TranscriptSelect Board Meeting ~ October 11, 2022

he said you're all set yeah get fancy here I thought did you see that 10-4 [Laughter] hey good evening everybody Welcome to tonight's select board meeting I am uh Rich George I will be sitting in tonight for Kevin um as he has had a planned absence as well as Todd Boyer um we ask you at this time to please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance

couple minutes behind schedule because we inadvertently set the alarm off at the old Union Church and uh had to wait for Androscoggin County Sheriff's arrived so we didn't uh I'll go to jail tonight so we could come hang out with you guys

said nothing really will be passed tonight other than um just simple agenda items um simply because of the numbers that we have everything that's passed tonight must be unanimous um amendments to the agenda tonight gentlemen no okay okay uh at this time we're going to open it up to public comment please limit your comments to three minutes um this particular public comment has nothing to do with the public comment um that is later to come in this session this is just strictly whatever you got whatever you want come on down and state your name John Talbot 636 Fat Bull Road in Durham um I would just ask that to acknowledger hip deep in budget that we take a look at putting the alt trash day back into the budget okay that's it thank you

comment public comment fair support from our fire chief Calvin about that no Calvin almost got me arrested he was supposed to be there Improvement plan our funds request from the fire department we had talked about maybe citing the 40-page executive summary of

the covet policy from the federal government so your first paragraph is some citations from that from the fire department and I'll read the first sentence for the public uh the final rule clarifies that recipients may use funds for programs services and capital expenditures that respond to the public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic uh that was from the U.S Department of Treasury your second paragraph you'll see is really ambulance receipts and this is just specific to the rescue transport receipts for Durham so everyone either thinks or maybe under the impression that that we're not losing funding or tax base but in my research the fire department has lost funding through its Revenue collection for for rescue transports the numbers you have in front of you are collected by um Town Personnel so that's what's deposited each year that's where that comes from so you can see you know back in 2018

before before covert really started we were at almost 43 000 in collection now there's some variants um and outliers during after 2019 we switched billing collection companies so we were Contracting with the Freeport then we switched to Comstar after that so there could be discrepancies there that I'm not aware of but you can see the timeline through that that when covet hit we went all the way back down to thirty thousand it increased to a high of 45 when covet waned and then last year it went down to 42. and the next paragraph will show you that's all while increasing call volume the last couple years we're up 21 in call volume 70 of our calls are ems rescue calls that's just Durham and it's really the standard in the industry 70 of what we do is that rescue that being said that's just the base of the fire department's been economically impacted which also goes to the town now that that funds go to uh the general

funding so just an overview just in case we continue down the line of of economics and fire department the the first up that I'm requesting there there are three and and you know two are really arpa and one's the capital but the first one in front of you is a sixty thousand dollar request and it is for um a utility vehicle a Chief's car and an EMS response car uh what I envisioned in the description and it's in front of you I won't read it it is really a used pickup truck currently for the last year I'm using my personal pickup truck I do get a stipend for that use uh if we bought a utility with arpo again used crew cab pickup not unlike what what Calvin has with some lights there's money left over to to put striping and decals they'll be first aid like I have I have a carbon monoxide meter I have my gear I have tools but we can outfit it more I'm always rotating cruise on different calls simultaneously calls and

I have been put in my truck personal truck In Harm's Way at car wrecks so when it's icy out I'm a blocker if you will you know first one there so if another car comes in you know the wife and I own it really um so that that's what that request is for and again it gets into the specifics of it um again due to contractual obligations you know that it'll offset uh if I don't get paid it'll offset that by 50 certainly Fuel and and wear and tear on any vehicle currently we don't we don't have that I was looking for a diesel because we have diesel fuel on site that would make it easier um but again just a used utility I have reached out it says in here to to town businesses to see if they have a local or a truck that they're giving away selling trading in I've gone to the State Surplus uh to see if they have a vehicle I've gone to Military Surplus so it's not that I haven't due diligence on trying to secure a used vehicle

uh the second one and after talking to the though it's a two priority that they think it's urgent is what's called Plymouth events plymo is really a brand name of diesel exhaust so the Primo events really hook up we have six trucks they're all diesel um we really have a ill-functioning exhaust system in the station we have a three by three hole in the wall that has a fan when a bay door goes up day night summer or winter it just pulls a negative draft so it pulls in 20 degree air right into our Bay and it brings the particulates and the cancer-causing diesel exhaust right through our Gear Station and out the back we do have an open house Saturday everyone's invited you'll see the the staining everywhere whether it's gear walls we don't have magic doors that block the diesel exhaust so you know we have EMS supplies we have people that eat there and you know work there 12 hours a day so the 50 000 is really last

year's and I can forward that to you um it was December of last year's quote for them to come out and put in what they are is really just a bendable sleeve that goes right on your exhaust and it follows a track so you start your truck up it gets sucked out all through vents you go all the way out and it releases upon the outside Bay right where that door is so it it cuts it down by over 90 percent but with cancer and the fire service beating the leading cause now of of uh members death it is a standard for an FPA and if we ever did a new station it would be the standard in the station is some type of better exhaust I understand it's not sexy but you know that Opera funds is is sort of for those one-time best practices so I I bring it to your all attention uh finally for the fire department again how you fund it I put it under the capital we asked last year for a hundred thousand um we were we did secure I believe 59

000 but we need another hundred and that's to rehab our Quint ladder truck uh it'll be 29 years old the serviceability lifespan are 30 but with an investment in this we're looking at five to seven years if not longer prolonging the truck it only has 25 000 miles on it I've added the engine hours uh 4 800 pump hours only 429.

um a used truck is half a million to start that's just used in a brand new ladder just to replace that is well over a million and it's two years out so this funds and and some grants that we're trying to secure for the brush truck uh we'll just prolong what we have and what we appreciate uh that ladder goes on dozens upon dozens of calls a year it does have a pump I don't think everyone realizes that it has our technical rescue equipment it has seven you know scbas it's really a Troop Carrier we can run a whole fire with that apparatus if need be when one of our trucks was down recently and we sent the other pumper on Mutual Aid that the Quint was protecting the town completely it can draft it can do everything a pumper can with the aerial in the the department really appreciates what we have we just want to upgrade it that's lighting Hydraulics some mounting of equipment professionally it's not a

full it's a rehab it's not anything else lights that draw Power so that's what I presented you you all tonight with our ideas and wishes for Opera funding uh where we're coming from for budget and what it needs to be used for

that's the dirty of it tonight is there any any of the board members have any questions for the chief commission thank you thank you this time if we could have the road commissioner foreign um from Opera funds would be for the mdep for the stream Crossing uh Meadowbrook Swamp Road for a flood mitigation and environmental improvements for fish passageways and so we're looking at uh 150 000 the total project being at 300 000. looking at 150 000 from arpa funds at 150 000 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection grant that is in the works and we um unfortunately won't know for sure if we get that Grant or not until November so this is somewhat speculative but I'm told that it was approved already last year so high probability that it's going to get approved again um don't see any reason that it wouldn't second project is

the hundred thousand dollars for which is the way we had done it last year just to maintain the fund taxes and the uh so I don't know if these are all just an opera yeah I should just stick to Auto tonight well and the final one is the um and this one I don't know it's the 2008 and uh I have current capital funds and property taxes for them which is you know on the CIP plan so this is CIP I mean if if I don't know if this fits in the Opera for this truck or I mean I guess I'll leave that to the board to decide if they would want to put this in offer if it was available but these are the three requests and so essentially just this just this stream Crossing environmental and I know storm water is uh one of the priorities that the Opera funds is looking to uh disperse funds with so I know that wouldn't be an issue and that's that's what I've got

no thank you thank you town managers report sir thank you um so the projects that we currently have going um the guy told you last meeting uh this building is all set we got the Heat and the air conditioning and the insulation is all blown in it's good the fire station has been completed as well so we're agility has done their work and they sent in their last invoice and that's being paid as we speak so that that all went pretty good

as far as the phones go we did move the phones over to Comcast that happened last Thursday it went pretty well I mean anytime you're moving phones over there's going to be a learning curve and a few snafus and we're working them out as we speak right now so there's it's just a little different the phones and the way they operate and that sort of thing I know fire hats and some issues where the phones weren't ringing and I know dev has been working with them and getting that all up to speed so that's that's basically done but they'll follow up in a couple weeks to make sure everything is good but as far as my phone works great so [Music]

working with them to get that ball their meeting tomorrow to go over the schedule and get that ball rolling so that's that's in the works as well so the initial Opera funds are moving along those products are moving along good no issues there um boards and committees in the vacancies so I have had a couple of requests I actually a couple of them came in today a couple from the budget committee and I had one for the Conservation Commission too so I will give you more information on that next meeting because I haven't really gathered anything right now but there is interest I have a name Hood so for someone who's interested in planning board okay on the planning board okay so I'll put all that together next week we'll kind of look at those and see how you want to move forward with with those vacancies but so I think there's two or three on the budget and one on a Conservation Commission and then another

one for the planning board would be good so I'll just keep you updated and um see if we can get those filled fair enough um I think that's pretty much it on our on our current funding for Opera and Sports committees other than that I don't have a lot to to report this week it was a busy week last week with the phones and everything and sure after that um

said a lot of invoices went out this week do we do we have exactly where we're at with the remaining Opera funds no I can dig that up though um because the agility one was pretty pricey that's up around 40 000 to get all that done and I haven't gotten the full uh invoices from Comcast yet either so it might take up okay so I I will I will update you on

what where we have as far as that money goes we still have the computers that we're still working on too as well so we are looking into a lease but to a lease you know a company's got to come in and they got to kind of do an assessment on what we have for um computers and that sort of stuff before they can really give us a price so that's they're coming in on the 20th I believe okay to kind of look at that so I'll keep you updated as as those costs come in and what I feel is probably the better route to go once we have those numbers

any questions no I I just had one Jerry um as far as I did get your packet and thank you for Capital project requests um we are do you want those considered also for Arbor with it with regards to um Allen codes and foreign

them absolutely yes yeah okay so one of the one of the projects that I have is to replace the copier that we have that that we are now currently Leasing um as the as the document says we've been leasing this thing for five years it's coming up so the lease for that thing is uh 22.45 a year plus we pay 720 for the fax machine for

a total of five thousand per year roughly five thousand fifteen and four cents so we can buy one outright for 63.54 and get into an annual service contract for that machine for a hundred dollars okay so there's a there's going to be an initial upfront cost but if the subsequent years you're going to be paying 800 versus 5 000 a year and the savings is right there if you do the lease option um versus the purchase option you're saving fourteen thousand seven hundred and twenty dollars over a five year period wow and that's what I would I would recommend that we do that is to buy the the copyright outright and the copy it becomes its own fax machine too so we can get rid of the fax machine and get rid of that 720 that we're currently paying

five five thousand dollars is a lot of money and that doesn't cover the overage when we print more than what's allowed in and right now we're at 800 for black and white copies and 600. so election years will probably print more things like that so you pay an additional on top of that so I would I would recommend using six thousand dollars of Opera money to get us a copy of fax machine all in one rather than paying the five thousand a year okay and another thing too if you read in here a life of a copier is 800 000 copies and we average about fifty thousand a year so if we buy it it should last us for quite some time

here he won't you know he he should have been here to uh to State his case but he said if he's looking for Arbor dollars he can be here but if this is just something that's going to go into our our budget that we're going to entertain for the year and as far as putting it for the CIP committee then we can do that too yeah okay yeah all right anything else you want no I'm good I'm all set thank you thank you

floor back up um the public input regarding the use of our funds this is a chance to for citizens to vocalize what they'd like to see with this money that we received Etc um for the board to entertain to put forth to whether it's next year using on the budget really rather than saying next year to put forth to the town to see if the town recruiter to use it for that use that's that's really what it is so there's quite a few people who are I'm assuming to speak on this so let's try to keep it you know four minutes a piece or something of that nature alrighty anybody here for that would like to go up first

um do I need to say my name yes please in your address Phyllis Brannon um Brookside Drive thank you in Durham um we've talked about this at Town meetings previous years and it's about um extra or funding for additional police or Sheriff's presence in Durham

and my understanding is that we currently have some presence already but with arpa funds I'm looking at perhaps adding more we have you know more Development coming in we have more cars on the roads they're going faster you know all those things so I'd like to just suggest that that we we look at that again um I'm you know I was thinking like four hours four additional hours per month I don't even know what we currently have but anyway additional hours maybe four hours or whatever that looks like but to use our performance for that yeah we we brought this I think it was maybe 33 3 400 to the town a couple several years ago probably three four years ago yeah and um but we didn't get a good warm welcome on it but we certainly can I'm not sure what extent we could use correct me if I'm wrong here Jerry because this would be a service it wouldn't be an uh acquiring anything right um it would be a contracted service it

would be a contracted service that fall in lines with that use of that money I think I think it would but we could certainly put it down and we're running up the flagpole as they say and see what the cost is yeah so you're thinking just additional hours of monitoring traffic yes et cetera you know they could be you know as the chief mentioned you know we have increased numbers of of calling the

Fire Department EMS you know car accidents and that kind of thing so it just tells us that our town is growing we have more cars here coming through we're kind of a thoroughfare I guess um yeah so whatever we currently have but just increasing that I don't maybe four extra hours a month I don't know whatever that is but I put that out set amount that we currently have it's it's just based off of I think I don't think they tell us exactly how much time they send here but they are here they were here tonight in about 35 minutes yeah by the time we set the alarm off so they are we had two officers visit us tonight yeah one officer in his K-9 so oh wow yeah I believe Jessica has been in touch with the um Anderson Oregon because she needs them for the uh the election for the election and I think that you can hire him in like four hour minimum blocks I think is what she said and that's what we proposed uh

several years ago so um that and it was mostly for just um traffic type stuff trying to do some traffic trying to trying to Corral some of the speeds that were going through the town so it's a wonderful idea well I suggest that and you know if it goes I mean you try it every three or four years oh absolutely we'll put it on there as yeah absolutely yeah thank you very much

we have another volunteer for tonight's arpa fun discussion any public input for that too I mean yes ma'am so this is a Tuesday night and as you can see we don't have a lot of people are we considering having this for a public comment another like a Saturday morning or another I don't know why people are here I'm kind of disappointed but yeah they're not it could be worker um well I would say this um we certainly can there's no harm in it I mean unless I mean some of the projects that the town deemed you know for lack of better words immersion we did like the heating system here was in the chief's station also was in dire need so we we really needed to um act swiftly on that before the cold months got here um but as always all this stuff is open for discussion not a dime of Opera funds will be spent without a vote I mean that we

very many people here tonight for whatever reason yeah we can certainly try yeah we can certainly try yeah but unfortunately this is a lot of times the turnout that we get um so thank you um so seeing nobody that Park person in the parking lot anyone else here for arpa

public input regarding the use of Opera funds member can ask to have any of these items removed from the consent in general tonight we will be for discussion approve the minutes from September 27th 2022 the select board meeting an improvement sign September 30th and October 7th 2022 warrants both payable

and payroll do we have a motion so proof I'll second that any discussion call the vote so they're trying to approve Studio and discussion yep there's three of them three BYOB I only got one on here two of them are from the same gentleman and then there's another one they're pretty straightforward um yeah they've they've pretty much have done done everything right on those on those permits uh

bring alcohol to a place that serves alcohol they need to have one of these pyramids so I um what I do is I had Chief look at them and I had codes also look at them well that they put the law on the back now it's up to you folks but if you don't want to deal with those in select board meetings you can designate your town manager to deal with those and how I would deal with those is I would have Chief look at them and codes they get their blessing then and they build it out correctly and there doesn't seem to be any issues I would just sign off on it and you wouldn't have to you wouldn't have to do that that's up to you how you want to do that if I meant give me two seconds and I'll certainly open up to you because I know you're the applicant so we're going to take yours first here for the discussion yeah absolutely um Let me let me fill these these gentlemen haven't seen it and then we can open it up

I believe one's a celebration of love I'll get to that one okay secondly um we'll take them individually for those who are just watching at home this is a very um or in the audience this is a very common practice in this town it's just um you know this is what we call people doing the right thing they know they're supposed to do this and they took the time to actually do it this is not an uncommon practice um as far as while they're looking over that just to answer your question on that I wouldn't have a problem designating the town manager to do that and these gentlemen can speak for themselves but I certainly wouldn't do it without all five select board members right so we can entertain that if you want to put it on the agenda on the next okay

all right did you have any questions in regards no okay um uh Nate is here from the Durham Memphis postnate is there something you want to add to these two applications if I can Brianna Drive um there was some discussion before about the byopb permits and how our license is set up first of all I just want to say that our license renews in January okay like two months from now and we're looking to increase our license to the next uh level if you per se the next level up which would eliminate these BYOB permits so from the American veterans Club you won't be seeing these hold on let me back that up uh just as here is a democracy over there as a democracy as well uh so everything has to go to vote but what's what it's leaning towards is that the club is going to vote for the increase in liquor license which would eliminate the BYOB permits altogether we wouldn't need them when we do do our BYOB permits they are

for areas of the of on the grounds excluding the the bar down the lounge area downstairs that is always and will forever be for members only veterans and their bona fide guests each uh veteran that's a member there gets five guests per person and they you know there's rules and regulations on all that stuff the downstairs will always be members and bona fide guests for these BYOB permits when we have celebrations of Life upstairs I do apologize I try to get them to you as fast as I can because I need your signature with some of this with the state law being 24 hours prior to I think they set that up for these celebrations of life we can't plan for that Unexpected death of a family member and if they want to get together and share a cocktail or do whatever they want to do sometimes we get these permits in and it is beyond the agenda so I apologize for that I've been working with Jessica try to get him

in there on a timely manner so you guys have time to look them over but going back to it if our vote is approved at our next meeting come January we're going to increase which would then take our liquor license to be a club with catering and all that means is if somebody were to rent out our upstairs space for a celebration of life per se part of the rental agreement they would have to select if they want it to be catered and by catered it means by us so we would provide the bartender we would provide the beer and the liquor and we would sell that just as if we were selling it downstairs um which is not a quasi for lack of better words open social club no it's still even when you're basically the same premise it's the same premise yes and so even if you're going to have an event those events are still private events so so never are we open to the public even when we do these BYOB events the BYOB

events are private and they're held by a particular individual who has to sign their name saying I'm responsible for everything and then right now currently we are having individuals get their own insurance for different events when we go to a club with catering we're going to increase our insurance and so then it all falls Under One Roof the reason this didn't happen in the beginning is start small you know baby steps when the when this post before my time they were just getting started they didn't really know what they needed they went for the smallest amount possible licenses are not cheap so they went with the smallest amount possible we're growing in size and membership which is a good thing and so we're going to be looking to increase that okay um the only thing I want to add to that and thank you for bringing it to our attention is just maybe you know because it's eventually going to hit our

desk and just keep it Expediting I don't I don't know if I I don't know off the top of our head if it would require a public meeting of some sorts um that where the people could have input I don't I really don't know for for your next for your next one oh for the next license or your next licensure yeah yeah yeah um so we let's double check with codes and possibly run it by I'm assuming because I need the select board signatures for the license itself yeah what you do we need to inform you that we're having it right this is technically a public meeting but don't worry about it I'll make sure that we do the proper notes I'm just not sure what we would have to do tell me what we need to do and I'll do it oh I know you yeah that's why I'm just going to come one of those out I'm one of those guys no there's no problem so let's let's go this way let's let's get D squared away yep and then we'll we'll deal with that

further on the road and then we can maybe the town manager or codes can make sure that we're all doing the proper things the same thing with the chief if there's anything on his end that needs to be done and like I said just to keep it expedited yeah and I'm just learning about the agenda thing to try to get stuff into Jessica before the agenda gets posted so that y'all aren't blindsided no that's cool because nobody likes to be blind so we're going to take these one at a time I'd like to entertain a motion for um the Durham and vets to hold it BYOB on 10 29 22 from the hours of 11 A.M to

6 p.m I'll make a motion no any questions for the applicant all those a favor for another event at the Durham M vets for a BYOB um in the upstairs of their function hall for a Halloween dance from on 10 29 22 and the hours of six o'clock to 11 30. um

those are back to back so I'll entertain a motion for that so I'll second that any discussion oh all right in a boat 3-0 morning as well as well where do you get all the staff at 4am until midnight is going to be a long day no mimosas yeah

just just to um put that out there the Durham and vets on that day was that the 20th 29th 29th from 6 to 11 30 at night we'll be having a dance if anyone like to attend that costume's optional costumes are mandatory mandatory costumes

trophies and awards prizes for uh best dressed uh couples best couple nice costume whatever those are all going on fantastic all righty do we have a Sandra Moon present tonight BYOB for Sandra moon at 99 Durham Road and this says I'm guessing that's the address so this is going to be at the Durham and vets Hall also my apologies which would be at 1049 royalsboro this is for a lovely 60th birthday and it will go on November 5th from 3 to 7 p.m and approximately 60

people will be attending thank you lucky gentlemen look at that before we this time I'd like to entertain a motion for Miss Sandra moon to have a BYOB at the Durham vets Hall on 11 5 22 from 3 to 7 P.M 4-H 60th birthday party

babe Rio um alert everybody to the upcoming meetings for the town we have a select board meeting on 10 25 22. and 11 8 22 at 6 30 pm at the Town Hall um with that said with that said before we go any would you gentlemen mind having one of those two dates maybe one more public comment uh regarding the Opera funds yeah I think yeah right no it can't hurt nope so Jerry do you have a I don't know what your agenda is if you're going to slam us one night or the other um so why don't we go 11 8 give it a little bit more further out a little bit more notice yeah I like it yeah all right and we'll do one more public hearing on that yeah yeah uh we also have a planning board informational meeting on October 12th at 6 PM that is going to be at our beautiful fire station it was a cheap trip himself I don't know about cocktails folks uh the topic on that will be affordable housing and Road ordinances um

executive session today no I don't have anything all right bottle of water and beer cans do gentlemen have anything further out no thank you okay with that said we'd like to call this meeting to adjourn do we have a motion I'll make a motion to adjourn second discussion I didn't think so all those events real there we go you're gonna get sleep tonight