Select Board Meeting ~ May 28, 2024

2024-05-28 · Select Board · 3:02:08 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met at 5:30 p.m., starting earlier than usual to interview the two firms that responded to the town's request for proposals for legal counsel, the current contract ending May 31. Skelton Taintor & Abbott and Preti Flaherty each introduced their attorneys and answered questions on billing practice, personnel policy work, land use codification and ordinances written under home rule; the board took no vote and placed the selection on its June 11 agenda, with the town manager to call references first. The board awarded the property revaluation contract to KRT, authorized the town manager to sign the codification contract, and approved the purchase of an additional mower for public works. Matt Panfill of GPCOG and town planner George Thebarge presented a facility and visioning study covering the town office, Eureka Center, the Little League field and the building the meeting was held in, and the board agreed to put out a call for steering committee volunteers. Review of the Union Church quitclaim deed was carried to June 11 with added language on public access and an invitation to the Durham Historical Society to bring an inventory of the contents. The board set June 25 as the application deadline and July 9 as the date it will appoint someone to the vacant RSU 5 school board seat.

What was discussed

1. 2:07
   Call to order

   The chair, Joe Roy (?), opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m., noted a quorum and one excused absence, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. No amendments to the agenda were offered.

2. 11:05
   Public comment

   A Davis Road resident, Michael (?), spoke as the runner-up in the April 5 RSU 5 school board election, saying 391 votes were cast and he lost by 1.2 percent. He said he was not making a case for himself but objecting to the process by which the board will fill the upcoming vacancy by appointment, which he said leaves voters without a voice.

3. 16:20
   Legal counsel RFP: Skelton Taintor & Abbott

   Grady R Burns and Amy Dieterich described their practice, Dieterich on employment and personnel policy and Burns on general municipal work, ordinances, freedom of access requests and land use litigation. Board members and the town manager asked about transitioning from the town's current attorney Jack Conway, travel, staff turnover, billing in tenths of an hour, updating the personnel handbook, and land use codification. Deb Oliver asked how the firm judges whether it can take on Durham's workload.

4. 43:05
   Legal counsel RFP: Preti Flaherty

   Kristen Collins, Cam Faranti and Steven Langsdorf described their municipal and finance group, its experience taking over from prior town attorneys, public financing, land use enforcement and employment law. They were asked the same questions on transition, billing, personnel policy, codification, town charters, home rule ordinances and firm size.

5. 1:11:01
   Timing of the legal counsel decision

   The board noted the current legal contract ends May 31 and that this was its last meeting before then. Members discussed a special meeting on June 4 versus deciding at the June 11 meeting, and asked whether references had been called. The town manager, Jerry Douglass, said he had heard good things about Preti Flaherty from people who use them and would call the town managers listed as references.

6. 1:21:38
   Union Church quitclaim deed

   The board reviewed the deed drafted for transferring the Union Church property to the Durham Historical Society. Members said the reversion clause should say explicitly that the property returns to the town if public access is removed, not only if the Historical Society ceases to exist or stops using the building for its sole use. A second concern was the contents of the building, which the deed does not address; the board asked for the Historical Society's inventory so the town knows what it owns and what is on loan.

7. 1:42:56
   Award of the property revaluation contract

   The board compared the two respondents, KRT and Durgo (?). Members said both bids fell within the amount already appropriated, but favoured KRT for its staffing depth, more comprehensive bid including postage, and electronic data collection. One member said they had leaned toward the smaller firm.

8. 1:47:59
   GPCOG town facility study

   George Thebarge and Matt Panfill presented a visioning study of the town office, Eureka Center, Little League field and fire station area, to be delivered through GPCOG member services at no additional cost. Topics named were pedestrian connections across the road, a possible foundation and relocation for the Eureka Center allowing MDOT to reconfigure the intersection as a tee or roundabout, parking conflicts with fire department use, and a comprehensive maintenance list feeding a CIP. Panfill said a vision plan is a prerequisite for MaineDOT Village Partnership grant funding.

9. 2:15:53
   Steering committee for the facility study

   The board discussed who should sit on an ad hoc steering committee. Members raised whether town office and fire department staff serving on it would be volunteering or working, and said stakeholder groups should be consulted during work hours rather than made committee members. The board agreed to advertise for community volunteers, keep the staff list as stakeholders to be contacted, and engage direct neighbours early.

10. 2:21:34
    Codification contract

    The town manager asked for authorization to sign the codification contract rather than have it signed at the meeting.

11. 2:21:34
    Public works mower

    The town manager said Calvin is looking to buy an additional mower, keeping the existing one, which he described as held together with duct tape, for the cemeteries. The preferred bid was the lowest bid and came in under the amount in the replacement schedule, funded from the public works capital reserve. The board also noted the department's pickup truck replacement is being deferred another year.

12. 2:26:36
    RSU 5 school board vacancy

    An email from Michelle Richardson (?) said the recently elected Durham representative can no longer fill the role. The town manager described the process as the same as filling other committee seats, with applications picked up at the clerk's office. The board discussed a timeline against the school board's August retreat, and whether to host a meet-the-candidates session; it was said the town has not hosted one before, and the board dropped that component.

13. 2:42:35
    Town manager report

    Jerry Douglass noted the June 11 select board meeting falls on election day, with the RSU 5 budget validation, the state primary and the Region 10 bond question, and that the clerk will be running the election. He said the town's cleaner has left for another job and applications are open until May 30. He also reported some residents using homemade trash tags and said he had called the sheriff's office.

14. 2:53:15
    Consent agenda, catering permits and upcoming meetings

    The town manager raised the catering permits on the consent agenda, noting one event estimating 90 people, and the board approved the consent agenda. The chair distributed a rough outline of upcoming meeting agendas. A workshop on law enforcement is set for June 18 at 6 p.m., with Chief McGee introducing the topic and the sheriff and chief deputy explaining the options available.

What was decided

• 1:16:23
  Defer selection of town legal counsel to the June 11 meeting, with the town manager calling references in the interim; no vote was taken and no special meeting on June 4 was scheduled.tabled
• 1:32:23
  Carry the Union Church quitclaim deed to the June 11 meeting with language added naming public access alongside sole use in the reversion clause, and invite the Durham Historical Society to attend with its inventory of the contents.tabled
• 1:47:59
  Motion to award the property revaluation contract to KRT; moved and seconded, called for discussion, then for those in favour and any opposition, with none seen.passed
• 2:21:34
  Motion to authorize the town manager to sign the codification contract; moved and seconded, called for discussion, then for those in favour and any opposition, with none.passed
• 2:26:36
  Motion to approve the purchase of the additional mower in the current CIP plan; moved and seconded, called for discussion, then for those in favour and any opposition, with none seen.passed
• 2:42:35
  Board agreed, without a recorded vote, to accept applications for the RSU 5 school board vacancy until close of business June 25, to take public feedback during public comment at the July 9 meeting, and to make the appointment on July 9, with July 23 as the latest fallback.passed
• 2:53:15
  Motion to approve the consent agenda, which included the catering permits; moved and seconded, called for those in favour, with no opposition.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

• 1:11:01
  The town's legal counsel contract ends May 31 and this was the last meeting before that date. The board chose to decide on June 11 rather than hold a special meeting on June 4, accepting a period with no counsel under contract; one member said that made him uncomfortable and another cautioned against retaining a firm on a part-time basis in the gap.
• 32:30
  Skelton Taintor & Abbott (?) said its shareholders had volunteered a rate reduction of at least 25 percent, to $250 an hour for the town, and that it would waive travel time and mileage. Both firms said they bill in tenths of an hour.
• 1:42:56
  The gap between the two revaluation bids was given inconsistently in the discussion: one speaker put it at about $50,000, another at $30,000, and the two quoted figures come through the transcript as 190 and 2203. Members said both bids fell within the amount already appropriated.
• 2:42:35
  The June 11 select board meeting falls on election day, with the RSU 5 budget validation vote, the state primary and the Region 10 bond question, and the town clerk will be running the election rather than taking minutes.

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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