By Craig Crosby
MONMOUTH, Maine — Selectmen on Wednesday took the final step toward securing a new firetruck for the town.
Board members unanimously approved spending a total of $348,000 to purchase a new pumper truck to replace a 33-year old truck housed at North Monmouth Station.
“We expect the truck to be here sometime in early spring,” Fire Chief Andr? Poulin said.
The new quad-cab truck will have a 750-gallon tank and come with a compressed air foam system. The pumper will be built by Louisiana-based Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc., and be delivered to the company’s service center in Auburn. Ferrara recently built a truck for the town of Sidney that is identical to the one Monmouth will order.
Voters at last month’s town meeting approved $370,000 to enter into a lease-purchase agreement for the truck. The first two of six yearly payments will come out of an account previously set aside for a new truck. The next four payments, between 2013 and 2017, will be added to the town budget.
Ferrara will post a performance bond to ensure delivery is on time and that the truck is built to specification.
“We won’t see the truck until it gets to Maine,” Poulin said.
The town will post weekly photos of the truck’s construction on its website, www.monmouthme.govoffice2.com.
In other news, selectmen held a public hearing about the Aug. 17 town meeting, during which a vote on grants available to refurbish the Monmouth Grange building has been scheduled.
Referendum voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Cumston Hall.
David Greenham, producing director of the Theater at Monmouth, which owns the building, said voters will be asked to approve two federal grants; a $125,000 Department of Economic and Community Development grant and a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant.
If approved, the funds would activate a $90,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Theater board member Michael Baran said the grants will give the theater company better facilities for its performers while providing more space for the town to hold meetings and other functions. Baran said the improvements will not affect the town’s taxes.
“It’s a great opportunity to keep it known as the Grange,” Baran said.
Greenham displayed blueprints detailing the changes that would be made to the building. Those plans call for a whole new foundation that is roughly 36 feet farther from Main Street.
“The building itself is going to be moved back from the road on the same plane that it’s on now,” Greenham said.
Plans also call for tearing off the front porch in favor of a more traditional Grange appearance and a two-story fire escape built on an addition that will not be seen from the road. The addition also would house an elevator. The theater company plans to seek additional grant funding to pay for the elevator. The plans also include new roofing, siding and windows.
The theater company already is putting together bid packages, Greenham said.
“We’ll hopefully be starting the work as soon in the fall as we can,” he said.
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