The Bristol Board of Selectmen will decide whether to hire a full-time town office employee as it prepares the municipal budget for annual town meeting.
A full-time employee would replace a half-time employee who resigned two years ago and a former full-time employee who now works 15-18 hours per week.
“Essentially we’re losing a full-time person,” Bristol Town Administrator Kristine Poland said at a Jan. 9 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.
The resulting loss of capacity “does a disservice to the town,” Poland said.
The town office currently has three full-time employees and one part-time employee.
The selectmen briefly discussed other upcoming expenses, including a preliminary budget of $537,876 for paving of and repairs to several roads and bridges.
The 10 roads on the list include all or parts of Austin Street, Fir Hollow Road, Indian Trail, Kelly Street, Leeman Hill Road, Rock Schoolhouse Road, Salt Pond Road, Southern Point Road, Split Rock Road and the entrance to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park.
The bridges are Hebert Bridge and Varney Bridge, both small bridges over the Pemaquid River.
The highest estimate, at $75,890, is for the 0.6 miles of Leeman Hill Road in New Harbor.
The roads budget also includes money to grade dirt roads, remove ledge on Rock Schoolhouse, Split Rock and Sproul Hill roads, replace culverts and complete shoulder work, as well as $40,000 to split the expense of building a sea wall on Back Shore Road with a property owner.
The preliminary roads plan totals more than $80,000 less than last year’s budget.
The selectmen also talked about maintenance to the Harrington Meetinghouse and the Irvine School.
Selectman Bill Benner said he estimates new clapboards for three sides of the meetinghouse, two coats of paint and repairs to the foundation on the north side of the building will cost $18,000.
A town contractor replaced the clapboards on the other side of the building last fall.
The historic Irvine School needs new inside lights, as the existing lighting is very dim and makes it difficult to hold meetings there, Poland said.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.
The following week, Jan. 23, the selectmen and the Bristol Parks and Recreation Commission will discuss Olde Bristol Days with representatives from the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, which manages the Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site.
Olde Bristol Days, an annual, weekend-long festival, might return from Pemaquid Beach, a town park, to Colonial Pemaquid in 2013.
“I think that’s what we’re planning on doing next year if the state agrees to that, and we think they will,” Poland said last month. “There’s a general feeling that attendance would be better if it were moved back to Colonial Pemaquid. I think the crafters and vendors prefer it, too.”
