FARMINGTON — Selectmen Tuesday night awarded the bid for a new firetruck, approved two purchases from Public Works accounts, and approved an ad in Discover Maine Magazine.

Selectmen awarded the bid for the firetruck purchase to Allegiance Fire and Rescue, based in Walpole, Massachusetts. The Pierce Enforcer PUC Pumper will cost $831,405 with a 100% prepayment discount of $30,000. The funding request was approved at a special town meeting held afterward. It was originally scheduled for Oct.3 but was moved to Tuesday so voters could consider additional articles.

Farmington Fire and Rescue received only one bid on the truck, Chief TD Hardy said. It meets all specifications and the truck has similar features and components to the department’s Engine 1, which will help standardize training, maintenance and operating it, he said. Allegiance Fire and Rescue has a full-service facility in Auburn, Hardy noted.

For the used Case 580 backhoe from Beauregard Equipment, $39,900 will be taken from the Public Works Municipal Landfill Equipment Reserve Account. The backhoe will be used at the transfer station.

Selectman Joshua Bell asked if the JCB backhoe Public Works already has could be used, but Public Works Director Philip Hutchins said it is too large to fit in the garage at the Transfer Station.

The reserve account will have a balance of $28,943.74 after the purchase.

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Selectmen approved using $30,930 from the Public Works Capital Equipment Reserve Account to purchase a 60 kilowatt standby generator from Milton CAT.

“Currently at the Public Works facility we do not have a generator,” Hutchins said. “We got several quotes and CAT is going to offer us a municipal discount. The next price we got was about $70,000.”

The municipal discount is $4,425 according to information Hutchins provided.

There were issues last winter with getting the garage doors open, Select Board Chair Matthew Smith noted.

A truck couldn’t get out and it was kind of chaotic, Hutchins said. He verified the heating system doesn’t work without electricity.

The generator uses diesel fuel and the garage is already set up. The generator just needs to be plugged in, Hutchins said.

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Also approved was $395 for a full-color advertisement in the regional edition of Discover Maine Magazine. Funds for the ad will be taken from the Special Projects Account.

Bell noted that an ad in Paper Talks Magazine had not been funded. That ad had been approved for a number of years.

Smith and Selectmen Stephen Bunker, Scott Landry and Bryon Staples supported the expense while Bell voted in opposition.

In other business, Town Manager Christian Waller introduced Twila Lycette, whose services were being sought for the upcoming election. She retired from the town of Lisbon after 35 years, he said.

Selectmen approved Lycette being named interim deputy town clerk, interim deputy registrar of voters and warden.

A hearing and vote on a new lunch wagon permit for Ace’s Hotspot was tabled as owner Michael McNamara was not at the meeting.


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