BUCKFIELD — Town officials are considering utilizing a company to help recoup expenses incurred by the Fire Department.

It would mostly cover what one selectman called “nuisance calls,” incidents that require a response by the department and its equipment and personnel, but which should not be paid by taxpayers.

“When it was first brought to me when I was on the Select Board, I was a little leery of it,” Town Manager Cameron Hinkley said at Monday’s Select Board meeting. “But as time progressed and you see the number of calls that we get for drunk drivers totaling cars, tractor-trailer trucks blocking Streaked Mountain for six hours, it’s calls that we should really be able to recover for.”

“The idea is to start trying to recover some of those expenses that shouldn’t fall on the taxpayers,” he added.

Hinkley noted that most auto and homeowner insurance policies have a line in them to allow fire departments to recover their expenses to prevent the taxpayers from being billed. Residents would not be billed, just the insurance companies.

Many Maine communities have a policy or an ordinance in place for cost recovery. Hinkley shared policies from Augusta, Waterville, Arundel, Vassalboro and Randolph to give board members an idea of what other municipalities are doing.

Town Office staff would not be chasing down insurance companies to request payments. The town would hire a cost recovery company which would keep about 25% of the funds received, Hinkley said.

The board will take up the matter at its next meeting and develop a policy or an ordinance to cover the specifics.

In other business, the board heard a request from the town manager to digitize its tax maps. The initial cost would be less than $5,000, Hinkley said, and any future updates would cost the town $2 to $3 per parcel.

With the town’s first solar farm in the planning stages, Hinkley said the town has no zoning that addresses them. He wondered if the board wanted to issue a moratorium so it could consider its options.

“I don’t know if this is something you want to tackle, but once one is here I think it will open the floodgates,” Hinkley said.

“I think we need to reach out to the community to see what they want,” Selectman Sandra Fickett said.

The board will discuss the matter at its next meeting.

Katelyn Bertrand was appointed to the Old Church on the Hill Committee for a three-year term. The board also renewed the automobile salvage and junkyard permit for R.C. Garage at 48 Townline Road.