FARMINGTON — Phase I of the High Street reconstruction project is a bit closer due to actions by selectmen.

The two-year project will include speed tables and streetlights similar to those installed on Front Street.

On June 22, selectmen appropriated $46,400 from the Downtown TIF Reserve Account to purchase 29 decorative streetlights.

“This worked out very well,” Town Manager Richard Davis said. “The unit price hasn’t changed at all.”

With the town providing the lights there will be no markup from contractors, he said.

The board also authorized Davis to award the construction contract for the project.

“The bidders were E.L. Vining & Son of Farmington and Jordan Excavation of Kingfield,” Davis said. “Vining was the low bidder at $927,729. Jordan’s bid was $1,061,345.”

E.L. Vining & Son was awarded the contract, Davis confirmed.

In other business June 22, selectmen approved transitioning the part-time counter clerk position to full-time with shared responsibilities.

“I’m very sorry to inform you Annie Tibbetts is leaving us,” Davis said. “She’s been with us a long while, is a very valuable resource.”

Positions, particularly part-time ones, are hard to fill, he noted.

“Phil (Hutchins) at the garage struggles with a lot of administrative work,” Davis said. “Lucy (Ann Cook) is on the verge of being overworked. She could use the extra help, a floater to work throughout departments.”

“We have to look at the years of work and the staff that we have,” town Treasurer Cook said.

A full-time person is approaching retirement age and in three years the town wouldn’t have a motor vehicle agent or election support, she noted.

“There is a lot of education that goes into it,” Cook said. Having someone trained, available to step up and take on those responsibilities is important, she added.

A full-time position wasn’t budgeted for this year, Davis said. The year is half over and he expects it to take a month or more to hire someone.

Will switching to full-time with benefits double the amount, Selectperson Scott Landry asked.

Potentially, Davis replied.

“My philosophy has always been ‘you can go over some line items so long as you end the year with the bottom line in the black’, which I think we can do,” he noted.

Actions also taken by the board include:

• Depositing $3,555, the net proceeds from sales of parks and recreation equipment, into the department’s equipment reserve account.

• Accepting a $154.15 donation to replace the home plate at Hippach Field in honor of Robert “Bob” Friberg who coached the Farmington Flyers in the early 1950s.

• Amending the Video Display Terminal Ergonomics Policy to prohibit the use of exercise ball chairs, treadmills, pedal exercisers or other devices used for exercise at the operator’s workstation.

• Approving Metcalf Lane as the name of a short road near the intersection of Town Farm and Fairbanks roads.