LIVERMORE — Selectpersons Tuesday, Dec. 19, voted to award the bids for mowing town properties and cemeteries to Sunshine Pools of Jay.
At the Dec. 5 meeting, selectpersons voted to award the bid to Seth Langlin of S & R Lawncare of Livermore who submitted one bid of $17,500 for 2024, $18,500 for 2025 and $19,500 for 2026. The total for the three years was $55,500 but the bid did not specify which mowing it was for.
Livermore in its bid request wanted separate bids for mowing the town properties and the cemeteries. Sunshine Pools and C5 Property Management of Mechanic Falls each submitted separate bids.
Sunshine Pools bid $27,000 for mowing town properties and $60,500 for cemeteries in the 3-year contract. C5 Property Management bid $63,855 and $44,550, respectively over the 3-years.
“Seth’s not going to do it,” Selectperson Scott Richmond said. “Sunshine Pools has the lowest bid on town properties.” C5’s cemetery bid was quite a bit lower, he noted.
Richmond moved to award the bid for both to Sunshine Pools, which has been doing all mowing for Livermore.
“I don’t want my phone ringing,” he stated. “My phone has only rung once in the last year.”
Selectperson Joshua Perkins asked if C5 wasn’t being considered because their cemetery bid was too low, that the town went through that before.
Richmond agreed.
“I feel like Sunshine Pools has done a good job,” Perkins said.
In other business, a timeline for the upcoming budget process was presented.
Department head budgets will be due Jan. 2. Budget work packets are due and will be mailed Jan. 12.
Nomination papers for elected positions will be available Jan. 16 and must be returned by Feb. 26. Those seeking an elected position must obtain at least 25 but not more than 100 signatures from Livermore residents.
A 2-year term on the Board of Selectpersons, currently held by Jeremy Emerson, and a 3-year term, currently held by Brett Deyling will be decided.
A 3-year term on the Regional School Unit 73 board of directors, currently held by Andrew Sylvester, is also up for election. His term will end earlier than usual as the date of the annual town meeting was moved from June to April after he was elected.
Budget workshops will be held 5:30 p.m. Jan. 23 and, if needed, Jan. 25.
A public hearing to review warrant articles will be held 6 p.m. March 12 at the Livermore Community Building on Church Street. The selectpersons will hold their meeting afterwards.
The annual meeting, to be held by referendum vote will be April 23.
Selectpersons also voted to spend up to $7,375 to switch from the TRIO to TRIO Cloud software system, which is used by town office staff.
Richmond said he had asked what the life span was when the town server died awhile back. He asked Mary Castonguay, the treasurer, to look into options.
This program did have some hiccups at first, they have been worked out now, he noted. There is a trial option to see how it works, Richmond stated.
“If someone forgets their checkbook, [office staff] has to close it out now,” Richmond said. “With TRIO Cloud they can suspend it and go back to it.”
The price goes up Jan. 31, Richmond said.
After 5 p.m. with TRIO Cloud, adjustments can be made without waiting until the next day, Administrative Assistant Carrie Judd noted. Some nights office staff are working until 6 or 7 p.m., she stated.
“In looking through the budget, I think there is enough to make it work,” Richmond said.
Voters approved the current budget, which goes through June 30, at the April 2023 annual town meeting.
Perkins was in favor of keeping staff happy and efficient.
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