FARMINGTON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday accepted a  grant of $8,319 for the Police Department to conduct patrols for drunken drivers.

“We have a demonstrated need as proven by the fatal accident last New Year’s morning and our over 100-plus OUI arrests last year,” Police Chief Jack Peck wrote in a memo to the board.

The department applied for $10,000 from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety to pay for overtime for special patrols or roadblocks, he said.  

The patrols can start, now that selectmen have accepted the grant. It must be spent by Sept. 30, the last day of the government’s fiscal year, Peck said. 

The department applies for the grant each year.

In other action, the board authorized the town manager to accept an agreement with Wright-Pierce Engineers for a phosphorus removal evaluation at the wastewater treatment plant.

The evaluation will cost $25,000, Davis said.

Engineers will evaluate what must be done to bring the plant into compliance with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s new effluent phosphorus requirements by 2021, Town Manager Richard Davis said.

The engineers’ services include studies of the facility, including which biological or chemical phosphorus removal systems would best serve the town. Their preliminary report will include cost estimates and potential sources of grants and loans.

Although there is some reserve funding for wastewater treatment plant projects, there may be potential for U.S. Department of Agriculture grant-loan funds for necessary improvements. To receive the grant the town would have to borrow some money, he said.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a bid of $1,825 for 1,000 copies of the town report from Bromar Printing Solutions, formerly Skowhegan Press.

• Voted unanimously against making a donation to the Farmington Downtown Association’s annual Summer Fest, because there are other festivals that could also want support.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net