Boothbay Harbor’s Public Works Department is getting a brand-new plow truck, and the Boothbay Harbor fire department has a new “old” truck.

At the January 14 Boothbay Harbor Selectmen’s meeting, the selectmen unanimously approved the emergency purchase of a new plow truck for the Public Works department at a cost of $30,375. 

The money for this truck comes from the Harbor’s undesignated fund, which is a flexible account that the town can use for emergency and unexpected expenses. 

This truck replaces a 2007 heavy-duty Chevy Silverado the Public Works Department had used for five years. Its frame was broken in three places due to wear and tear of plowing. Though it previously had been “given a band-aid repair,” as Boothbay Harbor Town Manager Tom Woodin put it, it now needed to be replaced due to the increased snowfall this season, which put more strain on the vehicle. 

“(Boothbay Harbor Public Works Director) Jody Lewis takes very good care of the department’s trucks,” Woodin said. “They are too valuable not to take care of. But sometimes they need replacing.”

Rather than being discarded the department gave the truck to Boothbay Harbor’s Fire Department to be repurposed as a brush truck and for Fire Chief Nick Upham to use in his duties.

“We fixed and re-welded the truck,” Upham said. “Now it’s a great vehicle for driving around town in the course of my duties, taking care of permits and hauling brush. 

“It won’t work as a plow truck; put a plow on and it would just break again, but for just getting around? It’s plenty good enough for that.”

“(Boothbay Harbor) tries to recycle and do the best we can with what we’ve got,” Upham said. “It saves the town and the taxpayers money.”