The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen agreed Sept. 7 to buy a Billy Goat debris vacuum for the gutters of town streets. The $2,410 machine, which will be loaded into the back of a truck, will pick up sand, leaves, and other debris not collected by the street sweeper.

In addition, the selectmen agreed to waive the bidding requirement for items over $5,000 for a contract with Maine Fence to replace the Church Street guard rail, which is on a bridge over a small stream. Only one contract came in, and the town believed it was a fair price, of $5,996.

PumpkinFest, over the course of the Columbus Day/Native People’s Day weekend, will have more street food vendors available. In past years, two vendors sold food in the parking spaces in front of their businesses. Other downtown restaurants asked to become part of the event, so the rules were changed Sept. 7 to allow businesses downtown to provide outdoor sales in the parking spaces adjacent to their businesses, since Main Street will be closed for the duration. There will be no cost for the permit, but it is limited to downtown merchants with permanent locations.

A request for proposals for repairs to Hodgdon Street, where a culvert has risen due to a frost heave, will be released in the next week. The board will consider contractors who can preferably do the work in the fall or, barring that, the spring of 2017, to raise the road enough to keep the bump from causing problems.

Tour bus parking by permit will be allowed in the boat launch parking area adjacent to Misery Gulch, the westernmost part of the municipal parking lot. Town Manager Matt Lutkus said those spaces are rarely used, but allowing bus parking there would be good for downtown businesses. The only time the spaces are used is typically during boat put in and pull out times, and they sit idle through the long summer tourism season.

Lutkus also said the reception for volunteers is now set for Sept. 21 at 6 p.m., after an abbreviated selectmen’s meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Riverside Park, which has been undergoing improvements, including the addition of picnic tables and kayak/canoe racks, will be getting new paving stones before winter settles in, Lutkus said.

The town agreed to purchase fuel oil and propane from local supplier Colby and Gale. Selectmen waived the bidding requirement for the purchase.

Lutkus discussed the bond for capital improvements that will solve the sidewalk and drainage issues on Elm and Theater streets. The town, which will complete a five-year loan payment schedule next month, will take out an additional loan for five years. In addition to the Elm Street project, the Egypt Road culverts, badly in need of repair, will be replaced, and some funds will be set aside for the downtown public restroom project, as well as debt service. The board agreed to obtain bond counsel, which is what several banks recommended.

The town also received more information about the Planning Board’s proposed accessory apartments statute, which will allow people to put in small one-bedroom apartments with a kitchen and bath and a small sitting room, for up to 650 square feet. The goal is to allow seniors to downsize into small apartments and rent out the remainder of their family homes, rather than have to sell and move into retirement living units. As the draft statute currently reads, the property must be owner-occupied.

The board also considered the potential for the Bristol dam removal. Although that is not an immediate plan by the town of Bristol, removal would cause the water levels in certain places in Damariscotta to rise, including at Biscay Pond and Pemaquid Pond. Bristol had attempted to get a NOAA grant for fish ladder improvements, but did not receive the grant, so discussion of removal began at the most recent Bristol select board meeting; Damariscotta’s board of selectmen agreed to review Bristol’s possible actions, since dam removal would have an effect on Damariscotta’s waterways.