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Blandford Select Board reviews highway equipment financing, staffing and contract needs
Summary
Highway representative Ray Hultay described personnel policy questions, a SourceWell mower lease option at $39,000 versus a $126,000 purchase price, painting quotes for fuel tanks that would require a special town meeting, and staff questions about CDL licensing and union status. Town Administrator Cristina Ferrera clarified account and procurement steps.
Ray Hultay, speaking for the Highway Department, raised several operational and procurement issues during the departmental review. He said a clothing-allotment charge had appeared to be coming out of two accounts; Town Administrator Cristina Ferrera clarified that the charge is actually coming from a single account. Hultay presented three quotes to paint fuel tanks and said the project was not part of the approved budget, requiring a special town meeting to authorize work.
Hultay outlined options for an over-guardrail mower procured through SourceWell: a three-year lease at $39,000 (lease pricing as presented) versus an immediate purchase price of $126,000, not including warranty. Ferrera described the procurement steps that would be required and said that under the proposed lease arrangement the town would own the mower after three years.
Highway staff raised questions about whether the town would pay for CDL licensing; the board said more information will be provided. Meeting minutes record that the highway union was dropped because the union itself cancelled due to a lack of members and that staff remain free to join a union if they choose.
