Select Board Meeting ~ January 26, 2016

2016-01-26 · Select Board · 1:52:32 · watch on YouTube →

A Select Board meeting held at the start of the budget season, dominated at the outset by residents who came in to talk about the condition of the town's roads. Neighbours from Runaround Pond Road turned out as a group to say the road is dangerous and to ask whether the town will float a bond; the board said the road is at the top of its list and that the numbers and construction options are being worked up. Other business included a resident's proposal to digitize the town's vital records, a recognition for firefighter Ken Scribner as 2015 Androscoggin County Firefighter of the Year, and department reports from the fire chief, code enforcement officer and road commissioner. The board approved the consent agenda, agreed to use remaining building bond money for a new roof on the town office, and tabled both the Lisbon dispatch contract and acceptance of a forestry grant pending more information. A budget meeting was set for the following Tuesday, with town meeting on April 2.

What was discussed

1. 0:01
   Public comment: Plummer Mill Road and Brookside Drive

   Phyllis Brandon of Brookside Drive had filed a complaint form and asked what determines whether a road gets maintenance or a full rebuild. The board explained that condition, whether the road is a main throughway, and the cost of keeping a good road good against rebuilding a bad one all go into setting priorities, and that there has not been much money to rebuild roads in recent years.

2. 0:01
   Ditching first

   The public works crew is working through ditching all the roads to fix drainage before anything else, so the town is not spending money bandaging over the underlying problem. Brandon (?) said Plummer Mill Road was paved in 2003 and is in poor condition.

3. 0:01
   How road priorities are set

   The road commissioner said the town has 40 to 41 miles of road and is making up for lost time. Priority takes account of input from the fire department and other town departments about which roads connect parts of town, traffic counts, and how many taxpayers are affected. He said Plummer Mill Road is unlikely to make this year's cut because it runs northwest between two secondary roads, while the focus this year is on east-west roads connecting Route 9 and Route 136.

4. 5:18
   Preventive maintenance over worst first

   The board explained why crews are sometimes seen working on roads that are not the worst: a dollar spent preserving a road saves ten later, and going worst first lets costs compound. Cheaper interim work is possible, such as grading and rolling, which was done on Rabbit Road, but depends on what the town votes to spend.

5. 5:18
   Budget calendar

   The select board begins looking at the budget that night, with special meetings posted on the town website, then meets the budget committee in mid-February. The final vote is at town meeting on Saturday, April 2. All the meetings are public.

6. 5:18
   Public comment: Runaround Pond Road

   George Book (?) of 411 Runaround Pond Road (?) spoke for a group of neighbours, saying the road is a disaster and now dangerous, that it cannot be walked safely because the edges are broken up, and that it is one of the most heavily travelled roads in town. He said patching does not survive a rain or a plow, that vehicle damage costs residents money on top of their taxes, and asked whether the board would float a bond as had been discussed at a meeting two years earlier.

7. 10:48
   Why no bond has been floated yet

   The board said no bond has gone forward because it wanted the public works department established first, and that rebuilding one road means asking for something in the region of a million dollars, which requires taxpayers on the other side of town to vote for it. A member said Runaround Pond Road would be at the top of his own list and that he had met Crooker Paving that day to look at construction methods and two or three options. Residents were encouraged to attend the budget meetings and town meeting to show support.

8. 16:21
   Rehabilitate or reconstruct

   Asked whether a rebuild is the only option, the board described a middle course of grinding the surface, reshaping, adding a minimum of gravel and repaving. An engineer would do a topographic survey and profiles first so the plans, drainage and driveway transitions can be seen before any figure is put to the town. Lowering hills or straightening curves was raised but comes with driveway and drainage consequences that can cost more than they save.

9. 16:21
   Getting the estimate before the bond

   The board said it would get the estimates first rather than ask for a round number, since asking for a million when the work costs five hundred thousand would be unfair. A resident asked why not bond five or six of the worst roads at once; the answer was that it is the town's call at town meeting, and that a smaller ask is more likely to pass.

10. 16:21
    Publishing a road list

    Robert Smith of 31 Rangeley (?) said a published list showing which road comes next would give the rest of town hope and make a bond easier to pass. The board liked the idea in principle but cautioned against naming a firm next road, because weather and deterioration change the order and backtracking causes more trouble than it solves. Members also noted town meeting attendance has fallen from around 300 when one of them started to perhaps 100 now.

11. 21:27
    Share of the tax levy spent on roads

    A resident asked whether the percentage of taxes going to roads has changed over ten years, since taxes have risen while roads have got worse. Nobody had the figure but said it is easily calculated and could be presented to the budget committee. Members noted the cost of pavement nearly doubled or tripled about ten years ago, and that the RSU accounts for 76 percent of the tax bill and close to $400,000 a month, which has to be paid first.

12. 21:27
    Sharing a road commissioner with Pownal

    Asked how the arrangement works, the board explained the two towns share a full-time road commissioner and split the cost, and also share labour and equipment. The hours and dollar amounts are tracked on both sides and settled up every six months if the balance exceeds about $1,000, but the departments, crews and budgets are otherwise separate.

13. 21:27
    Equipment and crew sharing in practice

    Rather than buy a grader for the few dirt roads Durham has, the town uses Pownal's and trades operator and equipment hours back. The Durham crew went to Pownal for several days on the Thicket Road project and the Pownal crew later came to Durham to help with ditching and grading, with the hours matching out closely.

14. 26:53
    Why sharing matters for cost

    Durham has four crew members and Pownal three, and neither is enough for a major road project on its own. Combining them let a road be built in Pownal for about $45 a foot against a going rate the engineers quoted at $125 to $135 a foot, which means far more road for the money than hiring it all out.

15. 26:53
    Public comment: who would do a rebuild

    John Peterson of 382 Runaround Pond Road, in town a year and a half, asked whether a proper rebuild would use the town crew. The answer was that a professional outfit would be hired for the reconstruction while the town crew does the ditching and culverts, which is how the last road was built apart from the paving. Board members said the reason little has happened in recent years is pressure on the mill rate.

16. 32:04
    Consent agenda and an excise tax refund

    The consent agenda included two permits at the Durham AmVets, one from the AmVets and one from another applicant. A member asked about a refund on the warrant recap: a resident's vehicle had been entered at an MSRP of about $105,000 the previous year, she was overcharged excise tax, and the error was caught when she came back to register this year.

17. 32:04
    Recognition of Ken Scribner

    The board recognised firefighter Ken Scribner, who received the 2015 Androscoggin County Firefighter of the Year award. He joined the department in 1970, was promoted to deputy chief in 1974 and served until 1990, rejoined in 2011, was elected corporation president in February 2015 and sits on the safety and apparatus committees, and was central to acquiring the town's Quint ladder truck. He has also served in the Army Reserves, as past president of the Durham Rod and Gun Club, as a hunter safety instructor, as a lifetime member of the Durham AmVets Post and on the town budget committee.

18. 37:23
    Proposal to archive the town's vital records

    A resident with a USM degree in arts and humanities and French North American studies, who works in genealogy and with the historical society, proposed digitizing and scanning the town's original record books. She said the books are falling apart from handling and original bindings, and that many of the records exist nowhere else because the state's copies were reconstructed after a fire. The aim is to make the information accessible online so people stop handling the originals.

19. 42:41
    Cost and phasing of the records project

    The total came to about $11,000, which the presenter said is open to discussion since the town may already own usable computers and scanners. Asked whether it could be split across years, she said yes and that transcribing the information into a searchable database should come first, since that alone stops people handling the books; Greene put its records into a single spreadsheet. Archival acid-free boxes for the originals were not in the figure and would be a later phase.

20. 42:41
    Scanning equipment and storage

    The board established that the office copier can scan to the network drive and that most of the books split down the middle so a regular flatbed would do, avoiding a large format scanner. The open question was server storage, since scans take a lot of space and the server backup is paid for. Keeping the files on the server would let the records be linked from the town website.

21. 47:52
    Where the records proposal stands

    Restoring the books themselves was ruled out as too expensive. A member noted the town is required by statute to care for the records regardless, and that reducing handling buys time. The board said it was for the project in concept but not necessarily for the money, and that it will come up during budget talks with a recommendation to follow.

22. 47:52
    Lisbon dispatch contract: the price

    The new contract raises the rate from $2.50 to about $3.50 per capita. The town paid a little under $10,000 last year and would pay around $11,500 this year, roughly a 30 to 35 percent increase over the starting price. The county rate is $2.50, a difference of about $1,700 against a population of roughly 3,850.

23. 52:53
    Whether the service has improved

    The fire chief said he is not satisfied: the things promised when Durham (?) moved to Lisbon have not happened, and dispatch is still handled much as it was three or four years ago. His specific concern is that district assignments controlling automatic second-due mutual aid are not being used properly, which defeats the purpose of having an automatic response from a neighbouring department and matters to insurance ratings. He said his attempts to raise problems have not been well received.

24. 58:21
    Cost of moving elsewhere

    Moving dispatch may be cheap if a radio frequency link works, but the town previously needed a dedicated phone line with the county at several hundred dollars a month plus a base fee, which would swallow any savings. The chief said the only real gain from Lisbon has been a better computer system and text messaging, which is an improvement over the county but still imperfect. His recommendation was to stay for now while he researches Brunswick, Lewiston, Auburn and the sheriff's department on service as well as price.

25. 58:21
    The town is off contract

    The contract term began January 1 and the town has not signed, so it is currently operating without an agreement. No bill has arrived for the first quarter. Board members said the decision should turn on quality of dispatching rather than money, and that three or four years has been long enough to see improvement.

26. 1:03:29
    Fire chief's report: water, training and structure

    Test results came back clean after the bleaching, so the do-not-use signs at the station sinks have been replaced with the posted results. The annual mandatory training makeup class is set for February 8, with a hazmat awareness refresher this Thursday and hazmat operations refresher on April 21. The chief has spent three or four months reviewing how the department is organised, with substantial changes to report at the next meeting, aimed at making participation more enjoyable since the pay will never be a second income.

27. 1:09:01
    Rescue 25 out of service

    Rescue 25 was down for a week with a core and fuel lines on the back of the engine rather than the blown head gasket first suspected. The department had seven EMS calls that weekend, with Lisbon and Freeport transporting, and both offered the loan of a rescue with their own personnel; Durham borrowed Freeport's for the rest of the week because the paperwork was already in place. The unit is back in service.

28. 1:09:01
    Forestry grant award

    Diana wrote the department's forestry grant application, the first she had done, and it was selected. The award is for a lightweight portable fire pump and suction of around 90 to 100 gallons a minute to complement the floating pump, at a total purchase price of $1,595 on a 50/50 split, with the town paying up front and being reimbursed half.

29. 1:14:08
    Grant match fund is nearly empty

    Less than $500 remains in the grant match fund, which has not been topped up for many years. The chief believes a reimbursement may still be owed from a homeland security grant, recalling that only about $4,700 came back against roughly $22,000 spent. The forms must be returned by March 15 and the purchase made by June 30, 2016, which leaves little room to wait for town meeting.

30. 1:14:08
    Runaround Pond privy

    The code enforcement officer confirmed with Bonnie Cobb that an alternative toilet permit can be handled in house rather than going to the state, for a minimum fee. A site development plan will cost a few hundred dollars. He asked to move forward using the state money for the privy this spring and then get the work out for proposals.

31. 1:14:08
    Ordinance review and appeals language

    The ordinance goes to final review and public hearing at the planning board's February 3 meeting; one member of the public attended last time. The only addition this round is language requiring anything to be appealed in town to go through the board of appeals first, before moving to court. The code officer is waiting to hear whether the state needs to certify it, since no substantive changes were made.

32. 1:14:08
    Kimberly Allen appeal

    Jack Conway has filed his representative counsel documentation on behalf of the town in the Kimberly Allen appeal and the paperwork is in order. The other side must file first, after which the town reviews and answers, so it may be February or March before the matter reaches court.

33. 1:19:35
    Rule 80B and 80K

    The code officer explained that an 80B filing goes to superior court and an 80K to district court, and that 80K gives municipalities a shorter route for many issues. He can represent the town in an 80K but not an 80B, and the next round of training is in May. A member added that the old dollar threshold separating the courts was abolished, so venue is now a strategic choice.

34. 1:19:35
    Rita Chase's driveway on Route 9

    Since her driveway access onto Route 9 was reconstructed, the fire department cannot turn into it coming from town and would have to turn around. The code officer has been chasing MaineDOT up the chain and the road commissioner has been told they intend to do work in the spring, but nothing definite has come in writing.

35. 1:19:35
    Building permit volume

    There were two permits last January; this January there are already 20, with three more expected before the end of the week, including two houses and several substantial additions. The code officer attributed it to pent-up demand, banks lending again and the foreclosure inventory being absorbed.

36. 1:24:58
    Code enforcement workload

    The code officer said his difficulty is that the demands of the job no longer leave time to do it thoroughly, and that he is having to decide what gets done and what does not. He expects this to be the best building year in Durham in at least ten to fifteen years and said something will have to change significantly and soon.

37. 1:24:58
    Handling of the historic records

    Returning to the archiving proposal, the code officer said the original charter for Durham was signed by John Hancock and that the signature has real value, so the books should not be handed out to be read unsupervised and gloves should be used. He suggested photographing documents with a phone camera rather than scanning, because the resolution is better for faded, foxed old English text and the light is less damaging.

38. 1:30:00
    Town office roof

    An estimate has come in for a roof the chair described as looking like 30-year-old shingles on a building thought to be sound, a view a second person confirmed. Members noted these shingles seem to fail at 8 to 12 years, that a defect may be involved, and that manufacturers typically offer only a few hundred dollars unless a class action succeeds. The board was asked not to quote numbers publicly so the bid process stays fair.

39. 1:30:00
    Paying for the roof from the building bond

    Money remains undrawn on the building bond, at an interest rate given as about 2.95 percent over 15 years, and members said it should either be used or returned rather than paying interest on it. Using it for the roof was seen as appropriate because it extends the life of the building, and would avoid waiting until the April budget.

40. 1:35:01
    Metal or asphalt

    Members weighed standing seam metal against architectural shingles: metal goes on faster and costs a little more, but sheds snow in sheets and insurers are wary because firefighters may have to get on it. The consensus leaned to lifetime architectural shingles, whose price is now close to three-tab, but the board decided to price both. At least six feet of ice and water shield was specified rather than three.

41. 1:35:01
    Parking lot paving

    The road commissioner flagged that the lot is a 19mm binder coat with the aggregate starting to come out, which will turn into potholes without a top coat. He suggested it will need attention in the next two or three years and offered to get numbers.

42. 1:35:01
    On-call practice and overtime

    Defining employees' roles when on call has cut overtime. Previously someone was paid to be at the garage around the clock during a storm week; the road commissioner now watches the weather himself and calls the on-call person to check conditions and respond first.

43. 1:40:05
    Holiday hours and overtime pay

    Employees believe they were paid overtime past 40 hours in weeks containing a holiday last year. The written policy says holiday, vacation, sick, jury duty and other paid time off do not count as hours worked when calculating overtime, and board members confirmed that was the committee's intent when the policy was drafted. The road commissioner will compare last year's time cards with the spreadsheet, though he noted the cards were not being submitted at the time.

44. 1:45:26
    Salt use and sanding trucks

    The road commissioner updates a sheet after every storm to track salt against lane miles by route and has brought the numbers into line. A member complained about aggregate thrown from uncovered trucks. Only the two new trucks have wet systems; the rest use premixed salt at eight gallons per ton with magnesium and molasses, and the supplier will come down to give the crew pre-treatment training.

45. 1:45:26
    Patching experiments and truck repairs

    The crew is trying hot mix, cold mix and cold patch on different holes and recording where each was used, since patch is expensive and often lasts only weeks. The liquid application systems on the two new trucks had been unusable and have now been sorted out by HP Fairfield. The operating budget will be partly done within a week, with the roads capital and five-year plan by the next meeting.

46. 1:45:26
    Ice on Route 9 and Route 136

    Ice keeps forming at the hill by the bridge reconstruction. MaineDOT initially blamed a resident's unplowed driveway; the road commissioner had the new owner plow it and the water still came through, showing a spring by the mailbox. DOT has said it will deal with it, possibly with a catch basin before the next paving coat. A separate catch basin on Route 136 freezes before water reaches it and has needed hand clearing and sanding several times this year.

47. 1:50:42
    Upcoming meetings and nomination papers

    Regular meetings are set for Tuesday February 9 and Tuesday February 23 at 6:30 p.m., with a budget meeting added for Tuesday February 2 at 6. Nomination papers are available at the town office for two selectman positions, three budget committee positions and one school board position, due back by February 16 at 4:30 p.m.

48. 1:50:42
    New public information technician

    Shannon Brown was introduced as the town's new public information technician. She asked for patience while getting up to speed and said she was glad to be there. The board then broke before the budget workshop.

What was decided

• 32:04
  Motion to accept the consent agenda as presented, including two permits at the Durham AmVets and a warrant recap containing a refund of overcharged auto excise tax. Seconded, called, and the chair announced the motion carries.passed
• 1:03:29
  The Lisbon dispatch contract was tabled for a month. The fire chief will ask Lisbon to extend the existing terms through the first quarter and will get service and price comparisons from Brunswick, Lewiston, Auburn and the sheriff's department, expecting figures within a couple of weeks.tabled
• 1:03:29
  Item D was set aside until after the department reports and the budget discussion.tabled
• 1:14:08
  The code enforcement officer asked whether there was any objection to proceeding with the alternative toilet permit and site development plan for the Runaround Pond privy. The recording does not capture a clear response before he moved to the next item.outcome unclear
• 1:14:08
  Acceptance of the forestry grant for a portable fire pump was put off to a meeting in about two weeks, so the town can check whether reimbursement is still owed on an earlier homeland security grant. Members said they were not comfortable committing the town's half without knowing the grant match fund can cover it.tabled
• 1:30:00
  The board agreed the town office roof needs replacing, that the undrawn balance of the building bond is the appropriate source, and that an RFP should be written for the next meeting.passed
• 1:35:01
  The RFP for the roof will be put out both ways, for architectural shingles and for metal, so the price difference can be compared, and will specify at least six feet of ice and water shield rather than three.passed
• 1:40:05
  The board confirmed the overtime policy as written: holiday, vacation, sick, jury duty and other paid time off do not count as hours worked for overtime purposes. The road commissioner will look back at last year's time cards and report to the crew.passed
• 1:50:42
  A budget meeting was scheduled for the following Tuesday, February 2, at 6 p.m.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_1-26-20161.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.

• the Board into Executive Session pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A., Chapter #13, Section 405(6)(C) – Real Estate at 6:00 p.mcarried 5-0

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded by Joshua Libby

• enter into an agreement as discussedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded by Joshua Libby

• Approve the Consent Agenda as presentedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Joshua Libby, seconded by Michael Stewart

• Adjourn at 9:15 p.mcarried 5-0

  Moved by Joshua Libby, seconded by Mark Blake

Worth knowing

• 10:48
  Residents of Runaround Pond Road turned out as a group to say the road is now dangerous to drive and impossible to walk. The board said it is at the top of the list but that rebuilding it means asking the whole town to approve a bond in the region of a million dollars for one road.
• 26:53
  Sharing crews and equipment with Pownal let a road be built for about $45 a foot, against a going rate the engineers quoted at $125 to $135 a foot. Durham has four crew members and Pownal three, and neither is enough alone for a major road project.
• 1:19:35
  The code enforcement officer took out two building permits last January and has already issued 20 this January, with three more expected that week. He told the board the workload has outgrown the position and that something will have to change significantly and soon.
• 1:14:08
  The town's grant match fund has less than $500 in it and has not been topped up in years, which is why the board could not simply accept a 50/50 forestry grant for a $1,595 fire pump.

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 9 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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