JAY — Selectpersons voted unanimously Monday to authorize the town manager to negotiate a sidebar agreement with the union, which eliminates a lower wage provision for new Public Works Department employees.

The town is having difficulty filling a truck driver/laborer position because of a shortage of truck drivers and wages becoming more competitive. Until the town’s position is filled, Transfer Station employees will need to do a snowplow route when there are storms. The Transfer Station will be closed those days.

Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere wrote a sidebar agreement Tuesday morning and it was approved about two hours later by a Teamsters union representative. The clause removed from the sidebar allowed for employees hired after July 1, 2014, to be paid 10% less than current employees.

That moves new truck drivers/laborers’ starting hourly wage from $18.68 to $20.75, an increase of $2.07.

The union contract expires June 30, 2022.

In other business Monday, the board authorized LaFreniere to issue a request for qualifications for design-build services for an energy heating, ventilation and air conditioner system retrofit and indoor quality improvement program for the Town Office/Police Station.

The town is working with Optimal Energy Group in Sumner to have Larry O’Rourke act as an energy adviser consultant on a proposed project to potentially replace the heating, ventilation and air condition system at the municipal building.

Qualifications are due by email no later than noon Dec. 13 to LaFreniere at jmanager@jay-maine.org. O’Rourke has already vetted four contractors who are qualified to do the job, she said.

In another matter, board Chairman Terry Bergeron thanked Paris Farmers Union in Jay, which donated a whiskey barrel for the gazebo for a Christmas tree project. He also thanked Selectpersons Lee Ann Dalessandro and Tom Goding, and Lori Shink from the Town Office for purchasing a Christmas tree for it.