OXFORD — Police Chief Rickie Jack told residents and selectmen Thursday that his department has stepped up radar details in response to complaints of motorists speeding on residential roads and lanes.

The issue came to a head last week when a rollover on Pottle Road caused detours onto surrounding streets with posted speeds of 25 miles per hour. Speed was likely a factor in that crash, as with another that happened at the intersection of Sam Rowe Hill, Hebron and E. Oxford roads earlier in the week. Jack said it was extremely fortunate there were no fatalities in the second crash.

The problem peaks during the late afternoons and early evenings, Jack said. In some cases heavy summer traffic on routes 118 and 26 through Norway, Paris and Oxford spurs locals to take shortcuts around it by using side roads with lower speed zones, and Jack said a number of offenders seem to be leaving the same location on Staples Road.

Increase radar details have resulted in a number of citations and warnings handed out to speeding drivers, and roadside radar speed signs have had some affect. Jack is is working to obtain more of the speed detectors through grants.

One resident asked if installing speed bumps could be done, however, Jack said it’s not budgeted and would be expensive to maintain. Others at the meeting asked if speed and pedestrian alert signage could be a possibility. The Highway Department will look into those options.

Highway Department Foreman Jim Bennett reported that his crew is often pulled away from road maintenance projects by the amount of grass mowing they have been asked to do this summer.

“We can’t get the help and so we’re spending up to half of our workdays mowing,” he told the board. “We’ve been able to replace a couple of culverts and we’re doing cold patching and grading when we can.”

In recent years, Oxford has subcontracted mowing for cemeteries and other town-owned properties but the vendors who bid and accept contracts have proven to be less than reliable, Bennett said. A $18/hour wage is not attracting seasonal applicants, even with high school students old enough to work and operate commercial equipment.

Selectman Phil Richardson said his quick calculation showed that the town is paying as much as $20,000 a month. “We’re tying up pretty valuable assets doing something that a lower wage employee should do,” he said. “If we have a foreman and equipment operators who can work on miles of road in a day but are on a lawn mower, they’re probably in the wrong spot.”

Bennett agreed, adding that if the town increases wages for non-skilled labor it will become an issue with other wage levels. He said he will bring an analysis of where his staff is spending their work hours to the next meeting.

Town Manager Adam Garland said they will revisit using subcontractors again, but Bennett said that expense has run just about as high and highway employees still have to go out and finish up the jobs or redo sloppily done work.

In other business, Garland said the paperwork for Oxford’s $3 million roads bond has been submitted and the loan will be closed within a few days. Once funds are in hand, Ron Prue of Pine Tree Engineering will start surveying roads and create construction plans. The work is being prioritized from those in the worst condition first.

The rebuilding project of Rabbit Valley Road, which is being paid for with a Recovery & Resilience Grant, continues.