BETHEL – At Monday night’s meeting, selectmen agreed to buy a new police cruiser, and endorsed a plan to stabilize the deteriorating riverbank at Riverside Cemetery.
The board took the lowest of three bids – $21,599 – to purchase a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria from Casco Bay Ford in Yarmouth.
Town Manager Scott Cole said early Wednesday evening that Bethel’s police department has two cruisers, one with 180,000 miles on it, the other with 120,000 miles.
To spread out the miles better, however, Cole said that both he and Police Chief Alan Carr believe the department should have three to four cruisers.
In other business, selectmen learned that the oldest and most historic part of the cemetery is at risk.
The cemetery is on the North Road, adjacent to the Androscoggin River in Bethel. It suffered severe bank erosion during the April 3 and 4 rains.
“Heavy rains combined with snow melt caused excessive riverbank erosion to a point where public safety, potential loss of graves, and loss of an access road are major concerns,” states a letter that selectmen authorized sending to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program.
The funding-solicitation letter states that the town is to sponsor the project, and would be responsible for 25 percent of the total cost.
According to the Riverside Cemetery Association, Mayville’s earliest and most influential settler, Eli Twitchell, is buried there with his two wives, Rhoda, who died in 1792, and Lucy, his second wife, who died in 1844.
Mayville is a section of Bethel.
Eli Twitchell, the association stated in a letter to selectmen, was a Revolutionary War soldier who participated in the Bunker Hill campaign, and came to Bethel in 1782.
Cole said Wednesday that selectmen authorized him to submit the letter.
“Now, the project must be designed and put out to bid,” he added.
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