Canton Selectmen Don Hutchins and Michelle Larrivee are sworn into office Thursday evening by Selectman Russell Adams, left. From left are Adams, Carole Robbins, Hutchins, Larrivee and Kristi Carrier. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times
CANTON — Newly elected Selectman Don Hutchins was elected chairman of the board Thursday and Carole Robbins was reelected vice chairwoman.
Russell Adams was the previous chairman.
Hutchins and Michelle Larrivee, who were elected in June, were sworn into office Thursday to start their three-year terms. Hutchins has been a selectman at various times since 2003. His most recent term ended in June 2021
Each member of the board was assigned as a liaison to town departments: Hutchins for the Highway Department and Town Office; Robbins sharing the Town Office and sewer and budget duties with Hutchinson; Adams for the Fire Department and Transfer Station; Larrivee for the Recreation Committee and Planning Board; and Kristi Carrier for the Parks and Trails Committee.
In other business, selectmen voted to pay $57,500 as the first installment toward the 2007 pumper/tanker truck. Voters approved the $230,000 purchase in June. The money will come from the Fire Department Reserve Fund.
Selectmen approved a cost-sharing agreement with the Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District for erosion control work on Bonney Road. Jeff Stern of the Androscoggin River Watershed Council represented the district at Thursday’s meeting. Work will include replacing three culverts and add more riprap.
The work is part of a $5,000 matching grant in 2019 with the conservation district. The town recently spent $2,252 for erosion control at the Dearborn and Staples Hill roads and apply $2,748 toward work on Bonney Road.
In another matter, selectmen decided to send a letter to Mark Densmore of Alden Hill Road, who sent a written complaint to the town about a neighbor causing the road to wash on his property.
The board’s letter will state that Highway Foreman Paul McKenna recently viewed the road and “does not have issues” with the road problem.
Robbins said McKenna, who was not at Thursday’s meeting, told her “Mr. Densmore has already made berms at the end of his agricultural road, and his driveway, so there is no way anything can wash out on his property; which is what the gist of this complaint was.”
Also, selectmen voted to take $946.98 from the Community Benefit Fund to reimburse Jim Martin, a volunteer for the food pantry, for a freezer he bought for the pantry. Martin told selectmen he bought it Wednesday to take advantage of a sale to save about “$150 or $250 for a freezer.”
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