After several months of disagreeing about what to do with the 2002 John Deere tractor, the selectmen, Edgecomb School Committee and Fire Department officials are now all in agreement. All three parties favor selling the damaged tractor and using the proceeds to reduce the cost for its replacement.

They all believe it’s in the town’s best interest for Hammond Tractor in Union to sell the old tractor on consignment for a 10 percent fee. The sale’s proceeds would be used to reduce the cost of the replacement tractor purchased by the school committee last fall.

A conversation between Edgecomb School Committee Sarah Clifford and Fire Chief Roy Potter helped bring about consensus between the two municipal department heads over the controversy surrounding the damaged tractor’s disposal.

Clifford originally wanted to sell the tractor and use the proceeds to pay for the new tractor. While Potter, who was under the assumption the 2002 John Deere had little value, wanted the tractor for snow removal and mowing grass at the fire station.

Once Potter learned the tractor’s appraised value was $7,800, and not the approximately $1,500 estimated by an Alternative Organizational Structure 98 official last summer, he, too, favored selling the 2002 John Deere. The two department heads also devised a plan to share the new John Deere tractor.

Clifford told the selectmen that selling the old tractor and sharing the new one with the fire department was in the taxpayers’ best interest.

“This is a small town and if the fire department needs to use the school’s equipment then we should make it available to them,” Clifford said.

Both Clifford and Roy attended the board meeting to urge the selectmen’s approval for the the proposal. While the selectmen agreed with Clifford and Potter, it still make take more than five months to sell it.

Selectmen Jack Sarmanian and Jessica Chubbuck said they couldn’t authorize the sale because it requires a town vote.

The tractor could be sold in less time if the proposal was approved at a special town meeting, but the selectmen balked at scheduling one.

“No, we don’t want to do that,” Sarmanian said. “Special town meetings have been a problem with us. We have to find a moderator, advertise it, and generally there is a low turnout.”

The old tractor is currently being stored at Hammond Tractor in Union. The school committee sent the tractor there to seek an appraised value. The tractor has a clogged filter with an estimated $450 repair cost, according to Potter.

The delay could result in a problem with storing the old tractor. Hammond Tractor is storing the tractor while the school committee makes a decision on how to proceed. The  committee is concerned Hammond Tractor may not want to store it for an extended period of time. 

If Hammond decides against housing the vehicle until May, school officials would need to develop an alternative plan.

Potter said the fire department could store the tractor even if it meant parking it outside and putting a tarp over it.

Potter also wanted the school committee to take care of the matter on their own, and not depend upon the AOS for assistance. He believed AOS officials gave the school committee and selectmen wrong information about the 2002 John Deere tractor, which caused unnecessary turmoil within the community.

“As a taxpayer, I’m a little concerned about throwing this back into the superintendent’s office,” Potter said. “As far as I’m concerned, we were sold a line of crap. They told us it was worth next to nothing and we’d be lucky to get $1,500.

“I think it’s time for the town to gain control over what is going on within the school.”

The selectmen will next meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29 in the municipal building.