Selectmen unanimously supported an effort to merge the school bus maintenance operation into the Municipal Maintenance Department Tuesday night.

While there are additional steps to be taken before the plan can be put into action, officials said it's an attempt to increase government efficiency between the school and town departments.

"We start talking about to trying to save money, but often it's efficiency that we need to gain," said Town Administrator Derek Sullivan.

Sullivan said the proposal involved taking the two full-time mechanics and one part-time mechanic from the school bus garage and moving them to the nearby Municipal Maintenance department, where two mechanics currently work. Both garages are near each other on Charge Pond Road. The Municipal Maintenance garage has the lifts to put the buses up, unlike the school garage. The four full-time mechanics and the part-time mechanic would then be able to do the work on all the town and school vehicles.

"During a snowstorm, you'll have four-and-a-half people working on the plows and the sanders," Sullivan said.

While Sullivan did not have any cost estimates for what the merger would save, he said the key is the indirect savings from having a larger mechanic force. This allows the town to be more proactive in its repairs.

"It may not be an immediate savings in dollars, but it certainly is in efficiency, which will result in the saving of dollars," said Selectman Judith Whiteside.

Sullivan said that the old school bus garage would be turned over to the Harbormaster, who will be able to use it for winter storage of boats.

"(The merger) will also save us money that we're not paying for the storage," Sullivan added. "He can keep them heated. We don't have to worry about winterizing them."

Selectman Alan Slavin said he was disappointed it took this long for action to be taken on this proposed merger, which was something that was asked for by the Capital Planning Committee seven years ago.

He said there are serious problems with the current school bus garage, such as the fact that the buses are too long for the building and the rear doors don't close when buses are there. He also said there aren't proper hydraulic lifts there to get the buses up, among others.

"If we ever had an OSHA inspector come in, they'd close the whole place down in a second," he said.

Sullivan thanked the work of School Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood and School Business Manager Michael MacMillan, who are both a part of the proposal as it moves forward.