “This isn’t something we can wait another two weeks for. I don’t know exactly what the situation is with this employee, but what happens if we put this off for a later date down the road and she runs out of sick days?”

The board was still discussing whether or not to approve the policy at 8:35 p.m.

The board also agreed to schedule a workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, to discuss a list of short-term and long-term goals that the board and residents came up with at a special meeting held July 15.

Kirchher said that the workshop would allow the board “to take the list of goals and put some kind of structure to it,” adding that he hopes to identify the “short-term, doable goals, and then look into the mid-term goals and the long term goals.”

A public hearing was also scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, where residents will have a chance to further discuss the goals.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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