The Newcastle Board of Selectmen approved the sale and replacement of two of the oldest engines in the Taniscot Engine Company during a meeting Dec. 22.
Newcastle Fire Chief Clayton Huntley said the town and the fire company jointly own the vehicles.
The selectmen voted to allow the fire company to sell the brush trucks. With the funds raised from the sales, the department will then buy two new forestry skids and one new brush truck.
Forestry skids are effective in handling off-road fires and small fires, according to Huntley. Brush trucks are similar to pickup trucks, but they have a tank for pumping water.
Both skids and brush trucks are ideal for off-road or hard-to-reach fires and accidents.
Huntley also updated the board of selectmen on the status of the Juloania Inc. property at 7-11 Hill St., better known as Newcastle Center.
According to Huntley, the State Fire Marshal’s Office has been contacted to perform a safety inspection of the building.
The building currently violates the town’s land use ordinance, according to town attorney Peter Drum.
Juloania Inc. signed a contract with the town regarding fire and plumbing-code violations Dec. 9, 2013. The contract requires Juloania Inc. to pay a $12,000 fee and address the violations or take action to reduce the number of apartments in the building.
According to Newcastle Board of Selectmen Chairman Brian Foote, the contract gave Juloania Inc. exactly one year to the day to complete what was agreed upon.
The board asked Drum to set up a walk-through of the 7-11 Hill St. property with the former Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz, interim Code Enforcement Officer Jim Murphy, and Huntley for Monday, Dec. 29.
The current violations include a half-installed sprinkler system, according to Drum.
“If the issues aren’t fixed before that walk-through, you guys report to us at the next selectmen meeting, and we will begin enforcement proceedings,” Selectman Ben Frey said. “A half-installed sprinkler system is as good as none.”
In other business, the Newcastle Cemetery Trustees have requested access to the Hussey Cemetery, located between Route 1 and Mills Road.
“There’s no way to get to it except going through someone’s yard,” Trustee Chairman Tom Stevens said.
Stevens said the trustees are looking for a way to get into the cemetery to perform maintenance.
“Last year a tree fell in there,” Stevens said. “There was no way to get a vehicle in there.”
The trustees’ idea was to contact the DOT and request a small driveway that would lead to the cemetery from Route 1.
“The driveway would have a locked gate, and nobody would be in there except those doing maintenance,” Stevens said.
Foote suggested looking for ways to access the cemetery from the Mills Road instead of going through the process of contacting the DOT.
“It wouldn’t be as frustrating,” he said. “I can follow up with some of the landowners to see if they’d let people onto their land to access the Hussey Cemetery.”
Tabled from the Dec. 8 meeting, the board discussed fee schedules for the design review committee and the planning board.
The design review committee has recommended a flat fee of $50 instead of the current $100 and $200 fees for review.
The committee has had trouble clarifying to community members which fee they need to pay and why, according to committee member Katharina Keoughan.
The hope is that a change in the fee schedule would encourage people to go through the design review process, Newcastle Town Administrator Lynn Maloney said.
Frey suggested a joint meeting with the planning board, the design review committee, Drum, and the code enforcement officer on Feb. 2 to discuss fee schedules on a large scale.
“If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it all the way,” he said.
The board tabled the discussion until the joint meeting.
State Rep. Mick Devin, of Newcastle, introduced himself to the board of selectmen and invited the selectmen to a panel discussion regarding tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations on Jan. 23 at Skidompha Library.
Selectmen Pat Hudson and Ben Frey were both willing to sit on the panel.
