FARMINGTON — Selectmen Tuesday night, June 27, voted to process all plumbing permit fees through the town.
“I inherited the methodology that previous plumbing inspectors had done, Andrew Marble, the current inspector said. “All permit fees are paid to me then I have to split the fee between my portion and the state.”
Licensed Plumbing Inspectors receive 75% of the fee with the other 25% going to the state, Marble noted. The state will only accept municipal checks, so once the fee is paid, Marble writes a check to Farmington for the state’s portion with the town providing a check that is sent with a copy of the permits, he explained.
“It’s a ridiculous system,” he said.
Marble is the plumbing inspector in six other towns, the only other one that does it the same way as Farmington has been is Temple.
The current system has some liability for Marble. “It is a very strange thing to tell someone that for a municipal required permit they need to write a check out to me,” he stated. “It shouldn’t happen anymore.”
Interim Town Manager Cornell Knight said he talked with the treasurer, it can be done.
“It makes sense,” Selectman Dennis O’Neil said.
Between 60 and 80 permits are requested on average per year, Marble noted. The town charges state minimum fees, although with an ordinance approved by voters a municipality can charge more and keep the extra, he said.
State permit fees are the same that they were in 2011, Marble stated. Minimum wage in 2011 was $7.50 per hour, now it’s $13.80, almost doubled, he added.
Looking into an ordinance to charge more for plumbing permit fees was worth looking into, O’Neil said.
In other business, the board approved changing fluorescent lights at the Police Department building to LEDs and auctioning a 2016 sedan with proceeds to go into the department’s vehicle reserve account.
A survey of the building showed 115 fluorescent bulbs were not working, Police Chief Kenneth Charles said. It would cost about $600 to replace that many tubes, he noted.
One of the three companies Charles contacted submitted a quote. Adrenaline Electric of Farmington will charge $6,200 for materials and $2,200 for labor. Efficiency Maine rebates were included in the quote, Charles said when asked.
“One of the key motivators is the savings in electricity costs,” Charles said. With a $1,700 to $2,000 decrease expected per year, there will be a four year return on the investment, he noted.
The quote states, in an eight hour day current florescent lights take 60,288 watt hours and LED lights take 10,880 watt hours for total savings of 49,408 watt hours.
Selectmen also authorized auctioning a 2016 Ford Interceptor Sedan with proceeds going to the vehicle reserve account.
Trade-ins were not available when the Police Department purchased two vehicles this year, Charles said. This vehicle is the least desirable for front line service, he noted. Animal control has been using it but a sedan isn’t quite suited for that, he stated.
There is no cost to list the vehicle on a municipal site that was used by the county and worked well, Charles said.
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