Livermore Falls selectmen review materials Tuesday evening at the Town Office. From left are Bruce Peary, Jim Long, William Kenniston, Jeffrey Bryant and John Barbioni. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Tuesday evening approved spending $2,000 for Main-Land Development Consultants Inc. of Livermore Falls to survey the shape and elevation of the site for a fire substation in East Livermore.

In April, residents voted 130-85 to authorize borrowing up $420,000 to build a one-bay station.

The vote came after a petition signed by 110 registered voters requested an article be put on the ballot in 2020. It called for selectmen to secure a site and provide for construction of a substation for one firetruck within a mile of Park Street/Route 133 and Leeds Road/Route 106 intersection. Voters approved building the station in November 2020 in a 992-399 vote.

Just over an acre on state Route 106 was purchased by the town for the new station. It was finalized in 2023.

However, residents and town officials didn’t realize until last year that there was no funding attached to the 2020 warrant article.

Town Manager Carrie Castonguay said Tuesday that she met with Plymouth Engineering of Newport last week. “They came over and they actually had plans you could see and then they left here and went over to the site so they could get eyes on it. They emailed me today and asked if we would be willing to have Main-Land do a survey with contours on it so they could get a better site plan.”

Castonguay said she obtained a $2,000 quote from Main-Land to complete the survey.

“Is that normal to need that extra for the contractor for the contours and what they are doing,” Chairperson William Kenniston asked.

Castonguay said yes, noted the original surveyors just did a boundary survey.

Selectmen Jim Long and Bruce Peary thought the survey should be done.

Castonguay said she would schedule a meeting with the building committee to go over the building plans that were presented. “It’s pretty simple,” she noted. “A rectangle with a door and an overhead door and a handicap accessible bathroom. I just wanted to go over some of the construction materials and other information they had given me in terms of wood grain versus steel or metal building. Get an opinion from them and then I will get back to you.”

Kenniston said he was glad to see different options were given, that forward progress was being made.

In other business, Police Chief Ibrahim (Abe) Haroon was charged with getting quotes for a police cruiser to replace a 2018 vehicle with 122,732 miles and the steering locks up. Voters will decide on the purchased in November.

The board also voted to change the Police Department’s Maine Public Employee Retirement System program to one that will allow staff to retire five years earlier with the same financial package. Doing so will help recruit and retain officers, Haroon said.

Long estimated the new program would cost about $10,000 more per year and was worth it.