NEWPORT – Selectmen sped through a brief agenda Wednesday night to clear the table for a workshop session on the 2001 budget. The board tabled most of the scheduled business, with one exception.

A bid from Merrill Merchants Bank was accepted at 4.79 percent annual interest for the purchase of a new firetruck.

In October, selectmen approved the purchase of a new truck from Central States Apparatus of North Dakota for $159,000.

The new truck will replace a 1963 tank truck.

The town expects its delivery next summer.

A confusing right of way issue was tabled for another meeting. Town Manager James Ricker was prepared to present a quitclaim deed between the town and Howard Seavey to clarify the town’s right of way to turn its snowplows around at the end of Marginal Way.

A discussion earlier in the day, however, confused the issue.

Ricker relayed a sequence of ownership, deeds, and rights of way that were ultimately turned over to the two landowners involved, Seavey and Earl Peters. Ricker said Seavey needed to convey property to Peters, who in turn could convey the rights for a turn-around to the town.

The town apparently has been using property there for 10 years or more, without having it properly recorded. Seavey agreed the matter needed to be clarified for any future owners of the property.

Seavey and Peters also made a brief presentation to the board on the success of the Sebasticook Valley Community Center. The town contracts with the center for public recreation programs for $24,000. In 2001, however, SVCC would like to increase the contract to $30,000.

Another $1,000 may need to be added for a senior citizen program that was not properly billed in 2000, Ricker said.

“We’re not asking for anything we don’t need,” said Seavey, pointing out the center raises most of its operating funds.

“Our main concern is we want to see that place going,” said Board Chairman Al Worden, who pointed out that the center’s budget is more than $180,000. “The town is not paying a large portion of that, but we need to impress on this board we’re getting what we pay for.”

Seavey was asked for an accounting of the town’s programs and participation. The report was not a problem for Seavey, who said the center would finish the year in the black for the first time since it was created.