Frenchville voters approve loader purchase at special meeting

FRENCHVILLE – The Public Works Department expects a new front-end loader will be received by the town before the end of January.

Voters approved the purchase at a special Dec. 26 town meeting, Town Manager Philip Levesque said Friday.

Fewer than 10 residents attended the session held in the municipal building.

Levesque said residents approved two money transfers, one for the purchase of the loader and a second to purchase a hopper sander. Residents approved transferring $5,650 from surplus money to pay for the hopper sander, also for the Public Works Department.

The town’s previous hopper sander was demolished in an accident in November. The amount residents approved was that needed to purchase the new unit beyond what the town’s insurance carrier paid for the loss of the previous unit.

Residents also approved the transfer of $61,500 from excise tax collections for the purchase of the John Deere front-end loader. That money, along with $43,500 in a payloader reserve account, will pay for the $105,000 loader.

Levesque said the town had started the payloader reserve account four years ago, putting $10,000 a year into the account.

While the town was planning to purchase a payloader, it had not expected to purchase it this year.

The town’s 1982 payloader was owned jointly by the Northern Aroostook Regional Airport at Frenchville and the town. The unit was purchased in 1982 with a grant. The town had paid the 10 percent local share at the time.

The town used the payloader during the last 20 years for municipal work and work at the airport.

Levesque said the airport now was at a point where it needed the unit “most of the time.”

The John Deere unit was approved for purchase after the town went out on bid for the equipment.