Select Board Meeting ~ February 8, 2016

2016-02-08 · Select Board · 1:32:19 · watch on YouTube →

A Select Board budget workshop given over almost entirely to the fire, rescue and EMA budget, presented by Fire Chief William St. Michel. The board corrected an arithmetic error in the chief's pay line and took a total of $1,817 off the operating request, then worked through the capital plan: the last fire station payment, the Quint payment, the annual contribution to the capital improvement account, roughly $66,400 of station work, and the proposed engine replacement. Most of the argument was over whether to put $40,000, $42,500 or $45,000 into the capital account; the board settled on $45,000 and left it to the budget committee and town meeting. The chief also reported on his review of dispatch options, telling the board that any change is likely to cost about twice what the town pays now and that Durham's interest lies in resolving its issues with Lisbon. Recreation, administration salary lines and the outside-group requests were held over for a full board, and the workshop adjourned.

What was discussed

1. 0:02
   Before the gavel: county jail funding

   The recording opens on a conversation about county jail consolidation, with prisoners moved from over-capacity to under-capacity jails. The point made was that Cumberland has been charging Oxford County $50 per prisoner per day despite the law, and that Oxford has said it will cease to operate its jail before the end of the year without state aid.

2. 0:02
   Workshop called to order

   The chair called the workshop to order with three selectmen present and one expected; a fourth was there by the time the board adjourned. The board took up the fire, rescue and EMA budget first, working down the town's version of the spreadsheets.

3. 0:02
   Correction to the chief's pay line

   The chief's pay had been entered wrongly. The figure was recalculated at $57,498 and rounded to $57,500 for a round number, taking $1,690 off the bottom line, with the FICA, Medicare and retirement lines recalculating from the formulas.

4. 5:10
   Workers compensation

   The board asked whether workers compensation would change with the payroll correction. It is set on forecast payroll for the year and only adjusted after the fact when the carrier audits the previous year, so it stays as budgeted for now.

5. 5:10
   Labor line

   The labor budget is up 4 percent and asks about $2,500 more than was spent last year. The chief said he raised individual pay rates by 2 percent and used about 3 percent overall in the calculation, allowing for a slight increase in call volume.

6. 5:10
   Support, benefits and operating expenses

   Members went through the remaining lines and found nothing that stood out, with utilities showing no change from last year and other lines falling in line with the previous year's expenditures.

7. 5:10
   Dispatch options: preliminary costs

   On the dispatch line the chief reported he has a meeting Wednesday with Lisbon and spoke to the sheriff's department that day. Preliminary setup figures from the communications people for the sheriff's department and LA911 were in the range of $7,000 to $9,000, a thousand dollars apart, and both recommended a dedicated data line that would carry a monthly rental of roughly $150 to $300.

8. 10:27
   What a PSAP changes for a caller

   The chief explained that the sheriff's department, LA911 and Brunswick are all PSAPs, so a call would be dispatched by the same centre that answered it, while Lisbon is not, so a Lisbon arrangement means the call is transferred. He described 911 answering, emergency medical dispatch and the wait while a caller is transferred, and said the burden of documenting transfer times falls on the PSAP rather than on Lisbon.

9. 10:27
   Recent dispatching errors

   The chief said his call to the sheriff's department that day was about mistakes rather than a service change. The department was dispatched alongside United to Stackpole Road, and on Saturday was sent to 105 Pinkham Brook Road, an address roughly 600 numbers off the correct one; a similar error had occurred on Rabbit Road. He called it the third instance and said he has reservations about where the sheriff's department is right now.

10. 15:39
    LA911 and Brunswick

    LA911 was interested and offers a full service at a higher price, but would not quote until its board had seen it and it had reviewed call volume and staffing, since if Durham forces an added position Durham would carry the cost of it. Brunswick has not been approached but runs a similar service and already dispatches Freeport and Pownal. The town already pays separately for PSAP service, a fee that was split out of county taxes long ago.

11. 15:39
    Mutual aid geography and insurance grading

    The chief said Durham's response districts are broken down by the next closest community, and that Lisbon is nearest to roughly half the town, more than Freeport, Pownal, Brunswick and Auburn together. Automatic mutual aid matters for insurance because parts of Day Road, Shiloh Road, Route 125, Auburn Pownal Road, Stackpole Road and the road the recording gives as Gloucester Road are more than five miles from the Durham station, the distance most insurers use for grading. Without those agreements those residents would be rated the same as a camp two hundred miles from a fire department.

12. 21:25
    The chief's view on dispatch

    On service alone the chief said he would recommend LA911, but taking cost, ISO grading and automatic mutual aid together he thinks the town's interest lies in working things out with Lisbon. On cost he put a switchover at roughly $8,000 plus around $3,000 to $3,600 a year for the dedicated line, so about $9,000 to $11,000 in the first year and roughly $1,000 more each year after. He expects whatever he recommends to cost about twice what the town pays now, because the present radio link needs no leased line at all.

13. 21:25
    What is actually driving the increase

    The board concluded that the only significant changes in the operating budget are outside its control: the increase in workers compensation and the increase in FICA and Medicare, the latter because the town has finally used up a decades-old credit. The chief said he had reduced several lines where equipment was no longer needed to soften the increase.

14. 26:31
    Operating reductions totalled

    With $1,690 off the pay line, $103 off line 15 and $24 off line 16, the board recorded total reductions of $1,817 from the operating request and moved on to the capital section.

15. 26:31
    Fire station payment and Quint payment

    The fire station payment of $39,508 is the last one; the chief's cover sheet showed a slightly different figure he could not account for. The Quint payment is the third of six at about $33,000, again with a small discrepancy between the cover sheet and the actual payment.

16. 26:31
    Contribution to the capital improvement account

    The town put $40,000 into the account last year and the chief requested $45,000, describing it as a $5,000-a-year glide path rather than the larger step he had proposed before. He said last year's high rescue revenues were driven by flu volume and he would treat them as a windfall until he saw two or three years of it, and that rescue revenues will not keep pace with inflation on apparatus and equipment.

17. 31:59
    Station work: what the quotes cover

    The chief brought updated price quotes totalling about $69,800 for station work: $53,000 for paving that includes cutting out the cracks and building a concrete transition at the bay doors rather than a one inch finish coat that would be lost, $10,500 for trim and painting at last year's quoted price, and $2,900 for the floor against a local contractor's quote of $2,860. He said trucks dropping out of the bays act like a constant compactor and have already worn ruts that were fixed once.

18. 31:59
    Security cameras moved out

    The security camera item duplicated a request already in the telecommunications budget. The board confirmed it would be funded there instead, removing about $3,400 and bringing the station work request to $66,400.

19. 31:59
    Expected pushback on paving the station lot

    A member warned the chief to be prepared: standing at town meeting and asking for $50,000 to pave the station parking lot will draw pushback from residents who have been sitting in those chairs asking when their roads will be paved. The chief said he understood but that both Crooker and Calvin had told him the work should have been done three or four years ago and the pavement will be lost otherwise. Members agreed the principle is to maintain what the town already has.

20. 36:59
    Argument for $40,000 rather than $45,000

    A member proposed holding the contribution at $40,000, pointing out that the spreadsheet anticipated $48,000 in transport revenue and the town actually took in $62,250, a windfall of about $14,000, so taking $5,000 out would not really reduce the department's resources. The chief countered with the actual figures for 2012 to 2014, all in the low to high $40,000s against $48,000 anticipated, and said he is projecting $52,000 for next year rather than repeating this year's outlier.

21. 36:59
    Balance in the capital account

    The account stood at $157,762 at the end of 2015, and everything listed for the coming year would draw about $139,000 out of it. The chief set out the principle he had inherited: the balance plus the town's contribution should not exceed expenses, so the town is not funding capital out of anticipated service revenue rather than tax revenue and cash on hand.

22. 42:05
    Whether a gap with the budget committee is useful

    Keith Russell argued that if voters see no difference between the board's number and the budget committee's they have no reason to turn out, and that the board should put in its number and let the town decide. Others answered that the two bodies should be close, that the budget committee is a balancing check rather than a competitor, and that if there is a real competition both are doing something wrong. A member added that the board has to weigh every department's request together with the taxpayers' position, which puts it in a different spot from any single department.

23. 47:08
    EMS call and transport volumes

    Asked about transports, the chief gave from memory roughly 190 to 200 EMS calls a year with transports normally around 120 to 130, and thought last year's transports were nearer 180 to 190 based on the patient run report spreadsheet.

24. 47:08
    Value of the capital plan

    Members recalled that before the plan the town would suddenly be hit with a $300,000 expenditure in a single year. One member said she would love to see this much planning for every asset the town owns. The record shows $35,000 contributed in 2014 and $40,000 in 2015, with the plan calling for it to rise toward $75,000 by 2022.

25. 52:14
    Engine 22 replacement and its effect on the account

    The plan carries the engine replacement at about $72,500 a year for seven years, against a package price of $474,000 and a likely financed total of $500,000 to $510,000 at 2.5 to 3 percent. The fire station payment ends this year, but the engine payment would be close to twice as large.

26. 52:14
    Rescue replacement in 2019

    The rescue was planned at twelve years and falls due in 2019. The chief said repairs are now running $3,000 to $5,000, which he considers beyond regular maintenance, and that with delivery times of twelve to eighteen months a 2019 delivery means approval in 2018. He put the cost at roughly $50,000 a year, a figure meant to cover the rescue, a replacement cardiac monitor and the interest; the last cardiac monitor came through a grant at about $28,000 and would now cost $33,000 to $35,000.

27. 1:03:12
    Condition of the current rescue and the Quint

    The rescue had extensive body repair in 2006 and was out of service about three months, work intended to last seven to ten years; the chief said it is close to that condition again and he does not think it can wait or change places in the order. The Quint will be thirty years old in 2024, and he would recommend partnering with another town for a used ladder truck as Durham did with the current Quint, which he called one of the wiser purchases the town has made.

28. 1:03:12
    Pace of apparatus replacement

    Asked whether the plan means an apparatus a year going forward, the chief said the next scheduled item after the engine and the rescue is truck 24 in 2020. With six apparatus on lives averaging around 24 years, the town has to replace something roughly every four years.

29. 1:08:29
    Capital contribution set at $45,000

    After weighing $40,000, $42,500 and $45,000, the board settled on leaving the request at $45,000, on the reasoning that the engine payment will hit the account hard and that the budget committee and town meeting can still change it. Members noted that of everything on the capital sheet only the $40,000 versus $45,000 line affects this year's taxes, since the rest comes out of what amounts to a savings plan.

30. 1:08:29
    History of the station lot

    The lot was paved when the station was built and occupied in 2002, and both Crooker and Calvin (?) told the chief it should have been resurfaced within ten years. Crack sealing was done about two years ago under the previous road commissioner, Sean, and the chief was told that once crack sealed the work has to be followed up within a few years or it makes matters worse. The lot is also settling.

31. 1:13:35
    Tying the work to the town's paving contract

    Calvin (?) told the chief he could deal directly with the contractor, and members noted that keeping crews in the area rather than moving equipment brings the price down. A leadership meeting the previous week among Durham, Pownal, Freeport and the RSU had Durham and Pownal already combining their paving to get a better deal, with Freeport possibly joining. The chief said that for budgeting purposes he would not assume a discount but would ask Calvin to fold the station lot into the town's paving.

32. 1:13:35
    Station work left as requested

    The work is resurfacing rather than repaving, veeing out or grinding the cracks and building a concrete pad over insulation board and gravel at the bay doors, which the chief said is what most municipal garages and fire stations now do; Freeport recently did the same. The board agreed to leave the request as it stands, saying a full rebuild in three or four years would cost far more and that the town is putting road work forward this year as well.

33. 1:18:58
    The engine package and how it would be financed

    The $474,000 figure is called a package because two vendors are in play: the higher-priced one at over $500,000 would buy the engine alone, while the lower-priced one leaves room to replace equipment that needs replacing. Getting the lower price requires prepayment, which the chief said can be arranged through the manufacturer's financing affiliate and transferred to the town's bank in 2017 without interest accruing, though he wants to confirm that.

34. 1:18:58
    Resale of the existing engine

    The current engine is carried at $5,000 resale in 2017. The chief said a refurbishment estimate of about $294,000 makes refurbishing uneconomic for any buyer, and that a previous engine was bought essentially for its tires and steel. He thought the value might be higher if a buyer wanting to invest in it could be found, but would fall if the town waited too long.

35. 1:24:04
    Debt limit and the wording of the article

    Ruth Glaeser raised whether statute restricts the town's debt ratio, since the engine, road work and a plow truck may all involve borrowing and the station bond only rolls off at the end of this year. A treasurer's statement of current indebtedness will be needed, and she had emailed the auditor. She also asked whether combining several borrowings into a single bond would save on bond counsel, which members agreed was worth exploring.

36. 1:24:04
    A cautionary precedent on the tanker

    Members recalled that with the tanker the financing was supposed to be the bank's money, but someone at the time used the town's own money instead to save interest, which came as a surprise when the bank was called.

37. 1:29:19
    Engine article left on the warrant

    The board agreed the request is only for authorisation to finish working with the vendors and to put the purchase to the town, since the town would spend nothing on payments until June 2017 or later. It left the article on the warrant, deferred any recommendation, and asked for help getting the wording right given the two financing options.

38. 1:29:19
    What is left and adjournment

    Recreation and the administration salary lines remain, along with the outside-group requests including the Y; the booster group had answered the board's questions but the others had not. The board decided to wait for a full board and to take those up the following night, then adjourned.

What was decided

• 0:02
  Corrected the fire chief's pay line to $57,500, rounded up from a recalculated $57,498, reducing the request by $1,690.passed
• 26:31
  Recorded total reductions of $1,817 from the fire, rescue and EMA operating request: $1,690 from the pay line, $103 from line 15 and $24 from line 16.passed
• 31:59
  Removed the security camera item, about $3,400, from the fire capital request because it duplicates a request already in the telecommunications budget, bringing the station work request from about $69,800 to $66,400.passed
• 1:08:29
  Set the annual contribution to the fire department capital improvement account at $45,000 as requested, rather than reducing it to $40,000 or $42,500, leaving the budget committee and town meeting to change it if they wish.passed
• 1:13:35
  Left the fire station work request at $66,400 as submitted: $53,000 paving and concrete at the bay doors, $10,500 trim and painting, and $2,900 for the floor.passed
• 1:29:19
  Agreed to put the engine package purchase on the town meeting warrant so voters decide, with the article wording still to be settled and no board recommendation made that night.passed
• 1:29:19
  Recreation, the administration salary lines and the outside-group funding requests including the Y were held over for a full board and the following night's session.tabled
• 1:29:19
  Adjourn at 7:30 p.m. Moved by Sarah Hall, seconded by Joshua Libby; carried 4-0.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 select_board_minutes_2-8-20161.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.

• Adjourn at 7:30 p.mcarried 4-0

  Moved by Sarah Hall, seconded by Joshua Libby

Worth knowing

• 10:27
  The fire chief reported three recent dispatching errors, including being sent Saturday to 105 Pinkham Brook Road, an address roughly 600 numbers off the correct one. He said residents assume the fire department is the dispatcher, so the mistakes reflect on it.
• 21:25
  Any change of dispatch provider is likely to cost about twice what Durham pays now: roughly $8,000 to set up plus $150 to $300 a month for a dedicated line, where the current radio link needs no leased line at all. On service alone the chief would pick LA911, but he argued the town's interest is in resolving its issues with Lisbon, which is closest to about half the town.
• 31:59
  The fire station request includes $53,000 to resurface the parking lot and build concrete pads at the bay doors. A board member warned that asking town meeting for $50,000 to pave the station lot will draw pushback from residents waiting on road paving.
• 52:14
  The proposed engine replacement is a $474,000 package, likely $500,000 to $510,000 once financed, at about $72,500 a year for seven years. That is close to twice the fire station payment that ends this year, and the rescue is due for replacement in 2019 at roughly $50,000 a year on top.

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: 1 passage of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

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