TranscriptSelect Board Meeting ~ June 27, 2023

all right thank you so much good evening everybody Welcome to uh the Durham Board of Select board meeting we have a full Quorum tonight so um rise here for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America the agenda tonight have anything to tracked see nothing one public comment anybody here from the public we have nobody here from the public today all right move on and I will let the

road commission if I a chief flip a coin who would like to go first Jonathan [Music] you guys get my report we've been continuing work on the spring cleanup town properties and cemeteries we're on the second round of the cemeteries getting them ready for fourth July um we had the bid truck opening for the

new truck could Ripley and Fletcher was a little bit at 86 975 for an F-550 dump truck but plow um with the body sander and a lettering the truck would be around 99 000. so we had 105 allocated so we're well under budget great job uh if we did crack ceiling last week the crew always looks forward to that walking for miles and miles yeah we

don't like to broadcast that too far ahead of time there's a lot of sick people so we can't close to the best bro uh it's not something that guys like to do anymore and they have to but maybe you can add that to the fit to work program yeah make fun of our wellness program yeah exactly I've scheduled the roadside mowing the mowers coming uh Monday July 10th we'll have that through the 14th I coordinated that with panels so that we have will share the cost of one delivery and pickup about four hundred dollars rather than having them take it back and come back to Pownal so that works out great for us we did that last year uh planning to start ditching this week um and we replaced I don't know if anybody's been across sopa road but I got that thank you all ripped out uh before we kept putting Pavement in there and it kept disappearing so yeah we've got that replaced and paved and patched cut a bunch of lumber we've bought

Lumber and we've got templates all made for the picnic tables around town that are all rotted out that we're going to be replacing and it's a pulling rain project when it's pouring rain we work on tables so that's uh that's all I've got well thank you Calvin anybody have any questions McAllen Rich do you know which roads movie ditching going back to uh uh Auburn Tunnel Road then Quaker Meeting House Road

I know you have no control over this but do you have any idea on 125 with the new bridge that was that a year or two years that's looking next November that's I guess so it's going to be a one-lane road till next November like a whole year not this November the following the follow-up so 2024 long time yeah

you have to replace the picnic tables you usually get quite a while we got 10 years out of them this time I was looking at the date on him nope no that's fine so I Dead Man's Curve their flashing lights that we have there yeah I'm wondering I've it had to do with a lot of back and forth through that intersection over the last two weeks and I noticed that it doesn't seem like those lights are working and I'm wondering if it's because we've like literally had no sun and so maybe they're not powered up properly or if it and I know that it's a state road and so maybe that you know you're not the person that asked that question I'm not sure but well I guess I know that's the first I've heard they aren't working so what makes you think about it what so like I'll be stopped at one of the ways coming through and there

because they're coming down around the curve into the intersection and there's no indicator length saying that the fact there's traffic coming into the intersection and it's happened multiple times over the last two weeks so I was just trying to get a sense of like my assumption was that we just haven't had enough sun and so the solar lights aren't powering it but it should work so I can go check it out I'll test it tomorrow and see okay but yeah if I know it just been working but if you don't it's not you so which way are you coming out of I don't I don't turn so I know well I went I did it multiple so the first I try really hard to avoid going wear the rose the roads so I will come down over to Nancy curve and go straight across

yeah so nothing that way and then when I'm coming back I'll come back swamp and I'm waiting and there'll be people coming down and I'm not seeing anything flashing and then one time I came across from plumber um again trying to avoid that uh one lane road and nothing was splashing then either so I'll test it oh I do know it times out I know that if someone comes out of that first driveway or two it's not going to go off because they don't go by the sensor yeah they couldn't move the sensor down further because of all those pine trees right there so if if somebody pulls over beside the road after they go by the sensor and it's just sitting there looking at a man for something and then decides to go you're not going to see that flash then but the theory behind that is they won't be going fast enough at that point to creating the issues but yeah the only thing I noticed is that that sign is tilted in a way that the light hits it

you don't see the lights even though they're blinking and sometimes I I don't see them I go and somebody comes down over the hill and then as I'm going by the Sonic and then see the lights so sometimes it's more the angle but I'll look at it because I go through there every day when you're coming from which way coming out of this one um but I realize that's not a big deal um well actually actually we own the sign that was part of our contract when they gave that to us is that we assume our responsibility for repairs maintenance so that is

[Music] chief evening hi from what's in front of you the fire department entered into a long-term partnership more like the sort of signed us out from Androscoggin County Sheriff Communications so our dispatch has given us five portable radios and two truck mounted radios so we can talk to Lewis and Auburn ourselves our radios are really

older and failing and we're waiting on grants so anything we can do it's estimated to be about twenty five thousand dollars sort of partnership that they're loaning us long-term loan uh already put in service so that's fantastic um I'll be attending several workshops put on by the county EMA I've already attended one in relation to Preparing our multi-jurisdictional plan to submit to the state and FEMA that's based on our five-year update plan flood plains that type of stuff natural Hazard mitigation EMA updated us that our other 25 000 radio Grant has made it through the first round of acceptance up at the state it'll be pushed onto FEMA and then back down so that'll probably be a fall type of thing for confirmation for that but again between the two that's ten percent of my whole budget you know just for radios that we're trying to acquire so that's working out the fire department generator has been installed

several upgrades were made to the station infrastructure apparently when you put in a gas sort of propane fired one gas company comes out they test things we had four different um Regulators gas regulators some of them were 22 years old according to those guys so they were all tested and actually replaced and that's on the gas company so we'll see a bill of uh that we'll cover for you know some fittings and some elbows and whatnots that they had to add but we were upgraded apparently our kitchen stove needs upgrading so we'll look at that it's appropriate and fired but uh doesn't have any Regulators on it just sort of free flows if the pilot lights out so work in progress there but the generator has been tested it's working um all's good there I do want to say on

camera that our own Chris Higgins a long time member has obtained his paramedic license so that is a long-term two-year commitment you know countless hours between studying and travel and Hospital time and whatnot so he's already he's signing up for shifts he's you know covering us uh he's gone over to Lisbon several times I mean he's he's really using it and it really helps the town that's great it's fantastic we also have

three other members that are working with us that are in paramedic school and again some are different but that's they're they're on a two-year associate's degree tracked so I encourage them to study you know we all talk about calls critique them afterwards that type of thing so it helps it helps everyone it really does yeah uh I just took a phone call tonight on the way we were asked by Lisbon fire to help out with their Moxie parade I believe that's going to be the eighth so last year we did the same we set an engine company over there on the other side of the parade to help them that'll be four members and two at the bridge directing traffic just during the parade so again I'll be looking for volunteers one last thing update that's not on your forms What I Call On the radar some of our Knight EMS coverage availability is is starting to slip we've had about three or four members sort of move out of town

so it's um you know once over in Cooks Corner and other one's in bath we had one guy to go to Freeport so we're down to like Chris Higgins who can't do it all and myself uh two or three EMS providers at night uh what that means is doing what we've already done over 200 911s this year that's on Pace for record well over 400 uh 35 of our calls are at

night seven at night to seven in the morning is what we consider so that's 70 calls we've done um you know in that time frame so it's not the volunteer firefighter side but it's it's the ambulance sort of the technicians the EMTs in the back but we got drivers all day long that are fantastic so um just on the radar just you know as as EMS providers move out of town we'll have to think of creative ways that's all we've managed all our calls I don't think we've done any Mutual Aid into town we've certainly provided several recently um so small town stuff any questions for me on those okay so how often during the week do you think you're going without BMS coverage it's not that we're EMS there's probably so we have that stipend at night you can sign up for 35 bucks that just says I will respond regardless and then we'll pay you I'm probably getting four you know a week to sign up and of course

I cover everything I I know I've tacked up in in the back I don't know up to 10 times I've documented it uh just for you know data purposes it's not sustainable I mean I have an EMT license and it's appropriate but not sustainable I mean the busier you get it's tough to I go to almost every call and now that we have a vehicle but um as you've seen or heard or others have heard it's just difficult you know at midnight I still go but you know if you if you tack the call that's another two hours going to the hospital dropping them off bringing them back doing the report all our reports are mandated to be in the computer within 24 hours and if it's a hot call the doctor wants them now so that they can refer back and forth so just on the radar just you know I have loosened the requirements it used to be just in Durham you could respond but you know freeport's over the line I'm in Pownal uh those guys are now

responding to the scene so there's no lack of patient care um they just come there and I'll take their car home or back to the states right just trying to be creative as far as I was going to ask you if there's anything we can do to help in social media or whatever or yeah it's really the proximity maybe it opens a dialogue of of trying night per diems you know if we have one during the day you know we talk about night per diems just so there's someone guaranteed to be there and respond in a timely fashion it's about that's amazing

all right Jerry I will hand this over to you now all right thank you just have a couple things uh on 614 I met with the uh planning board chairs and we're planning board chair the chair of the appeals board start Commission Conservation Commission and that whole planning Summit very good meeting a lot of there was a lot of discussion I was impressed a lot of ambition out there um I guess as a manager my internal abuse we've got enough funding to support on July uh 5th from the planning board chair and how that's holding how that began to know there were a lot of ideas yeah that's a great discussion it was really good so uh Financial Services you know they're handling all the AP now they have been you've got your actually first warrant from them the AP warrant in here

that report he's working on that to provide a little bit more the descriptions and uh he'll stop payroll next week so we're going to do our last payroll to the end of June because that ends a quarter and he wants to stop fresh with a brand new quarter so looking forward

the MMA put on that was uh that was pretty enlightening I I really enjoyed that a lot of good information and in that workshop training is is always good you always learn something and pick some stuff up which was going to help me a lot um other than that I just want to let you know I'm going to take some time off here coming up so I'm going to be taking off Thursday the 29th that's this Thursday July 3rd 5th 11th 12th 13th which means

on July 11th I won't be here of Jessica fill in for me I'll have everything ready for you to go she'll just be sitting here and just kind of like making sure that you got the materials for the meeting and I've already started working with math project that's great so other than that we're we're doing good here I thank the staff

Public Works buy everybody everybody's doing good they just they just really do a really nice job so things are things are great great something that we had discussed in one of your managers reports of a little while back um about the arpa reporting and whether or not we were like sanctioned because it wasn't done on time and I'm just wondering if like there's been any updates or anything of it coming back down we won't get sanctions I'm still working on it and until I'm concerned there's no reason for you folks to be concerned so when I get concerned then I'll let you know I still can't get past the portal so we're going back and forth and it's documented because there's emails going back and forth between me and the treasury okay right so and my understanding is other towns are having a say the same same issue similar issues that yeah it's tough I I don't know if we you know I don't want to get into all

the details right I'm just concerned about this this information that I'm not aware of and I don't know if previous Town manager had I log in because I can't get past it so I'm just working on that and you know and I've been doing this long enough if they want their report they can knock on that door they can come in and say where's my report and I'll say you get me into your portal and I'll get you I just can't get in okay right now

packet that we had the uh Town planner report use of these is that what he's going to present on our next meeting no I just give the town report they're planner report to you folks okay cool yeah because I just saw it mention some stuff about the meeting that you want right right that just sort of supplements and like the CEO report that's for your information unless you have a question you can always email me questions if you have questions about it and then I can get it today

really hinge on the work of the Committees because you know George's 20 hours a week he's not gonna have time to do all of what what they've talked about so it's really the committee is really going to have to step up and I'm sure they will yeah oh

that pretty much yeah that's pretty much concludes what I have all right I had a processor question I don't know this processor information but knowing that um a lot of work it's going to fall on committees um I know that at that last Workshop we had they talked about how in some towns some of the select boards will help some of the Committees do some of the work on their time outside is that something that our board is okay with people doing I mean because I was on I'm on the conservation committee but I stepped down as chair when I uh got elected I don't I don't see any problem with the select board members being on the Committees I mean I think you're right though you know being the chair or co-chair is probably not the yeah that's why I stepped down the right place but um you know I'm on the CIP committee and I am co-chair right now rectified them all kinds we agree yeah yeah help out I mean

I mean I think the important thing to remember is as a select board member you you need to spin your hat when you get back on the board it doesn't preclude you from voting right I mean you can still vote on the things that the committee goes and says well you want to do one through five in this order you've already done your vote because you've already been part of the committee so when the committee comes in it really your audit role at that point but as far as being on the committee I I don't really see a problem yeah I just want to make sure focus on the select board are comfortable I mean because it's like some of the stuff I I didn't intend this meeting um but some of the stuff that the Conservation Commission has agreed to work on I have subject matter yep expertise in so my thought is I'm going to just advocate for it this is the process here's how it works answer those specific subject matter questions

and not really dive into any sort of like never going to say things like cool to select board's going to want this or the select word feels this way just I just want to make sure you all understand that I'm walking that line when I'm assisting you're not representing the select board when you're at those meetings that's again the spin the hack routine you know when you're on the select board you're a select board members being the two need to stay you know relatively separated in your processing of the issue yeah we talked a little bit about being on committees or not and whatnot so I just want to make sure everyone knew where I was standing at so cool I think you'll be an asset there Kevin used to do a lot of stuff yeah yeah okay that's fine yeah [Music] take the select we'll go this way yeah

of things so I can just blend that insight there you don't want the committee not saying something because you're a selected that's the other part they tend to maybe what I would say you can't really do is the budget however it goes yeah

that I could have stayed there but I completely understand that that I couldn't stay there there's more judicial type committees yeah you want to try to stay away but the quasi-judicial what they call it yeah we're on the same page yeah no I think we are all right uh any other questions before we move on okay we want to jump into the ambulance reconciliation no come on and I Chief why he came back up I just noticed this other memo on the back of your status here maybe I didn't hear you um real quick yeah okay sorry you're stable there right ignore the stapler yeah all right um so I'll just I'll take them the first lead on this and then okay so after the last discussion Chief and I got together and decided a little bit more data to you folks so you can you know discuss and give some directions so when I had to do which you'll find in the sheet right here on this Excel spreadsheet so I had to had him do was call up the towns that

are in population 10 above us and 10 below us and just sort of ask them how they handle that EMS billing come to find out out of the 20 on here 19 of them do go to collections uh and chief can talk more about uh the town that's has an option to write it off just to kind of give you a little bit more data then I hunted for some policies there are some policies out there this policy that I gave you folks as a policy that came from the Town of Union just a sample to kind of give you an idea if you're looking for that kind of thing policy but I believe a lot of these towns that achieve that talk to a collection side of it is just a component of the billing side it works they work hand in hand with with column star and chief can go into the details but as we talk to more towns and more towns

I don't know if she wants to add anything more to that to kind of well I certainly answer questions um to refresh you know I'm looking for a direction we have roughly 40 000 in outstanding ambulance bills uh and you know do do you all want to write those off as a town uh do you want to use the component of the billing process to to send the collections and don't forget I know we include it in your packet a hardship application so at any time through our billing company uh there is and they reach out three times this isn't just on the first they always submit a hardship application or or the form and that's for them to to verify it's not just check a box so on that form you'll see you know family size annual income a tax return they're just trying to good faith that that it's a hardship as

far as the bill and that's on our that's what we pay for our private Ambulance Company who is working well with us so the the question is do you want to exercise the component of go into collections as a town manager said I did talk with all the towns the 20 of them and that I I broke it down to as you can see if it's a private ambulance it'd be like United Delta or if it's uh Firebase like we have or a county base there's a hospital-based that type of stuff and again 19 out of 20 use the component

um your next question is you know how much does collections cost so the one that I got a quote from which Works hand in hand with our ambulance billing uh also in Massachusetts but their software goes back and forth um they're at a 33 and a third percent take they they it's at will so it's not

a yearly contract they don't have money up front like our ambulance billing whatever they recoup is a 33 and a third and then they make deposits every uh every month to to the town I did include their information in your packet um as as one component and I'm told that's about the going rate you know you can try to negotiate uh if you will but that's roughly the going rate and there's nothing for us to do um if you do the math the outstanding forty thousand you know they could they they're not 100 recoup they could be looking at sixteen thousand six six six and the town's looking at recouping twenty six thousand six six six into again general fund undesignated if you will so the question is is that where you want to head for the outstanding balances use that component so I have two clarifying questions sure so when you said that the billing company reaches out three times has that happened for all the people with

outstanding debt so far yes so everyone's already received over the last year three notifications yep they get they get uh straight from that 30 60 90 days they're made aware of a hardship application I do have information here this was telling uh from our last quarter alone they found and this is from our ambulance billing 36 patients responsible for the invoice didn't respond in any way so three

three um you know bills if you will three invoices no response um two had bad addresses that could be on the patient purpose or not two were deceased so they don't go after the estate type of thing or it hadn't been settled this was telling also three insurance companies paid the patient directly and the patient did not respond to the invoice so you've seen that usually with motor vehicle accidents or how your insurance is set up they were paid to move that along to pay their bills and they decided not to on three occasions just this quarter

um and one PCR also known as a patient care report was received over the filing limit of insurance sometimes a Medicare will have like a 30-day and then they they refuse or or even a motor vehicle accident type of thing and that could be either on us or the hospital or something and and I have updated we do EMS continuing education once a month at the station and I've updated all our EMS workers of hey you know billing counts addresses count you know it's more than just patient care it's really due diligence on our part to collect all this and we double check with the hospital [Music] you said you said make sure yeah and seeing all the info the information so I'm seeing the hardship application I've seen the ambulance labor policy yes and then seeing the Excel spreadsheet they didn't they didn't get this okay

um this is just the collection company that that I'm talking about who happens to be hand in hand with our billing company that's all um they it was interesting they actually used certified collection teams so it's not you know anyone off the street they're trained they're certified to do this um responses is in 24 hours uh

the average client there has two to six years of age of accounts continued with them you get detailed monthly statements that have had less than one percent consumer complaints all that type of stuff but these are certified trained team members they call them team members there no

thought you said the number was eight grand but it would be a wash after we pay them believe we were using the math of 33 percent okay so those are hard figures so so we're at now this goes back a year and a half at least since we started uh with our Ambulance Company Comstar so that's where that 40 comes from and that's always sort of Ebbs and flows but usually grow and they they do go back and get some so we're at that okay because that was gonna be my next question was the was the 8K from just last year last quarter was the 40K

we're going back to 20 almost yeah because that was my next question where are we starting and stopping this number that so 21 yes and that's when we started the service with them correct and is is do we do we know and you might not know this is there a statue of limitations I I they know I don't have that information okay um and then you also said um in one quarter you were short or you gave some numbers on a quarter was that the quarter for this first fiscal year they're yeah their last quarter I I don't know if they're doing fiscal quarters okay they're billing Cycles I'm just trying to only because it's just for 2022 sure forward from 2023 on

or where are we trying to collect from I guess is we're trying to get their model balance since we started with column star so I believe we started in 21 it was certainly before I arrived um so they could go back legally if if

they can to their um we're we're about more than 40 in the in the hole Yeah I think in the past cobit and maybe short staff et cetera there was there were no Billings going on correct so that you know I would be apprehensive to send somebody a bill now even though they never got one because it and I I agree and I was through uh research made aware of that there was and that's I I believed why the last fire team switched over to a private college that's correct that's correct um there were some discrepancies some difficulties um so they went with column star they're big in Massachusetts I'm familiar with them there's other companies there is one in Maine they've been working well with us and again for their collection that they have the software of this one company so we would be going back for since the time of column star so approximately 20 21 and a half yes yes all right thank you

Richard said so that 40K is outstanding since we started using Comstar yes should be yeah and rough numbers always move and does that include the amount that we can't theoretically could not go after because of no that's a great so this is just the remainder yes that we can go after okay yes because it's Lee it's illegal to you know Medicare Medicaid make them pay the difference and so those numbers sorry we've accepted when you accept payment from Medicare there's an alarm process and so the um

the uh totally just blind from my train of thought here I remember I was gonna ask yeah so the 40 case just what we could go after four and then whatever they collected would be they would take a 33 and a third percentage and then the remainder would come and of that so far when you say in their party actually the time I'm sorry the town yeah I'll make it clear and of that you just read the last quarter that 33 or 36 people didn't respond there were a couple of deceased couple ads correct changes no one paid

hello my question and if follows along with like 125 of the poverty like did are those numbers established by they are they actually are I don't know if it's as you said the 125 of the poverty um this is from our com star

um and this is Maine I believe it is uh to their Federal what they can uh so that would just be my my only thing I think sure sure that's what that was it and it almost is a federal guideline if you will because sure California has a higher you know rate or Portland made than than Durham type of stuff so all right so I see it unless we see anything that anybody wants to talk about the the letter here I'll own that up to you guys to work out the letter um motion

outstanding debt [Music] do I hear a second I'll second that Heather seconds any discussion Joe yeah my thought on this is knowing that this isn't a new thing in terms of like people have received a notification that they've gotten a bill it doesn't seem like it's a shot in the dark to me so it seems three you've got to build 30 60 and 90 days that you'd be expected to pay for it and it just seems like every time Chief is in here our call volume seems to be going through the room going through the rules and I can see this being exasperated more and more um and seeing as the collections would not cost us on money pocket it sounds like cheap saying it's at will not really no upfront costs appropriate to send that remaining for forty thousand dollars to correction

to not only vote to do this and I and I agree with it but I think it's also important for us to discuss the policy that's been presented because I think it should be in a policy and so that um so I I think I would offer a friendly Amendment to include not only setting it to collections but also adopting I think this policy is follows kind of what we've discussed and I think to me it sounds acceptable the rate the one-third is I think the typical collection rate that I've always seen I charged when I was in private practice so no that bothers me it's not money out of our pocket when we talk when you talked earlier tonight about maybe adding a nighttime per diem and extra expenses things are getting more expensive the need is greater now than it has been in the past um and uh and these are services that the town is certainly entitled to be reimbursed for paid for um I think uh one thing I will say I'm

disappointed the letter that they send isn't in here um the the hardship application but the letter um and and I would have been interested to see that but I'm assuming it's it's standard so I I would offer friendly Amendment to also uh only send them to send the outstanding bills I guess from the comstart error to collection but also to uh adopt the policy as presented

are we going to send this to collections um my only thing is the 2021 you know so if you were fortunate enough to take a ride the day before we went to Comstar you won't be getting available I think that's I that's why I said in the past like I think the policy is important to have a policy of what we actually do I mean I think that's kind of long like half of 2021 doesn't get it though and the other 2021 has a bill and we didn't even have a policy in place other than that I'm fine with everything else I would look at it the same as if we we pass the policy tonight it goes into effect the same thing I agree that's why I'd rather have a policy before I accept people to collections personally as a time but I I could see I could see the view why we need this but that's why I was in favor of having pulse prior to us because it set the people know in the town hey if you happen to use our ambulance there is a charge for it that

you may be responsible for them versus just I know it's been a year and a half but now we're knocking on the door putting into collections I think if if I remember correctly the last time you were here the the collection letter was being sent out by palmstar no that was also a component it it hasn't been it has not been and what do you know what was it sent out by Freeport idea was anything I don't know that I I don't believe so but I don't I always say I don't believe so in Freeport kind of they kind of lost control of the so you know they had some real staff issues post excuse me post covid et cetera that's my only hesitation just you know it's just that time like hey if you were in this window you're gonna whack yeah but if you weren't know you get a free pass so if we said 2022 or even going forward from 2023 here on we have this policy in the future or from here on out you know our policy is we're sending people to

collection because we've never done it in 1920 we never so that that's my idea I understand where you're coming from Rich but at the same time I wasn't familiar of a policy of not going to collections so as long as I've lived here I would have paid any ambulance bill that came my way just under the assumption that if I'm receiving a bill for services rendered the expectation is to pay so I wouldn't have risked it and just not paid and then hope no one came knocking on the door so I would have to believe that someone in town has paid a bill not knowing that then later on it was uh just rolled over so I would feel pretty burned in that regard saying well if I would have known I never went paid I think that's a fair argument because it makes me wonder I paid an ambulance bill that was 900 cash and it makes me wonder should I have not in this town but in another town so like I could have split

you know no yeah and I would be fine with that and I don't know if the statute of limitations were allowed that 100 sending everybody who's never paid the time and we're not doing that I mean I I think we have to pick a date right that's all I'm saying and I think it should be a fiscal year 20 I mean I I could I I don't I see I see what you're saying I don't necessarily agree with it that's what I could either I mean I think yeah as long as the ocean is oh yeah as long as there's a policy I think right that's my point whatever well but but I don't I think it's safe to assume if you got a bill three times um I mean but there has a better policy not to send it to collections it's just been a practice so I mean we paid our bill when my wife was in an accident and and so I mean you're gonna reimburse me for that sure so I don't know maybe maybe I'm a jerk and I don't have much Sympathy For That

but I I mean if if the board wants to pick a different date I would not be opposed as long as there's a policy in place at least going forward from today okay you got a question uh it was a question it was a comment I think there has to be like a catalyst of when we choose right and so I think we have something Monumental that happened that we have the data back to which is switching to the billing company and and so perhaps it's that perhaps it's the adoption of the policy um or somewhere in the middle where we you know pick a start date but in my mind switching to the billing company where we have the data that's concrete that we can go back to feels like um you know a big enough Catalyst to start at that point to Second what you're saying Heather I think what makes me feel a little bit better because at some point anytime you change a policy there's someone else to kind of say well yesterday I should have waited till

tomorrow to do this right to your point um I I think that with the change in the process and then we know that it was kind of influx in the previous billing but then the change in the process and everyone got three bills segmented 30 16 90 days I think that is a fair indication to people that there's an expectation to pay for a service so I think that that's a fair process you have to pick a time so I would agree agree with that so so I would just advocate for my motion with Josh's friendly Amendment Jerry wanted to know just just on the policy so a few folks Drive policy right so you have a sample here so if we're going to edit this if we're going to work on this together too well just sending it to you we'll change this change that okay change this so that there needs to be some sort of communication Workshop real quick to if this is the sample you like we can we can do it I just don't want to do four

or five iterations of it to try to nail it down to to serve with the board I'm actually okay okay yeah my only issue is it's just they just consider it a component up there they did one of the tasks that Jerry gave me was in if they have a policy I mean these were discussions with all these people like how does it work you know do you go to collections you know how do you write it off do you have a policy these were conversations it took me weeks just know um the latest in this not a suggestion the latest though in in the ambulance World Brunswick and uh Oxford is lift assist I

mean they're charging for Lift assists I'm just it's a medical call right we always do a run report on it are you injured type of stuff but they're trying to deter sort of um agencies or practices or uh abuse if you will um but there is there's way more out there than I think you're all deciding on so when we're talking about the policy my my only thing would be that when I'm reading this and we're we're using comstart in order to um implement this is that our policy or will they take our policy and then adjust their um you know procedure to match our policy I think if our policy doesn't match what the company that we're using's process is that that could be a situation so I just want to make sure that whatever we adopt is going to coincide is alignment with what they did and I did I did recognize that and did the timetable so the last front page the last paragraph under collections payments to do 30 days

after the billing cycle if you haven't you know then 90 days that type of stuff it all coincides exactly with compstar it mirrors it um directly and they will work with us they they do tailor to the Departments but that's what that came from as Jerry said it's a local local Ambulance Company sort of like ours it seems to match the hardship application yeah also the hardship application I I remind you all at any point you know wherever you decide to land there's always the hardship application so even with collection that would be sent out also so I have a motion if there's one other point that I just

where do you want it to go General funds so you don't know it's not where I wanted to go but that's where it has to be it has to go now but you can you can change that you could you can have that surprise account but we would have to change ambulances are expensive right so by collecting this money if you put it in an Enterprise account maybe that's uh you collect it over 10 years maybe you'll have a 150 000 put towards your ear once I just throw that clarification there then we would have to adopt a policy and then later adopt a policy to have that money designated or is that something you can go outside for the cart thing here well that's what I was just going to add so which way do you you can put it into you can put it into the general fund like you want it's currently now but again you're going to need an ambulance down the road do you want to use some of that money to help pay for that analysis before because it's been

talked about has it so I just bring that up you know I talked to town man this is all the time so some of these things get planted in my brain do by the time managers so I just bring it up to you that's all so when we're talking about this specific what exactly what you just brought up this is how this used to work we had this this system did exist where there was a separate fund the the revenue from the ambulance went into fire department budget or into its own whatever and then when we were trying to consolidate all of the smaller accounts that changed that was something that that got voted on at at town meeting to put any Revenue that wasn't earmarked for a specific thing into undesignated funds and so I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with I mean because I agree with you we are going to need another ambulance I'm just I'm just saying that we did have a process where this used to happen this way and then it was voted on the

town meeting and it was changed and so that if we are going to adopt a policy create a separate account that that's something that we're allowed to just do and then that doesn't have to go to town to undo what we did at town meeting is that makes sense and I'm yeah I'd rather not get all these subjects wrapped into this one thing of going after 42 000 I'd rather just we get a motion on the floor uh which is to go after forty two thousand dollars via com Stars uh collection route and a new policy that

seems to fit in with com Stars procedures and to both those in and then if we want to attack uh whether we do a budget item separately or roll it into a different town for more discussion and then I think we should keep that as a separate discussion so it makes sense I'd like to just delete would we like to take a loan yeah yeah I think we should stick about

motion that we dollars in collections see how that works out for us along with the um implementing the ambulance collection waiver policy that's how Durham ly appreciate this um additional information when we had that original conversation it seemed as though the consensus was that a lot of towns wrote that off um and so having this to you know get a little bit better of a perspective around that that was really helpful and so thank you I really appreciate that and then the other thing is that if Jerry or chief you feel that what you

just brought up is something that you don't want to get um swept underneath you know because we have so much that we have to work on please like put that on your radar to make sure that you bring that back to our attention because you know I think we have a big list of stuff that we have to deal with and so the rest of us might not remember that that that's a priority for you so if that's a priority for you and you think that that's the Avenue that we should go down like just don't let that get swept aside because we might forget to bring that back around are you talking about I'm just aware that how they think the money should where the money should land if they think that that's something that we should be talking about and addressing because it seems like every meeting we kind of have this stuff that kind of just like we're blowing right by it and I'm afraid it's not going to come back around but if that's something that

they really want us to pay attention to I want to make sure that somebody writes down somewhere that we go back to that I will reach out to Comstar and start the process I'll certainly well there's a lot of questions and I'm learning as we go right yeah well that's a difficult subject matter very much thank you thank you

I'm here all right up to the microphone so we're here to commit taxes um do we need to go into assess the session first sorry um no thank you uh so this year as a net we picked up about 2.5 million in in new value um we also dropped from 80 percent to 67 percent which of course affects um exemptions and and everything else so

I've worked with Jerry what you have in front of you are three options uh the difference between all of them are a nickel right now our tax rate is twenty dollars and seventy cents the lowest amount um that I have for you is 21.30 the

difference in all of these is the reflection in our overlay um the 2130 gives us very little overlay uh the recommendation that I have along with Jerry is the 2135 which gives us uh twenty three thousand dollar overlay the 2140 gives us a forty two thousand dollar overlay last year our overlay was 135 000. and

we keep it pretty high but we also don't want to juice the mill rate anymore than we have to whatever we don't spend for overlay goes back into undesignated it's used for abatements um errors it's it's uh it's a just in case kind of thing um so in order to try to keep the mill rate as low Jerry and I are kind of hoping that you'd look at the 2135 and be happy with as happy as we all could be with it

in this past from the Overland um maybe 125. quite a bit Yeah Yeah yes and I'd like to say I never really touch it but the minute you say that gets touched so and the other thing is so tomorrow um I'm coming back tomorrow afternoon after I work and where nobody has really done billing here and I'm as the assessor I don't do the billing but we're going to all work together and try to get it done we also have the stabilization that comes into effect this year it's the first time we build with stabilizing taxes so

everything done get the bills out I have a lot of questions I'm not sure if maybe like I have a lot of questions about a lot of things because I really want to make sure that I understand this this doesn't necessarily have to be a conversation tonight but I would love to be able to meet with you absolutely to make sure that I have a clear understanding of like all the parts I know that you know like before I became a select remember I had emailed you off leave email back and forth and I appreciate that thank you of course but I I definitely feel like I have a lot of questions around this process okay and so and the hard part is we do it once a year right so it's like you start all over again I am here the first and third Mondays open anytime you want to come in or or make an appointment or email me but it's easier face to face okay okay yeah and I was just gonna second what Heather said I'd like to understand the process

more at this point it's all a bunch of numbers yeah and well at this point it's just like this is where I defer to you all's judgment and members who have experienced this more than me but I would just like to learn the process of course yes right I'm sorry well I was going to make a motion so if you that's what I was I was gonna make a motion I was going to make a motion that we uh accept the recommended bill 0.021350 okay second show seconds okay any other further discussion

okay okay not 100 sure we don't have to go through the assessors are we sure on that yeah you would know better than me I can't we do this once a year so this is only my seventh time need to go into [Music] um yeah right this but this this is set by the select right not the assessor I think you're right well it's the municipal officers right I know yourself I know that this is only my seventh time but I know you've done this a lot more yes

floor to accept the uh recommended um uh uh Municipal tax rate uh assessment of 0.02130 uh that's been foreign it gets to Jerry he'll put it on my desk for me thank you I already wore I already hit her up boys watch out for the deer oh

numbers is both both of us [Music] the lawyers at once generated the fire station has been replaced yes um so that went to the old one went to the Shiloh Church and they gave a donation for it we haven't deposited it yet because we really aren't quite sure how you want to handle that but she can talk more about it because it was kind of him oh running that that show so

it is considered Surplus like I said the email in the back of his report of port number it was Stapleton the back of it Paul they're because we gave them something that's that's what I want to explain that's where I'm a little yeah sure I can I can give you that up-to-date version

um when our generator replacement for the fire station went out to bid part of the bid process was to remove the old Generator I think we all had a discussion really back in January when we're doing Capital talk right that we're not really in the market of surplus or cellinal generators or trying to get copper out of it uh so we would put in the bid spec please remove old Generator it's yours you you do whatever you do with it and that was the plan up until about the day before where the Shiloh and it's a lot of moving Parts said hey you know we could really use that one and I said well you know that we're under contract to pick it up and literally when it was in the air Shiloh came with a with a trailer and said you know if you put it down to the company you know this was not sort of the fire department side more more the generator company because they had already talked so Shiloh had talked to the generator

the new sort of administrator chaplain for the Shiloh I think has a niece that works for the generator company and they had talked like hey maybe the Shiloh could use that yeah and then I was approached by our chaplain who you know was on the fire department said geez Chief you know what he got into it and honestly the town had had put two thousand dollars into computers and electronics this year just to keep it running so we could get our new one that was an emergency repair that wasn't in our budget the fire department budget fire department did right every year our line item is about 550 for maintenance and we were well over 2 000 just to keep it going to this week so I just made a

suggestion to Shiloh like look you know that it really is to to you and the generator company because that's the town's contract but if you made a donation I'm sure the time would appreciate it uh considering the town has money in it they took it upon themselves the Shiloh to make a donation um I believe they they tried to make it to the fire department but at least to the town in the amount of two thousand dollars

if we're going to accept the donation we have in front of us it's a little go ahead company yeah um they had talked because because I assumed they would have gotten something out of it I didn't ask that um I believe I haven't seen the final bill but you know part of our bids fact was to get rid of it they do not have to get rid of it after talking to them I mean more information for you you know it wasn't worth it I don't know what they do with it I don't know if they break it down to their individual components I I don't know it was failing on its last legs you know it was time to replace it um maybe that's on me for for making the suggestion to the Shiloh um but again out of good faith no pun intended they they decided to make a donation to to the town I mean my I mean part of me wants us to give up and say thank you but um but I also think it would be a good way for us for the town to sort of

recognize the fire department um and the extra work you're putting in sort of the some of the struggles you're having the Staffing and just as a thank you in some some manner uh you know something special that can be used um but yeah I you know I I also wouldn't mind uh you know giving it back or or doing something else but I think it's very generous right I think where I'm at is kind of like how you start at the beginning originally we're not in the Surplus business and so forth like that so if for example another church per se saw like all this would have been available meaning an opportunity that's the only reason that's the only thing where I have struggle with this um would buy that rationale I would say you know they they were there and if if you said hey it was given to them by the generator people then I'm fine with this 100 but if we're saying hey we somewhat broke your the deal then it gets a little funny for me

that's what I was so yeah they were and they were asking to give you something I just bring it to you because I see the Optics there yeah that's that's the only optic thing sure and I believe it's because of small town you know our our chaplain just retired out of the Shiloh you know and it's close to the fire department and then the new chaplain actually is the uncle to the generator girl so you know small town stuff I I know they did talk back and forth and I didn't try to broker a deal okay that's what I was just going to ask so essentially what you're saying is that the generator company took it away but someone was going to know who was in the know who then said oh well we'll take it if the generator companies done with it it just I understand the Optics of doing it to look like oh we'll let you have it for two thousand dollar donation and it sounds like there was never any sort of discussion like

town they asked certainly you know do you have the the paperwork on it do you have all the data do you have the maintenance records and of course we do um and I I provided that um that's all public information sure and it was probably on me but but they asked you know how much do you have into it again public information we have a two thousand dollar bill this year into it um um correct me if I'm wrong Shiloh has made itself available during um like extended power outages and stuff like that that's a true statement

manager they are a stakeholder uh with the fire department as far as um you know that's who I call when there's deaths that need attention or somebody is in some Financial issues or they're a stakeholder as far as and you're right when there is loss of power or whatnot they do House people

give it back but I would make a motion that we accept the money and direct uh the town manager to use it as a sort of funds to thank the town employees for the work that they've been doing not the fire department uh Public Works staff here everybody

um and and also publicly thank Shiloh for the donation which they might not have had to do and their partnership with the town have a second then we can discuss right correct so awesome that's correct have the seconds I feel like I definitely appreciate that and I'm all about um I think it's very well known that I I try to make sure that we are creating avenues for um letting Town employees know that we value them I also feel like I

don't necessarily a town manager I think that yeah that Jerry can see where this would be most beneficial and and let him make that decision as the town manager as to if we're going to accept this donation how it should get used

we've got to put it somewhere though purpose this that donation I think it was at our last meeting correct and did we make a decision about where that went or was I just don't listen to the Eureka center right and so how does this read this is a donation how how does it rate it doesn't it just

that it almost has to go into undesignated right because it's not earmarked or anything specifically even though it was bought for something it was basically paid for something specific didn't it didn't say hey we'd like to make a difference to the fire department for more

like that right it says generator on it yeah this would this would typically want to be a miscellaneous they would have to go I think it would have to I think but generally yeah they're basically wrote the check is if they bought something from us right

that's why I was afraid of the office yeah this this this money really goes into next year's budget because this budget's already set yeah yeah call it I was gonna I was gonna vote in general I was gonna make a difference

in the motion to put the two thousand dollars into the miscellaneous revenue account okay and do I have a second for that oh second one had the seconds yeah okay any further discussion I can make one other suggestion you could put it into the fire there's like a revenue for the fire department too it was their generator so there's a rep as a Township right I get I get it yeah

okay all right so we have a motion on the floor I'm gonna call the motion here which is to accept the two thousand dollar donation excuse me amendment okay yep we can go on the amendment first so the amendment to it is to

to [Music] um um allocating it to a um allocating that money to the general miscellaneous fund okay all in favor to change the motion sorry I thought we're voting on it yeah all right you threw me off sorry sorry yeah amended it to all right so Amendment carries five zero which is to now vote on the motion as

amended yeah so we're going to vote on that motion as the amendment the amended motion is to allocate the money to the miscellaneous Revenue fund thank you any further discussion on that all right all in favor there's a motion on the table

if both parties are agree there first and second you don't yeah I was just going off because like with Robert's Rules why don't you go into an amendment on emotionally Amendment it saves time if both if the original that's okay

business and we didn't afford this opportunity for somebody else that that's where I find I don't like the office it's fun items for next select board meeting all would love to speak if that's okay for everyone cool yeah okay so we had our workshop with GP Cog which was amazing thank you again for that um and add that Workshop we talked about with priorities um establishing them and I would like to

um get on our agenda that we either have a meeting where we're establishing priorities or we're have we have a discussion so that we can vote if we have to to be able to do that I think that the sooner that we can establish what the board's priorities are um you know the better off our direction is going to go instead of you know continuing to keep the can down the road and just dealing with what's in front of us instead of working in a proactive way instead of a reactive way so I think really what you're looking for is another Workshop to Bingo and I'll say go through another ideas or we

could just do it I think it could be at a meeting just not the next meeting because Jerry will be here I think he should be here right yeah no I agree that's probably the meeting after because yeah maybe they could just forward to either Jerry or yeah what a couple ideas that they maybe had and then we can still receive them right nobody ever not everybody

we have to have a vote too or what happened however it needs to happen I just would like for us to get a well as long as the board is okay I think so yeah inside with the um with the committee's report as well they'll have a bunch of things that they'll be presenting to us before this so that'll be a good platform to actually then for us to all all talk about that as well yeah and and Chris from his summons I think coming to the July 25th meeting too so that's trash so that's a good time thank God yeah that's probably not a good meeting to hold this one yeah exactly because that might sometimes it's very lengthy yeah yeah he's just he's just kind of coming up mine's getting picked up again

but he's scheduled for the 25th so that's what I have the workshop on that day I don't want to reschedule him no no leave him there okay get him in here that's important as well I think everybody so are we going to do this before trash can be after trash so that's already a month out that's August you're in August right now I'm confused well today's June 27th and if we're gonna if and he's coming July 25th and we're going to have this conversation after that so so now we're already a month out yep so do you want to so you don't want to have the priority setting on the 25th you want to have it in August well he's I want to have it sooner than that but he's saying that Priscilla is going to be historically

yeah it could be five minutes I mean in the past there were options right now Casella is basically like hey this is what we got for you they're gonna leave us all right in some instances I don't know what the point I mean I mean we're just gonna yeah

these things that I'm saying um I I don't remember if I had talked to you about this or if I had talked to somebody else about it but can't even remember what the name of it is now North Yarmouth is using it for their recycle their what's it called Romaine Eco man

thank you um and I don't know is that an appropriate meaning to also have them come and and talk to us about what what their whole situation is probably not at the same time okay because why they're conflicting interests with each other or well because we're it's a

pretty busy be here until 11 if we have all these people come at the same time plus we're going to do the jewelry setting so Eco Maine is a place where you bring your garbage right yep so that so Chris will talk about that too I mean so you're going to be and that's down in Poland so that's a lot more Transportation cost but that's that all sort of plays into it you can we can invite Eco Maine to them if you if you want that that's up to the bullet I'll get them here if that's well what I want to understand why how like North Yarmouth has 86 000 in revenue from equal Maine how that contrib you know those are the things that I want to understand like we have a major trash expense and here's a way that could potentially offset it and so I just like to understand what what's happening there that's creating eighty six thousand dollars worth of Revenue how does that work that's those are the things I want to understand we could

bring someone in from North Yarmouth so so just back to the so trash is going to be a big subject um it'll probably take a good portion of the night um to discuss priorities um and Jerry you're not here on the 11th what do you anticipate being on the agenda on the 11th uh right now I'm going to talk about signs with the codes enforcement guy the signs oh okay discussion

appropriate you can immediately squash this and that's completely fine what are people's thoughts on moving the July 11th meeting meeting to the 18th so that we could do the sign conversation and then also do the priorities if we don't have a meeting on the 11th and we wait for you to be back and then do the 18th and the 25th so we could do priorities and signs the 18. and then trash the 25th

warrants because we'll have to talk about those warrants too at some point too I don't want to get off subject no so okay if it doesn't work it doesn't work it was just a suggestion services are we being rendered where the trash is going so you all have an idea of where that's headed because before it was just Calvin and Kevin and I yeah

is that what he's going to present where it's going yeah was just curious as are we are we totally relying are we not saying that we're going to be putting this out to bid that's what I'm saying well I think we have it we have to put up yeah so I mean if we decide to go that way yes yes I don't no matter what we do no I get that I get that I just don't get what uh are we talking about for this year or next year we're looking at so we can plan for the budget plan to get a bit out there how we're going to do it who and because not everybody is going to be the same as cassava you've got other vendors out there do you want to go on what what are some of those implications with going with a completely another company I'm trying to see what what he was if it was more for forecasting our budget it was what it sounds like yeah that's what you're telling me right yeah that's that's how I understood it is he was

coming to tell us because the we should be expecting an increase right in cost and it was the explanation of what those ingredients that's how that's how that's how I took it so it doesn't sound like we're making any Trash decisions so it would make me to believe that it's not going to be terribly long because it's like we might ask clarification questions there's a decision to be made we met before is a half hour with with Kevin I and Calvin with Chris

terms of doing the um prioritizing meeting at the same time as the trash meeting yeah I got no problem with that because it the way you first said it I agree with you it's it's just a forecast hey this is what we're looking at in the future we can ask some questions but at the end of the day it is what it is I mean if we really don't like what we're hearing or we say we definitely need to hear some other opinions that's when we can reach out yeah but this is just for budgeting right because next year is when we'll reach out to get other bits yes and just because we're already under contract

like you know what I'm saying because right what if we decide you know we're we're going to change the direction that we're going in with trash based on what he says exactly and our budget season starts six months from now so we need to kind of know where we're going to go so we can play yeah I hope I can put them both on and if it gets too long we can always table something for another day yeah so we're going to do a regular meeting 11th let's talk trash and prayers wait on the 25th no I think didn't we just right yeah say it again well we were talking about not doing the meeting on the 11th because you were going to do the priorities on the 18th but now we're saying we're going to do the priorities on the 25th with trash so the meeting that's on the 11th can just stay on the 11th yeah

looking at yeah that's probably going to be 15 30 minutes at the max all right the means where they are 11 and 25th other subjects priorities yeah yeah and the only thing I just like that yeah that I wanted to bring up about agenda items not necessarily for next meeting but just to think about the future is just we talked a little bit in that Workshop about you know adopting our rules of operation for our meetings whether that's Robert's Rules or anything like that so I don't know if that would be something we said we don't know if we have them written down if there's someone who can get that information then we can just kind of look at what they are more than one adopt for rules in the future

was I was under the impression all these boards owner Roberts yeah yeah so those are Workshop type either anytime we're going to discuss policies right yeah it's just something I wanted to say that I want to put on our radar yeah I mean yeah

maybe it's clarifying things um the policy that we just enacted tonight the ambulance right um I would just like to suggest that that goes on our website okay just so that people have a place to refer to that um and then also um the thing about Mr Higgins we posted the but he just what that is thank you um you know we put down I believe broadcasted that the planner or the town received that project award and I just think that one of the ways that we can continue to show incentive to the people that are contributing you know to the town especially through our town government that we really highlight that he accomplished that either in the newsletter or on the Facebook page or or whatever um Jerry I can certainly take that along anything here with Kimberly okay to do that like how sorry I'm sorry I'll work on that thank you like when Calvin got his award and you know that type of thing I think that that just shows that we

appreciate and give me the opportunity to chime all right we move uh to consent agenda well then we accept the concern agendas presented Josh moves Joe seconds and discussion all in favor okay upcoming meetings 725 uh playing board Summit on seven

five and um and also we Let's see we have we had eight I'll move right into this we don't throw this out here so we had eight eight folks uh kindly uh volunteer and put their applications in for the Union Church committee um I'd like to I'll put a motion out there and then we can discuss and then if we need to go into an executive session we will but make a motion that we accept all eight applicants I read through all the applicants I'm assuming that the committee did or went up to the select board did make a motion that we accept all all eight members to that committee I I would like to discuss one of the

appointments and so if that requires an executive Association okay all right so then we recess this meeting yeah I will retract that then and I'll recess this meeting so and we'll be going back into public session so um make a motion that we uh

excuse ourselves and we're going to select the board meeting and move into executive session her MSR mrsa40568 [Music] solved okay all in favor okay unanimous ly yeah I'm gonna everything everyone at homes on the edge of their seat waiting for us

I could play the Red Sox game exactly exactly yeah advertisement we need paramedics you got a CB in that jeep what do you got going over there I do I yeah I do listen every now and again to see what's going on how about that car up in the air yesterday that was wonderful yeah that was very interesting that was a talented move so it was funny you can't park here that was a Dukes of passion so the baseball coach lives in that house oh okay and I got to the game and I said coach free home and he was like yeah I was home and I said we're on okay I'm sorry okay um

the usual Mana it's unanimous we're out of executive session all right Josh I think the notion that we table the Union Church committee appointments until the July 11th meeting due to the increase in um or the level of interest that we've seen and extend the application period to July 10th and attempt to get that notice out there to the people who may not have applied but have expressed interest and at the same time as we discussed this at our next meeting I think we should discuss what the

that when they're being appointed to this committee the expectation is clear second do I have a second Joe seconds all in favor okay unanimous okay do I have a motion move to adjourn Joe second Josh all in favor all right that's unanimous thank you all appreciate your time um Jerry I don't yes did we sign warrants I did did I pile it in here I don't remember signing yeah