Oxford’s incoming finance director, Lisa Prevost, attended her first selectmen meeting Thursday night. Prevost will start her position Nov. 14. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
OXFORD — Town Manager Butch Asselin introduced new Finance Director Lisa Prevost at the start of Thursday night’s selectmen meeting.
For the past 25 years, Prevost has served the town of Mechanic Falls, first as deputy town clerk and then as finance director. She will start her new job Nov. 14.
She succeeds Rebekah Lippincott who retired this summer.
Selectmen gave the go-ahead for the Highway Department to purchase a new excavator and equipment trailer for $142,857. The excavator will replace an aging backhoe and be more versatile for other projects.
Anderson Equipment of Gorham will supply the Takeuchi excavator. The equipment trailer will come from Beauregard Equipment in Scarborough. Both will be delivered within two weeks of ordering.
Highway foreman Jim Bennett collected seven bids on excavators, ranging from a low of $89,618 to a high of $145,800. The lower prices reflected proposals that did not follow the specs provided to dealers and could not be considered.
Bennett also advised the board that the town grader is out of commission and he expects the cost for repairs to exceed $25,000. Workers discovered oil in the radiator, and service representatives found two hydraulic seals that need replacing for an estimated $7,000.
The backhoe needed about $10,000 in rear-end repairs. Bennett said the cost just to diagnose the radiator breakdown would be $4,500.
Selectmen asked Bennett to get a trade-in value for the grader, which is close to 30 years old, and for the backhoe, which can be retired when the new excavator is delivered.
Bennett said the cost of a new grader is $500,000, with used ones running about $100,000 but are hard to find in New England.
Selectmen also approved a bid for winter sand from RA Tibbetts of Oxford at $8.25 per cubic yard. The company provided sand last winter.
A bid to provide concrete dividing walls at the Recycling Center was accepted from J. Pratt Construction of Hebron for $20,111.
And selectmen also approved the purchase of a new LED sign for the Station House Community Center on King Street for $16,361. Recreation Director Patty Hesse recommended one from ADN of Bangor. It was the only one of four suppliers that included wireless internet service for the life of the sign, she said.
As was the case with equipment bids, not all the dealers provided Hesse with prices for products as she specified. Selectman Sharon Jackson remarked that she wished she had been able to see more complete competitive information and that the bids lacked photos of the products.
It will replace the current sign which does not work.
ADN’s price was more than the $10,500 budgeted. Hesse recommended the balance come from the Recreation Department subdivision budget, which is money subdivision developers pay toward recreation projects. Selectmen approved her recommendation 4-1, with Jackson voting against.
In other business, selectmen voted to keep the tax rate for 2021 at $15 per $1,000 of assessed property value. They agreed to move $170,000 from the town’s general fund to avoid a rate increase.
The board appointed Keith Miller to the Planning Board.
Selectmen also scheduled a workshop to review a 2018 engineering analysis of the Thompson Lake dam. It will be held at 5 p.m. Oct. 29. They also plan to start work on a prioritization and timeline for future repairs and maintenance.
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