JAY — Selectpersons voted 3-2 Tuesday to keep municipal agent fees at $3 for motor vehicle registration renewals, $4 for new registrations.
The Legislature passed a law this past session that allowed agent fees to increase by $2.
Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo, Judy Diaz and Tom Goding voted in favor of keeping the fees the same, while Chairman Terry Bergeron and Selectperson Gary McGrane opposed.
The voted followed one that failed 3-2 to raise fees to $5 and $6, respectively. Bergeron and McGrane were in favor of the increase while DeMillo, Diaz and Goding opposed.
“I don’t think it is a real hardship to pay an extra couple of dollars,” McGrane said prior to the votes.
The increase would have brought in about $10,000 more to offset the budget next year, he said.
In Livermore Falls, selectmen voted 2-1 Tuesday to increase the fees by $2. The vote would have needed to be 3-o for the increase to pass or fail since only three selectmen out of five were present. The board will bring it up again when the full board is in attendance.
Board Chairman Rodney Heikkinen and Nixon Ortiz voted in favor of the increase while Sarah Flagg opposed. Flagg had asked a couple of residents in the audience what they thought about increasing the fees.
Kenney Smith said they should let the voters decide.
“It’s not like we’re going to break a bank,” Heikkinen said prior to the vote.
He said whatever was approved, there would be complaints.
In other business at the Jay meeting, selectpersons awarded the contract to fix the wall at the North Jay Fire Station to Thomas C. Goding Building Contractor, who bid $6,385. The bid was the only one received.
Goding, who is a selectperson, sat in the audience prior to discussion on the bid.
The vote was 4-0 with Goding abstaining.
The wall was damaged when a utility compartment door opened on a firetruck and hit the wall.
In another matter, the board voted unanimously to purchase a Steco ejection trailer for the Transfer Station for $66,153. The trailer that needs to be replaced before the next inspection.
The Steco trailer was the lowest of the three prices received by Public Works Director John Johnson. The other two were $79,000 and $94,000.
The Steco trailer is from KNL Holdings of Arkansas.
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