DIXFIELD — Voters on Tuesday approved contracting the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services. The tally was 894-341.
They also OK’d paying for a newer aerial fire engine by a vote of 647-356.
The Sheriff’s Office has been serving the town since Aug. 7 because the town police chief resigned and the department had a shortage of full-time officers.
With passage of the police coverage question on Tuesday’s ballot, voters also approved the following:
• Dissolve the Dixfield Police Department.
• Transfer $280,000 from the Police Department account to the public safety and health account to fund the contracted services during fiscal year 2021.
• Authorize the Select Board, or its designee, to sell and dispose of unneeded police department property including vehicles, weapons, office equipment, and other items.
• Appropriate revenue from the sale of that property to the undesignated surplus to be reduce the tax commitment in subsequent years.
• Transfer any remaining funds from the police department account to the undesignated surplus to reduce the tax commitment in subsequent years.
• Authorize the Select Board or designee to execute any documents necessary to accomplish these actions.
At a public hearing on Oct. 19, Sheriff Christopher Wainwright of Canton said there would three patrol deputies for the town, with one on duty at all times. Someone would be paid to be on-call between midnight and 6 a.m., or from 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. until 6 a.m., depending upon the day of the week or holidays. The Sheriff’s Office is providing the on-call coverage now.
“We’ll have a complement of deputies who will either be living in Dixfield or an adjoining town,” Wainwright said last month. “We have two or three deputies who live in Dixfield, and some who live in Canton, Peru, Mexico and Wilton.”
In approving the newer ladder firetruck, voters OK’d transferring up to $230,000 from the Fire Department truck reserve account and up to $169,000 from surplus, and appropriating the same to purchase a 2009/2010 Ferrara 77-foot aerial ladder truck for $399,000.
Town Manager Dustin Starbuck said on the recommendation of Fire Chief Scott Dennett, the town is looking to replace one that’s 25 years old.
“We have a very specific truck we’re looking at,” Starbuck said. “This one is nearly 10 years old.”
The town’s ladder truck was purchased 10 years ago and quite a bit of money has been put into it and more work is anticipated.
He estimated that up to half of the calls into the fire company the ladder truck, which also serves as the secondary pumper.
Dennett said the aerial being purchased is being refurbished and would arrive in Dixfield within 90 days.
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