OXFORD — Town Manager Butch Asselin on Thursday brought four properties with unpaid taxes to the Board of Selectmen to consider how to manage potential sell-offs.

For one, a relative of the deceased property owner stepped forward and offered to purchase it for the amount of unpaid taxes and oversee repair to the place so the current residents will be able to stay.

Selectmen approved the proposal.

For the other three properties, all attempts by the town to to reach the owners have gone unheeded, even though at least one of them seems to be occupied.

Oxford officials discuss unpaid property taxes at the Board of Selectmen meeting Thursday night. From left are board Vice Chairwoman Samantha Hewey, Chairman Scott Hunter, Selectman Caldwell Jackson and Town Manager Bruce Asselin. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

Selectmen approved a plan to list one parcel for sale, tabled action on one other and agreed to make one final attempt to hand-deliver a final notice to the occupied home before taking further action.

Other new business items on the meeting agenda were also tabled. One was a request to name a private road but because there is only one known home on it it cannot be named.

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An application for a junkyard permit for Ayotte’s Used Cars and Parts was tabled, pending the installation of a fence.

Selectmen approved a one-time abatement for a resident with a $6,900 quarterly water bill. The resident had a new lawn installed and needed to do heavy watering through the dry part of the summer. Since the water was not entering the town sewer system the abatement was granted.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Olsen said that overall the election last week went well. With no one running for a seat on the SAD 17 board, a total of 80 write-in votes were cast. The tabulator tallied Sydney Jackson with four votes, and Floyd Thayer and Director David Dunn with three each. Since the tabulator dismisses any votes that do not have both a checked box and completed write-in line Olsen said she will conduct a manual recount next week.

Road Foreman Jim Bennett presented estimates for purchasing of a mini-excavator and trailer for about $161,000. A new excavator would replace the aging backhoe and be more versatile in road maintenance projects.

Bennett said the backhoe is in need of at least $15,000 of repair work.

Selectmen authorized Bennett to put out request for proposals for the mini-excavator and trailer.

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Fire Chief Paul Hewey informed selectmen the department’s 95-foot ladder truck’s water pump is broken and would cost $25,000 to fix. It’s the second time the pump has failed.

Oxford can still use the truck on calls requiring the ladder, but Northeast Apparatus has cautioned Hewey that the truck is no longer road-worthy. A new truck will run about $1.6 million.

Hewey has been in contact with the fire chief in Yarmouth for guidance on grant applications for a replacement truck.

Selectman Sharon Jackson suggested he also reach out to Fryeburg’s fire chief, who has written several successful grant proposals.

Hewey requested that Asselin and selectmen outline requirements on the municipal process to provide matching funds as he moves toward completing grant applications.

Hewey also advised the board about difficulties in staffing the department during holidays and weekends. On Independence Day, the two firefighters on call had competing calls — one for a roof fire caused by fireworks and the other was a medical call. The two responded to the medical call, leaving the Paris Fire Department to handle the structure fire, and immediately following that cleared an accident in Oxford.

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Selectman Dana Dillingham questioned how the need for staffing the department every night had been communicated at town meeting. Voters approved the positions as EMS personnel, not regular firefighters.

“I was under the impression that you were adding two rescue workers, not firefighters,” Dillinham said. “That is not how it was relayed to me and to Oxford residents. People were under the impression that having night staff will cut response times. But if those staff are engaged in a fire call, the response call for medical help is not shorter, it’s longer.”

Hewey said the proposal for changing night personnel from being on-call to being staffed originally included one firefighter and one EMT.

Selectman Caldwell Jackson said the COVID-19 public health emergency required that the new policy began before it was budgeted and the conditions called for two EMTs.

Asselin said he was going to write a thank-you letter to the Paris fire chief to thank his department for its mutual aid.

Dillingham underscored the need to make an official gesture.

“We are not yet done with this discussion,” he said of Oxford’s overnight staffing protocols and chain of command, which relies on part-time, on-call support.


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