Select Board Meeting ~ August 27, 2024

2024-08-27 · Select Board · 3:18:40 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on August 27, 2024 with a long agenda; old business was moved to the end and the meeting was extended twice past its scheduled close. The board recessed as the Board of Assessors to act on abatements and supplemental tax warrants presented by Donna, the assessing agent, then took up a proposed move from a calendar year to a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year; no vote was taken and the question was set for the September 24 meeting so residents could comment first. The longest item was a proposal to replace the town's Trio financial software with a package from the company that built the town website, at $15,000 a year locked for ten years; after questions to the vendor and a disagreement over whether to decide the same night it was presented, the board voted to pursue the contract and authorize the Town Manager to begin. The board also reviewed six months of cash flow and budget-to-actual reports with Mark, the town's finance consultant, heard the Town Manager's report on staffing after a resignation, and planned the September 10 community meeting on law enforcement coverage. Old business on land use ordinance sections 5.14 and 12 was carried over to a later meeting.

What was discussed

1. 5:01
   Call to order and amendments to the agenda

   Joe Roy called the 6:30 p.m. meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Old business was moved to the end of the agenda to respect the time of people waiting to speak, and the AP warrant and law enforcement planning were added to new business. No one spoke at public comment.

2. 5:01
   Board of Assessors: abatements and supplemental tax warrants

   The board recessed into the Board of Assessors to act on items presented by Donna, the assessing agent: a mobile home sold in 2020 or 2021 that was billed to the wrong owner of record, and a new house whose owner never received a tax bill. Donna (?) said she does not learn of these errors until the bills go out.

3. 11:03
   Tree growth penalty and barn abatement

   A supplemental tax warrant covered a withdrawal penalty on 10 acres in tree growth; the owner is selling and had already paid the penalty check. A separate abatement removed $9,900 in value for part of a barn taken down before April 1 that was not removed from the tax card. Heather Roy noted the town now has a demolition permit, which should flag such changes going forward.

4. 11:03
   Proposed change to a July-June fiscal year

   The board was given a schedule showing what a switch to a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year would look like: an 18-month commitment in mid-2025 running to June 30, 2026, paid in two instalments in October 2025 and April 2026, and a two-payment tax bill from then on. Town meeting would stay in April 2025 but move to about the first Saturday in June in 2026.

5. 22:40
   Effect on town meeting, elections and budgeting

   Heather Roy raised that moving town meeting would also move the municipal officer election, and she did not want to pay for two elections. Members said the change would let the town budget with known school and county figures instead of estimates; state revenue sharing was cited as an area where the town was roughly $80,000 to $90,000 short this year.

6. 33:08
   Whether to decide, and when

   Deb Oliver asked for a summary of the benefits, and the answers given were better information for budgeting, cash flow that lines up with tax collection, and consistency with most other municipalities. Members said the change is a goal in the 2018 comprehensive plan and that if it is not done before the revaluation the next opportunity is 2028.

7. 38:45
   Public comment and outreach on the fiscal year change

   Heather Roy objected to voting the same night the item was first presented and asked that residents, including budget committee members, be given a chance to comment. The board agreed to put the fiscal year vote on the September 24 agenda, and discussed using the November election, with an information table at the polls, as the main public education opportunity.

8. 44:01
   Financial software: cost comparison

   Jerry Douglass presented figures comparing the current Trio software with a proposal from Town Cloud, the company that built the town website. Staying with Trio was estimated at about $28,000 next year including a forced move off SQL to the web, and about $352,000 over ten years with the 5 percent annual increase the contract allows; the new offer was $15,000 a year locked for ten years with a three-year commitment, about $177,000 over ten years including Patriot assessing maintenance, a saving of roughly $165,000 to $175,000.

9. 49:09
   Assessing software and the KRT conversion charge

   The new package does not include assessing, so the town would take on Patriot, which KRT uses for the revaluation. If the data does not convert cleanly from Trio to Patriot, KRT would charge $10,000 for the manual conversion, with about $3,000 a year in maintenance after year one.

10. 54:18
    Questions to the vendor

    Chris Haywood and Ravi Jackson (?) described a multi-tenant, AWS-hosted system with one code base for all customers, report writers on every screen, no separate charges for data conversion, training or integrations, and remote training over Zoom. Asked directly, they confirmed no town in Maine is using the package yet; the clerk product, called Trifecta, launched this year and is built on billing and general ledger applications already in use in other states.

11. 1:05:52
    Finance consultant's assessment

    Mark (?) said the current software's reporting is so poor that he spends a couple of hours a month exporting and reformatting data in Excel to produce the board's reports, and that the new system would not need that. He listed the risks: early adoption, no assessing module, and only basic payroll, with a bridge or API needed between Patriot and the new billing system.

12. 1:31:36
    Comments on the town website

    Heather Roy said the website has no search of the town's own information, only a Google search, and that the five top-level tabs bury things residents look for, such as registering a car. The vendor said search can be added and the page organisation can be changed.

13. 1:41:58
    Debate over deciding the same night

    Joe Roy objected to selecting a vendor without more homework, citing the company's size, online reviews he was not happy with, and the absence of a committee to evaluate other packages. Others argued there are only two other vendors in the Maine market, that the board should defer to the staff who actually use the software, and that the town has been unable to get a response from the current vendor after three emails and two phone calls.

14. 2:08:31
    Six-month cash flow report

    Mark walked the board through cash flow for the first six months. Operating cash falls to about $1 million at the end of June and was about $7 million after the July tax commitment; outflows run about $800,000 to $900,000 a month against roughly $300,000 of inflow. Heather Roy said this shows the general fund balance figure is not the same as available cash.

15. 2:19:25
    Budget-to-actual summary

    Halfway through the year most lines were near 50 percent of budget, with information technology higher because of software costs. The large negative variance on property taxes was explained as revenue recognised at commitment, $8.3 million, before the cash is received. A $14,000 capital expenditure for a stream crossing was flagged as needing to be coded to Public Works or a reserve.

16. 2:25:08
    Committed and reserve funds

    The board discussed funds with no documented purpose: an emergency fund, a recreation fund and a telecom fund funded by cable franchise fees. The recommendation was to liquidate them or fold them into existing capital reserves. Heather Roy asked for the recommendation in writing before any action, and it was noted that reserve accounts, unlike capital reserves the board holds as trustees, may need a town meeting vote.

17. 2:30:27
    Town Manager report: staffing

    Jerry Douglass reported an employee resignation and said he moved Kimberly and Deon (?) to full time rather than post the vacancy, because the budget has no contingency line. Town office hours have gone from 126 a week in 2021 to 112 and now 108, and he told the board to expect a request for more staff in 2025. Joe Roy argued positions should be budgeted from the work and job description rather than from a fixed number of hours.

18. 2:41:02
    Tax levy limit and investment of town funds

    Jerry Douglass reported that the tax levy limit law has been repealed, so the article no longer has to appear in the warrant. He is also shopping for a better return on town cash, comparing an insured cash sweep, which stays liquid, against CDs, with rates quoted between 2.5 and 5 percent.

19. 2:46:03
    Planning the law enforcement community meeting

    Deb Oliver had circulated a summary handout and pivot table drawn from the sheriff's presentation and the earlier session with police officers. The format agreed was short introductions from the sheriff, the chief deputy, Ryan McGee, Chief Goodman and the fire chief, then board questions, then public questions with a facilitator to keep repeat questions down. Deb Oliver and Heather Roy will review the handout with Jerry Douglass before it goes to the sheriff and Ryan McGee and is posted, marked as a draft, no later than the fifth.

20. 2:57:16
    Survey and outreach for the community meeting

    Heather Roy offered to record public comment topics and to run a survey, on paper and online, so the board can see what residents take away from the session. She reported the Facebook invite drew 30 interested and 7 attending one day out. She also raised that fire department staff are being trained on when to wear the bullet and stab proof vests donated by Poland Springs for calls where no police response is available.

21. 3:08:00
    Caution on the call volume figures

    Joe Roy pointed to the handout's table showing average police calls per month of 78 in 2019 and 80 in 2023 and said the raw call data does not support the case, and should be placed later in the document with the improvements list moved to the front.

22. 3:08:00
    Old business: land use ordinance sections 5.14 and 12

    The board noted feedback from the Durham Historic District Commission and the Town Planner and said it is waiting on an opinion from town legal counsel on whether what is being proposed is legal. The discussion was deferred to a later meeting.

23. 3:08:00
    Board member reports

    Joe Roy said travel and three conferences would keep him from October meetings and proposed moving them. Deb Oliver raised the fee schedule, which still needs to be finalised and posted, and asked to put the lights at Dead Man's Curve back on the agenda when the road commissioner attends on October 8. She also reported drafting an action list format to bring back to the board.

24. 3:13:43
    Consent agenda, upcoming meetings and adjournment

    The consent agenda was approved and the board confirmed the September 10 meeting at the school, a truncated business meeting at 5:30 followed by the law enforcement discussion at 6:00. No executive session was held.

What was decided

• 5:01
  Move into the Board of Assessors meetingoutcome unclear
• 5:01
  Accept the abatement and supplemental tax warrant for the mobile home billed to the wrong owner of record (read aloud as map 5, lot 5621)outcome unclear
• 5:01
  Accept the supplemental tax warrant for the new house that did not receive a tax bill (read aloud as map 4, lot 1219)passed
• 11:03
  Accept the supplemental tax warrant for the tree growth withdrawal penalty on 10 acres (map and lot garbled in the recording)outcome unclear
• 11:03
  Accept the certificate of abatement of $9,900 in value for the portion of a barn taken down before April 1 (map and lot garbled in the recording)outcome unclear
• 38:45
  Hold the fiscal year change for public comment and a vote at the September 24 meeting rather than voting on August 27tabled
• 1:52:15
  Pursue the contract for the new financial software and empower the Town Manager to start the process; moved by the chair and seconded by Josh Klein-Golden. Joe Roy said plainly that he was not in favour. The result is recorded by the recogniser as "four to one", which cannot be right with four members present, and no other statement of the outcome survives.outcome unclear
• 2:30:27
  Extend the meeting by 30 minutes, to 9:30 (moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Deb Oliver, carried 4-0 per the written minutes)passed
• 3:02:41
  Extend the meeting further, to 9:40outcome unclear
• 3:13:43
  Move the October 22 meeting to October 29; an earlier motion to move both the October 8 and October 22 meetings was retracted. The chair called for ayes and opposition and no result is audible.outcome unclear
• 3:13:43
  Approve the consent agenda as amended, with approval of the June 11, 2024 meeting minutes added as Item C (moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Heather Roy, carried 4-0 per the written minutes)passed
• 3:13:43
  Adjourn (moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Deb Oliver, carried 4-0 per the written minutes)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.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from selectboard2024-08-27_packet.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• have the working group continue forward on the property evaluations exploring options two (2) and three (3)carried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy

• allow the Town Manager to sign up for Push Notifications through Text My Govcarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Heather Roy

• approve the consent agenda as amended with the approval of the June 11, 2024 meeting minutes added - Item Ccarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Heather Roy

• extend the meeting by 30 minutescarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Deb Oliver

• adjourncarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Deb Oliver

Where the minutes and the recording disagree

Two independent records exist for this meeting: the town's written minutes and the video. For the items below they do not agree, or neither one settles the question. Both accounts are given as they stand. This site has no standing to decide which is right (the minutes are the legal record, the recording is what happened in the room), so the conflict is stated rather than resolved, and nothing here says the town got anything wrong.

• not on the recordingTwo motions appear in the written minutes but nowhere in the recording: continuing the property-evaluation working group, and Text My Gov push notifications. The recording refers to the Text My Gov decision as already taken at an earlier meeting.

Worth knowing

• 33:08
  If the town does not switch to a fiscal year before the revaluation, the next opportunity is 2028, because staff will not run a fiscal year change and a revaluation at the same time. The switch would mean one 18-month tax commitment covering all of 2025 and the first half of 2026, paid in two instalments. The vote is scheduled for September 24.
• 44:01
  Staying with the current financial software was put at about $352,000 over ten years against about $177,000 for the proposed replacement, a saving of roughly $165,000 to $175,000, with $5,000 due to start and $10,000 on January 15. The Town Manager said he had contacted the current vendor three times by email and twice by phone about the cost of its forced move to the web and had no reply.
• 2:08:31
  Town operating cash falls to about $1 million at the end of June, against monthly outflows of about $800,000 to $900,000 and inflows of about $300,000. Mark (?) warned the town may need to arrange a tax anticipation note for the July-August period during the transition, and advised talking to the bank in advance.
• 2:35:33
  Town office staffing has gone from 126 hours a week in 2021 to 112 and now 108. The vacancy left by a resignation is not being posted because the budget has no contingency line; two part-time staff were moved to full time instead, and the Town Manager said he will ask for more positions in 2025.

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: 10 passages of motion language, against 12 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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