TranscriptSelect Board Meeting ~ November 22, 2022

speaker in here all right all right all right I will call this meeting of the Durham Board of selectsmen uh to order on November 22nd 2022 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right

the celebrant Boyer is not with us tonight because he's doing something much more important meeting his new granddaughter um any amendments to the agenda all right moving on number three uh public comments uh so Joe here is a reporter from the journal so he's unless you live in Durham and you're going to make a public comment too but all right um so I don't see anybody here to make public comments so we'll move on uh we also had an opportunity on the agenda tonight I think this was our third or maybe fourth third third opportunity to receive any public input on how people think priorities on how the arpa funds should be used but there's no members of the public here tonight so no I I did get an email from okay uh Gentlemen by the name of Jim Sanborn and Jim had two suggestions one was to give it back to the federal government to reduce the national debt and the other one was to put speed bumps on

either side of runaround Pawn okay so I share that with you all right thank you yeah that that is an option giving it back is an option we could it would require a town vote but uh that could happen Okay thank you Mr Sanborn um okay there's nobody else here for that I'll have to go get our one okay yeah go ahead so the next item on the agenda is um Allen's got some uh Allen Plummer our code enforcement officer um had put in a request as part of capital uh plan for next year to get a large plot scanner and he made a very compelling case and really in the opinion of the board the discussion we had that night is that there's really it would be better not to wait to buy this and the board can allocate funds from the municipal Capital account to pay for this I if I read the papers right that's somewhere at just over seven thousand dollars I think was the yes costs and so I think he's going to come

and kind of give us the final details and then we'll see if uh I think ideally if we're all on board still then we would vote to uh allocate those funds authorization yep [Music] so I think last time we talked about the scanner you had a pretty good idea what you were looking for but I think we just needed like a little bit more definitive option like this is what I want to buy this is how much it costs and can I do it so um you should have a copy of my proposal it's part of the monthly report from the CEO and I did get a price it was a little bit higher than I thought but 7120 is the cash option there are 36 lease 40 48 monthlies and a 60 month lease and there is a annual cost of 395 and that's a maintenance cost um that we you can decide to get or not get is that whether it's the lease or cash or does the lease option include that

that the lease option included look at that all right so I think that's in addition to the lease option okay so it's maintenance and labor and that kind of stuff preventive maintenance I can't imagine there would be much but I don't know that we'd want to go without that either if at the end of the least we own it um yes but I would think the cash option

would be the better way to go because of the amounts I didn't figure out the amounts but it's a higher amount if you if they at least it I don't get the lease I know it really doesn't matter the typical lease setup that's what I didn't know if it was a mistake that would be my only question I don't lease anything anyway so I don't know about Lisa's I think the only option to leasing would be and it's actually not how we've talked about funding this is that you make a part of your operating budget instead of a capital expense um but I think we're specifically talking about using Capital yes to pay for this yeah no I agree with what I meant by I don't get releases I don't get the pricing structure of the lease right it's like they don't want you to do it if you want to lease it it's fine but you're going to pay more I've never seen it don't you pay more releases I don't know typically there's a buyout at

the end of the lease you pay the residual up front and then whatever the buyout of the value this is really more or less it's more like a financing it's more like a rent to own yeah exactly that's exactly what this is yeah so you can buy a bathroom so I I did ask for samples um which I got he I had him scan some typical kind of stuff um bring me the hard copies he sent me electronically the copies he showed me a videotape of them scanning it super fast it's like dang I was very happy with that and the quality is perfect whatever the it's an exact copy of of what they scanned in to begin with so I'm very happy with the quality of that scanner on the speed it would take and it would it actually um I wanted about space but I'm pretty sure it can work in my office you actually feed it in the front it feeds it through and Pops it right back out the front you can make it do whatever you want but it's right there so that's

that'll be handy yeah so um I've seen it in action um not physically but in a video and it was actually the salesperson doing videotaping it with a camera so it was a very low quality video um but it showed what he was doing so that was great okay

um I think I'm gonna suggest sorry go ahead no that was just I'm going to suggest a motion um to authorize the expenditure of up to seven thousand five hundred dollars um for the purchase of the large format scanner funded from the municipal capital

I'm suggesting 7 500 just to provide a little bit of cushion if there's um well that'll cover the maintenance as well well that's my question is what is can the capital account cover the maintenance agreement no that would that's that's my concern also and uh I think this is a great idea I think it's going to be so helpful um

plus we authorize the expenditure for the maintenance agreement yeah we don't need to authorize the 395 that's a town manager can just pay that um you just have to make it work within the existing operating budget right and where the uh where codes is which is what that's planning in the historic district right yeah so do you have any issues with that no I'll have to look at the budget and make sure we have it yeah um unless they yeah so um so if we authorize up to the 7 500 then if we can get them to put that first year of the maintenance agreement on the same same invoice as the uh I like it the

machine we can make it part of the capital okay so I mean so then we should make it 76. yeah I'm gonna say you have 75 15. motion that we uh authorize the expenditure of up to up to 7 600 for the purchase of the um the wide format scanner okay is there a second to that I'll second that all right any discussion all right Hollows in favor all right we have four zero in favor great thank you great thank you good stuff

deed and these are situations where a property owner has had their property go through an automatic foreclosure due to non-payment of taxes and then what oftentimes happens is that they then come up with the money for taxes um but you know but we've already foreclosed so now we issue the quick claim deed that essentially gives the property back to um the for the property owners because they've paid um the uh the amounts due and that's what that we even have a copy of the receipt here then we have the documentation um that all that has happened

this I've I've read it quickly I just um I'm sure it's fine I was kind of um I don't remember us I know it's automatic a lot of times when there's things that have been automatic because of default there's a discussion prior to us uh proceeding with foreclosure and you know my only concern on things like this this particular property is I believe this property is is a is a rental situation they pay lot rent so when a town takes something over like this you could be responsible for that lot rent you could be responsible for the removal and Etc of that particular piece of or that particular home if you didn't want to elect to keep it or sell it and a 1964 home which is pre-hud can sometimes be expensive they didn't build them prior to that so my my only concern was a the release wasn't right only because it almost looks like some map and lot number on real property and this is just personal property technically

if it's a renter they're not the ones that are on the hook for property taxes right but they're they're paying tax it's basically personal property tax because they have they own the home it's like you can you can you can separate your personal your house tax bill if you want to sell me your land and still live in your house and pay me a dollar a month for the rest of your life right right that's kind of what this situation is it is that way so if this says Country Acres and I believe that's all to rent over there so so is this on the property or on the house I guess is my question then well that that's that's really my question because you're going to be a deed on just there wouldn't be a a deed on the house in the registry of deeds on the yeah because if it's a run on right so did we did we put a mortgage on somebody else's property a because this is this is this is technically a titled unit

that if okay so just double checks I have two concerns really one did we did we do this the right way because it's really personal property it's it's it's it's not considered real estate because it has wheels and axles underneath it um and two the property that it resides on in somebody else's property they are their renter

buildings thereon right right but I don't believe they own the land I believe they own the house that the land says that could just be formed template language um those are basically like a car where they have a title and there's a lien and the lien is released via whoever the lien holder is but it's not typically unless it's on a foundation attached to a real estate property or real estate but so it's just more of a just a caution I don't I'm not sure if that's right or wrong I'm not in I just thought every single home unit in there is owned by one particular company slash family and that's we they don't we don't we can't take property that's it's two different items there should be one a property tax bill that goes to the individual that owns that land and a property tax or slash personal property bill that goes to the people that live in the mobile home

I'm not a lawyer I'm just sorry that's what I've seen every other place when it's rented land so you're sure that's renting land positive I would bet a fair amount of money on it but I couldn't say with absolute certainty because maybe he sold one lot or something of that nature in there but it's it's a mobile home park and that's typically how they're set up and it doesn't mention

these folks so well I think I think given what has been it's a tax lien then is um if if you could like actually you know like it whether it's an email to Jerry or whatever actually write out like specifically what your questions are or concerns are and then we can um have it reviewed by um you know basically research either through town attorney or whatever I think if we're discharging we're fine I just and I like I said the two points that I was trying to make is when we take something in like this we should probably agree to take it in it's kind of like us taking in like the town well no because this little town property no because this is these are automatic if they don't pay their property taxes the town automatically puts the lien and the registry IDs and 18 months later you automatically foreclose but we do have an option yeah well I think what rich is refer to there there's a piece of

property in town right which we um don't manually don't um it's the former town dump site and for years that the town has not wanted to assume ownership of that site because of potential environmental cleanup liability that might come with it um so there is I don't know how that situation differs or doesn't from from this um it just differs from a fact that this is a pre-hud home built in the 60s I mean I mean in terms of the process for why is why some automatic and others not automatic and I question the process also because it's not it's it's it's one of those quasi you could ask Jack but it's we would call it a channel like when you do something like that it's it's called a channel loan because there's no real estate property attached to it so they really just have it's no different than you buying a storage shed and parking your 57 Chevelle in there or something you don't you're just renting the land

that that vehicle sits on and that's kind of what they're doing the big concern with me was just taking over something like that because we could be liable for a lot around we could be liable for disposal we could be liable for towing it out of there so you're concerned how we got it right versus discharging it right and then my second concern is did we discharge it the right way and did we accidentally and maybe we did not inadvertently put a lien on somebody's real property because that's the way it looks to me so if we put Elena they didn't own it then it secures nothing so it's a big nothing so that that doesn't concern me well it's not a concern but it's a big concern if somebody goes to sell or they go to refinance their property and they find out there's a lien on it because it does take some paperwork to get it out of there but not if they don't own it it still takes some paperwork to get it out of

there life well Calvin thinks I think at this point though I I think I think yeah I think you've raised some good questions about the front end of the process and like how we got it but now we're on the back end so rightly wrongly whatever the process was we we had a lien on we had three liens for three different years on uh for 21 20 and 19 taxes those taxes

have been paid so we're saying we're gonna release release whatever we're releasing already so that's clear right so I think that piece I think we're good I'm good with that okay we're good but I do think you raised some good questions about The Upfront process and like is that the way it's it's it should have been done and I think it's good to get clear okay we've um we personally have we've had a couple of cases in one that was real property with a mobile home on it and we were I don't know a smidgen from foreclosure on that but we had a debate about it before we did it yeah that I don't know it wasn't a mobile but it was uh it was a house but they didn't own the land yeah vice versa yeah six and one half it was the same situation right um so no that was no you're I know which one you're talking about two houses I'm thinking about all right the one up by Dave monsell's house the door before

Dave monsells yeah just it's just for like those things can be expensive sometimes to get rid of discharge what we filed originally then the property is obviously free and clear and that's a big concern opposite that that's taken care of with this so this just puts it back before we only have one um Park in the town to my knowledge is that right Calvin so anything in that Park I would think we just probably for your time but we need to really just do a little more due diligence on it before we start taking it home but like we said like I think this is a I think this is a state prescribed automatic process I don't think it was a local policy or anything it's based on what was filed there were tax liens filed although based on the real estate description it's describing a a mobile home and not for real property so I don't I think you're right about them not owning the property right but again I think discharging it it's a

whole big essentially nothing and it was the wrong lean that was used it should have been um a UCC lien or something like that yeah I'd agree with that something to look at for the future yeah all right so I'll look at it this way if we we're back the right way and they paid the taxes we're going to release it if we did it the wrong way let's give it back and fix it that's what was going to be my suggestion all right although Calvin could get that out of there in five minutes I mean you need to change the date on the deed because it does say March 2021 above the signature line is that their original deed or is that the oh this is oh that's the new one that we're doing correct yeah so you can just cross that out when we when it's signed tonight but I can just cross that off and initial it and change the date that'll be okay all right so is there a motion

the municipal claim deed without covenants that's been presented I'll second that any further discussion all a favor okay on this 24 one day of November oh sorry second two days parcel of land form that was used well it would have been the chief's night to go first if he had to run out the door so Calvin I guess you get to go tonight thank you to call that in just in time is that what you did Buddy

notarized though afterwards are you a notary I'm not does it say notarized or just witnessed it needs to be notarized so Josh oath and I can't authorize myself so you could have just crossed you out and you couldn't noticed three we only needed three so we gotta so that signature page is not valid then that's right I think we should do this again at the next meeting we'll have a notary or yeah all right make it picked we can pick the date too yeah typically we're capacity because it's on record and they're all saying they usually notarize it in the past

okay so uh we've been working on the trucks getting ready for winter and uh everything's great shape Staffing is in great shape CJ larabee is back driving for us used to work here back before my day welcome addition to the team um Wednesday morning we were out treating snow before the morning traffic and back in at 10 p.m that night to get black ice well everything went off without a hitch [Music] we finished grading uh all the gravel roads in town got them and got the proper crown and on them before uh before snow before they freeze up we had chief meteorologist Roger Griswold from wmtw come in and give us a class on

forecasting weather and the difference between dew point relative humidity and trying to determine black ice sometimes we get black ice no precipitation it'll just be the dew point in the air or fog that creates the ice and so being able to forecast that would be helpful so that was a insightful event MDOT installed the guard rails down to Route 9 where the Culvert washout was that's all fixed and then we're going to pick up the barrels but um I'm sure the fire department could use a few of those if they're still there by the time we uh they installed the warning lights down at Dead Man's Curve or cirrhosis Corner we'll call it I keep telling people not to say that and let's go Route 9 in uh Swamp Road I know when I write it I don't write that so yeah I'm not uh you got a reporter sitting behind you you know yeah it's cirrhosis going on uh AKA so and I guess one thing I need

to explain I've had a few questions about where the lights are in fact I had it today I went down there to look at it the first time I went up and said hey there's no lights down here the lights are embedded in the sign itself so if and it's not going to flash unless there's traffic coming it's radar sense so if you drive up and don't see lights flashing it's not because they're not working it's because there's nothing coming so so I don't have to stop I can just plow right oh yeah I wouldn't do that it's a mechanical it's a mechanical device

well I've driven through yeah working it's been working uh uh it the radar sensors back a little further than I would like but the house is closer to the hill have all those pine trees so they couldn't get the solar panel to work there so it's the lights are going to flash a little longer than they'd like to see them flash but we haven't come up with a solution yet but with an alternative but I mean they seem to be working okay I wish they put one more Set of Lights which is the one coming down over the hill there's no lights there it's blinking that somebody's coming from the left from the Lisbon side because those are the people that fly straight across and those are the people that sideswipe everybody and end up putting them out into the are they pulling on the guardrails why they go that way that never made sense to me I will say that those people that pull against the guardrail are facing the wrong way up the road and

they will get a ticket every single time they're facing the wrong way I don't know that's something that somebody started doing a long time ago so uh the uh crooker started Paving Bowie Hill last week broke down so they're still sitting there we should be finishing that up on Monday is that the last of it yeah yeah so you're running out of time yeah 40 something we got 46 degree putting in 50 on Monday so we're gonna finish it up uh well they still got like three other towns they got to do all their annual Paving still you have to do so

process with Jerry I think we've got that wrapped up ready for I guess Jerry's going for a meeting next week and then the department heads will be going after that continued work on the 2023 budget I gave Jerry my numbers today so we should be we went over them so we'll be finessing those uh the new truck is in Westbrook arrived today uh I call today to make sure and see if it was going to get here tomorrow when it was supposed to and he said I'm sitting in it right now so good good timing so um I've called Viking to see when they can get uh the equipment on it

and uh so that's that's uh that's what I got if I have any questions or anything for Calvin all right thank you sir God did a good job the other day on the snow by the way okay that was a good trial because I think I'm in a full tank of gas

but I'll take it does it come filled up yes and I said the fire chief had to step out but we haven't put any copy of his report and it was uh pretty routine stuff nothing uh you know alarming or concerning or requiring discussion at this point okay

chairman um I don't have a lot to report believe it or not after the after the election that things quieted down but um what I can tell you is the CIP committee got all of the materials in the first scheduled meeting is November 30th and at that time we'll probably pick two more dates and hopefully have that wrapped up in three three ratings so that's good sounds good yeah have fun uh the only other thing I have is that the uh the Durham giving tree is up and it's set up and the tree is awaiting uh tags from folks and you can get pickup tags December 6th right at the Town Office they're uh you know donations in addition we'll be collecting um non-perishable food items and new unwrapped gifts so we're kind of doing a two thing this year and the toys will get delivered to leco is that yeah so that's up so December 6 come get your tags and and do the donation come get the tags when the tags are described like a need

that a family has right when you buy right whatever's on the tag and bring it back here right so so families with need can come in and put their tag on the tree and then someone will come in and grab the tag and fulfill the how are we um how are we putting out requests for people to let

us know what they need if you know and how are we because I remember last year I remember like we didn't I didn't even get one we didn't get any tags um and I thought they came from is it Lake we used to be partnered with I think it was like yeah and we I got a lot of um tags from them but right that I don't know if it was a cobit thing or whatever but that partnership like didn't happen the last couple years and so there were a handful a handful of that of tags um for people to build so I'm wondering how are we getting tax yeah I know they're gonna put the

information on the website I'll have to ask Jessica how she's wrong okay I would say last year wouldn't it go well well what didn't not go bad we just didn't get a lot of uh requests for lack of better words so most of us always most of us like what would always pick one or two tags right we didn't even get the opportunity there were so few let me let me ask let me ask that's basically the only two things that I that I have I have been working on the budget itself so we're looking pretty good there so we should I know the capital got a little bit late but I'm not so sure that the actual budget process would be yeah no I think we're fine I think we're a pretty good pretty good shape that way any any questions for Jerry okay um we're going to circle back if if the chief would like an opportunity to come on up Keith he's he's back so come on up Chief because we're all famous we'll see

uh the answer your question is single vehicle rollover occupants out and okay being evaluated by EMS all right a Lisbon police chief on scene rendered care prior to our arrival all right we'll be brief uh I gave you the the minutes say to sort of my notes November 20th which was Sunday we did a live fire training all day the entire department over at Yarmouth burn building we're a member of that training association that cost us a thousand dollars a year so I made sure we got all his money's worth so the entire department I think there was 22 of us after breakfast 7 30 in the morning went down there I think we had six or eight fires and you know that's for rehab and fire support and pump operators and and it's the best training you can get so that went well no injuries couple of hurt feeling reports but we didn't break anything a couple of hurt feelings other than that we're doing okay as you can as you can see we

responded to 35 calls for the month of October 911 300 calls for service currently and that's 416 responses so if you split the rescue side and the fire Fireside 416 responses um we'll have it broken down later but uh just know that the staff cars car one and two are responding almost 40 percent of every call there's a staff car on it uh the rescue the ambulance is up to 214 and running the numbers 20 of our entire call volume is mutual Aid and that's both rescue and fire but 20 legitimate a fifth of our calls are mutually uh that's 40 times to Lisbon currently for Lisbon EMS yeah

what is that compared to um for years prior as far as that 40. I'll have to we we usually look back five years um all increasing and as not that we never deny anybody it's just more of a correct personal question but is there a limit like so I've been I've been talking no I know where you're going you know that's why I've been talking to other Fire Chiefs Topsham had a limit they went over like 50 times to a local community and only received eight in return sure but ours is so far 40 and I think we've received 30 from the same department so it's Equitable so it is what they call reciprocity or to neutral okay so yes and we do have an understanding Chief to EMS Chief over there that that it's you know we don't Bill them it's sort of mutual sure um just keeping you apprised of it though because the busier they get in lesbian and and the less opportunity that United Ambulance can cover them the

more we go over we're like a second second uh fiddle if you will but second choice they always try to go with United and that's been failing them my opinion will you have a I will have all the breakdown on the breakdown um I'm sure you will that but I mean never mind it's back I was going to ask you is there is there a limit to like oh um no there's not like a standard in the industry I think it's actually up to uh town government to to see if it's still mutual and working for both parties um my opinion because Mutual you never know if it's a rescue or fire call and again I have them all broken down by town by uh which side of the house you know we're not running as many fires anymore but when we have them we need all the surrounding towns to come and not question it and uh you know last week we went to Brunswick I mean Freeport on a second alarm brush fire so we're a good neighbor I'd like to keep

it in good standing we're a good neighbor we're not relying on others as much as maybe others are relying on us does that affect morale affects morale because the gung-ho people really want to help and whether that's derms or Freeport or you know a Lisbon they just want to help they want to do the job and we do have the resources to provide that currently and it really is training so when we go to a fire I'm glad that we don't have the numbers that some of these other towns have for fires I think we've done two structure fires this year they get training they get on the job experience and we help a neighbor so it really does actually improve morale you know it's almost it's almost a reward everyone in the fire service will tell you we run a couple hundred EMS calls and try to provide all the help we can get and and try to use our skills at one fire you know it's like a hundred to one um so but the turnout is fantastic

they're for Durham yeah I think I phrase mine kind of my bigger like not my bigger concern has been there those um private contractor services that we're having to pick up the slack for because somebody hired it out versus they have their own Municipal yes and that that's that's really my bigger concern is we're not really necessarily covering a town we're covering a service that was contracted yes yeah um and that's why it puts that on the radar yeah yeah I mean I at least sitting here thinking I mean and I know we don't you know we kind of have a gentleman's agreement not to charge each other but I think you could justifiably structure something so that well if the imbalance gets to a certain point at that point we're gonna start right charging you know because if you know 40 30 to me that's well within reasonableness but if it's like I think somebody's coming to us 10 times and we're going to them 80 times correct

then I think a conversation would say okay whatever the threshold is I wouldn't even want to guess but whatever we feel it's like it's out of balance then we consider you know getting realized that has been a standard in this Valley as far as when it does get out of balance yeah they do start charging okay okay I was more concerned me personally I was more concerned with the private Contracting yeah I know a lot of towns have gone to that in those particular not all of them but some of these private contractors haven't been able to fulfill their obligation correct because of the the Staffing and that that's my bigger concern it's not really a municipal Aid although it is we're helping more Citizens We're really bailing out a company that got contract yeah and I guess for profit for profit if you do my follow-up question to that would be is you know are there are there state regulations that require certain

levels of Staffing and equipment for a private contractor if they've taken on you know like a certain amount of contract to cover a certain area a number of people whatever are there is there any regulation that says you know well if you're going to cover an area with 50 000 people in it then you need to have X number of Staff minimum and X number of vehicles minimum available I mean is pushing towards that

okay there isn't regulation as far as that particular as far as population burst paramedic versus ambulances um and again for-profit they try to again opinion skimp on the labor and what they offer for the profit margin because that's where it is call volume first Revenue received however there is another ambulance private for-profit in the area on that end that seems to be going down the same path of either failing or not living up to their contract where we do get into it is is the next town over uh Lewiston does have a contract the day sign that I'm not pervy to but that does say you know that private ambulance will provide so many ambulances so many paramedics and so many you know basic trucks under an EMS

systems so do you have uh any data on or are you able to mine the data on when you do get a call is it for the lack of service in the other Town due to the contract or not like you tell from the call because they put a reason code for the mutual Aid yeah you usually you get a second correct I asked I asked that question but no very curious very seldom do I really get the answer of are they on a second call are they tied up at the hospital or just not available yeah or was their backup not available uh recently I I know I think I told you we went to Bowden on a mistake but we backed up Lisbon on a motor vehicle accident not a mass casualty not even more than one vehicle and our our rig was in boat no again that's being a good neighbor but I just bring it to you I don't want to miss an important call in Durham because our rescue is in Bowdoin or somewhere else that's all again being a good neighbor

but I think I think you know speaking for myself but I I think the board would look to to you and Jerry like if you feel like it gets to the point where this we need to consider something yes some odd then I think we would look to you guys to you know be the ones to judge what you think is okay this is outside the threshold of reasonableness now and we need to do something okay I'll certainly keep you abreast of all the the data it's data data driven yeah

don't know a few years back probably prior to covid for you know maybe third-party ambulances and so forth and and subbing this stuff out are the municipalities shifting back over to their own forces low population and call volume is still Contracting with Freeport fire for that and most recently Freeport was unavailable and and we picked up the slack to pound on a call these things happen freeport's getting busy um it appears fire-based EMS is cost

effective EMS almost it almost isn't profitable so the town as you all know really sort of not foots the bill but really supports the fire-based EMS as they do in Durham and what you get for the per diems during the day is a lot of times a dual role firefighter and EMT so that if a fire call does come in they're already in the building they're already standing there next to the pumper truck and they go and put out the house to the car wreck to the carbon monoxide alarm what would ever be the case that's you're already paying a person to be there now it's a dual role so fire-based EMS and across the country is really um kind of taken up front the lead of it and it seems to work in Durham we have every shift covered for the month of November we're working on December I'm not sure that's happened I mean every shift that's awesome it's fantastic and it's a testament to the members over there that are now standing

out in the middle of Royals borrow directing traffic waiting for a tow and and whatnot and evaluating the patient but uh and I only say for the public at home that you know don't realize on a cold Tuesday night that there's eight to ten gentlemen you know standing out there helping their neighbors really yeah um but no it's a testament to them but Firebase EMS seems to be the way to go um because twofold the contract sometimes they don't privates don't live up to the contracts sure and there's really no uh teeth to make them I mean that's where I was going with the state regulation question yeah and they can some can manipulate like oh I did have a provider on scene I've talked to another Chief in Knox County they get a provider like in a fly car but that's not an ambulance you could wait 40 minutes before transport which is an ambulance gets there so one individual really is a provider but but can't do much

boy that would be a great story for some enterprising reporter to look into about proliferation of private ambulances and the impact on on other towns just saying the other thing you lose is the 40 to 60 000 Revenue that the ambulance does bring back to the town right that's going to because the private contract Garners that right and charges you up front Garners that and in my opinion and I've been EMT firefighter in three states it's a lesser service yeah it's a

longer wait time and for them they have to be profitable so that's doing transfers out of the hospital you never know where they are um you know I know you've gone down this road before um as long as the members across the street continue to top-notch service I'm not sure Durham can do better yep my concern is that with Durham my concern is Durham Maine right the impact to Durham from other towns that go that route and that's why I want to let you know and we haven't missed a call so you know a couple weeks ago I think we went to Lisbon 5 30 in the morning when we don't have staff across the street and people came in at me and the apparatus and took care of it sure again Testament to the members

um any other questions on that and when we get to the end of the season I will give you the breakdowns of all that so you can make informed decisions we touched on this a couple weeks ago when I went home and I was thinking about the whole timeline but these private organizations that signed a contract with these towns are our our our folks are the ones fulfilling that obligation and I don't know if that's necessarily the right way when they fall short yeah and I think everybody agrees in the emergency services when you get that mass casualty call that oh a million call all bets are off the rules actually change for EMS and that's understood but these routine calls where you know your staff is called in sick and you're relying on others and and then maybe Lisbon who relies on United and then they fall short now relies on Durham right uh and I don't want Durham as you all to suffer because but the Lisbon side of things

they do offer a lot of support to us yeah so that's fair it's almost exactly yes it's just maybe we can negotiate a discount on our Animal Control we'll throw them over a couple ambulances they got to throw us a couple more police cars over here [Laughter] moving on quickly our the fire department Safety Committee is now joined with the town Safety Committee as a component and we've already met so that was having Calvin with us eventually the town manager will join us quarterly so we've sort of joined forces for insurance for safety for for the town employees um and that that went well um we recently part of the Safety Committee I had to come up with a return to duty a return to duty policy I believe Calvin had one I was talking to the town manager about it it's been established and updated I always like to let you know when we've had an updated policy we have numerous grants that have been received and submitted or actually

I have a gentleman for us working on a quarter million dollar grant for radios the afg assistance to fire uh completely I didn't realize we have five different portable radios they're all in different Systems Lewiston Auburn just upgraded their systems we're not trying to be City but we do need consistency every person and every button the seat needs a radio in our apparatus need better ones especially since we're talking to um you know out of Auburn for the county so some of the hills and 39 square miles gets a little a little scratchy around here but we are working on that uh we just submitted another main Municipal Grant or that cycle that the town manager knows about and I submitted one for five thousand dollars to the Wildland for our equipment we are really supported and that's what we do on the day-to-day is try to Garner those everything that's offered to backfill our our budget um we do continue to hire for a new EMS

per diem shifts uh budget continues to be on track and training I just want to let you know one of the locals actually gave a house that they bought right down here on Hallowell um that he's actually tearing down so instead of uh what we really don't do live fire and houses but we've cut holes in the roof we're ventilated we're throwing the ladder truck we've practiced with the new recruits we've done you know Rescue Training in there and breaching walls all the stuff that you can't really do with the academy Hands-On drill and that put us within one mile of a major traffic accident last Friday so the boys were there and one mile later you know they were on scene so yeah that's the bonus to that okay and I appreciate it the gentleman knows who he is but appreciate the donation of the house so if you see a house out there with with some new skylights that was us all right that's everything all right

thank you thank you good stuff safe out there oh that's why I came back it's warm in here all right all right on the consent agenda um I would entertain a motion to accept a consent agenda as presented so moved Rich moving second Josh seconds all in favor

board um 12 13 and 12 27 uh 6 30 p.m here at the Town Hall Conservation Commission is having a public information meeting with regard to um proposed changes to the town map or resource protection this is kind of the follow-up to what we brought to town meeting last year and was not approved by voters this is like kind of a um this this will have a question about adding and then also a question about removing certain properties from resource protection so the public information session on that there is December 6 at

the Eureka Center at 6 30. it's not the formal public hearing that will come later this is an information session and I believe all all people impacted and are being notified with the mailing um so that they're aware of the discussion that's happening on on the sixth yeah postcards went on postcard okay um okay and at this point I will move us uh this should be a short one uh move us into a an executive session uh pursuant to one MRSA 405 6A for the purpose of considering board and committee appointments

for coming Joe thank you all right take care Happy Thanksgiving entertain a motion to appoint Neil Berry as an alternate to the board of appeals and Michael friendly as a member of the Durham Conservation Commission so so moved by Josh seconded by Joe any discussion all in favor all right thank you to both gentlemen for stepping up to serve the community and I would uh one meeting I forgot to mention um before we were in the executive session is the planning board is meeting December 7th at the Town Hall and again Conservation Commission public information meeting on December 6th at 6 30 at the Eureka Center that will be an interesting meeting as well okay at this point I would entertain a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn for a second Josh seconds all in favor okay Happy Thanksgiving everybody yeah I'll show you do you have a