LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen signed a resolution Monday adding conditions to the sale and transfer of the town’s franchise agreement with Adelphia to Time Warner Cable.
Selectmen also explained why they’re re-advertising for candidates for town manager. The board also decided to draft a policy to develop a maintenance log for the municipal building’s generator. The backup generator failed during Thursday’s storm and the town office and police department were without power, telephones and emergency communications.
Town Clerk Kristal Flagg said the franchise authority steering committee drafted a resolution rather than accepting Time Warner’s resolution.
The nonbinding resolution states that Time Warner has to abide by the contracts in place with Adelphia, Flagg said, but there is no law that says it has to.
The town’s contract with Adelphia expired Friday, Sept. 30, she said, and a new contract won’t be offered until the cable company’s sale and transfer is complete.
Adelphia, the town’s cable provider, entered into an asset purchase agreement with Time Warner in April.
Among the conditions in the resolution is that Time Warner provide customer and repair services at least equivalent to Adelphia’s services. The resolution also requires that Time Warner provide services similar to the ones it offers to its Portland customers within two years of the sale or one year of upgrade. The services in Portland include a high-speed Internet access.
In other business, Selectman Russell Flagg said the board interviewed two candidates for the town manager position.
The board offered the job to one candidate, Flagg said, and after consideration, he refused the offer. It wasn’t because of monetary value, Flagg said.
Selectmen declined to offer the job to the second candidate, he said, because a red flag was raised during the process and they decided that it wasn’t in the town’s best interest to pursue him.
The same search committee would remain in place if participants are interested to review the next batch of applications due back Monday, Oct. 17.
Flagg also said the board itself needs to draft a policy to make sure the generator on the roof of the municipal building works. The former town manager was supposed to do it, he said, but the policy was never created.
The generator failed during a power outage because the battery on the generator was dead.
Lt. Tom Gould said police ended up setting up a 911-relay system to cell phones.
Selectmen also agreed Monday to seek bids on cleaning the town’s furnaces.
The board also decided to buy six entry mats for the municipal building rather than rent them.
Kristal Flagg said the company that normally provides and cleans the mats charges $1,700.
Roland Castonguay of Jay would clean the mats for $570 a year, if the town owned the mats, Flagg said. The mats are expected to cost $384 for four 5-by-3-foot mats and two 10-by-3-foot mats, she said.
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