FARMINGTON — Selectmen on Tuesday, Aug. 13, accepted a $20,000 grant to make doors at the municipal building and Community Center handicap accessible.

“We were invited to apply for a grant from Center for Tech Life,” Town Clerk Diane Dunham said. The organization gives out grants for election infrastructure based on town size, whether it is in a metropolitan or rural area, she noted. Grants may be for voting location, facilities, voter registration system, or anything to do with voting, she stated.

“The maximum we could get was $20,000,” Dunham said. “We were awarded $20,000.”

Using the grant for push-button options for doors at the municipal building — where absentee balloting occurs – and the Community Center for balloting was requested by Dunham. The town receives the money once Town Manager Erica LaCroix signs the form and it is sent in, she noted. In January she will submit information on what was done, Dunham said.

“The largest comments we get, both at the municipal building and at voting is how convenient it would be to be able to have that door open for us,” Dunham stated. “People carrying packages or people who don’t have the strength to pull the door open, whatever, that’s the thing we have heard from the most people.”

In material provided before the meeting, Dunham wrote, “We believe that this will benefit the largest number of citizens in our community. This is something that will not only assist handicap citizens, but also those with strollers, packages, those carrying children and those with their hands already full.”

Dunham said Matthew Foster, director of Parks and Recreation had looked into the push-button option, they were about $6,000 without the needed electrical work. She thought both buildings could have them installed using the grant funds. If money is left over, other voting wish list items could be considered, she noted.

The grant stipulates funds can not be used for paying salaries, things that are already budgeted, Dunham explained.

She verified the funds are to be spent by Dec. 31. If a company has provided a quote to do the work but can’t do it until January, an extension can be requested, Dunham said.

Most companies doing this type of work can do it within 30 days, Selectman Byron Staples stated.

“Do we have any other handicap upgrades we need to do regarding the voting system,” Selectman Richard Morton asked.

The town has a handicap accessible voting machine provided through the Help America Voting Act in Maine but most people do not use it, Dunham said. “The number that may use it doesn’t justify buying another one,” she stated.