PARIS — The Board of Selectmen agreed Monday to enter into a lease agreement with Norway-Paris Solid Waste Inc. to purchase a skid steer for the facility on Brown Street in Norway.

The equipment is needed for day-to-day operations at the waste transfer and recycling facility. To get by, Norway-Paris Solid Waste has been renting a small skid steer for about $2,400 per month.

With the town financing the deal, the new skid steer with a large-capacity bucket will cost $59,000 over five years. Norway-Paris Solid Waste will make monthly payments to the town until the lease agreement is paid in full.

The town was required to step in: Norway-Paris Solid Waste could not get financing because it does not have current audit books, an issue the facility is attempting to rectify. Without current books, banks were reluctant to provide financing, Town Manager Dawn Noyes said.

Should the facility close within the next five years, the town of Paris will own the skid steer, Noyes said.

The lease agreement passed 3-1, with Carlton Sprague, Scott McElravy and Christopher Summers voting in favor and Peter Kilgore voting no.

In other business, the board sent a change to the Property Maintenance Ordinance to voters for their consideration at next month’s town meeting. The ordinance change makes clearer the definition of nuisance with a “more definable residential related verbiage,” Summers said.

A public hearing on that ordinance change, as well as others, including the Building Code Ordinance, will be held June 13 at 6 p.m. at the Town Office prior to the next selectmen meeting.

Selectmen also approved the purchase of body cameras for the Police Department. Chief Michael Dailey said the $16,000 will pay for 10 cameras and a storage system. The money had been budgeted for the purchase and Dailey noted the town has received a matching grant from the government to help pay for the cameras.

The board also accepted a forfeiture of a 9 mm handgun from the courts for a previous case the town’s police had assisted with.

The board rejected a proposal to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for town employees, but later tabled it for further consideration. Juneteenth, which is a state and federal holiday, will be celebrated Monday, June 20.

The holiday commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865.

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