WILTON — The Select Board unanimously approved the purchase of new generators for the Town Office and the Public Safety Building on Tuesday night.

Following an executive session for a personnel mater, selectpersons also approved sign-on bonuses for new law enforcement officers.

From the public safety capital purchases account, a Kohler 38 Kilowatt RCL generator will be purchased for $23,361 from Lake Region Power Systems based out of Rangeley. The Public Safety Building’s current generator was installed in the early 1990s and has a manual start which has been difficult to operate, according to Fire Chief Sonny Dunham.

“This generator has seen its better days, it’s still working. So we’re just trying to plan for the future here,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish said. “The generator is the backup power for the Fire Department and the Police Department, all of the town’s emergency communications. The Public Safety Building is the town’s shelter and it does provide shelter when power is out in town and people need it.” 

The public safety capital purchases account balance is $25,460, and Irish said there are no additional purchases anticipated for the building at this time.

From the town office capital purchases account, a Kohler 14 Kilowatt generator will be purchased for $7,900, also from Lake Region Power Systems. This will be the first time the Town Office has a generator.

Based on market demands, Irish and Dunham reported that the generators will not be available until the spring and their installations should be complete by May 1.

For new, law enforcement sign-on bonuses, a part-time, certified officer will receive $2,000 and a full-time, certified officer will receive up to $8,000. Half the bonus will be distributed at time of hire and the remainder upon the completion of the one-year probationary period.

The board set Tuesday, Jan. 5, for a public hearing to consider licensing three medical marijuana retail businesses. Irish also said proposed changes to the town’s Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Stores, Cultivation Facilities, Manufacturing Facilities, and Testing Facilities Ordinance will be presented to the board at this meeting.

Once the Select Board reviews ordinance changes, an attorney will review the amendments and the Planning Board will set a public hearing date for residents to approve the revisions and any additions.

In other business, Irish announced the town’s next foreclosure process will begin in January and run until mid-March. The town has several foreclosed properties that have no deed or right of access.

“We’ve been through all of our town records here and looked online for deeds for those particular properties and have come up with nothing, which leads us to believe that these are very, very old properties that the town has had,” Irish said.

To locate the deeds, Irish said she will probably have to manually search for them at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds.

During the manager’s report, Irish announced that Ransom Consulting Engineers and Scientists have completed the $26,500 geotechnical survey of the Foster Mill property. Selectpersons Tom Saviello and Keith Swett will review the survey and present the board with the consulting firm’s recommendations on how to move forward with the property.