Select Board Meeting ~ July 26, 2022

2022-07-26 · Select Board · 2:19:40 · watch on YouTube →

The Durham Select Board met on July 26, 2022, chaired by Kevin Nadeau. Most of the meeting was spent building the warrant for an August 16 special town meeting that would appropriate ARPA funds for HVAC replacement at the town office and fire station, technology upgrades, and GIS tax mapping. The board accepted a heating and cooling bid from Agility at $44,419 for both buildings, then rebuilt the dollar figures for the warrant article by article, cutting a $65,000 technology request to $45,000 and striking the Eureka Center connection from it after members said that piece was not ready. Adam Pereira of the Royal River Conservation Trust asked for and received a letter of municipal support for an agricultural conservation easement on the Coulsons' New Leaf Farm. A resident and budget committee member pressed the board on the thinness of the supporting numbers and on an Efficiency Maine grant opening five days later that could cover the same HVAC work; the board decided to seek the ARPA money and apply for the grant in parallel. The meeting closed with routine permits and appointments and an executive session on the town manager search.

What was discussed

1. 0:01
   Call to order and public comment

   Kevin Nadeau opened the meeting and no amendments to the agenda were offered. A resident asked for a town manager hiring update, asked whether a joint workshop of the select board, planning board and conservation commission had been scheduled, and flagged an Efficiency Maine grant opening in five days with $15 million earmarked for HVAC, lighting, heating and cooling upgrades, which she said is fully funded rather than a match and covers buildings up to 50,000 square feet. She was told the planning board and conservation commission were still working out a proposal before bringing a workshop request to the board.

2. 0:01
   Town manager search update

   Kevin Nadeau said the search committee had presented a finalist, the board had met with that finalist, and an executive session on the search was scheduled at the end of the evening.

3. 0:01
   Fire chief's report: call volume and apparatus

   The fire chief reported 265 responses so far this year against 505 for all of last year, which he called on pace. Engine 22, the 2019 Pierce, was back in service after insurance repairs held up by parts availability; the town absorbed the $1,000 deductible within the fire budget.

4. 6:15
   Fire chief's report: training, donations, mutual aid

   Members attended tanker shuttle training in Lisbon and extrication training was set for Thursday; the department runs about 50 to 55 motor vehicle accidents and two or three extrications a year and carries two sets of tools. Donations included electrolyte powder and canned water from Anheuser-Busch. Despite messages asking about a cooling center the town did not open one and people found other places to go; the department gave mutual aid to a Brunswick fire and a three-alarm restaurant fire in Freeport, and the chief was covering Pownal unpaid for ten days while its chief was away, Pownal being down to about six active members.

5. 11:24
   Fire chief's report: COVID and monkeypox

   The chief said COVID was up in town, which he sees through transport and exposure reports, but that specific numbers are hard to come by. He also reported 3,800 monkeypox cases nationally and one in Maine, spread by close personal contact rather than coughing.

6. 11:24
   Public works report

   Calvin (?) reported ditching on Auburn Pownal Road that will run most of the summer, repairs to washed-out roads and shoulders, repainting of stop bars and intersection markings, brush cutting around curve and speed signs, and completion of 2022 roadside mowing with a machine rented jointly with Pownal. Crooker had not given a paving date and he was not pressing them because fuel and liquid asphalt prices were falling. He also said the town had not been fully in compliance with the federal drug and alcohol clearinghouse for commercial drivers and that he had spent considerable time bringing the records up to date ahead of expected audits.

7. 16:38
   Town manager's report

   Mitch Berkowitz reminded taxpayers that bills went out earlier in the month and that interest starts August 6, 2022. The town received a state homestead reimbursement and $83,698.08 in revenue sharing. Tax anticipation note documents were with legal counsel ahead of bank paperwork with Androscoggin Bank if needed, and he urged members to take the MMA training on the role of elected officials; a board member added that the FOAA training is required by law, can be done online, and the certificate goes to the town clerk.

8. 16:38
   New Leaf Farm conservation easement introduced

   The chair moved this item up so the applicant would not have to sit through the HVAC and warrant discussion. Adam Pereira, appearing for the Royal River Conservation Trust and Maine Farmland Trust, described a plan to buy an agricultural conservation easement from Dave and Chris Coulson, paired with an option to purchase the agricultural value so that a future owner farms the land rather than keeping it as a large house lot.

9. 21:53
   Easement terms, tax effect and funding

   The Coulsons farmed the land commercially for about 30 years and stopped in 2014. Asked about tax revenue, Pereira said the assessor must account for the easement in the land value; a board member noted the parcel's land valuation is $91,900 with more than three-quarters of the total valuation in buildings, so the effect would be small. Maine Farmland Trust has half the purchase money and the other half is being sought from Land for Maine's Future, whose current $40 million round covers working farms and forests and gives weight to municipal support.

10. 27:42
    Location, acreage and appraisal

    The farm sits near Davis Road and Chesley Hill Road and abuts about 340 acres of conserved land around Runaround Pond, with another 70 to 80 acres of stream frontage hoped for in the next year. The woods run about 44 acres, which Pereira said would likely be suitable for gravel, and the fields about 24 acres. A preliminary appraisal put the development value at $200,000 to $400,000, and Maine Farmland Trust goes before the Land for Maine's Future board on September 27.

11. 33:45
    Board discussion of the easement

    Members spoke in favour on comprehensive plan, rural character and aquifer protection grounds, one arguing the real benefit is what residents will not see, namely a housing development. Pereira said this easement will very likely not include public access because the land is meant to stay in commercial farming, that Maine Farmland Trust will draft the document, and that most agricultural easements require a farm management plan. He compared the arrangement to the trust's existing easement at Old Crow Ranch.

12. 39:27
    HVAC quotes for the town office and fire station

    Mitch Berkowitz went through three quotes obtained without a mechanical engineer and priced for replacement in kind, with no allowance made where a vendor proposed newer technology: ABG at $55,525, Agility at $44,419 and Patriot at $43,317 covering both buildings. He and Calvin (?) recommended Agility because its price carries five-year parts and labour warranties plus two years of annual maintenance, which the others would charge for separately.

13. 45:31
    Insulation and the Agility award

    Attic insulation for the town office was not in the HVAC quotes; the board settled on adding a not-to-exceed $5,000 for blown-in cellulose, having earlier assumed $10,000 to $15,000. A member noted the town office units will not heat the building this winter or cool it in another heat wave, so the work would be done from capital funds if the ARPA appropriation failed.

14. 51:03
    ARPA background and the special town meeting warrant

    The town holds about $421,000 in ARPA money, which must be accounted for separately, cannot be used to pay down debt or rebate taxes, and has to be appropriated by the voters as tax money is. The board confirmed after further research that town approval is required, which is why a special town meeting was being warned for four articles.

15. 56:46
    Articles 3 and 4 rebuilt from the bid

    Working back from the Agility figures the board set article 3 at $23,230 for the fire station, being $20,193.22 plus 15 percent, and article 4 at $34,500 for the town office, being $22,526.44 plus roughly $7,000 for a hot water heater and insulation and then 15 percent. Members stressed that anything unspent returns to the ARPA pool rather than to undesignated funds, and that they still intended a broader public discussion on the remaining balance.

16. 1:01:59
    Article 5 technology request questioned

    Devin (?) explained that reaching the Eureka Center by air fibre would mean clearing about ten feet of trees, so he proposed running buried cable instead, with the quote not due until the following day. He said the Sophos firewalls at all three town buildings are past their life at $4,377 to replace and that computer replacement across the three buildings would run $20,000 to $25,000, with a further $25,000 to $30,000 of unpriced Eureka Center equipment including cameras and a digital encoder. Members said the $65,000 figure was not broken down and asked for it in writing.

17. 1:07:43
    Eureka Center piece set aside

    The board concluded the Eureka Center work, including hybrid meeting capability, was not ready and should wait for a new town manager and a technology article at the April town meeting. It kept the phone system, computers and firewalls in article 5 as mission critical and asked for those costs itemised.

18. 1:12:56
    Phone and internet costs

    A Comcast quote put new phone and internet service for all three buildings at $11,800 a year with a one-time $597 installation, of which about $2,500 falls in the September to December window. Members noted the equipment is rented rather than bought and that the recurring charge would have to move into departmental budgets in later years.

19. 1:18:56
    Computer replacement

    Seven workstations and one laptop at the town office, four at the fire station and four at public works were discussed at roughly $1,300 to $1,500 a station with monitors around $200. Front office staff had asked for laptops rather than desktops so the treasurer and clerk could work away from the window and at the polls; the fire station wants desktops.

20. 1:24:21
    Firewalls and building in a cushion

    The firewall replacement was rounded up to $5,000. Members said they wanted to ask for enough because ARPA money cannot be topped up from a capital account if it runs short, and anything unspent simply returns to the ARPA pool for reappropriation.

21. 1:30:21
    Installation fee and the running total

    The town's IT vendor charges about $500 per machine to put it on the domain, transfer files and install it, adding roughly $8,000. With $2,500 for phone and internet, $24,000 for sixteen workstations, $5,000 for firewalls and $8,000 for installation, the running total came to $39,500.

22. 1:36:12
    Argument for the full technology request

    Mitch Berkowitz said this was a unique opportunity to rebuild the town's IT infrastructure with ARPA money rather than charge it to taxpayers later, and that he would rather buy a computer a year early than a year late. A member replied that his hesitation was the ambiguity rather than the need, since the board had written HVAC quotes but not written technology quotes, with one still due the next day.

23. 1:41:51
    Article 6: GIS tax mapping

    The board left article 6 at $16,000 for GIS tax mapping, described as a firm figure covering creation of the maps and two years of subscription. Members said it would cut the volume of calls from banks and realtors to town office staff by putting lot information, deed book and page references and ownership on the website. The four articles as amended total $118,730, about 28 percent of the ARPA money.

24. 1:52:43
    Article wording and ARPA rules

    The board explained the closed article format recommended by MMA, which authorises spending up to a stated amount and keeps voters on the floor from mixing ARPA money with capital funds. Unspent money returns to the ARPA pool without staying earmarked for its original purpose, and a further request for the same purpose could go on the April warrant. The ARPA money has to be expended by 2026 or be subject to recapture.

25. 1:57:59
    Budget committee pushback on the numbers

    A budget committee member said she was shocked at the lack of support behind figures being put in front of voters, and asked what the hard August 16 deadline was for when a grant application opened in five days and a technology quote was due the next day. Kevin Nadeau agreed staff had the numbers but had not pulled them together in a way that carried confidence, and said the budget committee should get worked sheets showing where each article's figure came from.

26. 2:03:01
    Grant and ARPA to run in parallel

    Kevin Nadeau said the grant timing was unlikely to work for heating season and that the order should be reversed: approve the ARPA articles, then apply for the grant and use it if it arrives. The resident volunteered to write the grant application. Mitch Berkowitz said staff were working in a windowless office at 80 degrees, that he had started on this in December, and that he was not prepared to wait on a grant whose application window runs to May 31, 2023.

27. 2:08:32
    Budget committee questions

    A member asked whether ARPA can cover a monthly service fee and was told this is a new, unbudgeted service rather than an increase to an already appropriated line. A question about whether GIS mapping was already covered by George's (?) increased hours drew the answer that he uses GIS for project work such as showing resource protection zones, not lot-by-lot tax mapping. The budget committee will get the warrant with amounts before its Monday meeting.

28. 2:13:46
    Permits, appointment, consent agenda and meeting dates

    The board took up a BYOB permit for a wedding reception on September 10 from 3 p.m. to midnight, an appointment of Emily Alexander to the Durham Historic District Commission, and the consent agenda. Upcoming dates given were the budget committee on August 1, the regular select board meeting on Tuesday August 9 at 6:30, and the special town meeting on August 16 at 6:00 at the Eureka Center.

What was decided

• 0:01
  Approve the agenda as presented. The town's minutes record the motion as made by Richard George and seconded by Josh Klein-Golden; the transcript records only that no amendments were offered.outcome unclear
• 33:45
  Approve and sign a letter of municipal support for the New Leaf Farm agricultural conservation easement, on town letterhead, to be forwarded to the appropriate recipient.passed
• 45:31
  Accept the Agility bid of $44,419 for HVAC replacement at the town office and fire station and authorise the town manager to act on it once the funding source has been identified.passed
• 1:30:21
  A motion to put $40,000 on the warrant for technology upgrades. The chair noted it had received no second and declared it dead on the floor; a member then seconded it to keep discussion going, but it was never brought to a vote and was superseded by a motion for a different amount.outcome unclear
• 1:36:12
  Appropriate $45,000 of ARPA funds for the phone system, computers, the firewalls and the associated installation services. The chair announced a five to zero vote.passed
• 1:41:51
  Amend article 5 to set the amount appropriated at $45,000 and to remove the reference to the Eureka Center. Moved by Josh Klein-Golden and seconded by Joe Tomm.passed
• 1:47:40
  Approve the warrant for the August 16 special town meeting as presented with the previously approved edits, being $23,230 at article 3, $34,500 at article 4, $45,000 at article 5 with the Eureka Center struck, and $16,000 unchanged at article 6.passed
• 2:13:46
  Authorise the town manager to seek a tax anticipation note for an amount up to $1.5 million in principal, under Title 30-A of the Maine Revised Statutes. The chair called the vote but no result is audible on the recording.outcome unclear
• 2:13:46
  Approve a BYOB permit for a wedding reception on September 10 from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. The chair called the vote and what follows appears to be a count, but the recording does not carry it clearly.outcome unclear
• 2:13:46
  Appoint Emily Alexander to the Durham Historic District Commission. The chair called the vote but no result is audible on the recording.outcome unclear
• 2:13:46
  Approve the consent agenda as presented, moved by Josh Klein-Golden. The chair called the vote but no result is audible on the recording.outcome unclear
• 2:19:15
  Enter executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. section 405(6)(A) for discussion of personnel matters related to the town manager search. The town's minutes record the motion as made by Richard George and seconded by Joe Tomm and put the executive session at 8:19 pm; the recording ends without a stated result.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.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from sbminutes072622.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.

• Motion not recorded in wordscarried

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Tomm

• approve the agenda as presented

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Josh Klein-Golden; no outcome recorded

• enter Executive Session at 8:19 pm

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Joe Tomm; no outcome recorded

Worth knowing

• 1:57:59
  A budget committee member argued the board should wait two weeks rather than commit ARPA money to HVAC five days before an Efficiency Maine grant opened that could cover the same work in full. The board went ahead with the ARPA articles and agreed to apply for the grant as well; the chair said he thought it extremely unlikely grant money would arrive in time for this heating season.
• 1:01:59
  The $65,000 technology request came to the board without a written breakdown. Members said plainly that it was not ready, cut it to $45,000, and removed the Eureka Center connection and hybrid meeting equipment from it entirely, deferring that to an April town meeting article.
• 1:41:51
  The four warrant articles total $118,730 of the town's roughly $421,000 in ARPA funds, about 28 percent, leaving a little over $300,000 that the board said it intends to open to public discussion later.
• 6:15
  The fire department did not open a cooling centre during the July heat, although it received several messages asking about one. The chief said those residents found other places to go, and that he was separately covering Pownal without pay for ten days because that department is down to about six active members.

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: 7 passages of motion language, against 12 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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