LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Town Office to set the tax rate for 2023-24.
The date was announced at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Jay/Livermore Falls Sewer Superintendent Mark Holt asked selectmen to approve using up to $6,000 from the joint reserve account for the town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant for a new hot water pressure washer and related equipment. The latter includes additional nozzles, hoses and wands to accommodate hard-to-reach areas throughout the plant.
“It is a piece of equipment we don’t have,” Holt said.
Workers have had to use Jay’s pressure washer in the past.
Holt will also take his request to the Jay Select Board at 6 p.m. Monday at the Town Office. The two towns split the operation and maintenance cost of the plant based on a sewage flow formula. Jay’s share is 57.7% and Livermore Falls share is 42.3%. The formula is set annually each year.
There is about $80,000 available in the joint reserve. Buying the pressure washer would bring it to about $74,000, Holt said.
In other business, selectmen voted 3-1 to set the solar array fee schedule for permits at the request of Code Enforcement Officer Brandon Hobbs. Voters approved a Solar Energy Systems Ordinance on June 20. The permits are $50 for a residential permit and $50 per acre for a commercial and industrial system.
Select Board Chairman Jim Long, Vice Chairman Will Kenniston and Selectman Bruce Peary voted in favor while Jim Cyr opposed. Selectman Ernie Souther was absent.
Prior to the vote Cyr asked if this would mean someone with a camp or a shed would need a permit. Hobbs said it would, based on state rules and the ordinance for public safety of firefighters and residents.
In another matter, selectmen approved Town Clerk Doris Austin’s request to have a trunk-or-treat on Halloween, Oct. 31, at the Town Office. It was well attended last year, Austin said.
She also received permission for a food drive at the office Nov. 1-16. People can bring nonperishable food items, which will be donated to the Food Cupboard of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls at the St. Rose Community Center in Jay.
A meet-and-greet will be held from 2-4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at the Town Office for people to welcome new staff, including Town Manager Carrie Castonguay.
Castonguay announced that Thomas Mitchell of Livermore has agreed to be the town’s backup licensed plumbing inspector.
She asked how the board wanted to handle hiring a new police chief.
Former Chief Michael Adcock of Livermore, who took a sergeant’s position with the University of Maine at Farmington, is still working part-time for the town. His last day in Livermore Falls was Aug. 31.
Castonguay has received one application for the position. Applications will be accepted until a suitable candidate is found.
Long said he would like Castonguay to bring the top two candidates to the board for review.
By law, the town manager has the authority to hire staff. Castonguay said she is comfortable hiring a chief but also working with a committee. Regardless how it is done, a candidate will be brought to the board to be confirmed.
After the meeting, Castonguay said she told selectmen that R.H.R. Smith & Co. accounting firm of Buxton has finished the 2021 audit on the wastewater treatment plant and is hoping to have the 2022 audit for the plant done by the end of this week. Next, the firm will start on the town audits, she said.
Castonguay also informed the board that she is going to start reserve accounts for a revaluation and fire substation.
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