OXFORD — Selectmen approved a bid from P&B Paving to repair and repave Whittemore Road and a section of Number Six Road, projects that had been held over from last year. The bid from P&B Paving includes doing shim work to Pottle Road.

The board approved a bid from Bennett Property Service to mow and maintain the grounds at Pismo Field for $15,000. Last year the work was left to the town’s highway department to do, as no bids were submitted.

During a joint session with the budget committee, selectmen tackled budget proposals for the 2023-24 fiscal year that are outstanding: the Freeland Holmes Library, the police department and school resource officer position and the fire department budget.

At issue with the library request was not only an increase of $32,500, but a lack of accounting on its operations. All agreed that in the future it will be necessary for the library directors to provide financial history with their budget, just as all other agencies and town departments do, and more needs to be done to research state and federal grants to support the library’s operation. Both groups approved recommendation to fund the library at $42,500 next year.

Police Chief Rickie Jack had requested the addition of a fulltime officer in his department budget. However, since then he has been able to fully staff the police force and Town Manager Adam Garland informed the board and committee that Jack had removed the request for this year.

Jack and Garland will take this year to study the need for additional personnel in the future. Garland also said he has requested that Maine School Administrative District contribute more this year toward having a school resource officer in Oxford Elementary School and the south campus of Oxford Hills Middle School, although no agreement has been reached yet.

Fire Chief Paul Hewey’s budget includes a request to staff the fire department with two fire fighters on weekends. The committee and board discussed alternatives to adding personnel, including decreasing staff hours during the week between 6 – 9 a.m. when there are the least amount of calls.

The budget committee voted to recommend including additional personnel in the town meeting meeting warrant while the select board voted 3-2 against the measure. Selectmen Floyd Thayer, Caldwell Jackson and Vice-Chair Dana Dillingham opposed the request while Chair Sharon Jackson and Selectman Scott Hunter voted to recommend passage during town meeting.

Hewey told the Advertiser Democrat that there have been two instances since the beginning of 2023 where house fires were knocked down quickly because weekend EMTs were the first to arrive with fire trucks. The stop gap actions make it impossible for EMTs to respond to rescue calls during fire calls.

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