MERRIMAC — Selectmen at Monday's meeting were focused on upcoming or current financial issues in the town.

Problems were found with a water pump repair request for Bear Hill which, after further examination by the company doing the repair, the total cost would be $7,000, much higher than the original estimate.

However, no other companies were asked to put in a bid for the repair, and the current company states that if they were to simply put the pump back for later repairs, it would cost $600 and break in the next few weeks.

Selectmen ultimately decided to approve a measure for acting Department of Public Works Director John Riordan to accept a contract for the full repair of the pump once he has gotten another two quotes for the repair, taking the lowest bid of the three, if equally qualified. The board voted on the issue then, instead of waiting for the quotes, to allow the repairs to start immediately once the lowest quote is found.

Selectmen also discussed expenses and procurement for office and department supplies. While the original question on the agenda was about creating a "centralized procurement" for the town, Carol McLeod, treasurer and finance director, said, "I don't think a centralized person would work," citing the fact that there are too many different groups, all of whom work mostly independent of each other, to make a transition to a centralized authority possible.

However, there was a concern about overspending in some departments while others were getting lower prices at different vendors. Instead of creating the central procurement department in the town, information is being collected to create a list of "approved vendors" in order to bring down the total cost among departments.

The current animal control hot line for the town was requested to be taken down, as the line runs to an answering machine in the Town Hall; any calls that need immediate attention might not be noticed until as long as a week later. Most callers instead eventually call the Merrimac Police Department, which also takes care of any animal control issues in town, and the animal control number is not easily found. However, the measure was delayed to make sure the police were willing to take on the full responsibility officially and to check how widely disseminated the animal control number is in town, to gauge the speed and notice given for disconnecting the number.

The Police Department, and union representative Jim Peters, were also asked to come in to one of the next three selectmen's meetings in order to discuss contracts for the upcoming Massachusetts Special Election for U.S. senator.

Selectmen, specifically Rick Pinciaro, who requested this issue in the agenda, are seeking a town bylaw to add a civil fine against people caught "tagging" — marking something with a distinct logo, name or image — town signs or other pieces of town property. There is already a criminal penalty for "defacing town property," but he would like to add a civil penalty as well in order to help deter more people. Currently, selectmen are looking into whether such a bylaw already exists, though they mentioned their intent to create one should there not already be one on the town books.

Lastly, the increased Medex rates for the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association for next year were approved. The total increase is 9 percent, all of which comes from increases in the federal premium rates.