DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 Monday evening to sell a Water District pickup truck to the Public Works Department for $3,000.
Water District Superintendent Jim White said he was hoping to purchase a $24,500 truck from O’Connor Auto Park in Augusta to replace the old one. The town had two options for the old truck: trade it to O’Connor for $2,900 or sell it to the town’s Public Works Department for $3,000, he said.
“I have $19,000 in my budget to buy a newer truck for the Water District,” White said. “It doesn’t matter if you choose to trade it with O’Connor’s or sell it to Public Works. I’ll still need to take $2,500 out of the Water District’s capital reserves to cover the full cost of the truck.”
White said the old truck was inspected in January and there were no problems reported.
“The only problem that I can see is that the brake line may need to be replaced sometime next year,” he said. “It may last another year, it may not. Also, the seat is torn a little bit, but that’s the nature of the beast for a Water Department vehicle. There’s around 86,000 miles on the truck. I think it’s a good truck for someone to purchase for around $3,000.”
Interim Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky asked White how much money he had in the capital reserves account.
“There’s about $6,000 in there,” White said.
Selectman Hart Daley said the truck sounds like a good vehicle and it might be more beneficial to have Public Works buy it from the Water District.
The board voted 4-1 to approve the sale to Public Works, with Selectman Scott Belskis the dissenting vote.
In other business, police Chief Richard Pickett told selectmen that the Drug Take-Back Day on April 26 went very well. Dixfield was one of four towns to hand out surveys to residents who brought in prescription drugs, he said.
The other three towns that participated in the survey were Mexico, Rangeley and Rumford, Pickett said.
“We had 100 percent compliance with the survey, which is awesome,” Pickett said. “We’ve been able to take a lot of prescription drugs off of people’s hands before they go on the streets, and that’s a good thing.”
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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