Select Board Meeting ~ April 25, 2017

2017-04-25 · Select Board · 1:38:14 · watch on YouTube →

A goal-setting workshop held shortly after town meeting, with several new selectmen on the board. Members put ideas on the table rather than deciding anything: getting the RSU 5 school budget discussed locally, moving the town from a calendar year to a fiscal year, building a single town-wide capital improvement plan, laying out costed options for catching up on the roads, improving communication with residents, and assigning selectmen as liaisons to departments and committees. A long and pointed exchange took up much of the middle of the meeting over whether the savings the town claims from doing its own ditching and culvert work on the Runaround Pond and Rabbit Road job could really be as large as reported. The fire chief and the road commissioner both spoke at length about the constraints they work under. The chair closed the workshop without a motion, noting none was needed.

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. 0:03
   Purpose of the workshop

   The chair opened it as an open discussion of goals for the coming year, saying that with more new selectmen than usual he wanted everyone's agenda on the table so the board could decide how to handle them and work together.

2. 0:03
   Discussing the school budget locally

   A member said a $2 million rise in the school budget in one year should be discussed on the town floor. Others answered that the state's prescribed method is the three-town RSU 5 budget meeting, that a town meeting can only take up what is on the warrant, and that a warrant article to discuss the RSU budget would have no effect on it.

3. 0:03
   Getting residents to the RSU meetings

   Members described repeated attempts to draw Durham residents out: meetings held at the Durham school, a donated bus to Freeport that one person used, and the three-town meeting hosted in Durham last year with no better turnout. Attendance was put at roughly 40 to 48 Durham residents out of a population of 3,500 to 3,800.

4. 5:09
   Moving from a calendar year to a fiscal year

   Kevin (?) raised shifting the town's budget year, which would move town meeting to about June and would put the town's revenue and spending in alignment instead of approving a budget in April for a year that began in January and is not collected on until August. He noted the transition would mean an awkward stretch of taxes and that Pownal had gone through something similar; Tim Gidding (?) of Pownal had described a planned-out process.

5. 10:16
   Who would study the fiscal year change

   Members agreed the pros and cons and a route from A to B would have to be mapped before anything went to town meeting, and that it needed townspeople on it rather than only outside advice from MMA or GPCOG.

6. 10:16
   A town-wide capital improvement plan

   A member said a resident's questions at town meeting had prompted him to raise it. He wants the town to stop unspent department budget money automatically rolling into that department's capital reserve, and instead put all proposed projects (a fire truck, a dump truck, a building expansion) into one pot and prioritise them on a longer horizon.

7. 10:16
   Objection on behalf of the fire department

   Another member said any such change would have to go to the voters and that it would be unfair to the fire department, which had been planning a decade further ahead than anyone else, to take money the taxpayers had already directed to its reserve and throw it into a general pot.

8. 15:44
   Would one big article be a target

   A member warned that combining everything would produce an article of roughly $200,000 a year, probably low, and that big forward-looking numbers are what voters cut. Others pointed out that town meeting had already zeroed the separate fire and public works capital set-asides this year, and that the fire department's request was three to four years overdue after two years of refusals.

9. 15:44
   How other towns do it, and how far out Durham plans

   Pownal has a capital improvement committee that vets requests before they reach the town floor and looks 25 to 30 years ahead. Durham's fire department has run a capital plan since about 2003 or 2004, looking 10 to 15 years out; roads are only now being planned, and the town office is at the 30-year mark with work coming.

10. 21:03
    Whether the budget committee should take this on

    Two members suggested rolling the capital improvement work into the budget committee's duties, which are otherwise a light assignment. A member objected that it would be a conflict of interest, since the committee's role is to recommend on the board's proposal and its mission has historically been seen as spending the least possible; the suggestion was withdrawn.

11. 21:03
    Costed options for the roads

    Kevin (?) asked for a more overt long-range road plan with several options (a ten-year, six-year, four-year and two-year programme, each with its cost) so residents can see the trade-off between how fast roads get fixed and what it costs. The road commissioner said his spreadsheet already shows that holding Durham's 47.2 miles on the ten-year overlay cycle DOT recommends runs about $500,000 a year in maintenance alone, before any rebuilding.

12. 21:03
    Road survey requested

    Members asked Calvin to bring the road survey to the following Tuesday's meeting so they could see exactly how many miles fall into the rebuild category and work out a per-foot price. He said the 3.6 to 3.7 miles done last year would have cost around $1.9 million if contracted in the usual way.

13. 26:23
    Bond terms

    The last road bond was taken over seven years rather than ten or fifteen, on the reasoning that it makes no sense to finance over fifteen years something that will need work again in ten. For a two or three year programme financed by a single bond, a ten to twelve year term was suggested as making more sense.

14. 26:23
    Why the roads are in this state

    Until 2010 Durham had an elected road commissioner and contracted everything out, with each project going to the town floor; since 2010 the post has been appointed and the public works department has gone through several iterations. Separately, a state programme in the late 1970s and early 1980s paid towns to convert gravel roads to pavement, and Durham laid pavement over what was there without building a proper base; those roads are now about thirty years on.

15. 31:40
    The savings figure is challenged

    A member said the claimed saving of $700,000 to $800,000 on the Runaround Pond and Rabbit Road job, against a comparable Pownal job run by the same contractor, did not make sense to him as someone who builds roads and subdivisions. The answer given was that Durham did its own ditching and cross culverts, that the town makes no profit, and that the figures work out at about $61 a foot against about $100 a foot in Pownal.

16. 36:48
    The exchange continues

    Officials (?) said the asphalt thickness and treatment were the same on both projects and that Durham's had less ditching, so a footage comparison would show more savings rather than less. The member kept pressing that a disparity of that size on the same scope does not add up; another responded that no two roads have the same variables.

17. 41:52
    Rumour, verification and a caution

    A member cautioned the new selectmen that some of what circulates as fact is partly true at best, and noted that the Facebook page presented as the town's is not run by the town. The member with the questions was invited to inspect the actual figures in the TRIO system and to make a freedom of access request to Pownal for its bills, and was told that if the numbers check out it does not matter whether they seem to make sense.

18. 47:07
    Communication as a goal

    Kevin (?) said that in the absence of a narrative from the leadership people will make up their own, and suggested the new website carry something like a road commissioner's blog explaining what is being done and why. He noted Durham has no single common media source: one end of town reads the Sun Journal, another the Times Record, another the Press Herald. Officials (?) described targeted mailings already used on Davis Road.

19. 52:17
    Selectmen as liaisons

    A member proposed that each selectman take on liaison duty for a department or a set of committees (fire, public works, the town office, the comprehensive plan committee, and the historic district, cemetery and Memorial Day parade committees) with the historic society, which is not a town committee, folded in with the historic district. The stated purpose was to open lines of communication, not to direct anyone.

20. 52:17
    The line between communication and micromanaging

    Members said the board had pulled so far back to avoid appearing to micromanage that communication had been lost. It was stressed that an individual selectman has no authority (a liaison can carry things between the board and a department but cannot tell the fire chief or the road commissioner what to do) and that this understanding has been blurred at times.

21. 57:17
    How often department heads should report

    The fire chief asked whether a liaison would remove the need for him to come every couple of weeks. Members floated monthly reporting, or alternating meetings between the road commissioner and the fire department, with written reports where nothing needs a vote, while noting that department reports also inform residents watching the video.

22. 57:17
    Health insurance and salary comparisons

    The board asked for the MMA salary survey material and health insurance figures for surrounding and similarly sized communities to be ready for the May 16th meeting.

23. 57:17
    A senior property tax credit

    A member described reading in the Forecaster that North Yarmouth gives residents who are 70, have lived in town ten years and have been in their current home a year a credit of about $1,000 on the property tax bill. He was told it is legal and done by ordinance in many towns, and said he was not advocating it but thought it worth investigating.

24. 1:02:19
    Who would pay for it, and the homestead exemption

    Members noted that a credit has to be paid for by everyone else, and that this cuts across the roads, fire trucks and town office work coming. The discussion turned to the homestead exemption ($20,000 off the assessed value, reimbursed to the town at 62.5 per cent this year) and whether enough eligible residents claim it.

25. 1:02:19
    Promoting the exemptions

    Members suggested doing more to encourage residents to file, noting the April 1st deadline. It was pointed out that a flyer covering the homestead exemption, the veterans exemption and other options used to go out with the tax bill and that the information is in the assessor's section of the annual report; sending a flyer again was thought inexpensive.

26. 1:07:33
    Durham's demographics and housing

    Members disputed the idea that Durham has a notably ageing population, saying the town has one of the highest median incomes and lowest average ages in the state and a lot of younger families moving in. They agreed there is little affordable starter housing or rental stock, that the ordinances discourage duplexes, and that with lots at $45,000 to $60,000 affordability is hard.

27. 1:07:33
    Bringing the budget committee in earlier

    A member asked whether the budget committee could be involved through the year rather than facing everything fresh over three nights in February. Officials (?) described quarterly reports and mid-year invitations already tried, including one when the waste haulers presented, which drew a fair number of members.

28. 1:12:40
    A municipal finance workshop and quarterly reviews

    Members discussed a training session on municipal finance terms such as undesignated and restricted funds, to be held with the budget committee either in late May or June or closer to budget season in December, plus a quarterly budget review meeting with the committee to establish a regular touch point. Inviting the committee to the May 16th meeting was raised so they could hear the health insurance comparisons.

29. 1:12:40
    The fire chief on the calendar-year budget

    The fire chief said the hardest thing he works with is that a budget voted in the spring expires on December 31st, leaving perhaps seven or eight months to specify a capital project, get approval, hire someone, schedule it and clear the invoices. He said the same problem applies to operational spending that falls outside the previous year's normal parameters, since only a fraction of the prior budget is available before town meeting.

30. 1:17:56
    What non-lapsing means

    It was explained that ordinary budget money lapses at the end of the year into capital reserve or undesignated funds and must be reappropriated, while a non-lapsing fund such as the fire department capital reserve carries over, though still needing authorisation to spend. Work substantially finished before December 31st can be encumbered and paid the following year.

31. 1:17:56
    More than one tax due date

    An advantage of a fiscal year noted was that the town could have more than one tax due date. Durham has a single due date only because taxes cannot be committed until the summer, when the school figure is known; committing in the autumn would allow autumn and spring instalments as many towns do.

32. 1:17:56
    The fire chief on a community-wide capital plan

    The fire chief said that although his own department has had a capital plan for years, he has always argued the town should build one covering everything rather than leaving fire, public works and the town office each to present their own, since no private organisation is fragmented that way. He added that he still wants departmental funding kept separate.

33. 1:23:03
    Whether the rescue service was sold on revenue

    The fire chief said he had never argued for the service on the grounds that it would generate revenue, and challenged anyone to produce a recording of him doing so; his case was that Durham had been paying twenty to thirty thousand a year to other services. Members agreed revenue is secondary to the service, while noting residents remember what was said at town meetings years ago.

34. 1:23:03
    Which roads draw the most complaints

    Bowie Hill Road from Davis Road to the stream was named as the biggest source of complaints, with Hill Meadow and Plummer Mill also mentioned. Calvin (?) said he was working on a plan, possibly using money left over because an insurance figure came in lower than expected, to do a heavy cold mix shim and overlay through that section.

35. 1:23:03
    How roads are prioritised

    Calvin (?) said he does not work worst-first, because letting maintainable roads slide only feeds more of them into the rebuild category. Among roads already in the rebuild category the ranking weighs condition, traffic count, the number of taxpayers affected and whether a school, fire station or other public safety consideration is involved.

36. 1:28:10
    The limits of ditching on Bowie Hill

    Members asked whether ditching could lower the water table on the worst stretch. Calvin (?) said that section sits in a wash with nowhere to drain to, that there is no base under the road, and that anything short of ditching there is throwaway work: a band-aid that may last two or three years.

37. 1:28:10
    Is any road a public safety problem

    A member asked whether any Durham road is bad enough to count as a public safety issue rather than a nuisance, and argued that if so it would have to be the top priority. Officials (?) said the board had never had that discussion; mostly the risk is people driving too fast for conditions, and one road had wrecked a plough truck.

38. 1:28:10
    New Brunswick Road and fire response

    The fire chief said New Brunswick Road is the one road he would deem a public safety issue: once frost sets in he does not put fire trucks on it, going instead via Quaker Meeting House Road, which adds roughly three to five minutes to responses in that part of town. He raised, without volunteering it, that treating the road as out of service part of the year would change the measured mileage to those homes.

39. 1:33:26
    No rebuilds this year

    Members confirmed that no miles of road will be rebuilt this year (the voted budget is all maintenance) and that the choice of roads for next year is the new board's to make. It was noted that DOT advises repeatedly against spending general road maintenance money on rebuilding and tells towns to bond it instead, though bonding means paying interest.

40. 1:33:26
    The fire chief on operational planning

    Asked what he meant by operational planning, the fire chief cited NFPA's ten-year replacement cycle for turnout gear, which the state is not yet enforcing, a replacement programme for thermal imaging cameras as technology moves on, and self-contained breathing apparatus he can no longer get serviced, including carbon fibre cylinders with a fifteen-year life that must come off the shelf even if still serviceable. He argued these operational needs should feed into a single municipal plan alongside the roads.

41. 1:33:26
    Close

    The chair closed the workshop shortly after 8 p.m., saying no motion was needed because it was a workshop.

What was decided

• 21:03
  Ask Road Commissioner Calvin to bring the road survey to the following Tuesday's meeting so the board can see which roads fall into the rebuild category and work from a per-foot price. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made at this workshop.passed
• 21:03
  Withdraw the suggestion that the capital improvement work be rolled into the budget committee's duties, after an objection that it would be a conflict of interest with the committee's role of recommending on the board's own proposal. The member who raised it rescinded it.failed
• 57:17
  Have the MMA salary survey material and health insurance comparisons for surrounding and similarly sized communities ready for the May 16th meeting. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 1:12:40
  Invite the budget committee to the May 16th meeting so they can hear the health insurance comparisons, and hold a municipal finance training session with them at some point. The discussion moved on to what would be ready by that date without plainly settling either the invitation or the timing of the training.outcome unclear

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

• 31:40
  A member repeatedly challenged the claim that Durham saved $700,000 to $800,000 on the Runaround Pond and Rabbit Road job by doing its own ditching and cross culverts, against a comparable Pownal project run by the same contractor. The figures given in defence were about $61 a foot in Durham against about $100 a foot in Pownal. He was invited to inspect the town's actual figures and to make a freedom of access request to Pownal for its bills.
• 21:03
  Durham has 47.2 miles of town road. Holding them on the ten-year overlay cycle DOT recommends would cost about $500,000 a year in maintenance alone, with nothing in that figure for rebuilding the roads already past maintaining.
• 15:44
  A single combined capital improvement article was estimated at roughly $200,000 a year, and the member who put the figure forward thought it low. Members also noted that this year's town meeting had zeroed the separate fire department and public works capital set-asides, and that the fire department's equipment request is three to four years past due after two years of refusals.
• 1:28:10
  The fire chief said New Brunswick Road is the one road he would call a public safety problem: once frost sets in he will not put fire trucks on it and goes round by Quaker Meeting House Road, which adds roughly three to five minutes to responses in that part of town.

Elsewhere

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