MECHANIC FALLS — The Town Council on Tuesday discussed steps that might be taken to reduce the amount of sand that nonresidents take from the public supply.

In winter the Public Works Department sets up a small sand pile behind the Municipal Building for residents to use for their walks and driveways, generally limiting the amount to three buckets per visit. The problem is it is relatively easy for nonresidents to pull up to the pile and drive away unchecked.

Town Manager John Hawley suggested one solution might be to move the pile to the town transfer station because only residents can obtain a transfer station sticker for their vehicles. The drawback is the limited number of hours the station is open.

“This may be problematic when an ice storm hits on Sunday afternoon and sand wouldn’t be available until Wednesday when the transfer station opens again,” Hawley said.

An alternative suggestion was to require residents who use the sand pile to have transfer station stickers prominently affixed to their windshields. This would require residents who don’t use the station to obtain stickers at the Town Office.

Hawley said this should make nonresidents easier to spot because public works personnel and police are constantly in the area.

The council agreed to table action until its October meeting.

In other business:

* The council instructed Hawley to accept Time Warner’s offer of a two-year contract extension to provide cable television and Internet service to the town. The contract is scheduled to expire in May 2015 and the concern for town officials is that the new contract drops the provision of municipal departments having free Internet service.

Should the potential Time Warner/Comcast merger go through, free Internet service might continue under a new contract with the new entity, so selectmen felt they had nothing to lose.

Hawley said he wasn’t sure what the cost to the town for Internet service might be under a new contract, but he estimated it could run to between $139 and $199 per month.

* Hawley reported that, in response to questions about the residency requirement for members of town boards and committees, the town charter only speaks to the requirement that members of the council be Mechanic Falls residents but that a council resolution from 1995 allowed certain nonresidents to serve on other boards, under certain conditions.

Nonresidents who owned property in town were allowed to serve on the Recreation Committee, the library board of trustees and the Historical Society. Nonresidents who owned businesses in town could serve on the Development Commission, the Community Development Block Grant Committee and any other development committees created in the future.

The policy notes that committee members who do not meet the criteria for service are allowed to finish their terms but would not be reappointed unless their residency status changes.

* Hawley announced Town Office hours are now Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.