Oakham Select Board Advances Highway Pay Raise and Fire Study Contract

OAKHAM — March 2, 2026 — Oakham Select Board tables highway pay raise and fire study contract vote to March 11. The board, meeting Monday, reached informal consensus to reclassify a highway department foreman identified only as Harold from his current rate of approximately $28 per hour to $30.81 per hour, drawing from funds sitting unused in the vacant superintendent pay line, but declined to vote because the item was not formally noticed on the agenda. Members also agreed to sign a joint fire feasibility study contract with Rutland at the next meeting — a contract estimated at approximately $29,500, just under the procurement threshold — funded by $25,000 in state money and $25,000 appropriated at a prior special town meeting. Separately, the board was briefed that $63,254.50 of a $75,000 legal appropriation has been spent, leaving $11,745.50, and that town counsel has determined the appointed assistant town clerk may perform elected clerk duties during the current vacancy without further board action. An Oakham student's Norfolk County Agricultural School lottery application — which carries an estimated $30,000 annual tuition obligation for the town — remains unresolved pending lottery results.