Select Board Meeting ~ December 9, 2025

2025-12-09 · Select Board · 2:11:00 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on December 9, 2025. Two personnel policy items were carried without the HR consultant, Betsy, who was out sick: whether to move town staff to a Maine PERS retirement plan that includes cost of living adjustments, and whether to adopt a wage table with eight 4 percent steps. No vote was taken on either; the board agreed that town manager Jerry could use the draft wage table as a baseline when building the budget, on the understanding that this does not lock in the table or the budget figure. The board voted to have Jerry request a speed study from the Maine Department of Transportation for Royalsborough Road following a pedestrian fatality, over the town manager's warning that the town cannot answer the application's questions and John's objection that other steps should come first. The board also sat as the board of assessors to approve a $63.80 property abatement, heard that an unemployment assessment had arrived with no budget line to pay it, and was told the school board is preparing a budget that is currently a 10 percent increase.

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

What was discussed

1. 6:14
   Public comment on Route 136 speeds

   Juliet Paplinger of Route 136 spoke in support of a speed study, saying she lives close to where the fatality happened and that she has to cross the road to put out her trash. She noted the speed limit there is 50 miles per hour before dropping to 40. She was thanked as vice chair of the planning board and chair of the solid waste committee.

2. 6:14
   Minutes and opening

   The meeting opened at 6:30 p.m. with a quorum. The minutes of the November 18 meeting were approved. The chair noted the HR consultant was sick and that the personnel items would be discussed without her, with questions emailed to her for next time.

3. 6:14
   Retirement plan cost of living adjustments

   Jerry Douglass (?) explained that staff are in a defined benefit plan through MMA with no cost of living adjustment after retirement, and that because the town has no Section 218 agreement staff do not pay into Social Security, so the pension is their only retirement income. A plan that includes COLAs would cost between 1 and 2 percent more, 1.2 percent in the coming year, split employer and employee. Employer contributions were $70,477 in 2024 and $59,601 to date in the current year.

4. 21:33
   Debate over seeing the cost first

   Several members said they supported the COLA option on principle. John (?) said that even if the figure would not change his vote, he had an obligation to taxpayers to see the number and to know whether the 1 to 2 percent range is in writing or just historical. The board agreed to hold the policy vote until Jerry brings preliminary figures from the budget work, before the budget packet is created.

5. 26:56
   Draft wage table

   Jerry (?) presented a draft wage table built with Betsy, with eight steps of 4 percent each and cost of living adjustments only above step eight. He said public works starting pay had to be brought up to $25 an hour to recruit, and that employees with eight and ten years of service are nowhere near the eight to ten year figures. He said the table is still below what surrounding communities pay and that he had already brought it down from a more competitive version.

6. 32:16
   How existing staff would be placed

   Jerry (?) said existing employees would not simply be dropped onto the step matching their years of service, because for long-serving staff that would be too large an increase. He would work with department heads to place each person and the result would show as a wage adjustment in the full-time wages line. He said steps are not tied to performance reviews and that performance problems are documented and handled separately.

7. 42:30
   Loss of budget flexibility

   John (?) said a guaranteed 4 percent a year for the first eight steps removes the board's flexibility if the town's finances deteriorate. Jerry (?) said he would look to the paving budget rather than wages. Members discussed that the table is a fixed cost with the offsetting benefit of being predictable and a recruitment tool.

8. 47:49
   Promotions and prior experience

   The board discussed how a promotion is handled so that an employee does not take a pay cut, using the example of a truck driver at step five on $29.25 an hour promoted to foreman, where step one is $27.00. The rule discussed was to place them at the first step that exceeds their current wage. Members agreed the handbook should reference the wage table rather than spelling out individual cases.

9. 53:02
   Whether 4 percent is the right step

   John (?) questioned whether 4 percent is the right figure if inflation is lower, and said he would not support the table if it added $50,000 or $100,000 to the budget. Jerry (?) said the town is far enough below market that it could well add $50,000, and that changing the step percentage mid-stream would be difficult because employees cannot be moved backwards.

10. 58:18
    Budget pressures and revaluation

    John (?) said the coming years will be difficult, that he does not believe the one third up, one third same, one third down expectation for the revaluation, and that with the school at 8 percent and the county at 12.6 percent the town has to watch its budget. Another member said the revaluation shifts the distribution of the tax burden rather than changing town spending. Members agreed the real levers in the budget are wages, paving, reserves and the use of fund balance.

11. 1:08:51
    Agreement to use the wage table as a budget baseline

    The chair asked whether members were comfortable with Jerry building the budget off the draft table, on the explicit understanding that this does not approve or lock in the table. Members agreed. The board will see the resulting full-time wages line during the budget cycle and can then decide whether to cut it or cut elsewhere.

12. 1:14:25
    Legitimising the planner position in the ordinance

    Jerry (?) said the town planner is not mentioned anywhere in the ordinance, which still refers to the code officer working with the planning board, and that he wants the ordinance updated to reflect current practice. The change will go through public participation and a town meeting vote. Two other planning board changes are included: dropping the requirement for ten copies of every application, and moving the submission deadline from two weeks to 21 days before a meeting.

13. 1:14:25
    Speed study request for Royalsborough Road

    Jerry (?) said he is willing to request a speed study from MDOT after the fatality but needs a vote, and warned he cannot answer the application's questions: there is no enforcement data on speeding, he and Calvin did not find the road uncomfortable to drive at the posted limit, and the form says requests should not be based on traffic calming goals. He said MDOT sets limits from the 85th percentile of observed speeds and that a study can result in a higher limit, and that the study itself would take a year or more.

14. 1:24:35
    Disagreement over how to proceed

    The chair argued there is enough on the record to make the request, citing the fatality, a reported nine crashes on that stretch this year, and elderly residents crossing a 50 mile per hour road for mail and trash. John (?) argued the first step should be a conversation with MDOT, targeted enforcement grants, or other measures, and that filing an application the town cannot support risks a refusal. Others suggested inviting an MDOT traffic engineer to a meeting.

15. 1:35:34
    Vote on the speed study request

    The chair moved that Jerry fill out the paperwork to request a speed study. The vote was taken with some confusion about who had voted which way. Members afterwards agreed Jerry would also contact the MDOT traffic engineer and invite them to a meeting, and would bring information back as he works on the application.

16. 1:46:04
    Unemployment assessment and the case for a contingency line

    Jerry (?) reported an unemployment assessment for a former part-time employee, with a balance of $758, and said he has no budget line to pay it from. He said this is the second or third example and that the general government budget needs a contingency line. Members noted the fire department has 42 part-time employees, any of whom could generate a claim, and that past objections were that other lines had enough slack.

17. 1:51:25
    Board of assessors: property abatement

    The board moved into the board of assessors, approved a property abatement of $63.80, and moved back out. All three motions were recorded as passing unanimously.

18. 1:51:25
    Town manager report

    Jerry (?) reported that the public works employee hired most recently has given two weeks' notice, the third or fourth recent hire not to last, leaving the department short going into snow season. He said the man had never plowed before and that the trucks are $250,000 to $300,000 pieces of equipment, and that other towns pay more so poaching staff is hard. He also announced the staff holiday lunch on December 18 from 11:30 to 2.

19. 1:57:16
    School budget outlook

    The chair reported meeting with school board leadership, who are preparing a budget that is a 10 percent increase for the same services and hope to reach about 7 percent through attrition, with 6 percent as a bare bones goal. He said the school board will have voted its final figure before the town finishes its budget, which is new. Members also discussed a proposal to move early childhood development services for three and four year olds from the state to local school districts, and whether funding would follow.

20. 2:02:45
    Solid waste committee and Casella automated collection

    Deb (?) reported that a Casella representative attended the solid waste committee meeting and answered questions about the coming automated collection. The committee has emailed Jerry a set of proposals to bring to the select board. She credited the write-up to Katherine (?).

21. 2:02:45
    Mortgage escrow problems after the tax billing change

    Members reported residents whose mortgage companies are increasing escrow because they are applying the higher mill rate to a half-year bill. Donna, the assessor, cannot issue estimated tax bills. Jerry (?) said he has a letter he sends to mortgage companies explaining the difference, and members suggested publicising it in the news blast.

22. 2:08:36
    Next meeting, consent agenda and adjournment

    The board agreed the December 23 meeting would be a consent agenda plus a workshop on the budget process, so staff other than the town manager need not stay. The consent agenda was approved and upcoming meetings were listed, including the conservation commission on the 17th and select board on January 13. The meeting adjourned.

What was decided

• 6:14
  Approve the meeting minutes from November 18.passed
• 21:33
  No vote taken on moving staff to a retirement plan with cost of living adjustments; the board agreed to wait for cost figures from the town manager and answers from the HR consultant, with a vote sought before the budget packet is assembled.tabled
• 1:08:51
  Board agreed by consensus that the town manager may use the draft wage table as the baseline for building the budget, with the explicit understanding that this does not adopt the wage table or commit the board to the resulting figure.passed
• 1:35:34
  Motion by the chair that the town manager fill out the paperwork to request a speed study from the Maine Department of Transportation for Royalsborough Road, seconded by Deb (?). The vote was confused on the recording, but the board referred afterwards to having voted to move ahead.passed
• 1:51:25
  Motion to move into the board of assessors.passed
• 1:51:25
  Approve a property abatement of $63.80, then exit the board of assessors.passed
• 2:08:36
  Approve the consent agenda, and a following motion to adjourn.passed

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

Worth knowing

• 1:24:35
  The speed study request follows a pedestrian fatality on Royalsborough Road, and the chair cited a reported nine crashes on that stretch in the past year. The town manager warned the town cannot answer the application's questions because it has no law enforcement and therefore no speeding data, and that a study can raise a speed limit rather than lower it.
• 26:56
  Public works starting pay had to be raised to $25 an hour to recruit, and staff with eight to ten years of service are paid well below the equivalent step. The most recently hired public works employee gave two weeks' notice before snow season, the third or fourth recent hire not to stay.
• 1:57:16
  The school board is preparing a budget that is currently a 10 percent increase for the same services, and hopes to bring it to about 7 percent through attrition. The county was cited at 12.6 percent.
• 1:46:04
  An unemployment assessment of $758 arrived for a former part-time employee and the town has no budget line to pay it from. The town manager said the general government budget needs a contingency line, noting the fire department alone has 42 part-time employees who could generate claims.

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: 4 passages of motion language, against 7 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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