DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved establishing a fundraising committee for a new outdoor electronic sign to announce events.

At the June 23 selectmen meeting, Chairman Scott Belskis brought up the idea of forming a committee to raise money for a sign.

“I want to look and see if there are any local businesses or residents who would be willing to put together some donations to purchase an electronic sign for the town,” he said.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia said he reached out to a couple of businesses that specialize in electronic signs and was told the town should expect to budget between $15,000 and $20,000.

Selectman Dana Whittemore said he didn’t remember the electronic sign at Towle’s Hardware and Lumber costing that much money.

“I’ve heard from people that electronic signs go for around $5,000 or $6,000,” he said.

Puiia shared a letter from one of the companies that said longevity should be considered when making such a purchase.

“They said that if we’re going to have something that’s outside and plugged in, we should budget between $15,000 and $20,000,” Puiia said. “They said it would likely be that much money for signs that have all the features we’re looking for.”

Belskis said costs and location are issues the committee would look into at its first meeting.

“I think the first thing we should do is put the committee together, get some prices together and think of some places to put the sign,” Belskis said. “We can plan things out from there.”

Selectman Mac Gill said the location is the key to everything. “Once you figure out a location, you should build the sign around it,” he said.

Belskis said the committee should have at least five people.

“I’ll be on the committee, since I brought the idea before the board,” he said.

Whittemore said he would serve on it and he knew of two residents who wished to also.

Puiia told Belskis and Whittemore to get the contact information of all committee members.

“This way, you guys can stay organized and I can send emails out to everyone when you want to schedule a meeting,” Puiia said.

The Board of Selectmen also heard a monthly report from police Chief Richard Pickett, who said his officers made 14 arrests during May and 10 arrests in June.

He said the Police Department will have a booth at the Dixfield Outdoor Market.

“We’re going to have a couple of officers giving safety seat inspections, and we’ll be giving away trigger locks that I’ve had at the office for awhile,” Pickett said. “We wanted to do these things as a service to our community.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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