FARMINGTON – A request to purchase a used vacuum truck for the town’s public works department was approved by selectmen on Tuesday.

Denis Castonguay, public works director, recommended the purchase of a 1997 Ford chassis for $65,000 from the town of Biddeford. A second option, a 1986 truck for $45,000, didn’t include several features and was only eight years newer than the town’s 1978 model.

The vacuum truck was on the department’s replacement list but realizing the inadequacy of the department’s truck, Castonguay wanted to use funds from the department’s $121,000 balance to purchase the vehicle.

Vacuum trucks are used to clean basins and clear storm drains. There are more than 700 catch basins in town to cover but the town’s equipment could only handle eight to 10 a day compared to the 25 or 30 Biddeford was cleaning with its truck, he said.

The board also approved purchase of two CompuSpread control units at $5,462.50 each, installed. The units are computer systems that regulate the amount of material (salt, sand or liquid) spread on roads by the trucks.

“The units will pay for themselves in the first year,” Castonguay told selectmen, by better control of the amount of materials used.

The board also approved a hand-held computer that Castonguay could use to adjust the CompuSpreaders for $400 and a temperature sensor that reads the temperature of roads or air with a laser beam. It’s another tool to use to save material, he said.

In other business, there appears to be a buyer for the fire department’s 1982 Mack pumper, Town Manager Richard Davis told the board. At a recent meeting, fire Chief Terry Bell was asked to put the truck on eBay with a reserve of $7,500. The reserve has been met, he said.

Two new roads were given names. A road around the Headstart Center off Cascade Brook Leisure Park will be called Deerfield Lane while a road off Sewall Road, off Route 43 toward Industry, will be called White Birch Lane.

The board also approved hiring Human Resource Partners, LLC, to complete a wage and benefits study to use in setting and adjusting town employee wages. The company’s bid came in at $5,900, just shy of the $6,000 budgeted for the study.

The study will help the town to pay employees fairly but also consider the taxpayers and not over pay, Davis said.

Davis said one of the town’s newest police officers has resigned. William Cook IV, who has only been on the force a few months, has taken a job with Mechanic Falls Police Department, Davis said.

Boy Scout Lance Dwight of Wilton will wire brush and paint the fence around the cemetery located behind the county courthouse for an Eagle project, Davis also told the board.