WEST PARIS — West Paris’s municipal buildings will see a lower electric rate after the town signed a contract with the nonprofit Maine PowerOptions, Town Manager Joy Downing said during the select board meeting Thursday.

The group is an energy-purchasing consortium that can give a lower rate on electricity and fuel, if the town chooses to sign on for the fuel program in the future as well, at no cost to the town, she said.

Maine PowerOptions was founded in 1999 and is co-sponsored by the Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority and the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, according to its website. The energy-purchasing consortium “serves as an aggregator for Maine’s public and non-profit organizations.”

The organization’s group-purchasing programs are “designed to increase the buying power of eligible member organizations for the purchase of fuel oil, electricity supply, and other energy services, regardless of their size,” the website says.

Other business

The select board approved purchasing a new transmission for $9,600 plus labor for the Kenworth snow plow truck that has been undergoing repairs at the Big Rig Shop in Oxford for “quite awhile now,” Downing said.

The truck had a radiator leak, which caused a lot of fluid to go into the transmission and the engine. Many parts have been replaced by Big Rig and the transmission and engine had been flushed multiple times before it was determined the transmission needs replacing. 

“They’ve come to realize that the transmission is no good,” Downing said.

The current bill for Big Rig’s services is up to $17,088.69. The Kenworth truck has not yet had to undergo significant repairs up until this point, Downing noted.

The town also hired PestShield, of West Paris, to spray and check quarterly for pests and rodents at the town office for $575 a year. The owner, Heather Steckino, has donated her time to spray the West Paris baseball field for ticks, Downing said.

West Paris will also switch website providers from Catalyst to TownCloud. Downing said that Catalyst’s prices are going up and TownCloud is a much more intuitive platform that will be easier for town staff as well as residents to use.

“It’s so much easier,” she said.

The cost is $99 per month, with the startup fee waived because the town is paying the entire year upfront. Then next year, if the town decides to renew for a three-year contract and pays the total upfront, TownCloud offers one year free, Downing said.

Also on Tuesday, the select board accepted the lone bid for roadside mowing for 2024 from Andover-based Swasey Excavation Inc. at a rate of $350 per mile, for a total of $15,015.

For the last three years, the price has been close to $12,000 from Swasey, Downing noted, so the increase was expected and already built into the budget.

The select board and Downing agreed the company does a good job.

The West Paris Select Board will next meet at the town office at 5 p.m. Aug. 8.