LIVERMORE — Selectpersons Monday night, Dec. 7, approved setting up a reserve account for a fire truck and two early office closures later this month.

On Aug. 11, at the referendum-style town meeting it was voted to raise and appropriate $100,000 to use for a reserve account for a fire truck, Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller said.

“I checked with the bank. That money hasn’t been set up in an account,” he said.

There were two options available. One had a fixed 0.5% interest rate and the other a variable interest rate beginning at 0.27% going to 0.5%.

The board by consensus approved the fixed rate option.

Town Clerk Renda Guild asked the board if the town office could close at noon on Christmas Eve with the staff using comp time for the hours not worked that day.

“The road crew, transfer station workers, may have to work that day,” she said. “It’s such a good thing for everybody, especially during this COVID-19. It would be a nice gesture to do it for everybody, say ‘Have a nice holiday.'”

Selectperson Chairman Mark Chretien said it should be a half day for all town employees. The other board members agreed.

Miller noted the town office would also close at noon on Thursday, Dec. 31, so staff could close out the books for the end of the year.

In other business, Miller said he has been working with road foreman Roger Ferland regarding trees on power lines.

“I do have a contact with Central Maine Power who has been somewhat responsive,” he said. “He said if trees are within eight feet (of power lines), CMP is interested in contacting arborists to take them out.”

After a resident contacted Miller about trees hanging over a road, Ferland visited the area and told Miller they were all within the eight foot mark.

Miller said he has reached out to CMP about getting those removed and plans to take a more proactive approach in the future.

“We have a number of utility poles in town that are either defunct or not in the greatest shape. Some could be considered hazardous,” he said.

Selectperson Scott Richmond noted some poles are owned by the telephone company.

Miller also told the board there are some journal entries that were presented and have not been entered.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle for (new treasurer) Mary (Castonguay) and me to understand what those were. Nor would we feel comfortable entering such,” he said. “You may need to seek assistance from the auditor to do some of this work.”

“When you have a new treasurer, you need to have a clean slate,” Chretien said.

“It’s going to cost us money,” Selectperson Brett Deyling said. “We pretty much gave (the auditor) free reins at the last meeting to get this straightened out. Whatever that entails.”

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