OXFORD — Selectmen agreed Thursday to begin charging for a variety of bulky items brought to the Transfer Station starting Nov. 1.

Station Manager Ed Knightly said costs to run the facility have increased sharply because trucking companies who haul away materials have doubled their fees due to fuel prices. Some haulers are adding additional charges, he said. For instance, the company that takes demolition material has added a 10% of weight charge and the electronics recycler has instituted a $100 pickup fee.

This year’s Transfer Station budget of $430,402 covers July 1 to June 30, 2023. Knightly said at the rate of expenses now, by next June, the budget will be overspent.

He also told selectmen that people bringing waste from other towns continues to be a problem, citing one instance of someone who tried to leave eight mattresses they brought from Waterford. He sent them away.

Residents will have to pay to dispose of furniture, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, Freon appliances and old electronics, which have been free the past two years. And if recyclables are not sorted, the trash will be weighed and charged based on $150 per ton, Knightly said

The new fee schedule will be as follows:

• Mattresses or box springs (formerly free): $5 each

• Toilets or sinks (formerly free): $5 each

• Home furniture (formerly free): $5 each

• Sleeper sofas (formerly free): $10 each

• Freon appliances (formerly free): $10 each

• Propane tanks under 35 pounds (formerly free): $5 each

• Televisions/computers/printers/monitors (formerly free): $5 each

• Tires 20 inches or less (formerly 4 free per day): $3 each

• Other vehicle tires: $150/ton, same as now

• Tractor/skidder/large truck tires: $400/ton, new fee

• Demolition/shingles: $200/ton, same as now

• Carpeting, vinyl siding: $200/ton, same as now

• Commercial haulers: $130/ton, same as now

• Nonrecycled trash: $150/ton

Selectmen approved the pricing and will reassess it at the end of April 2023.

In his town manager’s report, Adam Garland said two rooms and a hallway at the new Town Office on Pottle Road will be combined into one large meeting room. A former shower room will be turned into a staff-only restroom. Signs out front and a flagpole will be installed shortly and some exterior maintenance at the rear of the building will be deferred until spring.

He said he received a bid to have the cable system and equipment moved to the new building for $11,000. The offer was from the vendor who did the original installation at the old town office on Pleasant Street. Selectmen asked him to request bids from local IT service providers, hoping for more competitive pricing.

Garland also asked selectmen for direction about the Welchville dam, after the board expressed misgivings about adding a grade control system to the channel where Hogan and Whitney Ponds join before connecting to the Little Androscoggin River.

A federal grant for $819,000 would help pay for the grade controls but is contingent on taking out the old dam.

Selectmen agreed to have the Portland engineering firm VHB report on the survey work it has done to date but are not ready to commit to removing the dam. They also requested that Garland collect testimonials from other towns that have replaced dams with grade controls to learn how the systems have functioned over time.

In other business, selectmen approved Highway Department Foreman Jim Bennett’s recommendation that a 600-foot paved section of Jordan Road be turned to gravel. There is one Oxford residence on it.

Although the road is in Oxford, the department has to drive through other towns to get to it. Hebron plows the stretch but it has not been maintained for years and the pavement is severely deteriorated.

Bennett said the cost to rip out the pavement and rebuild with a four-inch base and six-inch cover of gravel will cost the town about $6,000. To repair the road would be $15,000.

The board agreed, advising Bennett to find out how much a commercial excavation company or the town of Hebron would charge to grade the road as needed in the future.

In another matter, Garland introduced new Recreation Director Kayla Laird of Harrison, who has been recreation director there the past six years.

In her first presentation to the board, Laird recommended that a new card/pass code entry system be added to the Station House Community Center on King Street at a cost of $4,000. She said there are as many as 30 door keys to the center and most of them are unaccounted for, mostly due to groups renting it failing to return them.

The new system will be installed on the front door. The rear door will have a new lock installed, with only authorized employees having an access key.

Laird is also getting bids to have a new electrical system and panel installed at Pismo Field.

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