Select Board Meeting ~ November 12, 2024

2024-11-12 · Select Board · 2:53:58 · watch on YouTube →

Regular Select Board meeting of November 12, 2024. The board amended its agenda at the start to set a special town meeting for November 19 on a proposed six-month moratorium on battery energy storage systems, so the notice could meet the seven-day posting deadline; near the end of the meeting it reconsidered that warrant to remove a third article that read as an incomplete sentence. It also acted on the town manager's compensation following his annual review, took up replacement of the town office generator, and treated the November straw poll as settling the question of adding law enforcement coverage. Most of the meeting was a training session with the town attorney on the roles of town meeting, the town manager and the select board, personnel complaints, executive sessions, public comment and Freedom of Access and record retention. The board set out a schedule for an 18-month budget and moved its December 24 meeting to December 17 as a budget workshop.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 1:46
   Agenda amendment: special town meeting warrant

   The chair moved the special town meeting item to the top of the agenda so the notice could be posted that night and meet a seven-day deadline. The board voted to hold a special town meeting on November 19 at 6:45 p.m. at the Eureka Center on a proposed six-month moratorium on battery energy storage systems. The warrant as described had four articles: choose a moderator, adopt the Maine Moderator's Manual rules of procedure, a third article the board could not explain, and enactment of an ordinance entitled Moratorium Ordinance Battery Energy Storage System. Members said the warrant was prepared by town counsel and that they would seek clarification.

2. 1:46
   Public comment

   One resident, who gave her street as Royal Road, said she had two concern forms filed with the board that were going on 90 days old with no response, and asked how the forms are supposed to work. She also said a Durham cemetery matter had not been on an agenda since October 8 and asked when it would return. The chair said questions are not taken during public comment.

3. 7:40
   Town manager review and compensation

   The board said it had conducted the town manager's annual review in executive session at the previous meeting and that any change to compensation had to be voted in public. The recommendation stated was to roll Jerry's vehicle stipend into his regular wage and add a 6.4% annual increase, backdated to August, when the review had originally been scheduled. Two members spoke about work he had done on grants, moving town funds to earn more interest, and finding new service providers.

4. 13:16
   Town office generator replacement

   Jerry (?) reported that the town office generator is over 20 years old, has not worked for a couple of years, and cannot be repaired because parts are no longer made. He said the town had lost power three or four times since, including a multi-day outage last year, and that the item had been through the CIP process previously but did not make the cut. The town has a $3,000 reimbursement grant from MMA's risk reduction program; the purchase would come out of the buildings capital reserve. Members asked about maintenance and warranty and were told a maintenance plan would be the town's responsibility.

5. 18:53
   Straw poll on adding law enforcement coverage

   The board reviewed the November ballot straw poll on pursuing additional law enforcement coverage. A member said 2,856 people voted and 57% said no, compared with the 200 or fewer who usually attend a town meeting, and that this together with the sheriff's earlier statement that it was not an immediate need answered the question. Members agreed to stop spending time on it, to write a memo and news blast explaining the decision, and to send a response to the Sheriff's Office. They also discussed filing the straw poll results and related papers under a select board topic heading so the record can be found later, and asking for call volume and response time figures to be reported.

6. 24:21
   Budget schedule

   The board discussed the timetable for an 18-month budget, which members said will cover January 2025 through June 30, 2026 and will not compare line by line against last year. Jerry (?) said department heads had been working on it and that actuals will not be available until the books close in mid to late January. The sequence discussed was a December workshop, a first board look on January 14, board adoption on January 28, the budget committee in February, a further board review in March, and town meeting.

7. 29:38
   December meeting schedule and budget workshop

   Because December 24 is Christmas Eve, the board moved that meeting to December 17 and set it as a budget workshop with the town manager and department heads, starting at 5:30 p.m. The December 10 meeting stays as a regular meeting.

8. 34:44
   Committee budget requests

   Members discussed how town committees submit budget needs now that the CIP process is not being run, noting that in the past only the historic district and, formerly, the Conservation Commission submitted anything. The board agreed to send committees a short request to submit any budget needs before December 17, with the town manager deciding whether a request is capital or operating.

9. 40:03
   Training with the town attorney: form of government and roles

   The board voted to move the training item ahead of other agenda items out of respect for the attorney's time. The town attorney, Kristen (?), described Durham's town meeting and town manager form of government: town meeting is the legislative body and the presumption is that authority sits there unless delegated; the town manager runs day-to-day administration; the select board's role is as a conduit of policy and information. She gave an example of a board that signed away property to avoid a lawsuit, which she said was illegal because only town meeting can convey property.

10. 45:44
    Personnel complaints and contact with staff

    The attorney said individual board members should not work through employee complaints directly and should send employees to the town manager, then tell the manager the conversation happened, preferably in writing. Complaints about the town manager himself would go to the board and to the attorney, and would normally lead to an investigation by someone else in her firm. She said board members may ask staff for information the way any member of the public would, but that asking leading or critical questions moves into a supervisory role, and that she has seen staff quit over that pressure.

11. 1:12:17
    Dealing with other boards and committees

    The attorney advised board members speaking at another board's meeting to state they are appearing as a citizen, and to raise concerns about an appointed board's chair through the town manager rather than directly. Removing an appointed member carries a due process right to a hearing, which the member can require to be held in public; for elected officials the select board can do nothing but make a public statement. For a board's own members the only available step is censure.

12. 1:33:31
    Meetings versus workshops, and executive sessions

    The distinction given was that votes are taken at a regular meeting and not at a workshop, and that public comment at a workshop is at the board's discretion. The attorney said Freedom of Access does not require an agenda and does not prohibit taking up business from the floor, but doing so erodes public trust. Executive session requires a supermajority, which for this board is four of five, and the common grounds are legal consultation, personnel limited mainly to the town manager and appointed board members, and economic development or real estate. Votes coming out of executive session should be worded so they disclose no more than necessary.

13. 1:59:39
    Budget committee's role

    The attorney said Durham has no charter or administrative ordinance defining what the budget committee does or when, which leaves the process up to the board and the committee to work out. She recommended involving the committee earlier so it is not handed a finished budget too late to do anything but object, and noted the committee has a statutory role of recommending up or down on each line item. She raised an administrative ordinance as a middle ground short of a charter.

14. 2:15:39
    How public comment is structured

    A member said residents sometimes want answers and the meeting format does not allow it. The attorney said there is no right to be heard outside an advertised public hearing, that the board may decline public comment on some agenda items and take it on others, and that it may control for repetition, relevance and time, but must give people equal opportunity. Her preference was to take comment on each agenda item when it comes up, reserving general public comment for matters not on the agenda; she also suggested a select board comment block after public comment.

15. 2:26:42
    Freedom of Access, email and record retention

    The attorney told members to use town email accounts for town business and to turn texts and social media messages into email where possible, because personal devices, personal social media and messenger threads relating to town business are subject to Freedom of Access requests. Retention schedules from the State Archives can run to six years, even for transitory correspondence, and deleting a social media account or a phone can destroy public records. She also said notes taken during executive session are not automatically confidential, and advised not taking notes.

16. 2:37:33
    Correction to the special town meeting warrant

    Reviewing the signed warrant, the board found article three read as a partial sentence and did not say what was being enacted; the version already posted differed from the one seen earlier that day. The board treated it as a scrivener's error, voted to reconsider, strike article three and renumber article four as three, and agreed to sign new copies and swap out the posted notice.

17. 2:43:02
    Historic district commission architectural survey

    The Durham Historic District Commission had been asked to get a quote for an architectural survey but returned a form saying it could not answer the questions on it, such as whether the survey should be large or small. Members said the task was theirs to do as the town's experts and that if they will not do it, it is not a priority this year. The board discussed taking it up on November 26 or December 10; the transcript does not clearly settle which date was chosen.

18. 2:48:13
    Land use ordinance workshop, manager goals, manager report

    The board set December 10 for its own working session on the historic district commission's proposed changes to Article 5, sections 12 and 14 of the land use ordinance, together with the attorney's letter and the town planner's report; it will not be picked up again until after the budget, and a public hearing is required in the spring before town meeting. The chair asked members to send him goals and objectives for the town manager's work plan before November 26. Jerry (?) reported he and the chair visited North Yarmouth to look at its government structure and staffing, and that he is working with MMA on job descriptions and a wage table for the budget.

What was decided

• 1:46
  Hold a special town meeting on November 19 at 6:45 p.m. at the Eureka Center on a proposed six-month moratorium on battery energy storage systems, and post the notice.passed
• 7:40
  Roll the town manager's vehicle stipend into his regular wage and give a 6.4% annual increase backdated to August. The transcript breaks off after 'all in favor, any opposition' and does not state the result.outcome unclear
• 18:53
  Buy a replacement town office generator from Electrical Systems of Maine, paid out of the buildings capital reserve, with the MMA grant reimbursement to be directed back to the reserve.passed
• 18:53
  Take no further action on adding law enforcement coverage, on the strength of the straw poll result. No motion was made and no vote was taken; the board agreed by discussion.outcome unclear
• 29:38
  Move the December 24 select board meeting to December 17 at 5:30 p.m. as a budget workshop.passed
• 40:03
  Move the discussion and training with the town attorney ahead of the item on topics for upcoming meetings.passed
• 2:37:33
  Reconsider the special town meeting warrant, strike article three and renumber article four as article three.passed
• 2:48:13
  Approve the consent agenda.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 7:40
  Two generator quotes were read out: Milton CAT at $59,250 for a larger unit than the town office needs, and Electrical Systems of Maine at $22,800. A $3,000 MMA risk reduction grant, paid as a reimbursement, offsets part of it. Later in the meeting the same generator's price is stated as $222,000, which conflicts with the $22,800 quote.
• 18:53
  The straw poll on adding law enforcement coverage drew 2,856 votes, with 57% against pursuing it further, against the 200 or fewer who usually attend a town meeting.
• 24:21
  The budget under preparation is an 18-month budget covering January 2025 to June 30, 2026, so lines will not compare with last year. Members also give conflicting dates for town meeting, saying it will still be in April this year and elsewhere referring to a June town meeting.
• 1:46
  A resident said two concern forms she filed with the board are close to 90 days old with no response, and that a cemetery matter has not appeared on an agenda since October 8.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 11 passages of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

← 2024-10-29 Select Board2024-11-26 Select Board →All meetings