Select Board Meeting ~ February 24, 2015

2015-02-24 · Select Board · 1:24:29 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on February 24, 2015 with budget season under way and the road commissioner about to leave. Justin Levesque presented his Eagle Scout plan to rebuild the Veterans Memorial with new flag poles, proper lighting, a pathway to the gazebo and power at the band stand, and the board voted to let him continue his research while noting the $3,000 it has requested still has to clear the budget committee and town meeting. The board approved advertisements for an animal control officer, dedicated the town report to a resident who died in 2014, awarded the Spirit of America tribute to a name brought before it, and temporarily let public works accrue up to 80 hours of comp time with an April 15 sunset. Longer discussions produced no decisions: whether to buy a mower out of the public works bond, whether an equipment-sharing arrangement with Pownal exposes the town to injury claims, what the board actually voted on when it approved putting the commitment book online, and whether painting the fire station is a capital project or maintenance, which the town's administrator will put to the auditors. The recording ends as the board moves into the first of its executive sessions; the minutes record that it later appointed Ronald Dube interim road commissioner effective February 28.

What was discussed

1. 0:06
   Call to order and agenda amendments

   The chair noted a quorum, saying all five selectmen were present, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. He added item J, the Spirit of America award, struck executive sessions numbered IX and X, and added one executive session under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(A) on personnel and public works.

2. 0:06
   Consent agenda

   A motion to accept the consent agenda as presented was made, seconded and put to a vote.

3. 0:06
   Historic district commission ordinance

   A member of the historic district commission explained that the ordinance amendment amounts to adding the phrase covering two associate members, with everything else identical. The commission considered spelling out what associate members do but followed the pattern of other town boards, which list them in the ordinance and describe the role in bylaws; draft bylaws will come to the board within a couple of months. A larger set of ordinance revisions is being prepared for town meeting 2016.

4. 0:06
   Putting the ordinance on the warrant

   The board noted it cannot approve an ordinance itself and does not need to act now; the amendment simply needs to appear as a warrant article when the board accepts the warrant, expected in about two weeks.

5. 5:14
   Historic district commission activity

   Asked about the commission being revived, the presenter said it had met as necessary and now meets monthly regardless, going through its documents and working toward consistency.

6. 5:14
   Eagle Scout project: the Veterans Memorial

   Justin Levesque presented his Eagle Scout project to rebuild the Veterans Memorial. He said that when his troop was asked to raise the flag last spring it caught on the pole, that the memorial is not lit to flag code at night, that there are not enough poles for all the military service flags, and that the general appearance needs work.

7. 5:14
   What the project would involve

   The plan is two new 20-foot poles for the American and state flags and four new 18-foot poles for the service flags, better lighting, a pathway from the monument to the gazebo, an electrical outlet at the gazebo for events, and rotating the gazebo to align it with the pathway after checking whether the foundation allows it. Levesque said he would act as project manager, with troop members providing free labour, and would fundraise.

8. 5:14
   Costs of poles and lighting

   Levesque put the 20-foot poles at around $625 and the 18-foot poles at $100 each, with an 80-pound bag of cement at $4 and roughly a bag per pole. Of the three lighting options, a CMP light on the existing utility pole would add about $15 to $30 a month to the town's street light account; a CMP-installed pole, meter and fixture would cost $2,500 to $3,500 up front plus $7 to $18 a month but would provide the meter for the outlet; solar he had not yet researched.

9. 10:40
   Pathway costs and the ask

   Gravel was priced at $4 a bag, quantity still to be calculated, and a 50-foot roll of landscaping liner at $10. Levesque put the whole project at roughly $2,500 to $3,500 depending on the lighting chosen, said he would do some fundraising, and asked the town to help fund it.

10. 10:40
    Town funding for the project

    The board said $3,000 had been put in the budget request toward this, but that it had not yet gone to the budget committee, which meets Thursday night, and would then have to pass at town meeting. A member added that no one knows what happens on the town floor.

11. 10:40
    Rotating the gazebo

    Asked how he would move the gazebo, Levesque said the scouts would lift it at each corner and rotate rather than move it, after first checking the foundation. A member cautioned it is a very old structure and he could not remember whether it sits on pads or on posts set in the ground, which cannot be established until the snow is gone.

12. 10:40
    Power at the band stand

    Members liked the electrical element, one saying he had always thought there should be power there for bands and lighting. It was noted the existing street light is unmetered and billed at a flat rate, that power for the gazebo cannot come off it and solar probably would not do, pointing to the second option, and that the first attempts to run a PA system at the band stand for the revived Memorial Day parades had failed every time. The cost of that option would nearly double the project.

13. 10:40
    Historic district approval

    Because the memorial sits in the historic area, rotating the gazebo would likely need approval from the historic district commission. A commission member said he had spoken with them, they would like to look at it, and they would also want to review the placement of the poles.

14. 15:41
    Offers of help and next steps

    Mark Blake offered to meet Levesque at the site once the snow goes, saying he has background in that kind of work and giving a rule of thumb that a 10- or 12-inch sonotube four feet deep takes four to five bags of concrete. The board invited him to come back once he can see the ground, and he confirmed he is aiming to have at least some of it done before Memorial Day. He also has to present the project to the Boy Scout council.

15. 15:41
    Animal control officer advertisement

    Two draft advertisements were before the board, one aimed at MMA and a shorter one for newspapers, together with a job description. A member said the newspaper version needs the equal opportunity and affirmative action employer statement, which everything else the town places in the paper carries.

16. 20:47
    Where to advertise

    Members agreed on the town channel, the town website, the MMA job site and one or two papers, discussing Tri-Town, Lewiston and Brunswick before settling on Tri-Town and the Lewiston Sun Journal on the basis that the town typically uses Lewiston.

17. 20:47
    Animal control officer job description

    A member asked that the description be brought back in the town's standard template, since this one predates the reformatting of job descriptions. Members found the content thorough, and it was explained that the gas stipend and vehicle are not written into descriptions but handled in negotiation alongside an advertised salary range.

18. 20:47
    Public works bonds: three questions

    Shawn Bennett put three questions to the board: which bond the generator should come out of, whether the leftover should go back as principal, and whether equipment money should buy a lawnmower and pickup truck. The board agreed the generator comes out of the building bond, which still has about $34,000 in it, and was told there is no deadline to close the bond out, only that interest keeps running until money is returned.

19. 20:47
    What mowing currently costs

    The town spends about $11,000 a year contracting out mowing including the cemeteries, of which the cemeteries are about $3,600. Members said the cemeteries are labour intensive and questioned whether they are worth rolling into public works.

20. 25:52
    Whether to buy a mower

    Excluding the cemeteries leaves roughly $7,400 a year in contracted mowing. Members asked what a durable mower would cost, a figure the recording garbles, and raised that the crew is down to four people with a minimum of four needed and vacations coming. One suggestion was hiring a part-timer at a lower rate whose job would be the mowing.

21. 25:52
    Scope of the mowing

    The properties named were the town office, the fire station, the Eureka Center, public works, which has never been on the contract, River Park, the Runaround Pond park and the gazebo. Members said that is a lot for one person, that hand mowing and trimming is what takes the time, and that a trailer and an available truck would also be needed.

22. 25:52
    Arguments against buying now

    About $20,000 remains available in the bond, and one suggestion was to hold it until a new road commissioner is hired, though a decision is needed soon for the budget process and payback was put at three or four years. Shawn Bennett said that if he were still the department head he would ask the board to hold off this year, run a one-year contract and get a handle on the man-hours. Members also noted a mower was not part of what the five committees and public meetings discussed when the bond was sold, and that the board had been careful about that.

23. 31:03
    Arguments for buying now, and the decision to wait

    The counter-argument was that if the money is there, buying in July or August would put the town ahead rather than having to ask again, though interest accrues on the $20,000 while it is held. Members noted both bonds came in for less than originally expected and that residents on town floor might prefer the money returned. They agreed to get prices on a couple of mowers within two to four weeks and to work out how many hours the mowing actually takes before deciding.

24. 31:03
    Town report dedication

    Looking back over deaths in town during 2014, the chair said John Acriman (?) stood out for his commitment to Durham, and a write-up had already been prepared by someone who worked with him on the planning board for many years, with help from his widow. Someone had also suggested Charlie Larby (?), but he died in 2015 and members agreed next year's report would be the right place. A member asked whether a photograph could be included.

25. 36:30
    Equipment sharing with Pownal

    The board had before it the equipment-sharing agreement used between Cumberland and Pownal, which could serve during the interim while a road commissioner is recruited. An email from MMA (?) said that where the operator goes with the piece of equipment, no such agreement is needed, and members confirmed that is normally how it works.

26. 36:30
    Who pays if someone is hurt

    The unanswered question was what happens if a Pownal employee operating Pownal equipment is injured in Durham, or a Durham labourer is injured in Pownal. Scott had been asked to look into it and no answer was available. Members compared it with fire mutual aid, which is covered by written agreements setting out responsibility for equipment and personnel, and noted the towns have nothing that specific for public works.

27. 36:30
    Disagreement over sharing crews at all

    One speaker objected that there is plenty of work in Durham that has not been done, that taxpayers want to see work done here, and that he does not need the crew working in Pownal. Others said it is neighbour helping neighbour, works well and gets more done, on the understanding that each town's own work comes first. A document from the Greater Portland Council of Governments covering towns working the same way was offered by email.

28. 41:40
    Clarification of the online commitment book

    At the previous meeting the board approved putting the commitment book online, and John had posted the tax section from the town report, which is not the technical commitment. Ruth Glaeser explained the commitment is a legal document whose figures are final, includes mailing addresses and the tax account number, and runs 300-odd pages against 50 to 60 in the town report.

29. 41:40
    History of the objection

    Members recalled heated discussion on town floor in past years, but noted that proposal was far larger, carrying an up-front and yearly cost and including photographs and property descriptions. A reason offered for posting the commitment is that the office gets 10 to 15 calls a day from banks and real estate agents asking for information that is already public, but members recalled the floor had explicitly rejected that as a reason. One member said he has no objection personally but hesitates to vote in something the town has expressed a specific dislike for.

30. 46:53
    What the board had actually voted on

    Members said they had understood themselves to be voting on the tax section that appears in the town report, not the technical commitment, and had not realised the two were different. They agreed to leave up what is already there and to bring the difference to town floor as a non-binding article so residents can see both and give an opinion, with a member noting he would not suggest going against that opinion. No further vote was thought necessary since the earlier vote had been clarified.

31. 46:53
    Fire capital budget: the $12,000

    A $12,000 item covering exterior painting, replacing wood trim, a suppression hood in the kitchen and security cameras had been discussed the previous night but never made it onto the budget paper. Members questioned what counts as a capital project, particularly the painting; one suggested the cameras qualify as something not there before and the hood might, depending on cost and expected life.

32. 46:53
    The $40,000 versus $33,000 payment

    The board's recommendation for the capital plan was 50 and the budget committee's was 40. The fire chief said that if 40 is what goes in, he would not recommend a $40,000 payment but rather the roughly $33,000 actually due, carried through the full term, because the difference ripples out to 17,000, 14,000 and 21,000 in later years. He had originally presented at 33 and became comfortable with 40 only after restructuring the plan to push the engine out a year.

33. 52:41
    Interest saved by the larger payment

    Ruth Glaeser (?) had put a sheet in the packet showing what the $40,000 payment saves against $33,000. Members read it as roughly $1,400 to $1,500 in total, a little over $200 a year spread across the original six years, and one said he was not sure that was substantial. A member said his personal opinion was to keep it at 33 because it is not known which recommendation will pass.

34. 52:41
    Breaking down the $12,000

    The packet's top page carried the hood figure with supporting documentation behind it and an estimate for painting and trim on the last page. There was no written documentation for the cameras, which had been quoted verbally at around $1,500. The painting covers the block on the whole exterior of the station, not the vinyl siding or the vinyl peak; about a third of the trim was previously redone in composite and the rest is wood and starting to rot.

35. 57:43
    Capital or maintenance

    One view was that work done periodically, like painting, is routine maintenance rather than capital improvement. The fire chief argued the dispute is terminology, that municipalities routinely finance things like air pack replacement, that the capital account has always been represented as covering painting and paving, and that the sensible approach is a savings plan even if the account needs renaming. A third view was that lumping the work together as a package expected to last five or ten years makes it capital, while doing $1,500 this year and $2,000 next year makes it maintenance.

36. 57:43
    Asking the auditors

    Members agreed the practical question is what the auditors will accept, since the town does not want to be caught on its audit whatever anyone's opinion. Keith Russell read a definition from his phone that a capital expenditure is an amount spent to acquire or improve a long-term asset such as equipment or buildings, to which the counter was that painting maintains what is already there rather than improving it.

37. 1:02:44
    SCBAs as the clearer case

    The fire chief noted the department bought all its turnout gear and SCBAs on a 2006 grant and that the air packs will all become non-compliant within a couple of years of each other, at roughly $5,000 per pack for about twenty packs. Members agreed that would plainly be capital because it acquires equipment with a defined life.

38. 1:02:44
    Threshold and timing

    A further definition was read that improvements can be capitalized as long as they are not part of normal maintenance, judged by whether the work is done yearly, with a commonly used threshold of $500 that for the town might be $5,000. Ruth Glaeser said she would call the auditors the next day but that there might be no answer before Thursday's budget meeting, where members joked they would have to decide on the fly in front of the committee.

39. 1:08:10
    Spirit of America award

    The board is asked each year to choose a local person, project or group for the Durham Spirit of America Foundation tribute for outstanding community service, honoured by resolution or proclamation at annual town meeting. Past recipients named were a Boy Scout troop, the Eureka Center and the fire department. This year a resident had suggested a nominee; the recipient is given a certificate at town meeting and attends a ceremony at the county courthouse in June. The nominee's name is not stated on the recording.

40. 1:08:10
    Comp time accrual for the public works crew

    Shawn Bennett reported an oversight on his part: he had assumed the crew could accrue 80 hours of comp time, and a question from town hall showed the limit is 40. Some crew members are already over 40, and given the winter he said allowing more accrual would help the budget, though it was entirely the board's call.

41. 1:13:27
    Comp time discussion

    Members compared caps elsewhere, 24 hours in Lisbon and 80 in Yarmouth, with 240 mentioned as the outer legal limit, and noted comp time accrues at time and a half. The budget gain is avoiding overtime, at the cost of losing crew members in the summer; an expiration date cannot be attached to accrued time and the employer cannot dictate when it is taken. The fairness problem was that one employee stands at 80, another at 60 and another at 36, so either everyone should be allowed to reach 80 or all should be paid down to 40.

42. 1:13:27
    Posting the roads

    Shawn Bennett said a warming trend was forecast and that things move fast on the roads once it turns, with Yarmouth posting around the 9th, and that a board motion is needed to post. The board agreed it can wait until the March 10 meeting, and he noted he would be handing that over to the interim commissioner by then.

43. 1:18:35
    Storm damage reimbursement

    The fire chief circulated summary sheets of what had been submitted for damage from the January blizzard. He said that if it all makes the cut the town is eligible for about 90 percent, normally 75 percent federal and 15 percent state, and that the state share arrives a long way out if at all.

44. 1:18:35
    SAFER grant narrative

    The chief circulated a copy of the SAFER grant narrative and asked members to review it and give constructive criticism. He said what he took from the peer review process he attended was that grant narratives need proofreading by more people, and not only by people who favour what is being proposed.

45. 1:18:35
    Written automatic mutual aid agreements

    The chief reported a situation in which a structure would be treated as unprotected with no fire department, which mutual aid had always covered, but ISO now requires a written automatic mutual aid agreement. Copies have gone to the communities Durham uses for auto aid on the initial alarm so that a fire department is within five miles, some of them in unexpected places. One has come back and been submitted, another is expected, leaving two outstanding; affected residents started the process.

46. 1:18:35
    Deputy chief appointments

    The chief recommended the board reappoint Lisa Groves as deputy chief for rescue and Keith Russell as deputy chief for fire, both having been re-elected at the corporation's annual meeting. Ruth Glaeser was asked to check whether these appointments were made ahead of the April round last year, and the board expected to take them up at the next meeting.

47. 1:23:54
    Codes officer absent and upcoming meetings

    The codes enforcement officer was not present and no written report had been received. Meetings were announced for Tuesday March 10 and Tuesday March 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the town office, with a budget meeting on Thursday February 26 at 6 p.m.

48. 1:23:54
    Executive session

    The chair moved to go into executive session under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(A) on personnel, fire chief personnel matters, and declared it carried. The recording ends there; the minutes record the board came out at 8:41 p.m. with no action taken, then held two further executive sessions.

What was decided

• 0:06
  Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented; moved by Sarah Hall. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried.passed
• 0:06
  Board agreed no vote was needed on the historic district commission ordinance amendment itself, since the board cannot approve an ordinance; it will appear as an article when the board accepts the town meeting warrant.passed
• 15:41
  Motion to approve Justin Levesque going ahead with research on his Eagle Scout project at the Veterans Memorial, on the understanding that any town money depends on the funding being approved. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried.passed
• 20:47
  Motion to place the animal control officer advertisements, adding the equal opportunity affirmative action employer statement to the newspaper version, on the town website, the Durham town channel, the MMA job site, the Lewiston Sun Journal and Tri-Town; moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded by Mark Blake. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried.passed
• 20:47
  Board agreed the animal control officer job description should be reformatted into the town's standard template and brought back at the next meeting rather than adopted as drafted.tabled
• 20:47
  Board agreed the generator should be paid for out of the building bond, which has about $34,000 remaining, rather than the equipment bond.passed
• 31:03
  No action was taken on buying a mower with public works bond money. The board agreed to get prices on a couple of mowers within two to four weeks and to establish how many hours the mowing actually takes before deciding, and to leave the roughly $20,000 in the bond in the meantime.tabled
• 31:03
  Motion to dedicate the town report to John Acriman (?) and to use the write-up that had been provided; seconded, with a request that a photograph be included if possible. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried.passed
• 36:30
  No action was taken on an equipment-sharing agreement with Pownal. The board wanted answers first on who bears the cost if an employee is injured working in the other town, and agreed to look at the Greater Portland Council of Governments document being offered.tabled
• 46:53
  Board agreed that its earlier vote had been to post online the tax section that appears in the town report, not the full technical commitment, and that no new vote was needed because the earlier vote had now been clarified. The difference will be put to town floor as a non-binding article so residents can see both versions.passed
• 1:02:44
  No decision was reached on whether the $12,000 of fire station work is capital or maintenance. Ruth Glaeser (?) will call the auditors, with members noting the answer may not arrive before Thursday's budget committee meeting.tabled
• 1:08:10
  Motion to give the Spirit of America award to the name brought before the board, which had been suggested by a resident; seconded. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried. The recipient is not named on the recording.passed
• 1:13:27
  Motion to temporarily allow public works to accrue up to 80 hours of comp time, sunsetting on April 15, 2015, after which 40 hours is the limit and anyone above that must get below 40 before accruing again; moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded. The chair called for discussion and for all in favour, and declared the motion carried.passed
• 1:13:27
  Board agreed that posting the roads for spring can wait until the March 10 meeting rather than being acted on now.tabled
• 1:18:35
  No vote was taken on the fire chief's recommendation to reappoint Lisa Groves as deputy chief for rescue and Keith Russell as deputy chief for fire. Ruth Glaeser was asked to check last year's timing and bring the appointments to the next meeting.tabled
• 1:23:54
  Motion to go into executive session under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(A) on personnel, fire chief personnel matters; seconded. The chair called for all in favour and declared the motion carried.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 bosmins_2015_2-24.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.

• Approve the Consent Agenda as presentedcarried

  Moved by Sarah Hall, no seconder recorded

• place the add for ACO on the Town Channel, Town Website, MMA Job Site, Tri-Town News and Lewiston Sun Journalcarried

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded by Mark Blake

• the Board to temporarily allow DPW to accrue up to eighty hours, with a sunset date of April 15th 2015. After that date, the maximum will go back to forty hourscarried

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded

• the Board into Executive Session #1 pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A.. ss 405(6)(A) – personnel matters – Fire Chief, with Deputies Present, preceded by a brief recess at 7:55 p.mcarried

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded

• the Board out of Executive Session at 8:41 p.m.. ACTION TAKEN: None, discussion only

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• the Board into Executive Session #2 pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A., ss. 405(6)(A) – Road Commissioner, with Ronald Dube present

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• the Board out of Executive Session at 8:48 p.m. ACTION TAKEN

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• Appoint Ronald Dube as Interim Road Commissioner as of February 28th 2015. He will receive an additional $1.00 per hour while acting as Interim Road Commissionercarried

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, seconded by Mark Blake

• the Board into Executive Session #3 pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A. ss. 405(6)(F) – Confidential Records – at 8:51 p.m

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• the Board out of Executive Session at 9:08 p.m. ACTION TAKEN: None, discussion only. Adjournment

  Moved by Jeffrey Wakeman, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

Worth knowing

• 10:40
  Justin Levesque put his Eagle Scout rebuild of the Veterans Memorial at roughly $2,500 to $3,500 depending on which lighting option is chosen, with labour donated by his troop. The board has requested $3,000 toward it, but that had not yet reached the budget committee and would still have to pass at town meeting.
• 41:40
  The technical tax commitment runs 300-odd pages and carries mailing addresses and tax account numbers, against the 50 to 60 pages of the extract that appears in the town report. The office reported 10 to 15 calls a day from banks and real estate agents seeking that information, but members recalled town floor had explicitly rejected that as a reason for posting it.
• 52:41
  Making the larger $40,000 payment on the fire capital plan instead of the roughly $33,000 due would save only about $1,400 to $1,500 in interest, a little over $200 a year across the original six years. A member said he was not sure that was substantial and preferred to stay at 33 until it is known which budget recommendation passes.
• 1:18:35
  This was Shawn Bennett's last report as road commissioner, and he noted he would be handing spring road posting to the interim commissioner. The minutes record that after the executive sessions the board appointed Ronald Dube interim road commissioner as of February 28, 2015, at an additional $1.00 per hour; that vote is not on this recording.

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 16 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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