LIVERMORE — Selectpersons approved bids Monday, for setup of the new plow truck and road construction work on Bear Mountain Road.
In August, the board approved the purchase of a 2020 truck chassis from O’Connor GMC in Augusta. The initial cost was $64,500 but a $14,500 trade-in for the town’s 2008 GMC dropped it to $50,000.
HP Fairfield of Skowhegan had originally given a price of $63,000 for the body, the plow and other accessories to complete the vehicle.
In August, highway foreman Roger Ferland said there was a possibility the price could be lowered once a bid was requested.
The quoted bid price of $55,945 from Fairfield was accepted by the board.
The board also approved the $76,384 quote from Pike Industries, Inc. of Fairfield to grind Bear Mountain Road and lay a 2-inch base coat. The town will save $10,560 by having its road crew add the gravel on the roadside.
“We’ll have to put a top coat on it next year, let it go through frost,” Selecperson Mark Chretien said.
Pike will be working on Waters Hill Road from the cemetery to Norlands Road on Oct. 1 with the Bear Mountain Road construction done around that job, Ferland said.
On Sept. 14, the board awarded the Waters Hill Road paving bid to Pike Industries for $159,875.
The town is about halfway done putting the Bowles Road back to dirt, Ferland said.
“We’ve pulled up a lot with the grader, rolled it and added gravel,” he said. “People can drive on it now.”
In other business, by consensus the board agreed to use funds already committed for a new website. Currently changes to the site are contracted out.
At the Sept. 14 meeting, 3 proposals were discussed but a decision tabled.
Expenet of Wilton had provided 2 proposals for the new website. An advanced website redesign package was $1,800 with another package priced at $1,100. Both are mobile friendly and include redesigning the current website, bringing all current pages to the new site and allowing the Town of Livermore to make changes independently. 24 hours of training and the first year of web hosting, $240, is also included in both packages. The advanced package includes a search engine.
A third proposal from Town Web offered a 3-year contract. The first year’s total fee would be $1,314, paid in year one. The second year’s fee would be $500 plus $15 domain renewal, billed 12 months after the site goes live. The third year fee would be the same as year two.
The town budgets about $250 for the website and has budgeted $1,900 for printing the town report, but the last few years it’s only cost about $700, Treasurer Amy Byron said.
“Every time we want to put something new on the site, we’re charged for a half hour of work,” Byron said.
“In the short term, it will cost money, but in the long term it will save us money,” Selectperson Scott Richmond said.
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