DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Monday evening to appoint Carlo Puiia as town manager.

Puiia, who was Rumford’s former longtime tax collector and its town manager of more than four years, was hired during a special meeting May 29.

The appointment Monday made the hiring official.

Police Chief Richard Pickett said near the end of the board meeting that he was “thrilled to hear Carlo would be our new town manager.”

“I think he’s going to do a fine job,” Pickett said.

He said he wanted to recognize Eugene Skibitsky for serving in the position until they could find a new town manager.

“Gene stepped up, as he always did, and kept the town going,” Pickett said.

Puiia was also appointed town treasurer, tax collector, town clerk, road commissioner and assistant welfare administrator.

In other business, Al Hodsdon of A.E. Hodsdon Engineers in Waterville, updated the board on the status of the $1.8 million upgrade to water, sewer and drainage systems on six streets.

The project, approved by voters during a special town meeting in July 2013, would replace old galvanized pipes that are in danger of breaking. The money would pay for water and sewer line replacements, road reconstruction, engineering and design costs, transaction costs and other expenses for High, Pine, North, Kidder and Ellis streets and Dix Avenue.

In order to pay for the project, the town will apply for up to $1 million from the Maine Bond Bank, $110,000 from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $676,000 from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

Hodsdon said, “Originally, when we did our planning together, we talked about North Street, Pine Street and Coburn Avenue as the areas that needed a lot of attention.

“Later, we dropped Coburn Avenue to include Dix Street and Kidder Street, so we could include the low- to moderate-income individuals,” Hodsdon said. “This would’ve improved our possibility of being approved for the CDBG grant. Since we didn’t receive that grant, it makes sense for us to go back to the original plan, where the need was the greatest.”

Hodsdon later said the money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund was in place and the paperwork is being processed in Augusta.

“The funds should be authorized for release within a week or so,” Hodsdon told selectmen.

Hodsdon said the town should hold a public hearing on the project when they’re “around 90 percent done with their plans.”

The board also received a request from a resident to place a caution sign at the beginning of the non-public portion of Severy Hill Road.

The resident said in a letter to selectmen that for three years he has had to help motorists who got stuck driving down the non-public portion of Severy Hill Road, due to their GPS units telling them that “this is a route to Canton Point Road.”

“I’m not sure what type of sign would need to be put up, but I’m just thinking about keeping people safe,” the resident said in his letter.

“I wonder if anyone ever makes a complaint about how these GPS units are sending people to the wrong places?” Selectman Hart Daley asked.

The town’s first effort should be “contacting Google Maps or the GPS company and seeing if they can adjust the coordinates so that it doesn’t lead people astray,” he said. “After that, we can look into a sign that warns people that the road is not a throughway.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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