JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to approve $1,613 to be used out of the Fire Rescue Department’s capital reserve to refurbish a 1996 fire engine.

Some of the paint is blistering and some spots are starting to rust on Engine I, which is housed at the North Jay Fire Station, Public Safety Director Larry White Sr. said.

The damage is minor right now, so the department would like to get it fixed because it only will get worse if it isn’t fixed, White said.

“It is not substantial right now,” he said.

Hilltop Collision provided the estimate.

Board Vice Chairman Justin Merrill, a captain in the department, abstained from voting.

Selectmen also voted to go with A. Maurais & Son of Jay to buy and install a 36,000 BTU air conditioner for the meeting room on the second floor of Station No. 1 in North Jay.

Selectmen reviewed several options and decided on that one at a cost of $5,600.

The Fire Department holds meetings in the room and has a kitchen there where food is cooked, and it gets hot, White said.

The air conditioner would be mounted in the wall and would only be used when a meeting or other event takes place. Merrill also abstained from that vote.

White said that another truck needs some repair, but he needed to find out if it will be covered by warranty. He will bring that matter up at a future meeting if necessary, he said.

Selectmen tabled Senate redistricting, the Head Start building lease and a policy to govern the undesignated fund balance account. Town Manager Ruth Cushman was absent from the meeting due to illness.

In other business, the board also voted to approve Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt’s recommendations on sewer abatements.

Holt said the policy in place covered all abatement requests that came before him.
Holt recommended a $102 abatement for Chris Bucher of 7 Oak St.; $2,232 for David Deberadinis at 11 Church St. and $264 for David Poulin at 30 Lavoie St.

Holt recommended no abatements for the estate of Richard Dupont at 3 Eastern Ave.; Ruth Anne  Gagnon at 20 Elm St.; and Joseph and Heidi Sage at 10 Barker St., based on the town’s current policy and past policy when it applied.

Selectmen also plan to check out the intersection of Macomber Hill and Woodman Hill roads where there is a yield sign.

Resident Al Landry said he came seconds from being hit there and asked selectmen to see if a four-way stop sign is warranted.

White said he will also look at the intersection.

Resident James Butler Jr., who is also a third-party inspector for structures, asked if the town had any policies governing where a house should be built on a property in Jay. Several people interested in building have approached him, he said.

There are setbacks from the town’s road right of way and guidelines for floodplains and wetlands.

There are no setbacks on how far a house can be built from the property line or another person’s house, McCourt said.

Voters rejected a local administrative ordinance for overseeing the state’s Uniform Building and Energy Code in June.

Under the new code, Code Enforcement Officer Shiloh LaFreniere is expected to issue occupancy permits, but a process needs to be put in place.

McCourt said the board will discuss the situation at its next meeting.

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