Paris selectmen meeting

Oct. 11, 2016

Paris Town Office

Special town meeting set

What happened: Selectmen set a special town meeting for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Town Office to deal with funding for the Paris Utility District stormwater separation project. In 2014, the Department of Environmental Protection mandated the district stop unnecessarily treating stormwater.

What it means: The town must remove 22 catch basins from the sewer system by 2019 when the district’s license is renewed, or face fines. The warrant includes an 18-year bond not to exceed $737,000 and should be cost-neutral after the project is complete. Town Manager Vic Hodgkins said the town pays between $45,000 and $46,000 to the district every year for stormwater treatment and will no longer have to pay once the stormwater is separated. The bond payments should equal the payments made to the district. The other article is to take $64,000 from surplus to pay Rob Prue of Pine Tree Engineering for his engineering work for the project.

What’s next: Voters will decide the issue before the next selectmen meeting on Oct. 24.

Fit test machine purchase

What happened: Selectmen approved the Fire Department purchasing a new PortaCount Fit Tester for roughly $13,000 to test its respirators. Capt. Mark Blacquiere got a commitment from nine surrounding fire departments to pitch in $1,000 for the machine, on top of a $2,500 credit for the nearly 15-year-old machine that will no longer calibrate properly.

What it means: Paris will only pay $1,495 but will foot the entire bill up front from a Fire Department account.

What’s next: Eight of the nine departments will send in their $1,000 payments from now until December. The ninth will pay in July 2017 when the new fiscal year begins. Paris Fire Department members will begin their annual fit tests Nov. 1 and the nine departments will be able to use the machine. 

Wood pellets bid

What happened: Selectmen opened bids for the excess wood pellets from the defunct wood pellet boiler at the former Mildred M. Fox School.

What it means: Anyone can bid on the roughly 335 pounds of pellets, which are stored in 13 55-gallon drums. There are more than eight bags of pellets in each drum and a minimum bid is $47 per drum.

What’s next: People can submit their sealed bids until 2 p.m. Nov. 9. Selectmen will address the bids — and possibly award the pellets — at their Nov. 14 meeting.

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