TranscriptTown Meeting Public Hearing 2020

came over and licked my face. Nice. So, I'm going to need a shower after this. It's a good thing it's a Zoom meeting. Okay, we're we're starting the recording now. We're live now. So Yeah. Want to start right on time? Okay. Well, good evening everybody that's here. Welcome to the uh what I feel safe in saying is the first virtual public hearing for a town meeting uh in the town of Durham. Um, we're going to do our best to uh take you through what's going to be uh on the on the warrant when we vote on July 14th. And uh Ruth's going to do a presentation um and taking us through in some level of detail. And then when her presentation is over, we will uh open it up for uh questions uh from people attending the meeting. Uh if you wish to ask a question, there's a couple of different ways you can do that. when that time comes, you can use the raise your hand button at the at the bottom middle of of your screen. Um, and

then we [clears throat] will acknowledge that and basically turn on your mic so that you can actually ask your question. Or if you'd rather, you can use the chat uh function and enter your question via chat and we will um do our best to uh get through all of those and um uh

answer everybody's uh questions about what's going on, what's on the warrant, and how we're handling town meeting this year. Um just as a brief overview, this was obviously a very challenging year for a lot of reasons. Uh even before the COVID situation hit, we we knew this was going to be a tough budget year because the final road bond and the ambulance bond were coming onto the budget this year. So that without doing anything was adding almost $300,000 to the budget. So once the COVID situation hit, the board's goal was to uh try to keep the the tax rate um at least flat to last year, if not maybe even down a little bit. Um and we think we put together a budget um that accomplishes that, which you know, kudos to the board and the budget committee uh for working very well together uh to do that. There were some tough decisions. Um, but I think everybody approached it in a manner with the best interest of

the town at heart and understanding the um challenges a lot of our citizens are facing as individuals this year. So, uh, we certainly didn't want to put a tax increase on top of everything else people are are dealing with. So, so I think with that I will turn it over to Ruth and she's going to take us through a presentation on um this year's

uh warrant which is essentially just the budget questions. So Ruth, go ahead whenever you're ready. All right. So I'm going to change slides. I'm new at this too, so you're going to have to kind of bear with me. Okay. So So why so why is the ballot so different than the warrant printed in the annual report? So, some of you may have picked up the annual report and like all other years, uh there are is printed in the annual report um a draft warrant. Um and the reason it was a draft warrant to begin with was because we had not completed um the wording for the land use ordinance questions. Um and so we made it a draft uh with the final to be uh posted um shortly before

uh the town meeting. But uh then COVID hit and uh we realized quickly that we weren't going to be able to have a a traditional town meeting. Um and so um we got together and the board put together this uh this warrant. So why are we having a secret ballot? Um obviously uh the pandemic the gatherings are restricted to no more than 50 people um after I think it's July 1st. It might be is it it might be now but definitely after July 1st. Um we want to include the residents in town who are uncomfortable at this point in time attending town meeting. Um we need to commit taxes. We're on a calendar year. We're already halfway into our budget season. Uh and we have no significant source of of cash uh coming into the town. Um the the state uh allowed us to go off of last year's budget. Um but last year's budget is greater in many um instances than what is proposed this year. Um and in addition to that uh last year's

budget would not take into account uh the new debt payment for the 19 road and ambulance bond and an increase uh that we will see in curbside uh pickup the pine tree uh waste collections that that happen throughout town.

an effort to keep the ballot as small as possible and you'll see um that it's it's 22 questions as it is. So, um that was cutting uh everything we could out of the ballot. Uh we took a and also because there's not going to be a lot of uh discussion um and we felt that there would you would want discussion on some of these topics. So, uh, we took out the land use changes, uh, the marijuana opt-in questions. Uh, we took out the question of changing, uh, the form of government to a manager select board town meeting form of government. Um, we took out the questions reorganizing certain funds. Um, we took out all of the funding of the capital accounts this year. Uh we took out the market value adjustment partially um to to keep the tax rate

down and partially because uh we don't really know what the market's going to do this year. Um and we took out the donations. this year you're going to receive um you should have received already a four-page mailer uh that has the questions on it listed out uh with some explanations uh to the different questions. There are 22 on the ballot and uh it will be uh sent out with your state ballots if you do absentee balloting. Um so the first question you're going to see is a question um to authorize the town to spend up to last year's budget on any specific budget. So for instance uh if the administration budget were to fail um then if this was a yes then we would work off of what we had uh had in last year's budget. So this is more of a failsafe uh question uh so that we

actually may have a budget if if it's if it's voted down and the budget is voted down we would have to come back again and and uh ask for a new vote to uh to pass some sort of a budget. Uh and you'll also notice uh that many of the budgets this year are actually less than last year. Um, the second question that you're going to see is a a question regarding the public works plow truck purchase. This is a capital purchase that was uh planned for this year. Um,

there was some debate as to whether to leave it uh on the the warrant, but when we did the RFP for uh the public works truck, it came in lower than last year. So, the board decided to um put it on the the warrant and let the town vote see um if they wanted to purchase it this year. Um the funds for the truck would come from a capital fund, so it's not going to increase taxes this year. Uh and it would replace a a truck in our fleet that's 20 plus years old.

regarding a contract with Pineree. our contract, the current one we have with Pineree is going to expire June 30th of this year. Um when we went out to bid, uh we got two bids, uh and both of them are significantly higher than what we had had for the past three years. um partially in due to the recycling market which has um crashed in the past couple of years. Uh we received two bids from two different vendors and Pine Tree Waste was the lowest vendor uh with uh it was 32% lower than the next uh bidder.

question four and questions 7 through 11. And these are separated um by a couple questions that I'll talk about in a minute. Um question four is the budget for this the solid waste and 7 through 11 are the rest of the operating budgets. Um so there are six budgets I

think it's six budgets that are actually less. uh fire and rescue department, public works, assessing, general assistance, cemeteries, planning, and the conservation recreation budgets are all lower than last year. Um as an effort in an effort to keep the tax rate down, um the board decided to cut in half the maintenance paving um in the budget uh for public works. And so this was a huge chunk of of the decrease in the the budget despite the increases for uh the debt and the and the solid waste.

increase or did increase this year. The administrative animal control our debt uh Eureka center the solid waste and the telecommunications. Uh the administration um increased by 3% uh mostly due to uh an increase in elections this year because it's a big election year. Um and uh costs uh with

regard to the retirement of our town clerk. Um animal control is controlled by a couple of contracts that we have with the Coastal Humane Society and with Lisbon uh for animal control services and both of those increased substantially this year. Um the debt increase is due to the first payment of the 2019 combined road and ambulance bonds um which is a 39% increase. Um the Eureka Center is a smaller increase. It's 2% increase. Uh we did need to switch over um from a propane furnace to heat pumps uh when the propane furnace um died uh in December. And uh we're

kind of unsure as to what the electricity is going to look like uh in the future. So we did increase that one a bit. Um solid waste uh due to the new contract there would be a 21% increase that we would see this year. Um the full impact of the solid waste uh contract

would not be felt until next year uh because it's only five payments out of the year that are going to be um paid for the new contract. Uh so next year it's going to increase uh some more. Um telecommunications there was a small increase in website hosting uh which created a 1% increase in that budget but um most all of that budget is paid um from the franchise agreement. So, we we receive monies um from the franchise agreement that we have with uh Comcast and we use that money to fund that budget.

uh the questions as short as possible or the ballot as short as possible. Question number 11 combines a number of budgets that you're used to seeing separated. Um it will combine animal control, assessing cemeteries, conservation, recreation and parks, Eureka Community Center, the general assistance, planning board, appeals board, historic district commission, and telecommunications all together in one. Um and so those are split out in the question. And so each of them are separate and independent um budgets, but they're going to be voted on in one question.

five. Um, question number five asks if the town wants to add $10,000 to uh the emergency fund. So, we have an existing emergency fund which uh the board and the budget committee can access with a um with an approval by both the select board and the budget committee. Um the funds that would be put into that u would come out of undesated funds so it would not impact the tax tax rate. Um,

and I had another thought, but I think that's about it for that one. question number six. So last year when the RSU5 assessed uh taxes to Durham, um they assessed it uh somewhat incorrectly. Um and so when they had an audit last year, um their auditors discovered this error. Um, and so our December payment for the RSU was uh $77,410 less uh than what we had anticipated. And so at the end of the year, that money lapsed into undesated funds. Um, and the board would like to use that money to help uh offset the tax commitment this year.

business articles. These appear on the warrant every year. Um they set the tax the amount for the overlay. They give the board the authority to cut conduct business. Um and they allow us to continue operations after December 3rd. Um and then the other thing they do is they also allow the town to borrow money for shortterm uh in anticipation of uh taxes being collected. And um we are taking out a tax anticipation note this year um and may need one next year. And so we need that to keep the town um running.

So numbers and you might ask what the bottom line is. What does this mean to you as taxpayers? the municipal budget, the school bud, and the county budget, which all go into what is our tax commitment. Um, but the munipal part portion is is down this year from last year, $21,000. Um, and this is despite significant increases in uh our debt service and the solid waste contract. Um the contributions are up from existing funds

uh which are usually revenue sharing accounts sourced income which is homestead deduction this year. And so the taxition are still a number of uh county assessment we don't have the final school assessment yet um and there are other variables uh such as uh what our final valuation reimbursements are um and so it's impossible to give an exact figure of what the tax commitment is going to look like. Uh but the goal was to keep the tax rate flat this year. Um and it looks like we should be able to do that. So when do we vote? We are going to vote for this yes or no questions. Um it will absentee ballots by mail phone or online through the state's website. Um you can also get absentee ballots during our office hours um which are some abbreviated right now but I expect in in July at least we'll be opening full um fulltime and then um absentee ballots are going to be available next week. If you've already

requested the absentee ballot, uh you should receive it. You're going to receive uh four ballots. You'll receive this state ballots. Um actually, I think there may be two ballots for the state ballots. One is for your declared party. Um

budget referendum. And then there's also going to be a ballot for uh town officials uh which includes the select board, the budget committee um and the school board um at 10:4. be there for everybody who wishes to vote. And that ends my presentation. And

if anybody has any comments or would like to ask questions, um there's a graphic there that shows you how to raise your hand or put uh a question in the chat and we will we will handle that. their actual name is their name. So you you still do need to identify yourself. Um

out loud. So we do one cost. this would make people more accountable for paying what uh for paying for what they use tags. Um and whether the boarded increasing the tag price to help cover costs. Um I don't recall that we ever discussed actually increasing the tag um charge.

I think we um I don't in any other selectman definitely jump in and if they if they remember anything uh differently um I think whenever whenever we're talking about a new um solid waves contract the subject of tags always comes up and I do remember I think we had a conversation about whether to have tags at all or not. Um but we um we

decided to leave the tag um program in place um as is. But certainly that's something we could consider in future years as the cost of the contract goes up um that it it it wouldn't be unreasonable for the tag price to also um go up.

Looking for any raised hands. I don't see any ra Oh, there's one. Okay, Lee, you should be able to um Whoops. You should be able to talk now. Lee, go ahead and ask your question. Great. Thanks, Kevin. So, I just wanted to first applaud the selectman and the um budget committee for a lot of tough discussions and being able to make some really hard decisions um particularly in um maintenance paving and cutting that budget in half for the year in order to keep taxes on the municipal side um at

and actually below last year, especially where the solid waste budget's 21% more. Um, I do want to mention a couple things as a as um plow truck was not unanimous on both boards and I just want to make sure that that I as a member of the budget committee mentioned that. Um the tax anticipation note I want to make sure everyone understands you know that that doesn't come free. So um it is a fact. It is something we will have to do but just make sure everyone understands that is not something that is free. it means we're borrowing money in order to make um and then the third thing is that um I

just something that I think is extremely important is looking at other options going forward for solid waste and I I hope that the selectman will actually reconvene the solid waste committee and look at other options. I don't know what those other options should be, but um every every city and town is facing the same issues that we are where recycling is not making money on the worldwide stage and there have to be other answers out there. Thanks, Kevin.

Great. Thank you, Lee. Um let's see. going to go back. I was looking for the lower your hand on Lee and then I'll go to you, Jeff. Um, so John, uh, on question eight regarding the public works budget. Uh, how will this affect road costs in the future years? Um, by keeping cost down this year, are we being shortsighted and will we pay more later as roads continue to deteriorate? Um, we think we're fine for one year. Uh, and and we're not we didn't cut all the maintenance. we cut half of it. So, we asked the public works director to um prioritize his list of work. Um the fact that we have um recently uh serviced

most of the roads in town over the last few years um puts us in a pretty good position to be able to take a year off or should have a reduced year of maintenance, if you will. Um certainly during this discussion we were all kind of in the frame of mind that like this is a one-year deal and something that everybody should probably be aware of is that we actually think the more painful budget is going to be next year's budget. Um that's when any significant impacts to revenue sharing from the state um as a result of reduced revenue or potentially um lower amounts going to uh state aid for schools as a result of decreased state revenue from sales tax. Um decreased automobile excise tax collections because people are buying fewer vehicles. Uh all those things are are significant risks for next year's budget. Um, but we uh we are committed to bringing the road maintenance budget back to its um normal level of somewhere

between 350 and $400,000 uh per year. So, um we think for one year we're going to be okay. Uh it's certainly not something that we want to do uh for multiple years. Okay. And Jeff Wakeakeman, go ahead. you can unmute yourself and ask your question, please.

he's saying anything yet. not muted, but we're not hearing anything. can hear me or not. Do you want to try putting it in the chat what your question or comment is? even though he's not? I did. I did. I I I said I did the allow to talk and then then the person on the other end has to unmute themselves.

I would say I would go to the next question, but there isn't one. So, [laughter] oh, here we go. Here's Jeff's question. Um, he says, [clears throat] "I just wanted to thank the selectman and also wondered what the undesated fund balance was." Now, Ruth, do you have the answer to that?

Ruth, you're muted. Yeah, I know. I'm good at that. Um, yeah, I do. Um, and I sent it to you guys and now I have this huge thing in front of my screen. Hold on. Let me see if I can squish this down. I hate this. can comment that um we definitely are

allocating more out of undesated than we would in a normal year. Um but the the fund was healthy enough and Ruth felt comfortable that um that we were okay using a little bit more than we normally use um for this year because of the unusual circumstances. Um but it's not something that we would look uh to do year after year. So did I stall enough for you, Ruth? Do you did you find them?

No, you didn't stall enough for me. Keep stalling. [laughter] Um so it has been building up over the last couple of years. um it is it is not at all where we would want uh it to be and if it weren't for where we are this year as far as the COVID situation is concerned I wouldn't suggest that we take any money from it but um sorry I'm I'm looking and doing this at the same time um but I felt that that this year it was worth doing uh the big hit for it's going to be next year if uh our revenues drop off quite a bit. Uh and we're short on revenues this year. Uh that would come out of the um undesated fund balance, which um we'll have to deal with next year. Um all right, guys. How far back do we have to go?

uh cash flow mill rate calculations. million dollars right now. Uh I think it's about one one or one two. 2019 our unassigned balance was $1.2 million. Um, and one of the things that assists us with our our unassigned balance, I don't think that would be enough under normal circumstances, but we do have um other funds that help us uh cashwise get through the year. So, if you do an unrestricted fund balance net of the bond pro proceeds, um we're up over 3 million. Um, and that's going to take a hit this year. Um, so the the undesated fund balance won't take a huge hit this year, but the rest of the the funds uh may take a hit this year, which would decrease our ability to um to have a cash flow that's that's very healthy um because we do not collect taxes until the end of June, beginning of July, which is six months without a a huge amount of cash inflow um on a you know, on a seven or eight

million budget. So yeah, that is um that's something that the board will uh start some discussions on over the next year or so is um looking at potentially changing from a calendar year to a fiscal year so that the timing of when we approve bud budgets versus when we collect taxes for those budgets is better in sync and we um don't have to um use TANS because we

aren't collecting revenue. We were seven or eight months into our budget year. So, um so more discussion on that to come, but I do have a couple more comments and questions here in the uh chat. Uh this is from John. Uh great work. Kudos to the board and everyone else involved in putting this budget together. From what I've seen, it looks like a lot of thought went into this budget. Thank you and thank you for setting up this Zoom presentation. Uh, Brian Pike says, "Thank you to the board for all your work on this. Not an easy budget year. I'm not looking forward to next year either." My question to Brian was, "Does that mean you're going to come back on the budget committee? You want us all to write you in?" So, um, from Phyllis Brandon, uh, how is the interest rate on delinquent taxes determined? Ruth, do you want to take that one?

Uh, it's determined by the state. So the state uh finance department gives us a maximum which is generally um what we use. Um the the question on what we sent out says 9% and we recently got a um correction to that. Um and it's actually going to be 8% is the maximum and uh we were able to catch that before the ballots were printed. So your ballots will actually say 8% and not 9%.

Okay, great. give it a second here. answer, as does Jeff Rickman." Can you hear me? Yeah, you your volume's kind of low to scream. Okay, I'll try to talk louder. I'm concerned about setting up for the uh [clears throat] COVID 19 as far as the sanitation and so forth for when people come in to vote. And I wondered if we are prepared to have um people who would go out to the car and give them their ballots to vote. Have we thought about that?

H [clears throat] I don't know. We had not considered that. Um so the the voting place will be set up um with you know social distancing. Um, so we will make sure that that uh there's going to be a separation uh between the voters. Uh, it's going to kind of look like um a grocery store line in that there's going to be lines outside that are going to be six uh feet apart. Hopefully it doesn't rain. Um and then uh we will have uh sanitation things you know like the hand sanitizer and the wipes and the things like that um to help uh keep everything uh clean. Uh we will be wearing masks and we ask that everybody else wear masks as well. Um but everybody has the ability to vote by absentee ballot up till 8:00 on the day of the election this year. The that has been changed. Usually it stops the Thursday previous to election, but this year the the state has uh said that they will allow absentee balloting up to um

the the 8:00 on the date of the election. [clears throat and snorts] Okay. So, if someone does come though and they do want to do the drive up balloting, um are we going to be able to [laughter] do that? Yeah, they can do an absentee ballot. So, they would have to fill out I I I'm assuming that the way it would work is is somebody would have to fill out a form um and then uh somebody would bring the ballot out to the car uh and collect the form and then when they were done there'd have to be some mechanism by which um they could inform whoever is

going to to come out and get uh the ballot. I I think we need to I think we'll probably have to do a little homework on that one and um just to make sure that um that what that doing that would be within the the rules of of voting. Um because in one statement we said you could do absentee ballots up until the polls open, but then we just said that well maybe you could get an absentee ballot while the polls are open. So

no, up until the polls close, Kevin. Oh, closed. I'm sorry. 8 p.m. the day of the polls, you can still get an absent. Okay, I misheard you then. Okay, that's good. Okay. And my other question was, uh, will you be wiping down the booths in between each voter?

Uh, we really haven't gotten that far in the thought. Um, we will absolutely have wipes there. Um, I don't I have no concept of how busy this is going to be. Um, and so we will do our best is what I'm going to say. And I think I think it's safe to say whatever the whatever the CDC guidelines are for polling booths, we'll be doing that.

Okay? Because I have before me as I'm talking with you folks, [clears throat] excuse me, the recommendations for election polling locations. It's from the CDC is where I got the the print out. Um I can share it with Ruth later if you like.

Sure. you can go ahead and and uh send it to me if I I probably do have it or Becky probably has it who is our our new town clerk. Uh she's been um really working hard at this, but uh feel free to share it with me. Okay. I I just want to make sure that we're fair to all the voters if they take the time to come out and I want to thank you guys for all your hard work as well.

Thank you. Any then I think um this is this will be a vote for the select board. I'm going to move that we close the public hearing um for uh the ballot referendum on July 14th. Do I have a board member second that? All right. Mark Faren seconds. All right.

the uh public uh hearing. Rob Hanto, yes. Mark Faren, yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Bolier, yes. And I'm a yes. So, the public hearing is now closed. Thank you to everyone who showed up and attended. And we are going to be closing out of this meeting. And there is a separate

No, we're going to stay on this one. Nothing's going to change except you're going into a select board meeting. Oh, we're staying on this link. Okay. Yep. All right, then. I'm going to call the uh regular meeting of the Durham Board of Selectmen uh to order. Um we have

established that we have a quorum. Um Ruth, you want to stop sharing your screen? [laughter] Yeah. Yes, that would be lovely. I want to Okay, so I'm promoting a chief to panelist so that he can talk and is on the screen and I do not see Calvin here.

So, do any board members have uh amendments to the agenda? We have a pretty short agenda tonight. discussion point. We need to add under the consent agenda under a um we need to approve the minutes for May 5th as well as May 26th. So that's I'm adding the May 5th minutes to that consent agenda.

Um [clears throat] and actually this is uh next on the agenda is public comment. So if there um same thing if there's anybody that has that was here for the uh to make a comment about for the regular selectman meeting um can raise your hand or uh

type it in the chat. got a an email from Becky. Uh this is about the last thing, but it says the state is sending us guidelines and personal protective equipment along with sneeze guards uh like the ones uh that that that we thought of doing at the office. So the state is sending us uh personal protective equipment and guidelines.

Okay, great. Okay. So, no public comment. Uh, and we don't have any action and discussion items tonight. So, we'll go right to department committee reports. And Alvin's not here. So, Chief, you're up. All right. Good evening. Uh, did everyone I know it came in late again this afternoon. I tried to hold it till closer to the meeting so there isn't something that pops up that I haven't told people about and then I typically push it back too far. So, I'll try to get that out to you sooner. Uh did everyone get a copy of it?

Okay. Um the the biggest issue to discuss uh right now for me is the the well and septic projects. Um as you can see by the by the report the the drilling they're at 700 ft. Um and we do not have a sufficient water supply. So they're going to be coming in with a crew to actually frack it tomorrow. Um not exactly what we wanted at all. Um but it's it's the only way to get this project completed. and uh and cops crew will be coming

some point this week to start the septic um septic project, excuse me. Um been doing a lot of station cleanup just just when we where we had the time and the staff to do it. Um, one of the things I just did want to make the select board aware of that I'm looking at is when the department purchased the air compressor for filling the SCBA models, they also purchased a a remote filling station that they had intended at one point to put on a truck. Um, but that's that's never been done. There wasn't a truck that was spec that could really fit it. We don't have a use for it otherwise. It's just sat there taking up space. So, I'm seeking information about its value right now uh and working with u one of the representatives through the state fire service to find out about uh possibly selling that because it serves no purpose. It takes up space. Um and but we need I need to make sure that I've jumped through all

the hoops appropriately because to my knowledge it was purchased uh with grant money. So, I will keep you up to speed with that. Um, it's it's like I said, it's not it's not removing a piece of equipment that's been in use at any point. It's just simply been here. Um, so I just wanted the board aware that I was I was looking into that and I'll provide more information. Um,

the suspension of online burn permits. Anybody have any questions about that? So, the um I know the state still has their remnant pay for a permit system. They right they use different criteria than the free permit. So so there's so there were so there were two different options. There was the there was the online portal through the forestry website and that's what cost you $7 permit and then there is the wardens report um which came along a few years ago which is which is a free site um but it has more limitations which are actually more appropriate than not being disrespectful to them to than what's on the forestry website because someone can go in as what happened at six o'clock in the morning and pull a pull a permit for the day But the predictive weather isn't put out until nine o'clock.

Yeah. And so so they could pull a permit for two days. That's actually legal, but then it's making them kind of liable for it if they start to burn and the day the day class changes and then something happens. It puts them on the hook for it. It's confusing. Um, so I spoke to the Forest Service and suspended that that ability for a resident of the town of Durham because they still have they still have warden's report um to [clears throat] utilize um and it's free. So it just limits some of the confusion and the risk of what we had happen the other day which was someone pull a permit and then starting burning on the day that was a high class day and it became an issue. So, and the other piece about law enforcement coverage, this was kind of a surprise topic for me in the middle of the week last week. Uh, we had a call where there was some difficulty getting law enforcement coverage there. Uh, as I

said in my report, the sheriff's office really stepped up. It wasn't their responsibility to actually get that coverage taken care of, but they did it and and protected my staff in the process. Um, and I found out then that apparently the discussion has been between the state police and the sheriff's office that as of July 1st, the state police was pulling out of the prior coverage agreement. So, and and the sher the sheriff had this dumped on him like six hours before we found out about it on this call. So, he was still trying to get his head around it. Forwarded me the new agreement. Um, so in speaking with the sheriff, what I what I've discovered is the responsibility for law enforcement coverage in the town, other than state roads and patrolling those legitimately and legally falls to the sheriff's office. Kind of like plowing with the state roads versus town roads. So, um, so this is an agreement that

they had with the sheriff's department, not really with the town. Um it just put the sheriff's department in a difficult situation because this is after budgeting was done. Staffing hadn't been planned for this. Um but the sheriff is adding adding another position to cover this. Um so if you have any questions, please um please get them to the sheriff. I believe I forwarded his his email with that. Um, for now we're it's it's not a concern because we're going to have um we're going to have adequate

coverage from the sheriff's office. The state police will still apparently backfill if they receive the call. Um, but I think that I think the select board needs to discuss with the sheriff and follow up exactly what the town's expectations are for coverage and what we what we need and what that looks like costwise in the future. I think Ruth has arranged for the sheriff to come to our our next meeting after this one. Is that right?

Yeah, he's going to be uh available for the 23rd, I think it is. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And and once again, he he was incredibly helpful. His staff was terrific. I've been very happy with our relationship. So, great. Just wanted to make sure the board was aware of this happening because I certainly wasn't. So,

Right. Yeah. And that's all I really have. Okay. Any uh board members have questions for the chief? joined us, so we'll circle back uh to you, Calvin, and the road commissioner's report. Thank you. Thanks, Chief. So, we've finished uh last year's Culbert replacement list. Um uh then of course today I got a new one on Stack Pole Road. That's [clears throat] so the list starts over again. Soon as we wrap it up, we just begin the cycle. So, uh, we've, uh, got

the crosswalk painted at Runaround Pond, the stop ahead bars on Quaker and Meeting and Rabbit, and we've striped lined the U fire station, public works, and uh, town office. So, we've got that out out of the way. Looks nice. Uh we'll be doing uh the intersection of um meadow and um uh yeah

meadow and swamp and um yeah we'll be getting that whole intersection. We just finished paving it today. So [clears throat] swamp and meadow road come together. We'll do that four corners. Uh we paved the whole intersection. So um we'll [clears throat] be working on that uh coming up. I worked with Kirker on Friday and today with Meadow Road yesterday and today and we've got Meadow Road finished, completed it to 125 and came back and did the intersections of uh uh Soer and Swamp. So that that whole thing is done. Um we'll be moving the speed radar. Tom, he was on vacation last week, so he's back and we'll be uh collecting the data from that and moving it uh to a new location.

Um plan is to move it to the other end of the road facing back this way to see if there's a difference from Brunswick to here unless anyone has any um other requests. Um we'll try it on the other end for a week or two and then move it somewhere else.

Um I did put the request in speed study. Um I mean I did not put the request. I've been collecting the information. I've got the application still working on that. Uh we'll get that done this week and into them. Um working with Cooker on Day Road. We've realigned [clears throat] the center line a couple of times, gotten that where it really uh fits well. Um [clears throat] moved back the ditches and it it aligns up with 125 a lot better. We had to rip wrap the uh um the embankments and the

ditches coming in. [clears throat] um looking to grind that up. I would assume this week they I think they'll be done tomorrow with the box cuts on the drain and be ready to grind that up this week. I haven't gotten a definite answer yet. I know the reclaimer is parked down the street so I know they're ready to go with that. Um working in Deerville neighborhood, Cottage Woods and Deervale, we've uh done a lot of tree trimming that's really grown in over the years. So that finished and today we actually changed the cross cover culvert the 24inch culvert on cottage woods. [clears throat] Um I posted a picture of that on Facebook earlier and but I don't see it. So I apparently I must not have hit something. So not there. So I apparently thought I sent it and didn't. But um I'll work on that and that's uh about what I got.

Okay. Any questions for Calvin? Thank you, Ruth. Did you have a town administrative report this week? You're being muted. this week. I had meant to, but I did not get to it. Um, so I guess the only things that I really have is is uh you know, let you guys know that that we've been busy. uh very very busy at the the town office. Um I've been there on Thursdays and Fridays. Uh we've had lines uh pretty much all the time. Um and we have uh over um 300 requests for

absentee ballots already. Uh and we do not have the ballots yet. So that means uh it's going to take a lot of time for us to to um stuff and address all of those ballot requests uh early next week when we get the ballots. Um and all of our appointments in the morning have been booked as well. So um I would like to continue status quo for now so that we have uh the time that we can do the absentee ballots and get through um that part portion of of uh of the job that that we're going to have. Um the TAN did close today uh and so we have access to that money now. Um, so we will need to access that uh for the school payment this month. Um, and then obviously for the school payment next month. Um, so I think really that's

about all I have unless you guys have any questions. good job. Thank you. Especially on the town meeting that went well. Thank you. This is nice and clear and concise. Thankfully, the governor came through with her very clear message that that was that was good.

Oh, on the secret ballot thing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, so the consent agenda, I would uh move that we approve or accept the consent agenda uh as prevent as presented with the addition of the May 5th minutes. Is there a second on that?

I'll second. so all if you're in favor, say yes when I call your name. Rob Panto, yes. Rich George, Rich, you were muted. Sorry. Yes. Todd Bolier, yes. And Mark Fon, yes. I'm also a Yes. Okay. So, that gets us to selectman's comments. Our upcoming meeting, our next regular meeting is Tuesday, June 23rd. I expect we will still be in the Zoom format uh for that meeting. That'll be at 6:30. And then Tuesday, July 14th, which is actually voting day. Um I'm not sure if we'll still be in Zoom format that day or not. We'll have to see see how it goes. But um so uh Ruth, the day that absentee ballots available again, was that June 15th?

Uh that's when they'll be in the office. So you can put in a request at any time now. Um okay. And and then we will mail it to you. All right. So lots of stuff to vote on this year. Yeah. Rich, do do you [clears throat] um I know we have a meeting on the 14th with that being voting day. Will we have the staff like Ruth and so forth available to be able to pull off that meeting?

Yeah, I may have to work for about five hours during the day, but um by that point, yeah. Yeah, I should be available. I don't expect that Calvin or Chief will need to to be there. All right. I move that we adjourn. Todd seconds. If you're in favor, somebody got to second this. We can go. I was gonna say go home. But [laughter]

have have another beer. All right. So, if you're if you're in favor of a German, say yes when I call your name. Rob Panto. Yes. Rich George. Yes. Todd Bullier. Yes. Mark Farren. Yes. And I'm a yes. So, uh, thank you all. Thanks to everybody that attended, uh, the public hearing tonight. And, um, have a good night.