Select Board Meeting ~ July 11, 2017

2017-07-11 · Select Board · 1:18:37 · watch on YouTube →

Most of this select board meeting was taken up by public comment. Barry Baldwin asked what his options were after five months before the planning board on the Mineral Springs subdivision, the board having raised a question about whether lot owners would have legal rights over Granite Hill Farm Road; the select board declined to back hiring a separate roads attorney and told the planning board to put its concerns in writing to the town's own attorney. Mike Bergeron asked for extra culverts across Cedar Pond Road to stop his basement flooding, and was told that changing the flow would cost the town its in-kind permitting exemption, with the matter referred to Road Commissioner Calvin Beaumier. Residents raised accidents and blocked sight lines at the Route 9 intersections with Runaround Pond Road and Rabbit Road, and the board agreed to look at cutting back the growth and painting a stop bar. The board also adopted a childhood cancer awareness proclamation, authorised the chairman to sign a letter supporting a Homeland Security radio grant, heard the fire chief on per diem staffing and training, and flagged a special town meeting on July 17 before going into executive session on the codes official post.

What was discussed

1. 0:02
   Call to order and changes to the agenda

   Chairman Kevin Nadeau opened the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Correspondence was taken off the consent agenda so it could be discussed separately, and a short executive session was added at the end to review new code enforcement officer applications and an information technology application and decide whether to schedule interviews.

2. 0:02
   Public comment: Barry Baldwin on his subdivision

   Barry Baldwin of Runaround Pond Road (?) said he had been five months with the planning board on a subdivision application. The completeness checklist and site walk are done and only the stormwater management plan is outstanding, but the board has raised a right of way and road frontage question about Granite Hill Farm Road.

3. 0:02
   The road frontage question as Baldwin put it

   Baldwin said a previous planning board settled the road's status in 2012 with his attorney, the town attorney and codes all agreeing it is a road frontage road, meaning a private road meeting the ordinance definition, and that he needs 300 feet of frontage and 90,000 square feet to build. He said a 12-acre lot he gave his son on the far side of a 400-foot power line strip has only 30 feet of frontage but is a separate lot of record. The chairman noted the select board does not overrule the planning board and asked what he was seeking; Baldwin said information, not a decision.

4. 5:53
   The planning board's account

   Anne Torregrossa said the two attorneys' letters were not as clear-cut as Baldwin presented: the town attorney at the time, Curt Weber, did not affirmatively clarify the status of what is an old discontinued county road. It is not clear who holds rights in it, whether abutters to the centre line or a public easement, and the 2012 planning board had decided only that it lacked jurisdiction because the application was not for a back lot.

5. 5:53
   Baldwin's account of the 2012 hearing

   Baldwin said he had applied for two back lot permits knowing they were not back lots, because that was the only way to get in front of the board, and that once the board saw the papers it refunded his $200 and everyone agreed it was a road-fronted road. He said the tapes of that meeting are clearer than the minutes.

6. 5:53
   Questions on the two lots

   Members asked whether the son's lot fronts on the road in question. Baldwin said it does, with 30 feet of frontage, which is not enough but which he said is a non-conforming lot of record. He said the original parcel was split by the power line into 12 acres on one side and about 98 acres on the other.

7. 11:12
   Where an appeal would lie

   Members told Baldwin that if he disagrees with the planning board the route is the board of appeals, but that no appeal is available because the application has not been denied. Baldwin said he has five months in the project and had planned to finish the road this year.

8. 11:12
   Why the planning board wants a specialist

   Anne Torregrossa said Curt Weber has retired and the town now uses Jack Conway, who is not a roads expert, and that the planning board would prefer an attorney who specialises in paper streets and discontinued roads. The board's concern is that access to the subdivision runs up Granite Hill Farm Road, that there is no maintenance agreement for it, and that if rights turn out to belong to abutters residents could later be unable to reach their homes.

9. 11:12
   Possible conditions on approval

   Anne Torregrossa said the planning board also wants to know what conditions it should consider, such as a road maintenance agreement for Granite Hill Farm Road or an easement from the abutters, and that an unfavourable opinion would not necessarily mean refusal. She said the subdivision road itself is not in question.

10. 11:12
    Select board's position on the attorney

    Members asked why the current town attorney had not simply been asked, and established that no attorney has yet been approached about it. The board said the planning board should go through the normal town attorney process, that Jack Conway is in the same firm as Curt Weber and should have the file, and that if he does not feel he is the right person he can bring in a consultant under his own banner.

11. 16:22
    How the request will be made

    Members discussed who makes the call to the attorney, noting requests normally go through the administrative assistant and that the planning board has a legal budget. It was agreed that Anne Torregrossa would write a letter setting out the planning board's concerns as bullet points, that Calvin Beaumier would forward it as administrator of land use, and that the select board would be copied in. Baldwin was told the planning board will then take it from there and that a further dispute becomes a board of appeals matter.

12. 16:22
    Public comment: flooding at 93 Cedar Pond Road

    Mike Bergeron said his property floods during heavy rain, that the fire department has been called to pump it out, and that the problem predates his ownership. He said a small drainage brook runs through the property and the culverts crossing Cedar Pond Road back up badly enough to flood his basement.

13. 21:55
    The culverts as Bergeron described them

    He has three 24-inch by 40-foot culverts crossing his driveway, the neighbours at 85 have two 24-inch by 20-foot, and two 24-inch by 40-foot culverts cross Cedar Pond Road. He said the road culverts top off first and everything then backs up to him, and asked for a third or fourth culvert of the same size across the road.

14. 21:55
    Whether it is the town's problem

    A member said there is no historic record of a problem with the road, that the culverts have been in for 20 or 30 years, and that the issue may be the elevation at which the house was built, which is not the town's responsibility. Bergeron said the recurring floods create expense for the town when the fire department has to pump the basement, and that increasing capacity through the road would be the simplest and cheapest fix.

15. 27:28
    Water table and house elevation

    A board member who lives across the road said that when he built he needed about two feet of rock to get above the water table, and that the bottom of Bergeron's walk-out door may be within inches of it. He offered to go over as a neighbour and shoot grades. Bergeron said the basement and the perimeter of the foundation are otherwise dry and the water comes in through the walk-out.

16. 27:28
    Permitting constraint on the road culverts

    Calvin Beaumier said the town is exempt from NRPA permitting when it replaces culverts in kind, but that the moment the volume of water changes the town is affecting someone downstream and loses the exemption, requiring a full permitting process. Members agreed that would fall outside the window of the road work currently underway.

17. 32:48
    Culvert capacity discussion

    Calvin Beaumier said culverts are treated as open channel flow using Manning's equation, that length mostly matters for friction, and that smooth bore pipe has an essentially zero friction coefficient, so the difference is not the eight-to-one Bergeron had calculated. Bergeron maintained the neighbours' shorter culverts flow fine and that the backup begins at the road.

18. 32:48
    Alternatives and downstream risk

    Members floated an overflow culvert elsewhere on the road, outside the stream, which might avoid permitting, and asked whether the neighbour could add capacity privately. A member said the town does not know what is downstream and does not want to create a problem for someone else; it was noted there is no housing between that stretch of road and the river.

19. 32:48
    Referred to the road commissioner

    The chairman moved the item along, encouraging Bergeron to talk with Calvin Beaumier, who had also offered to help as a neighbour. If anything emerged that the town could properly do, Calvin Beaumier would bring it back to the board as a potential project.

20. 37:59
    Practical suggestions to the homeowner

    A member repeated advice given when the house was previously on the market: seal the walk-out door, add windows, coat it heavily and regrade so water slopes away. Bergeron said water also percolates up through the floor and that there are no perimeter drains.

21. 37:59
    Public comment: accidents on Route 9

    Residents raised the number of accidents at the Route 9 intersections with Runaround Pond Road and Rabbit Road, saying sight lines could be improved by trimming back growth. Members noted stop signs and stop-ahead signs are already in place and that the Rabbit Road stop-ahead signs are new.

22. 43:08
    Blocked sight lines

    A resident described having to pull well out at both intersections that day because of overgrowth, past the memorial on the Runaround Pond side and near the Royalsborough Inn on Rabbit Road. Members discussed whether Route 9 is a state road, concluded the town plows it and can cut the growth, and were pointed to Pete Coughlin at Maine Local Roads for the right contact; the growth was thought to be Japanese knotweed.

23. 43:08
    What the town can do

    Options identified were trimming the growth, repainting a stop bar, and as a last resort the selectmen petitioning the state for a light, with the town likely to bear the cost. Members said the state had studied the corridor and is putting a light in elsewhere but did not think this intersection met its criteria. Residents said there had been four accidents in recent months, including one the previous week in which the driver walked away but is now critically ill.

24. 43:08
    Correction to the July 6 minutes

    Jill Toher had pointed out that the July 6 minutes refer to Vice Chairman Nadeau where they should say Chairman Nadeau. The correction was made to the version on the table.

25. 48:14
    Consent agenda

    The July 6 minutes were amended to correct the chairman's title, and the remaining consent agenda items were then taken as a block, correspondence having been removed earlier.

26. 48:14
    Childhood cancer awareness proclamation

    Rob Pontau brought a request, disclosing that the person who raised it with him is a coworker and friend whose son has come through cancer. The campaign, led by a ten-year-old girl with cancer, is asking the governor to proclaim September childhood cancer awareness month, and is seeking supporting proclamations from as many towns as possible.

27. 48:14
    The proclamation read into the record

    Rob Pontau read the sample text, which states that cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among United States children, is detected in more than 15,000 children a year nationally and more than 50 new Maine children annually, with more than 400 Maine children currently in treatment and an incidence figure of 468.3 per 100,000. It records the five-year survival rate rising from under 50 percent to 80 percent, that one in five children diagnosed will not survive, and commits the town to help Maine go gold in support of Team Haley Hugs.

28. 53:21
    Proclamation adopted and publicised

    A motion was made to approve the proclamation as read and written, a show of hands was called, and members signed copies. It was agreed to ask Shannon (?) to put signage on the bulletin board and to post the signed proclamation on the town website.

29. 53:21
    Correspondence on the Rabbit Road project costs

    A resident, not named at the meeting, had written questioning the cost comparison between having public works do part of the Rabbit Road and Runaround Pond project and having Crooker do all of it. The chairman said Ruth Glaeser, who ran the numbers, has revised them at least once since town meeting, bringing the projected savings down by about $80,000, and that the board would get confirmed figures from her and reply.

30. 53:21
    Whether to keep revisiting the project

    Several members said they agreed the resident should get an answer but questioned why the board keeps returning to a project that began over a year ago and is nearly finished. It was agreed to work with Ruth Glaeser on the numbers when she returns and respond then.

31. 53:21
    Fire chief on the Route 9 corridor

    Fire Chief William St. Michel said the corridor from Brunswick to Gray, where it crosses Routes 9, 136 and 125, probably accounts for around 20 percent of the town's vehicle accidents, and pointed to the number of roadside crosses along it. He attributed it to speed as much as inattention, in a community without its own law enforcement.

32. 58:34
    Apparatus committee meetings

    The chief reported two committee meetings this month with vendor representatives, the first an industry overview and the second focused on fire apparatus, both at 7 p.m. One clashes with the special town meeting; members discussed who could attend and expected the vendor meeting to run past 8:30.

33. 58:34
    Per diem and duty coverage

    The chief passed round the coverage calendar, explaining that the aim is four covered names on each weekend day and two or three on weekdays, and said it is working. Two people interviewed from outside the department are to start per diem coverage, one new member has signed up and two or three existing members are completing licensing, so gaps should narrow through August and September.

34. 58:34
    Saturdays and the licensing constraint

    Asked about the empty Saturday slots, the chief said drivers are usually easy to fill and the shortage is EMS licences. He said the system deliberately does not require paramedics, because the per diem paramedic market is drained and paramedics go to the highest bidder, and credited the improvement in morale to the stipends paid for committed coverage.

35. 1:03:35
    Training programme

    A basic pumps class has been held, and aerial operations training for the department's aerial ladder runs from August through September for twelve people, covering setting and operating the device but not driving. Durham is expected to be a pilot community for the advanced fire officer class in the winter, allowing those who took basic fire officer to certify as fire officer one and two.

36. 1:03:35
    County emergency management presentation

    The county EMA director, Joanne (?), offered to deliver the emergency operations presentation to the board herself rather than have the chief do it, and it runs about two hours. She offered August 1 or August 15.

37. 1:03:35
    Date set for the presentation

    Members worked round conflicts, one noting the first is his wife's birthday, and settled on Tuesday August 15 at 6:30 p.m., subject to confirmation from the instructor. It would be held at the town office, with the option of moving to the station if turnout is large, since a PowerPoint is needed.

38. 1:09:15
    Apparatus maintenance

    Four of six vehicles were due for inspection stickers in June. Engine 21, a 2004, went in for brakes and springs, one spring having cracked; the chief noted the invoices may appear on the current warrant and that he is surprised more springs do not break given the road conditions.

39. 1:09:15
    Conference and department meeting

    The chief and Curtis (?) attended the New England Association of Fire Chiefs event and found the training useful. The department's monthly meeting is Thursday July 13 at 7 p.m. and board members are welcome.

40. 1:09:15
    Homeland Security radio grant

    The department has preliminary approval under the 2017 Homeland Security grant to buy 12 Motorola radios at $4,256. The chief explained these grants are fully funded but paid up front and reimbursed, and that the packet needs a letter of support signed by the department head and by the chairman of the select board.

41. 1:14:38
    Flu clinic offer

    In Ruth Glaeser's absence, a staff member addressed as Pam (?) reported an offer from a Lisbon Falls provider to run a flu clinic at the town office, fire station or Eureka for town employees and members, processing insurance and offering a discounted rate to the uninsured. Members said it was no more convenient than a pharmacy; the chief said US Health Works comes in the first Saturday in December for respiratory exams and titers and offers flu shots, with perhaps eight to ten taking them.

42. 1:14:38
    Upcoming meetings and special town meeting

    Regular select board meetings were noted for Tuesday July 25 and Tuesday August 8, both at 6:30 p.m. A special town meeting is set for Monday July 17 at 7 p.m. at the Eureka Center, to allow capital improvement and public works funds to be used to support a grant for culvert work on Auburn Pownal Road. The board stressed the grant covers most of the cost, the vote raises no money and does not increase taxes, and is purely procedural permission to spend from the capital improvement account.

43. 1:14:38
    Executive session

    With the regular business concluded the chairman moved to go into executive session on the codes official position. The recording ends at this point.

What was decided

• 0:02
  Agreed to amend the agenda: correspondence taken off the consent agenda for separate discussion, and an executive session added at the end to review code enforcement officer and information technology applications.passed
• 11:12
  The board declined to support the planning board engaging a separate attorney with roads expertise before the town's own attorney has been asked, saying the matter should go through the normal town attorney process and that he can bring in a consultant under his own banner if he does not feel qualified.passed
• 16:22
  Agreed that Anne Torregrossa would write a letter setting out the planning board's concerns as bullet points, that Calvin Beaumier would forward it to the town attorney, and that the select board would be copied, after which the matter returns to the planning board.passed
• 32:48
  No action was taken on adding culverts across Cedar Pond Road. The matter was referred to Mike Bergeron and Calvin Beaumier to work through offline, with Calvin Beaumier to bring anything back to the board as a potential project; changing the volume of water would cost the town its in-kind permitting exemption.tabled
• 43:08
  Agreed to start with cutting back the growth blocking sight lines at the Route 9 intersections and painting a stop bar, checking with Pete Coughlin at Maine Local Roads first, and to consider petitioning the state for a light only if the problem persists.passed
• 48:14
  Motion to amend the July 6 minutes to correct the reference to Vice Chairman Nadeau so that it reads Chairman Nadeau. The minutes record the consent agenda approved as amended.passed
• 48:14
  Motion to approve the remaining items on the consent agenda, correspondence having been removed, moved by Richard George and seconded by Todd Beaulieu. The minutes record it carried 5-0.passed
• 53:21
  Motion to approve the childhood cancer awareness proclamation as read and as written. A show of hands was called and members signed copies, with signage to go on the bulletin board and the signed proclamation onto the town website.passed
• 53:21
  Agreed to reply to the resident who questioned the Rabbit Road and Runaround Pond cost comparison once Ruth Glaeser returns and confirms the current figures, rather than reopening the project.passed
• 1:03:35
  Agreed to hold the county emergency management presentation on Tuesday August 15 at 6:30 p.m., subject to confirmation from the instructor, at the town office with the option of moving it to the fire station.passed
• 1:09:15
  Motion to sign the letter in support of the 2017 Homeland Security grant for 12 Motorola radios and to accept the funds if awarded, with Chairman Nadeau signing. Moved by Rob Pontau and seconded by Todd Beaulieu; the minutes record it carried 5-0.passed
• 1:14:38
  On the offer of an on-site flu clinic for town employees, the chairman said his sense was to pass on it and no member argued otherwise, but no motion was taken and no instruction was given to reply.outcome unclear
• 1:14:38
  Motion by Kevin Nadeau to go into executive session on personnel, the codes official, under Title 1 M.R.S.A. section 405(6)(A). The recording ends here; the minutes record the session beginning at 7:50 p.m., followed by a motion to have the town administrator schedule a candidate interview, carried 5-0, and adjournment at 8:01 p.m., carried 5-0.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_minutes_7.11.17.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.

• Approve the Consent Agenda as Amendedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• have Chairman Nadeau to sign the request letter in support of the Grantcarried 5-0

  Moved by Rob Pontau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• the Board into Executive Session pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A. ss. 405(6)(A) — Personnel — Codes Official 7:50 p.m., preceded by a brief recess. ) pectfully submitted, Wh fuv— Ay Z Di oher eetings Secretary Chairman Nad…

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• have Town administrator schedule candidate interviewcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Mark Blake

• Adjourn at 8:01 p.mcarried 5-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Rob Pontau

Worth knowing

• 11:12
  The planning board will not approve the Mineral Springs subdivision until an attorney confirms that lot owners would have legal rights over Granite Hill Farm Road, an old discontinued county road with no maintenance agreement whose ownership is unclear. The select board refused to back hiring a roads specialist and sent the question to the town's own attorney first.
• 43:08
  Residents reported four accidents in recent months at the Route 9 intersections with Runaround Pond Road and Rabbit Road, one leaving a driver critically ill, and said overgrowth blocks the sight lines. The state studied the corridor and did not think this intersection met its criteria for a light.
• 53:21
  The projected saving from having public works do part of the Rabbit Road and Runaround Pond project rather than Crooker has been revised down by about $80,000 since the figures were presented at town meeting.
• 1:14:38
  A special town meeting is set for Monday July 17 at 7 p.m. at the Eureka Center, to permit capital improvement and public works funds to be used as the town's cushion on a grant for culvert work on Auburn Pownal Road. The board stressed it appropriates no new money and does not increase taxes.

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 13 decisions summarised.

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