Preston — The retirement of the town’s longtime road foreman paved the way for a restructuring of his position into the newly named public works manager to be advertised next week with a salary not yet set.

The Board of Selectmen approved the position's job description Thursday. The manager will encompass the road foreman’s duties and supervise operation of the town transfer station, both tasks handled by Bob Boyd, who will soon retire.

Preston hasn’t had a dedicated director for the department, which has five full-time employees, including Boyd, and three part-time transfer station attendants. Former 24-year First Selectman Robert Congdon served as public works director, receiving an additional stipend for the dual duties.

“It brings that job up into the 21st century,” Selectman Kenneth Zachem said at Thursday’s selectmen meeting.

Zachem added that one problem likely will be that the new position’s salary could soon eclipse the first selectman’s $79,300 salary.

First Selectwoman Sandra Allyn-Gauthier said she made reviewing town job descriptions a top priority in her first term but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that work. When Boyd announced plans to retire last week, Allyn-Gauthier asked town Finance Director John Spang and public works consultant Steve Masalin — the Ledyard Public Works director — to write the new job description.

“When you have a vacancy, that’s the right time to take a look at the job description,” Spang said. “You need to make sure the description is current, so it helps applicants.”

Spang said one key change was listing computer and software skills in the application, because more and more operations are computer-controlled.

Also on Thursday, the selectmen approved switching from a sand/salt mixture to treated salt for roads during winter storms. Masalin said Preston was one of the last towns in the region to make the switch. Ledyard switched several years ago and the improved condition of town roads during storms helped persuade Groton to follow suit.

Preston now uses treated salt only on intersections and hills. Zachem said those ended up being “the only clear spots” in town.

“We’ve got so many shaded roads, we’ve got to have better treatment,” he said.

The switch is expected to cost $7,000 to $12,000 over the current budgeted amount for sand and salt. That budget was cut during budget deliberations. Masalin said the switch will save money because less salt is needed, and in spring the town will need less cleaning of accumulated sand from roads and drainage basins.

The Board of Selectmen approved the switch and accepted the state low bidder to purchase Champion Salt when the town next needs salt.

That could be a while; the town's large barn for the stored salt/sand mixture is full, Masalin said. A smaller shed holds salt alone. Masalin recommended as the mixture is used up, the remainder be moved into the smaller shed. New treated salt eventually would fill the big barn, and the smaller shed could hold small amounts of sand to be used as needed.

“I personally think it makes sense,” Allyn-Gauthier said, “because there’s possibly no budget impact this season. And if it performs better, and your crews don’t have to go out as often, it makes sense.”

c.bessette@theday.com