WILTON — The Wilton Police Department plans to replace a cruiser with a pickup truck for patrol and other duties after the Board of Selectpersons approved a bid Tuesday night.
The board unanimously accepted a $48,841 base bid from AutoFair Ford of Haverhill in Massachusetts. Specialized equipment installed by Island Tech Services of Levant is expected to bring the total cost to $70,407.
Selectwoman Tiffany Maiuri was absent.
Police Chief Ethan Kyes said the department has $74,271 in its vehicle capital account. The pickup will replace a 2017 cruiser that has been driven about 127,000 miles.
Kyes recommended a Ford F-150 pickup truck, saying it would be more versatile than a cruiser. He said it could tow a radar speed sign and other heavy loads and handle rough terrain more readily.
The board also considered bids for two Ford Police Interceptor Utilities. Quirk Ford of Augusta bid $45,244 for a vehicle, bringing the total to $67,876 with outfitting. AutoFair bid $44,801 for a vehicle, bringing the total to $64,796.
Board Chair David Leavitt asked whether the pickup truck could transport people who had been arrested. Kyes said it would be a crew cab with a full back seat.
Dr. Michael Parker, a member of the Wilton Planning Board, asked about the color schemes on police vehicles.
“We used to be able to tell our police cars,” he said, “but black-on-black (lettering) hides that.”
Kyes said he had received a $1,300 estimate to reletter the police vehicles.
The new lettering will be “subdued, with a little bit of gray and a little bit of white,” Kyes said, adding it will be reflective so it stands out when illuminated.
The meeting was the board’s first with a new seating arrangement designed to make board members and town officials visible to the audience and livestream viewers. The board replaced its U-shaped arrangement with a V-shaped layout.
Leavitt and Maiuri face the audience, while Town Manager Maria Greeley and Town Clerk Aaren Wilcox sit on one side of the V, facing Selectmen Phil Hilton and Nathan Hiltz and Selectwoman Nancy Allen on the other.
Hiltz criticized the U-shaped arrangement shortly after taking office in June, saying viewers of Mount Blue Community Access TV and people in the audience could not see everyone at the tables.
As the board discussed future meeting schedules, Hiltz moved to enter executive session to discuss the duties of officials. Leavitt said the board had scheduled a public workshop on the topic for 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13. The board rejected Hiltz’s motion 3-1. The workshop is planned for the meeting room at the Town Office, 158 Weld Road.
The motion was one of 11 that Hiltz made Tuesday. The board unanimously approved five, rejected four by votes of 3-1 and did not act on two for lack of a second.
The other three motions the board rejected would have changed the order of sentences in the Sept. 15 minutes, added an item to the Oct. 20 agenda to “create a document to outline the duties of town” appointees and asked Mt. Blue Community Access TV to livestream the workshop.
The board approved Hiltz’s motions to delete a statement from the Sept. 15 minutes that he said he had not made; add a list of all-terrain vehicle routes in a proposed ATV ordinance to those minutes; amend an item concerning appointments to the Comprehensive Plan Committee and approve it as amended; and enter executive session to “discuss allegations against a public official.”
The two motions that lacked a second would have amended the Sept. 15 minutes about a proposed special town meeting scheduled for Election Day — Nov. 3 — and added a discussion of Board of Selectpersons ballot measures to the Oct. 20 agenda.
In response to Hiltz’s motion to ask Mount Blue Community Access TV to livestream the workshop, Hilton said, “I’m not going to tell them how to do this, but I’m grateful they are here.”
At Hiltz’s request, the board appointed former Selectman Keith Swett to the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Swett, who lost to Hiltz in the June election, was one of two applicants. The other was Eve Enslow.
Hiltz questioned appointing two members, noting that the board had voted Sept. 15 to reduce the committee’s membership to eight, leaving one seat to fill. He moved to amend the motion to appoint only Swett.
When Hiltz asked whether Enslow could be named an alternate, Leavitt restated the amended motion. The board unanimously approved the amendment and then the motion to appoint only Swett.
In other matters, the board accepted a $9,618 grant from the Maine Drinking Water Program to test the watershed around Varnum Pond, the source of the town’s water. The grant covers the watershed in Wilton and the part of the pond in Temple.
The board also approved closing the Town Office on Nov. 3 so employees can work at the polls. Greeley asked the board to close the office every Election Day, but it approved a closure only for this year’s election.
Hiltz, Greeley and Leavitt discussed access to town documents.
“Who decides on a request to see a (town) document?” Hiltz asked.
“I have the authority to give you those documents,” Greeley said. “The question is the timing.”
She said she is not always available to respond to a request immediately.
Leavitt told Hiltz, “I don’t ever ask to see the town manager without an appointment.”
Greeley said, “Give me a specific time when you’re going to be in the office” to get documents.
Hilton noted that the documents are subject to the Maine Freedom of Access Act and that anyone can request access under the law.
“The town manager clearly said, ‘Yes, you can get ’em, but not necessarily in your time frame,’” Leavitt said.
Wilcox said absentee ballots are available and online voter registration closes Oct. 14. Voters can register in person through Election Day, she said.
The town has received a second vote tabulator, and officials plan to begin counting absentee ballots before the polls close Nov. 3.
The Town Office will be closed Monday, Oct. 12, for Indigenous Peoples Day.
