JAY – The Board of Selectpersons discussed a repair to a heating unit on the police station and other issues at Monday evening’s meeting.
The board had previously discussed the performance of the roof-mounted heating units on the municipal building, a space shared by the town office and Jay Police Department. The units are more than 10 years old and approaching the end of their useful life. Prior to the board’s last meeting, the police side of the building lost heat, with the problem eventually traced to a hole in a heat exchanger inside one unit. The hole was patched and town officials told the board that they intended to look into different options to address the issue.
However, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Monday, within a week it became clear that the exchanger wasn’t going to continue functioning. Town officials couldn’t keep the unit running and exhaust was leaking back into the building. The issue was repaired at the cost of $2,973.
The board approved expending funds out of the Capital Reserve to pay for the repair. Town officials hope that repair provides the town enough time to determine what is to be done with the roof-mounted units in the long term.
In other business, the board approved entering into a three-year contract with RHR Smith to provide the town’s auditing services. The cost of those services, $13,000, is the same the town has paid for RHR Smith contracts since 2014.
The board also approved an updated set of bylaws for the Budget Committee. The most significant change is that committee votes now only require positive votes from a majority of those present to pass, rather than a majority of the entire, 11-member board. This could create issues if too many members were unavailable, LaFreniere and selectpersons said, as the committee oftentimes only cast votes at the conclusion of the budget process.
