JAY — Selectpersons voted 4-0 Monday to pass on providing street-sweeping services to Fayette.
Approving the measure were Keith Cornelio and Judy Diaz, Chairman Terry Bergeron and Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo. Gary McGrane abstained.
Fayette Town Manager Mark Robinson had asked if Jay would be interested in working with Fayette to sweep its community streets as they do with Livermore Falls and Wilton, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.
Robinson said he knows the three towns work together to get street sweeping and other tasks done, and they have had a cooperative agreement for several years in which they share tasks and trade off on services, keeping track of hours.
If Jay were to do the work with Fayette, it would require the sweeper and an operator for three days, LaFreniere said.
When sweeping work along Route 4 is done, the Maine Department of Transportation is charged $110 an hour.
Fayette would pay Jay a fee as determined by the board.
Public Works Director John Johnson said they have never solicited work with another town because it is considered competing with the private sector, he said.
With the three-town agreement, no money exchanges hands.
The town could gain revenue to offset maintenance and repairs on the equipment, but former Selectperson Justin Merrill advised against it and said they should not be taking outside jobs.
“We shouldn’t be competing with the private sector,” Merrill said, adding that with what the town pays its highway employees and the wear on the sweeper, it would not make money.
The town has rebuilt the 1984 sweeper three times, Johnson said.
A new street sweeper can run between $160,000 and $170,00.
Johnson agreed with Merrill that providing the service to Fayette would not be lucrative.
“With everything going on this year, I would rather not,” Bergeron said of providing the service to Fayette.
In other business, LaFreniere informed the board that the town has received $24,300 from the town of Wells, which recently hired one of Jay’s police officers.
The town had sent Jay police officer Stephanie Guillemette to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2016, which costs about $30,000 for training and other related expenses.
Jay is eligible for reimbursement because the training for the full-time officer came within five years of her graduation from the academy.
LaFreniere and Police Chief Richard Caton IV requested that the board designate the revenue to the Police Department’s Capital Reserve Account.
The funds could be used to make up for the capital reserve used for cruisers and computers that were not funded this year, LaFreniere said.
The board discussed the matter, with some of them having differing opinions on what should be done with it, including training a reserve and paying for the other half of the detective position. The budget approved April 25 eliminated a full-time detective, but included money for a part-time officer who would work and that would allow the current detective to do some investigative work.
LaFreniere said she would check with Maine Municipal Association to find out what they can legally do with the money.
Bergeron and DeMillo were re-elected chairman and vice chairman, respectively, Monday night.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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