FARMINGTON — RSU 9 directors voted 12-1 Tuesday to award a three-year contract to a Benton company to maintain and care for the district’s grounds and lawns.

The company bid $130,000 for the job, $2,000 higher than the lowest bid.

Director Betsey Hyde of Temple opposed the vote. Directors Angela LeClair, Keith Swett of Wilton and Wanda Soule of Chesterville were absent.

The district received three bids, Superintendent Mike Cormier said.

David Leavitt, director of support staff, recommended the district go with Knox Yard Maintenance.

“We have had a good working relationship with them for the last four years,” Leavitt wrote in an email to Cormier. “They have worked with us on adjusting the last contract with regards to our construction projects. Even though Little & Sons are lower by $2,000 over the three years of the contract, they appear to have little commercial lawn care experience, and their equipment list was limited.”

The Pittston Company bid $128,000, and York’s Lawn Care of Skowhegan bid $228,310.

A representative of Littlefield & Sons who was in the audience at the board meeting said he could answer any questions the board might have. He also said he realized his company had the lower bid and that he hadn’t done anything previously as commercial as the district’s work scope. The unidentified man said he has maintained grounds for cellular tower companies. It is a family business, he said, and he is always looking to expand.

In other business, the board approved a two-year contract for Ray Therrien as the district Adult Education director.

Cormier also told the board he accepted with regret a letter of intent to retire at the end of the school year from Dean Merrill. He is a teacher in the Forestry and Wood Harvesting Program at the Foster Regional Career and Technical Education Center at Mt. Blue Campus.

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