HOULTON, Maine – During a brief meeting on Monday evening, town councilors voted to apply for federal grant money to support the fire department.
Nancy Ketch, the town’s community development director, gave a short presentation to the Houlton Town Council about the 2017 Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. The town is hoping to secure $95,000 from the agency.
The grant program allows the town to apply for the funding to pay for modifications to facilities and to buy equipment, personal protective equipment, wellness and fitness equipment and training material.
The town must provide a five percent match of $4,523, which will come from the community’s grant match account, if the application is successful.
In other business, the councilors ratified the Maine Association of Police, Patrolman/Dispatcher and Command Unit Union contract that will last until December 2019. The decision came after councilors ratified three union contracts during their meeting two weeks ago. Town Manager William MacDonald said that the four bargaining units and the town agreed to across the board general wage increases of 2.5 percent effective Jan. 1, 2018, and 1.5 percent effective Jan. 1, 2019.
During their meeting on Feb. 5, a public hearing will be held on a proposal to appropriate $89,712 for the town’s capital reserve, or surplus account.
Town Clerk Cathy O’ Leary said that customarily, the council is supposed to appropriate one mill of property taxes, or about $140,000, for the surplus account. Since councilors would like to put a smaller amount of money in this year, they had to propose the ordinance. Councilors have noted that they intend to fund the account at one-half mill once again next year.
