Select Board Meeting ~ July 12, 2022

2022-07-12 · Select Board · 2:22:59 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on July 12, 2022 with all five members present. Chief Tripp opened with a presentation of helmet fronts to Noah Larabee and Nick Weber, who had completed six months of firefighter training and are now firefighters and EMTs rather than probationary members. The longest argument of the night was over flags: residents had written cheques to the Town of Durham within a day of the last meeting, and the board spent close to half an hour on whether it could accept and spend donated money without a town vote before agreeing 4-0, with one abstention, to buy the flags and holders at once and leave the accounting to staff. The board accepted Jack's Property Service's bid for the old town hall roof, funded from the Union Church fund, cast the town's votes for the county budget committee and the MMA legislative policy committee, and set a special town meeting for August 16 to authorise roughly $140,000 of the town's $421,000 in ARPA funds. It sent the HVAC quotes back for a comparable breakdown, approved a BYOB permit and the LRAP report, and went into executive session on the town manager search.

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. 1:14
   Call to order and agenda amendments

   All five board members were present. Chief Tripp's presentation was moved ahead of public comment and a BYOB application was added as item 7D. A question about whether the oath of office for the new part-time counter clerk had been administered was resolved by the minutes, which record it as done.

2. 1:14
   Helmet fronts for two new firefighters

   Chief Tripp (?) said Noah Larabee and Nick Weber had spent six months on firefighter I and II, twice a week and ten Saturdays, unpaid, and that the questions they ask make the whole department better. Noah Larabee is a fourth generation firefighter and his father CJ (?) presented his helmet front. The probationary P was taken off both, making them firefighters and EMTs.

3. 1:14
   What the two have been doing

   Tripp listed recent calls: a cardiac event involving a visitor at the KOA at nine at night, a patient at an accident scene, an overnight from 1:30 until six, covering Lisbon over the weekend, and washing and waxing the truck. The board thanked them, noting many communities have struggled with numbers, dedication and response from their fire and rescue services while Durham has not.

4. 1:14
   A recent kitchen fire

   A small kitchen grease fire had been put out and, since it was not the occupant's primary residence, nobody was left homeless. A member who had listened to the call on a scanner said the engines were on scene in two or three minutes with sixteen people responding, and called it a testament to the department.

5. 6:56
   Public comment and reports

   Nobody was present for public comment. The fire and road commissioner reports were passed over, with a suggestion that Calvin be given the chance if he arrived.

6. 6:56
   Comcast contract

   The town manager, Mitch Berkowitz, had begun reviewing the Comcast contract and confirmed MMA provides no representation and that he had found no group of towns that has coalesced to negotiate, so he expected narrow room. Members asked him to watch particularly for language significantly different from the current contract, given what is happening nationally and at state level with franchise fees.

7. 6:56
   Payroll services quote

   One quote had been obtained for payroll services to see whether it would be cost effective. A member recalled that when this was looked at before, the answer was that the Trio system meant everything had to be entered by hand anyway; Berkowitz (?) said a provider working with Trio towns still sees benefits, and that he was not making a recommendation yet.

8. 12:17
   Certificate of assessments signatures

   A set of documents flowing from the meeting at which the board set the mill rate needed signing. Berkowitz had brought the originals back because he was not sure he had given the board originals last time rather than copies, and confirmed none of the numbers had changed.

9. 12:17
   Flags: the money arrived faster than expected

   Having challenged Keith Russell at the last meeting to seek public contributions before the town found money, members reported the public had responded almost immediately, with cheques arriving within 24 hours. The cheques are made out to the Town of Durham and are being held uncashed, which raised the question of whether the board is authorised to accept and then spend that money without a town vote.

10. 12:17
    Whether it should be town money at all

    Members discussed asking donors to write cheques instead to the VFW, the AmVets or the fire department's separate non-town fund, so an outside body could hold a balance for future replacement flags. Others noted people had already written cheques to the town, and that a town meeting was coming in a month or so anyway. A related question was whether the Memorial Day fund still exists, with a recollection of around a thousand dollars left in it.

11. 17:54
    The policy question

    Berkowitz put the underlying question to the board: whether the town should administer these funds or whether they should sit outside the town in coordination with it, since someone has to put the flags up, take them down, store and replace them. A member argued it should be a town function, with public works raising and lowering the flags and the cost eventually in the public works budget. Berkowitz (?) said that made proper authority to accept and appropriate the money all the more important.

12. 17:54
    First motion, then withdrawn

    A motion was made and seconded to accept the donated cheques, deposit them into the Memorial Day parade account and expend them from there on flags. Discussion turned on whether the Memorial Day account could then only be used for flags and what would happen to any overage, with members agreeing donors would reasonably object if the surplus went to anything other than flags. The second was withdrawn.

13. 23:20
    The forgiveness argument

    Several times members described the practical route as doing it and asking forgiveness later. Josh (?) said that if that is what the board was doing he would not support it, pointing to the importance the board had placed on the same principle elsewhere, including in questions it had put to candidates for the open position, and calling it a double standard. Others answered that nothing illegal was being proposed and the issue was purely how the funds are properly appropriated.

14. 23:20
    Alternatives considered

    Options aired included creating a town flag fund, buying the flags from the public works budget and crediting the donations back against an invoice so the paper trail is clear, and calling the roughly twelve to fifteen donors and asking them to write cheques directly to the flag supplier. Members also asked whether the warrant article authorising the board to accept grants would cover donations; Berkowitz (?) said applying it would be a stretch because the article refers specifically to grants.

15. 28:31
    The wider problem of accepting donations

    A member recalled someone who had said he would have donated a substantial amount to the scholarship fund, and that the town was not sure how to take the money. Members agreed the town needs a general way to accept donations and allocate them. Berkowitz (?) warned that whatever is set up should be flexible enough to keep working and not attract criticism that overshadows the purpose.

16. 33:46
    Time pressure

    The supplier's quote had been given two weeks earlier and was good only for a limited period, and members noted there were only six or seven weeks of flag flying left this year. Nobody was willing to call a special meeting over it, and asking a dozen or more people to rewrite cheques was expected to take another two or three weeks.

17. 38:54
    Old town hall roof: the quotes

    Two quotes were in hand and no more were expected. A member had spoken to someone from the historic commission, who said the colour should be either the roof's original colour, which survives only in a black and white photograph, or its present colour, an unusual whitish-green no-tab shingle. Both bids call for architectural shingles, which members said is all anyone will put on now.

18. 44:32
    The difference between the two bids

    Jack's Property Service bid more but includes 7/16 OSB sheathing over the entire roof, whereas the other bid only says damage to rotten wood will be assessed once the shingles are off. Members called that a huge difference. One contractor who had looked at the roof said something should be done before winter, which a member noted is what any contractor would say.

19. 44:32
    Where the money comes from

    The work would be funded from the account for that building rather than the general municipal building account. Berkowitz (?) confirmed that once voters have appropriated money into a capital account the board can authorise spending it on the authorised purpose without input from any other committee, as was done for the foundation repair. Members thought there was around sixty thousand dollars in the account.

20. 49:38
    Whether to seek a third quote

    Members debated getting a third quote, asking every bidder to show a colour sample, and handing the whole matter, bids and colour, to the historic district commission. Against that, others pointed out there is no active committee for the building and that the policy requires selecting the most advantageous proposal, which they considered the bid that includes new sheathing. A member observed the board seems to keep kicking the same items down the road, on HVAC and elsewhere, either because it is not getting the information it needs or because it keeps asking for more rather than saying up front what it wants.

21. 54:51
    Settling the colour question

    An amendment to set a deadline for the colour choice was raised and answered by the point that the motion already confines the commission to available colours of the shingle named in the bid, so it cannot go shopping among other manufacturers. Members noted supply chain problems mean only about a third of colours are available anyway, that the provenance of the original colour has been lost, and that the priority is stopping the building deteriorating rather than the colour.

22. 54:51
    County budget committee ballot

    An official ballot had come for two members of the Androscoggin County budget committee representing district three, with municipal officers required to vote for at least one candidate who is a municipal official. The only candidate discussed was Lee Clement, a Lewiston councillor. Members could not recall the town ever having voted on this before and debated whether to vote at all, concluding that since it is asked of them and someone is interested, they should.

23. 1:00:16
    MMA legislative policy committee ballot

    A second ballot was for one seat on the Maine Municipal Association's legislative policy committee, which forms MMA's positions on legislation and is behind the statements that MMA is for or against a bill. The candidates were Matthew Garside (?), town manager of Poland, and Philip Crowell Jr, city manager of Auburn. A member said he knew Crowell, the former Auburn police chief and assistant city manager under Peter Crichton, and would trust him with his life; another said that knowing neither, he would have leaned toward the Poland manager as more likely to focus on small town issues.

24. 1:06:03
    Candidate profiles

    The profiles on the back of the ballot were read out. Garside has been Poland's manager more than six years, was previously chief executive of an oil and gas firm and a captain in the US Navy. Crowell has been Auburn's city manager two years, assistant city manager two years and police chief for twelve, and has served on the legislative policy committee since 2018.

25. 1:12:04
    Special town meeting on ARPA funds

    Three candidate uses were on the table: GIS mapping with a two-year subscription; an IT bucket covering computers, software and phones plus enhancements at the Eureka Center so meetings could be held and broadcast from there; and HVAC systems for the town offices and fire and EMS, but not public works. The chair recalled the public wanting a voice in ARPA spending, and noted it was not then known that any ARPA expenditure requires a town meeting vote in any case, which makes that concern moot.

26. 1:12:04
    Splitting urgent from discretionary

    The approach proposed was to ask now for authority to spend roughly 40 percent of the ARPA money on things the board regards as urgent needs, and to hold a public input session on the balance. The articles would be closed rather than open, meaning a yes or no on a stated amount that cannot be amended from the floor, with documentation explaining how each number was reached. The budget committee will also have to give a recommendation.

27. 1:17:07
    GIS mapping

    Berkowitz (?) said the town currently uses a free mapping service which was never meant for this and rated the town's mapping about four or five out of ten. Digitising it ties directly to the tax billing database, so fewer errors and more accurate assessment, and putting it on the website would cut the significant staff time now spent answering realtor and bank calls about properties. The subscription is about $3,000 a year, so two years plus the initial cost comes to $16,000, and access would be public rather than licensed per user.

28. 1:17:07
    The overall ARPA figures

    Berkowitz gave rough figures: IT infrastructure improvements about $55,000, electrical and HVAC replacement for the town hall building, fire and EMS and extending through to the Eureka Center about $75,000, and GIS $16,000. That comes to roughly $140,000 out of an ARPA fund of $421,000, leaving the majority still subject to discussion between the board and the public.

29. 1:22:38
    The HVAC quotes do not compare

    Members objected that the three HVAC proposals cannot be set against each other. One proposes two 24k units, another a 9k and a 24k; a hot water heater has been added that had never been discussed; and the bidders disagree about whether the fire station's electrical panel needs upgrading, one saying yes and two saying no. Berkowitz (?) explained the RFQ was deliberately written to let each vendor determine what the buildings needed, which members said was the source of the problem.

30. 1:27:49
    Like for like versus a proper assessment

    Members argued that where equipment already exists, such as the two two-ton units and the 40k furnaces at the town office, the town should simply specify replacement in kind, and that a mechanical engineer is only needed where something new is being added, such as air conditioning at the fire station, which has never had it. Berkowitz (?) offered to put out a request for a mechanical engineer but warned it would take until the fall and that no prices could be held that long.

31. 1:33:15
    What the board wants to see

    Members asked for the actual proposals to be circulated and for a narrative report rather than a single table: what is there now, why it needs replacing, what each contractor recommends, and an explanation of why the recommendations differ, including the heat load assumptions behind them. It was noted that heat pump installers are not always engineers and may be electricians, which may explain three professionals giving three different answers.

32. 1:38:27
    The fire station and the cooling station

    Members questioned whether the fire station work should be in this round at all, since it had been included partly to get a package price. Part of the reasoning had been that the fire station was the town's cooling station, but members recalled it was the Eureka Center, and that the fire station had only ever had a window unit in the front and perhaps one in the chief's office, though two 36k heat pumps were installed there later. Members also noted the chief would have to be involved in any load calculation, given meeting attendance in the building.

33. 1:43:39
    Insulation

    Members raised the attic insulation, currently thought to be three or four inches, as something that would materially change both heating and cooling loads and that the bidders did not know about. It was agreed the insulation plan should be part of the summary so the picture is complete, with one member noting that at some point the additions have to stop.

34. 1:49:11
    Fuel shortfall no longer an issue

    A member asked about the fuel and gas shortfall that had been expected to need a special town meeting. It was explained the earlier calculation had assumed a full year rather than a partial year, so departments are not asking for supplemental funds and no article is needed for it.

35. 1:49:11
    Timing of the special town meeting

    The constraints were that the warrant questions would be finalised at the next regular meeting, that a town meeting needs at least ten days' notice, and that the budget committee must have time to meet and recommend. Members weighed mid-August against waiting until after Labor Day, with the risk that waiting pushes the HVAC work past the point where it can be done before winter, against the reflexive dislike of summer special town meetings.

36. 1:54:51
    Venue and format

    The Eureka Center was thought big enough, based on around 130 attending the last special town meeting, on Auburn Road about four years ago. Members preferred a weeknight to a Saturday in August, recalling a previous summer weeknight meeting that drew about 30 people, and settled on an evening start rather than late afternoon.

37. 2:00:16
    Getting the budget committee ready

    Members agreed to give the budget committee advance warning, chair to chair, so it can have a meeting set up. The plan was to finalise the questions at the July 26 meeting, get them to the budget committee chair by the following day or two, invite the committee to attend the 26th for the full context, and post the notice in the first week of August, leaving seven to nine days between the budget committee's recommendation and the town meeting.

38. 2:00:16
    How many questions

    Members rejected lumping the items into a single article, on the ground that one controversial item would drag down the others, and settled on separate questions. Rather than three, they agreed on four, separating the town office HVAC from the fire department HVAC because the bids are separate, which also makes the supporting spreadsheet easier: GIS mapping, IT infrastructure, HVAC for the town office and HVAC for the fire department.

39. 2:05:51
    The Eureka Center link and the trees

    On the IT work at the Eureka Center, members returned to the AirFiber line of sight. Rather than felling trees, the idea is to limb them up and shoot the beam through a tunnel, the system being forgiving of some obstacles. Calvin is to advise whether public works is comfortable doing the work next to the town hall, and a quote for removal is to be obtained as a contingency so the cost is known by the next meeting.

40. 2:11:19
    Contingency in the amounts

    Members agreed to add a margin of around ten or twenty percent to the figures and to word the articles as authority to spend up to a stated amount, since prices are moving quickly and anything unspent goes back into the ARPA account anyway. That also leaves room for items such as new thermostats.

41. 2:11:19
    Explaining ARPA to residents

    The board agreed to prepare a short presentation on ARPA, covering what the money is and what it can and cannot be used for, to put on the website ahead of the meeting and use at it. The aim is to head off questions about why the money cannot simply offset the operating budget or be rebated to taxpayers, both of which are expressly excluded.

42. 2:16:55
    BYOB permit

    A BYOB permit application was approved for an event at the AmVets for a wedding. Members remarked that people generally learn they need the permit from a hired bartender or from a note on the hall rental application.

43. 2:16:55
    LRAP report

    The state provides local road assistance money each year and asks for a report on how it was spent. Durham received $55,024 and reported three projects against it: Beaver Woods Road at $44,000, Harley Woods Road at $40,200 and Puritan Lane at $36,000, well more than the amount received. A member noted the town plows state roads for less than the state pays and still has to account for the money it does get.

44. 2:16:55
    Consent agenda, next meeting and executive session

    The consent agenda was accepted as presented. The next regular meeting was set for Tuesday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the town office. The board then went into executive session on personnel matters relating to the town manager search.

What was decided

• 1:14
  Amend the agenda to take Chief Tripp's presentation ahead of public comment and to add the BYOB application as item 7D. Agreed without objection.passed
• 17:54
  Accept the donated cheques for flags, deposit them into the Memorial Day parade account and expend them from that account to purchase flags. Moved and seconded, then set aside: the second was withdrawn during discussion over whether the account could be restricted to flags and what would happen to any surplus. No vote was taken and the matter came back later in a differently worded motion.tabled
• 33:46
  Accept the donations and expend them as intended on flags and holders, and get the flags on the poles as soon as possible. The motion does not specify the accounting, which is left to the discretion of town staff, who may consult the town attorney or the auditors on how to record it. The chair announced the motion passes 4-0 with one abstention.passed
• 54:51
  Accept the bid from Jack's Property Service for the old town hall roof, which includes 7/16 OSB sheathing over the whole roof, and allow the historic district commission to select the colour from those available in the CertainTeed Landmark architectural shingle named in the bid. The chair announced 5-0.passed
• 54:51
  Fund the Union Church and old town hall roof project from the fund held for that building rather than the general municipal building account. Moved by Rich, seconded by Josh; the chair called for those in favour.passed
• 1:00:16
  Cast the town's vote for Lee Clement, a Lewiston council member, as a member of the Androscoggin County budget committee. Moved and seconded by Josh; the chair called for those in favour.passed
• 1:06:03
  Cast the town's vote for Philip Crowell Jr, city manager of Auburn, for the Maine Municipal Association legislative policy committee. Moved and seconded; the chair announced the motion passes, though the count in the recording is indistinct.passed
• 1:38:27
  Send the HVAC material back to be rebuilt: the full proposals to be circulated to the board, and a comprehensive summary prepared with the town office and the fire station broken out separately, showing what equipment exists today, what each vendor proposes and the assumptions behind each recommendation, ready for the July 26 meeting. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 2:00:16
  Put FOUR separate warrant questions to the special town meeting rather than one combined article, on the ground that a single controversial item would drag down the rest: GIS mapping, IT infrastructure, HVAC for the town office, and HVAC for the fire department, the last two being separated because the bids are separate. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 2:05:51
  Set a special town meeting for Tuesday, August 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Eureka Center and follow the procedures for setting it up, contingent on the warrant questions being finalised at the July 26 meeting. Moved and seconded; the chair called for those in favour.passed
• 2:11:19
  Word the ARPA articles as authority to spend up to a stated amount, with a margin of roughly ten to twenty percent added to the estimates, since prices are moving and anything unspent returns to the ARPA account. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 2:11:19
  Prepare a short presentation on ARPA, setting out what the money is and what it may and may not be spent on, to go on the town website before the special town meeting and be used at it. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 2:16:55
  Approve the BYOB permit application for April Stone and Joseph Jakes (?) at the AmVets. Moved, seconded by Rich; the chair called for those in favour.passed
• 2:16:55
  Approve the LRAP report for FY2022, recording Beaver Woods Road at $44,000, Harley Woods Road at $40,200 and Puritan Lane at $36,000 against $55,024 received, with the chair and one other member to sign it. Moved and seconded; the chair announced it unanimous.passed
• 2:16:55
  Accept the consent agenda as presented. Moved, seconded by Joe; the chair called for those in favour.passed
• 2:16:55
  Go into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 405(6)(A) for discussion of personnel matters relating to the town manager search. Moved, seconded by Joe; the chair called for those in favour and declared the board in executive session.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

• 12:17
  Residents wrote cheques to the Town of Durham for flags within 24 hours of the last meeting, and the board then spent close to half an hour on whether it can accept and spend donated money without a town vote. Options canvassed included routing the money through the VFW, the AmVets or the fire department's own fund, creating a town flag fund, or asking donors to write cheques directly to the supplier. Josh (?) said he would not support what he saw as doing it and asking forgiveness later, and abstained; the motion to accept the donations and buy the flags and holders at once carried 4-0 with that abstention, with the accounting left to staff and the option of consulting the town attorney or auditors.
• 1:17:07
  A special town meeting is set for Tuesday, August 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Eureka Center to authorise roughly $140,000 of Durham's $421,000 in ARPA funds: about $55,000 for IT infrastructure, about $75,000 for electrical work and HVAC at the town hall, fire and EMS and through to the Eureka Center, and $16,000 for GIS mapping with a two-year subscription. The balance is to go to a public input session later. The four articles will be closed, meaning yes or no on stated amounts that cannot be amended on the floor.
• 1:22:38
  The board sent the HVAC quotes back because they cannot be compared. The request for quotes let each vendor decide what the buildings needed, so one proposes two 24k units and another a 9k and a 24k, a hot water heater appears that had never been discussed, and the bidders disagree about whether the fire station's electrical panel needs upgrading. A member said the same items keep coming back meeting after meeting without resolution. Going out for a mechanical engineer instead, the town manager warned, would push the work into the fall with no prices held.
• 44:32
  The old town hall roof went to Jack's Property Service, the higher of the two bids, because it includes 7/16 OSB sheathing over the whole roof while the other bid only assesses rotten wood once the shingles are off. It is funded from the account held for that building, thought to hold around sixty thousand dollars, which the board can spend without further authorisation because voters already appropriated it for that purpose. The colour will change, since the original is known only from a black and white photograph, and the choice was handed to the historic district commission.

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: 8 passages of motion language, against 16 decisions summarised.

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