LITCHFIELD — Selectmen on Tuesday agreed to buy an intrusion and fire alarm system for the town’s public works garage.

The system by Maine Security Surveillance will cost $4,100 initially, with an annual charge of $1,500 a year for monitoring the building and reporting who goes into and out of it.

A similar system is already in place at the Town Office.

Town Manager Mike Byron said the system will protect valuable equipment.

Byron and other officials are looking at the possibility of putting a side-dump wheeler — essentially a large snowplow truck — into the capital improvement budget. The town’s five sander/hoppers can carry 6 to 7 yards of salt and sand.

“A wheeler carries 14 to 15 yards of material with a computer on the tail end to monitor amounts and mix and record data over time,” Byron said.

A wheeler costs $180,000, about $40,000 more than a new hopper/sander, he said.

If selectmen approve buying the large vehicle, it would need funding approval by voters at the annual Town Meeting, set for June 16.

Selectmen and the Budget Committee plan to hold their first budget workshop at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Town Office.

In other business, two property owners met with selectmen to review possible solutions to problems, Byron said.

John Coelho brought deeds and surveys of his property on Penney Lane. Town officials have said a recent survey showed part of his leach field and homestead extend over a recently pinned line and onto town property.

Selectmen agreed to provide surveyor Robin Redmond with Coelho’s items and see whether that changes the survey.

Dan Bernier, who is building a home on Peacepipe Drive, agreed to meet with the town’s code enforcement officer and to have a contractor dig up and remove 4-foot buttresses the town believes encroach under the road and over Bernier’s property line.

Litchfield Code Enforcement Officer Steve Ochmanski had issued a stop-work order on the building project.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

 

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