LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen directed the town manager Tuesday to do some research on assessing firms and to bring back options for the board to review.
Selectman Russell Flagg said he felt it was time to look for a new assessing agent.
They have been dealing with a lot inefficiencies, mistakes and abatements from the current firm, he said. “It’s time to send Martin forward to fill the position,” Flagg said Tuesday.
The town has no binding contract with the current firm, he said, and selectmen had been under the impression that 25 percent of the town was being assessed each year. The town pays the firm $25,000 a year, he said.
“I think it’s time to shop around for a better bang for the our buck,” he said.
Flagg also added that its time to start looking at revaluing the town. The last time it was done was in 2000-01. Selectman Bill Demaray said he would prefer Town Manager Martin Puckett to do some research and come back to the board with options.
Tax Collector Dawn Young said the new assessing agent who recently came on board from the firm has been doing a lot better than the previous one.
The board also spent 100 minutes in executive sessions. The board met with town attorney Patricia Dunn for nearly 50 minutes to consult on legal rights and duties pertaining to the sewer case. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department is investigating $102,000 stolen from the sewer account. The former sewer clerk Faith Nichols of Livermore Falls has admitted to taking the money and has reimbursed the town $20,000.
Puckett said he has discussed the case with investigating deputy and the investigation is ongoing and hasn’t reached the point to be turned over to the district attorney’s office.
The second executive session pertained to recent contract negotiations and clarification on nonunion employees.
Selectmen also asked Puckett to put a tax-acquired home on Hillcrest Avenue out to bid again and to gather information on all town property so the board could review it.
In other business, Chairman Ken Jacques said he realized the town crews have been called out often during the storms, but residents and businesses had contacted him about clearing the Main Street of all snow by the day after the storm. There were parking lots and sidewalks that people couldn’t access, he said.
He said in the past there has been talk of creating a public works department with a little more job sharing, and the board should look into that.
Selectmen voted to close off parking from 4 to 9 p.m. on Main Street on May 19 for Betterment Group’s history night that includes automobiles from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Puckett also told the board he is reviewing the current options to upgrade street lights with Central Maine Power Co.
Demaray said the town has been having trouble with streetlights for years, and the company says its going to take care of it, and they never take care of it.
He said there is one light downtown that continues to go out, and it needs to be addressed.
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