TranscriptSelect Board Meeting ~ March 26, 2024

[Music] I'll call to order a uh durm select board meeting here on March 26th we have a quorum we all stand for the Pledge of flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

excused this evening uh we have any amendments to the agenda on the new business let's discuss Paving bid what's that under the new business we'll just discuss Paving bids okay yep new business we're going to uh add um Paving bids uh we'll put that down

below the town meeting format um or actually actually why don't we do it you said new business why don't we put it beforehand we have Calvin here we'll do it number one and then we'll uh then we'll discuss solid waste and then uh go from there I don't know if the actual signing um our first thing on our agenda is to review the town meeting warrant and sign but Jessica had to go run to get it so I don't know if you want to yeah I think what we can do is go through it and then um and then uh we can sign it at the end with the rest of the warrant articles I think that' probably be appropriate at this point so getting on to uh let's see we have no public comment um so old business uh town meeting warrant minute uh uh the warrants itself uh Jerry thank you for making those changes I saw that you and Josh went back and forth on that so that was great um I did not see anything else in here

that caught my attention after reading them another time if anybody else has any comments the day after our last meeting to discuss some changes that he wanted and I think I think it made sense so I I think it's good no that was a good catch and so I I would I would I know we don't have it Jessica's printing it off but I would um move that we uh sign the uh the warrant appr appr

provance on it okay do I have a second I have a second from Heather any further discussion no okay all those in favor all right motion carries for nothing all right we'll get that signed here um again great job Jerry and everybody who's been involved and putting these together because uh that came out really well I think we're in good shape there um I'm looking you don't have a PowerPoint do you either yes yep it's here I might have it twice actually scares me so next uh order business uh review the PowerPoint so since last time uh We've added a few things into here um I did have the opportunity to go and um I did attend a couple of the meetings um last week I attend the historic district commission meeting um that went very well I was glad I went um I I did include a slide in here um about the union church and then based on our the input from uh Josh and Rich last time I add we added in the um uh land use

ordinance Amendment so um met with um George and um taking all the material that I learned uh um uh during during the the um public session public uh hearing on that and along with George's input uh that he provided us I added in uh another another slide here with Jerry's help on slide 14 um you know basically outlining the three articles um and what folks were going to see and again Heather for your edification you know what this is going to do is and we'll get to when we get to the next section about the town meeting uh format but um the idea was to just brief everybody on what they're going to see in the warrants not necessarily take any Q&A during that session let the warrant articles deal with any questions during during the sessions if anybody has you mean the PowerPoint the power so I would just do this at the beginning um and just give everybody a download of where we were thinking what you know at a high

level right and then what they were going to see in the warrant article so I tried to we tried to hit all the warrant articles in this I notic I like I'll just have to like the the uh let me see on slide three um I have a I have the list I'll just memor make sure I remember the three items for the ARA funds um and and those are articles I think uh 2021 and 22 if I remember correctly so I'll just call those out we still can change this a little bit I mean this is and then we'll post this for folks after the meeting so I don't know if may I got to review this again I'll be happy to go through it if you'd like yeah I I did look through it um when it came from Jerry and I think that it looks good and I I don't know if in the past there's been question and answers during the presentation but I think it makes sense to to go through the presentation and then do questions in the format that you're saying yeah

yeah that way it's keeps it to the the body of the meeting um and and it focuses on the Warren articles and I don't think anything in here is outside of the bounds of the current War articles either so um it's it's really like I say just give them a it's a it's a courtesy really to give them a quick overview of what they're they're looking at um I did hear some feedback this week um from um one of our residents that they um uh they thought it was unfortunate that us and the budget committee were all in agreement across the board because they like the debate yeah um thought that was kind of so my only my only question would be and I'm you know I'm open to what people think about it it my personal opinion is that I I

would like to see this up ahead of time for people to be able to see and if not the whole thing at the very least the information on because I actually went on the website and I looked and I thought that we had agreed as a board that we were going to put um the information regarding especially the um

level funding so people had the opportunity to like really access that information ahead of the meeting and maybe that we were waiting until we signed the warrant or yeah I think we were just wait until the end here to make sure everybody was okay with us before we posted it out there but it was going to be posted I think didn't we say Jerry we're going to print out about a 100 copies of these or we going to just give it up to the uh we talked about both directions on 100 copies of of the presentation I wasn't no then then we were just going to post it and not hand it out then yeah no that's fine I'm I'm asking if a head of town meeting especially the stuff around the level funding for the budget for the um Capital Improvement Pro you know if that is going to be on the website and available for residents to access ahead of the meeting I think just as long as I'm clear on what you actually want

posted that's where I I think it's just this just this it's not this so that's what I need direction on so we hadn't had this when we had the conversation in last time so I thought that it was this and and I feel like I'm open to what people's opinions are I just want I don't want people to walk into town meeting and be blindsided by this I want them to be able to access this ahead of time whether it's this or this and I'm open to people's opinions the only thing I thought that we could put out there was the actual schedule of equipment was the only thing that um that I had thought just put all put it all out there it doesn't yeah we can put it all out there as long as it's public information just throw it all out there and be done with it y so yeah the tell me what you like I think you should all the only question I have and is and for the flat funding I think it would be it's important to put in and I

thought I saw it in um maybe I saw it somewhere else was um the amount of Interest we're paying uh for all the borrowing we've done yeah we we I yeah no we did talk about that didn't we we could put that on this last this the outstanding debt slide yeah to to me to me that's the biggest reason to go in this way is because I mean just looking at it if you're we're paying yeah I was going to state that I agree but I we didn't have the number I don't know I I think to me you could say you you have the the schedule of payments you can calc you can figure out what the total payment is and how much interest we're paying and the point of this is to avoid that in the future mhm so yeah so that number is on the budget so you don't have your budget with you now but it is on like page I knew it was somewhere yeah it's on there this I could point to it and yeah and it's in the anual report as well so

right on The Debt Service it will show you what the principle is and what the what the interest is that's true I know I saw somewhere yeah so what I would I and again open to other people's opinions but the when you go to the website and it set we have the things down the left hand side right if there's a tab that says information for town meeting like you can you can go to the website and it um I'm just going to do it really quick town of Dar um this here right and we have the tabs down the side you need Church report fee schedule land use ordinance if we had a tab here addressing budget information for town meeting or just town meeting information in general and then had this information there for people to be able to access right from the front page okay so all three of the capital charts and do you want the PowerPoint on there as well sure I put the actual Budget on and yeah budget's going to go the select board's

budget yeah anything just make a folder pertaining to the town meeting and stick it in there and that way anything that the planning board has or you done with it that anything that the town's going to quote unquote deliberate on on Saturday just put it in there yeah anything that the planning board presented for the land use ordinance yeah that shouldn't be that bad to do do you want to put the annual report in there too I think so yeah I think it makes sense and that has that has almost all of it covers you clear um just trying to think of um for the union church but the reports already out there it is that has its own tab right here yeah so we can do that okay that might might just need a uh a link you know on more information the better more information the better can't overc communicate enough okay all right I will add I'll

add a I'll add a oneliner on here so we don't have to I don't have to sit here and refer I knew it was somewhere and yeah for some reason I came in tonight thinking it was here and I just to me that's a sound Point yeah right I mean there's if it is what we've heard from other people is a concern of you're you're taking all of the Power you select board but we're taking it because I don't I don't see it that way but the the response is but look at what we're saving right well you can still save it would still keep the people the power to to be the devil's well not it's not not the same way in a sense you could you could still do it the same way we can agree to disagree on that like to flexibility you can still do so it's keep the system we just going to flat front it through be the town's people vote versus the S boards discretion yeah I got to stay away from the word flat or level I would stay away from the

word rate okay any other concerns that was my concern what's that that was my concern okay thank you all right yeah you're welcome and I'll add that one liner in there Josh just so it's clear we can we can pull that number out okay um nothing else with the PowerPoint all right so new business Calvin you is it yourself or Jerry or both um going to P Paving bids that have come in and

so you have this sheet yes spread [Music] yeah take it away you see we had U five bids yep of the three companies that actually make the pavement would be the bottom three crer was the low bit in that and given the long-term relationship that we've had with Kooker um the total difference between them and the lower two companies is only $2,800 less than 1% uh it would make sense to stay with

highest uh bidder on the um shouldering so that actually is something we could do if if the amounts go over that we would be able to do that ourselves if we needed to to make it make everything work in the budget this is for the auin Palmer Road Calvin y can you explain what you mean when you say shouldering uh the reclaimed asphalt that we put down on the sides of the pavement after it's laid so that does not that LP or drop off

higher than everybody else well I don't know on that particular item uh they just whatever their cost is to put it down must be to them cost more parts from the bids or you have to do the whole no we are able to take out do less or more as as the budget I I think my question is more between the companies where you like like would you be able to use say I'll say Coastal for your shoulders and does does that get any all it's it's one it's one whole package okay didn't know if you could mix or match the the menu

here I personally didn't like in the past using the one simply because there's no way for the other guy to blame the other guyh if one guy is doing the entire job it's the onus of the job is on that one company versus well so and so did that when they put the shoulder in and they didn't level the shoulders appropriately it just makes it um much more easier to

determine if there's a problem versus mulle people involved and even with that amount being higher what you're pointing out is that the total bid of the job is is only $2,800 more right okay corre okay I understand thank you so they will lower on the asphalt because obviously they're making it but and and you know the shouldering I can do myself if I get into a bind and the quantities end up being higher I could take that part myself and do that I can't do Paving but I could do the shoulders so as far as the um material cost in

here it's the material cost goes up this is a fixed price contract well there's a liquid asphalt escalator in there so if liquid asphalt goes up then it would go up but it all it it could also go down it's tied to a liquid asphal cuz I know in the past we've done less Miles because of that yep yeah it went through the roof yeah so and how many miles does this cover uh 2.47

okay and that that's also on a schedule yeah okay he I don't have my budget right in front of me is this does this number hit where the budget is that we put in yeah okay what is it that you need from us tonight um just need authorization to sign the contract on April 10th okay I'd like to make a motion to unless anybody has more questions is it approprate motion now like to make a motion to um have Calvin enter into bid with ker

for seconds any further discussion okay all right so all in favor all right motion thank you good work that that's a threeyear contract Calvin three year one this one year one year this time okay thank great job on the roads team did a great job the other day that was not an easy not easy for anybody um okay excuse me Mr CH sir

before you proceed did did we um were we content with I thought we were content with the um the warrant as written yes are we going to sign that we are it was getting printed out this just I got yeah that's didn't bring mine either I have one here use it bu C too is there a

usually man this paper must be fresh just cuz it's not than one theirs are blue should use everything everybody used to hate the bank returned if they wouldn't cash it okay this is two third right here can I ask one more question absolutely I see um this letter from um

to Mr Douglas on the 19th for batement are we going into assessor tonight I didn't see it on I think it's executive session ex yes look at my face yeah sorry the reason for the abatement it's executive session should we do that before you leave we can well the only differ the only reason why I was bringing that up is because if if it was a it would have to be unanimous amongst you three before go somebody did have a

be pretty straight that' be a quick one it looks like I just wanted to in case you guys needed there did did we want to go in ahead of time what's everybody's feeling if you wanted to do it tonight Don me if you can wait till the next time and have maybe a full that's up to you folks yeah I don't know what the sense of urgency was because I I didn't see it on the warrant that's why I was asking I just saw the paper yeah I that's my goof I should have that it to you I didn't email it part of the package right but but if we didn't get it done tonight we can wait we wait okay yep all right okay we'll keep moving here all right yep thank you uh all right solid whisk Solid Waste

committee chair Curtis you wna come on you want to join us up here you want to sit back there doesn't try yes no problem yeah go for it have fun enjoy hi I don't think we've met I'm Heather nice to meet you thanks for coming how you doing good um I like the bylaws those came out really good um

want me to start Joe just go right ahead Jerry yeah okay so um you know that Solid Waste committee was you know formed you know several months ago and there was a you know sort of a draft bylaws thing but no real purpose uh for what the what the committee was charged to do so last week I just threw this together with help with Heather's notes that she sent an email a while back so it's really just to sort of review this add to it take away from it whatever you'd like the the committee to do and Curtis is he had to kind of hear that contribute to that conversation and give his input um so we can get this get this going shortly right after town meeting start having more meetings so and I I thought had put together a good memo I didn't I didn't print it out before I got here but um you know laying out a number of uh category stories to go and focus on in regards to the solid waste efforts um try to organize both cost uh

against the um against the different buckets lack of a better word of of what to do with our Solid Waste moving forward and what Avenues to take that would make the right be the right decision for the town um so I I don't know if we need to May formalize that into a you know say more of an Excel format a more organized format to have the committee move forward with um some of those some of those goals is is really I think and quite frankly one of us may be you know helping helping that out is helping you guys out as well or sitting on the committee might actually help as well you know I don't know he you were definitely uh uh cheering that along early on and then we've gotten uh into other um other um other things as the year's gone on here so yeah we need to probably stop focusing in on that a little bit more I think Jerry did a good job at the top of the bylaws and article too where it says purpose memorializing

the the bullet points that I had sent um which are basically what I feel like kind of Encompass every possible Avenue that we could go with the direction of solid waste um and and I think what my personal opinion is what the Board needs um is data and information regarding all of these different Avenues to be able to make informed decisions about what the best long-term plan is um we had the Union Church committee we formed that and and that was really what they did they looked at um all the different options whether we were going to move it whether we were going to transfer the property whether we were going to um I

don't think tearing it down was ever an option really but you know that was on the table to because we just just had them we asking to look at everything and then they they did all of that research they made a report um and came back to us with with that information to be able to make informed decisions um and so that that's where I and I have no problem being a liais on to be able to like share information seamlessly with between the select board and the committee if that's something that you're interested in is having one of us there I'm happy to volunteer to be that person um but if you feel like you would rather do your work as your committee and then report to us yourself and and we may even ask you to come and do that also um whether I'm there or not it's totally you're you're the chair so that that's at your discretion okay um so I understand we're coming up on our contract in July right our current

contract expires at the end of June right so I hear they want to enter us into a fiveyear contract eventually yes it is going to be a 5 year so we have some time but you know we want to get ahead of this so you know if we have a bunch of you have much time it comes up in June don't it well but that's well I think we've already signed the contct we already signed we haven't really signed it because it hasn't passed the budget yet once once Town meeting's over and if they pass that article we're good to go right so when I originally brought this up I was thinking it's going to be that would have been getting this going and getting that like the first time that I brought it up and there's been so much that's been on the board's plate that the can kind of got kicked down the road down the road down the road and so what my goal was was figure this out before we enter into that five-year contract

but at this point I I think everybody on the board agrees that there's no way that that can happen between now and so I believe the consensus of the board is we are going to enter into that fiveyear contract as long as it passes the budget right and then at at the end of the ne this contract we would want to know what our long-term plan is right we sticking to what we're presently doing now as far as roadside pickup we are yes so we're not spending extra money on well there's some there's some changes I mean they're going to give us the new there there are some changes but uh it's sort of it was the only bid we got we got back and it was a take it or leave it this is there's no negotiation right uh and so that was I think something that Jerry had heard was coming and brought to us and that's why we raised this and I think your question a long time ago was you know what what are our goals what are we doing um and

you know my response to that would have been make a recommendation to us on what we should do with our trash uh just because it's getting expensive is this the best way to do it is there a better option uh and I I mean I think the the purpose is here uh I I would have added one more it said or something else you know what I mean not not a whole lot of options out there for the whole state um right and but there are other options and um my question is can we get information as to I mean it's pretty hard to compare stuff if we don't have something to go by like our new contract what's what's it cost in us what are we are we getting anything benefit from that what how much are we expending over and above what we already were expending on I think we have that information as far as tonnage goes and what the costs are of that but I mean is there a better way to build the mouse trap right splitting up the

trash you know food waste what what are there other things we could do from a long-term perspective is it from a long-term perspective um uh more cost effective to put a transfer station in that would take years to do but we now are going to enter into a five-year contract we have some some time other than we'll be paying you know more probably every year per ton of of what we're currently yes it's not going to go down it's not going down no and and and the you know people are coming and the tonnage is going up so they're both together create a certainly a increased cost year after year so Heather um

I think one of the things that while we are entering into this contract for five years there are things that if if the committee recommended it and we all felt like it was a good idea there are other things that we could do even though we're entering into that fiveyear contract Jo Joe talked a little bit about food waste I kind of kicked the idea around um that we have space at the Public Works building that if we um had a compost situation where they were making the compost at Public Works then we can sell that and generate Revenue that way and you know those types of things so even if we are doing this part where we are having roadside pickup there are things that we could still do in the meantime that's not going to impact our contract other than to get tonnage out of it which would end up saving us money right the goal is to get tonnage out you have the tonnages are pretty high for the town of Durham I think um compared

to other towns with more people um it's because everything goes into the trash right part of my reason why I initiated this conversation to begin with is because when I was researching grant opportunities there's a grant that is available to the school districts for an education program yes and only uh it's through Eco Main and Durham isn't part of Eco main but free report and panel are and the RSU can't apply for those Grant dollars because they have to do it um across the board equitably and because Durham's not part of that they can't access those Grant dollars for free port and panel even though they're part of it because this town of the RSU is not and so that was when my wheel started turning like we've got to like get something going here yeah there's other grants out there to apply for so I I would Envision you doing a short term you know during the life of this fiveyear contract what can we do to

save money and then longterm after the contract expires what's our best what are our best options I think money but also so um taking into consideration the environment both of those both of those okay how many committee members do you have now uh five five got a full

committee then that's good to look five all that's great I'm sure we could use more but yeah that's that's that's good yeah it's definitely a lot of research um but um I believe that the town can be doing other things to get some of the waste out of the trash um and that'll significantly drop your tonnage which of course it's not going to drop Transportation or anything else but it'll drop right well you're paying per ton for trash yeah I think bringing those ideas forward and um I don't know um I mean how long would it take to put something together but I mean it depends on what you want to do with food waste I mean you have options you have aggro cycle you have a bunch of different but they all come at a cost you can do your own composting which means you have to um set up a composting area and get a DP license which isn't really that bad um and then the other thing is getting rid of the compost when you're

done having a way to get rid of it right but that would be easy right um but it could come at a cost I know Agro cycle we use them and the cost isn't that bad um considering that we went from one the first year 45 ton to 96 ton the second

year of food waste out of the trash wow that's amazing that's great and we hope within a year to two years further it'll be 200 ton of food waste out of the trash and is that through like public education is there some sort of incentive like how do you go how do you go from people just throwing things away to you we don't have to talk about this public education you have to communicate with the public and explain to them what it's doing um and if it's going to lower their cost of getting rid of their trash and you can show them how they're more apt to do it but you have to show them how it's going to save them some money right sounds like you already know what we yeah otherwise you know and that's the committee that would be a committee thing you know um it's all about public education and and advertising to the public as to why we're you're the town's doing it and how it's going to save them

money when you can show them how they're saving money people are more AP to do stuff right so from a standpoint of the committee putting together a package what kind of time frame you for the first say cut it some shortterm goals

and some ideas that we could start going after you may come up with some ideas that we have to have other folks go and research further um um I can send an email to the rest of the committee because I know they're just chaping at a bit to get going get going that's great um and we can get something started at least get um some of these things to short-term goals looked at and get the wheels turning there um one other thing is that Jerry put together these bylaws and these are just an ex a they're s a suggestion you're you you and your committee can go through these and make edits as as that works for you guys I just want you to to know that we're not expecting that you're going to adopt this word for word exactly as it's written like you guys do have the authority to be able to do the bylaws in way everybody was in agreement they looked pretty good okay um so I

mean it's not um written in stone um and we're not a we don't make the decisions anyways really in the end we just make the suggestions and it's up to you guys to make the decisions so that sounds think that you need from us to be able to have Direction and get started other than I mean we can share the contract info all that data that we do have currently um so that you have that information available to be able to use as a point of reference historical thata as well you probably want it would it would be helpful um Jessica's shaking her head she she seems like a good point person so that stuffs for the committee so that we can give it to the rest of the committee and they can see it and understand it and um be on the same page

so we're not opposed to looking at options like an agro cycle or U there's another one out of Portland they do uh roadside pickup in Yarmouth um is it that Garden garbage yeah one bought out the other there was two of them but um we do have a local resident that's interested in a program like doing a program like that also well you have to be licensed which I'm assuming they must know that that and the town would be wise to anybody I see we talk they there's a lot of stuff about somebody roadside pickup and having people pick up your trash um the town should be careful and make sure that we have um they have a waste Haller license yeah and because it covers the town they have insurance and all that stuff um there that comes at a pretty good cost so you're not going to get everybody huling everybody else's trash right not disposing of it properly um that's the only thing I'd caution you on with

that okay and I'll get this to the committee and we'll get to work great all right that sounds great thank you yeah thank you so much and Jerry I think this is fantastic because I think this is the second second committee we've uh sort of created this year and they come back with the same question and and purposes if we do this when we create the committee we'll give them that right so definitely help thank you thank you so much maybe hopefully we'll see you in June more my trash before that all right

C all right town meeting format all right there's my little of course I can't find my cheat sheet that won't be very good I sat down with Jessica the other day just did clear in my mind um um just the uh series of events during to meeting

Allegiance um we'll do the scholarship um scholarship will be up first um scholarship presentation um then I would probably move into the uh the presentation um that we talked about earlier just laying out the what everybody's going to see um

bill um typically motions alternating between the select board and the budget committee um Assuming he's going to do the same thing this this year and that would just usually be the the chair and the vice chair on each um um

um accepting the motion and and and moving moving the moving the warrant article um so that I mean that that's about it I just you know figured we if anybody had any questions anything else they want to insert in there um in the beginning of believe um I think the historical society is going to make a little pitch um right before the warrant uh before the warrant article on the union church I'm not I don't remember what question what article we were going to put them in at it was was 27 28 were

the 4 17 yeah and I would have and as I told them I would put in a slide into my presentation so I'll let everybody know ahead of time what the whole overview of it was and then they're going to come in and and make a I'll say a pitch a uh uh um uh layout um you know what they're doing for the community um before uh number 27 and 28 I believe it was yeah so yeah I I would almost think that's something that might be better off at the beginning I was just going to say that you think in up front because I don't think other people are coming in to do that but also I mean it's also an article 17 MH um and so I

think having them give their their pitch and that way uh we can have more directed questions they people can have time to think about about it and have more directed questions during the article presentation okay uh and then uh you know the the moderator can have someone from the the committee answer question questions um and I think that's just a to me that's a better look to have them answering questions rather than doing a presentation immed especially in my opinion immediately right before the article because then if there are people that that hear I I think it's just way more appropriate to do it at the beginning do at the beginning so do right after after my presentation have them have them come up that's fine I could actually we could probably realign this ah too many presentations

up that's want to see here I could do them at the end and hand it right over to them after land use Jerry okay in this and then I could just hand it right over to Tia from there after I'm finished yep when you get your edits just come on in yeah yeah we can do that pretty it right up that's fine yeah I can swing over and do that that that's a great idea all right that makes it easy um any other

thoughts that I just figured only because we hadn't sat through one as a board ourselves I think what this is our 234 I think we're probably pretty good at it all right yeah 234 okay so that was it I just just figured out I'm trying not to bring this up but I do feel like I need to bring it up just because I've had a few residents immediately following previous Town meetings bring up the fact that we um have a prayer and and I'm not saying that I'm for that or that I'm against that I'm just saying that that has been brought up before and so it number one are we doing that this year and and I don't know that we call it a prayer maybe we call it a blessing and then it doesn't get it doesn't turn into aay Political statement of I get it it turns it more into a thank you all for coming I here as a community I know we talked about it I'm not sure that we reached out yet and I called them today

okay and I don't phrase it I don't even phrase it like a blessing I just say can we just do like a like a meditative moment like thank you for being here and I can re reiterate that to him too I think that's how I phrased I believe yeah yeah I try to keep it pretty like keeping the tradition but keeping it neutral right yeah okay thank you I think that that'll probably work for I also plug that we're going to have tables again in the hallways for volunteer F Department they'll be selling I don't know baby T-shirts they sld coins last year um the Historic Society is going to be there with baked goods and coffee the girls are going to be there with cookies and then also I think other food so we got the Girl Scouts with cookies and food we have the fire department with dep with food society and then the historic district commission is putting together something or something I know they're both doing

tables so so the historic district commission and the historic so Historical Society are both going to have tables and uh I know they're going to have handouts and they probably have snacks and sweets andof coffee baked goods so you said scholarship you meant presenting the presting the okay and but the women that are coming to talk about the Freeport scholarship are they coming not that I'm aware of Oh I thought that we had said that we should have them come to be able to explain we may have talked about that um and so if we are I personally think that they should come and and explain their program um all

about them and if that is in fact the case I also think that that should be at the beginning like that everybody who has information to share shares it at the beginning so that residents have time to digest it and then questions can happen when we get to the well Stephanie Stephanie right Stephanie see if they want to come up and and and they could at least bring the pamphlets they have yeah at the very least right yeah did they they spoke last year I thought no no they didn't they didn't get on that's right they the deadline that's right yep yep you're absolutely right okay yeah that would be good to put them on um have them um lay out their two cents for the

town to hear as to why we're doing that okay good idea anything else that's all I can think of right now okay all right we'll try to keep it brief in the beginning so we're not too long right I I plan to try to get through this really quickly um just like high level overview and explain it so yeah I mean I wouldn't even read it I think I think whoever's managing the computer during the presentation you know if you put up the facts during each article that was related to the screen I don't think yeah yep yeah I I I pretty much

have it down I I think I'm I think I'm good I can get through it pretty quickly so okay anything else so move on manages report Jerry yeah I'm gonna um talk a little bit about both fire and Public Works just kind of um so yeah so the paving bid com in I just want the just want the residents to know that it's the auin pound Ro that's getting paid all all that from the line

2.47 miles I think he said um also uh you sawry on your report but I also want the public to know May 18th is bulky waist day Saturday May 18th that's scheduled to do that and also um Mike Rivera the mechanic at Public Works is retiring um he will no longer be with us after this after this month and we have hired a new mechanic his name is uh Ryan Henry um so I'd like to welcome publicly publicly welcome him um I haven't seen him I haven't met him yet but he but he is on board he's Calvin's kind of like getting him in while Mike's still there just to kind of show him the ropes for a couple weeks and then Mike will be retied so I'd like to thank Mike for his service and no that's great thank you Mike for that all right and then um as far as the fire chief's report you should have is in the consent agenda the thing they have to sign the mitigation plan is in the is in the consent agenda so we just need you to

have your sign sign that uh I think they have a copy yeah cop so just sign one of those copies that's I just want to make sure you you have that um this Friday uh I will be attending a town city managers conference up in Bangor it's an all day event just kind of want to let you know about that um the audit is happening this week so she was in yesterday uh she worked the way today she'll be back tomorrow hopefully wrap that up within a within a few days that's always a a busy time but hopefully uh with all of Mark's help and our help she'll we'll have it much sooner than we have in the past at least since I've been here they came in both in August so hopefully we'll have it before the end of spring see what happens um also um I told you a couple

weeks ago that we res submitted the reevaluation bids because folks we out of the seven or eight that we sent out only two responded but they responded with completion dates of 2027 but the bid actually said we wanted it done in 20126 thinking that gez they couldn't do it they didn't win to bid so sending it back out with a saying 2027 is okay we

thought maybe we'd get them to bid well no one B so we're still down to two so Donner is reaching out to them I'm hoping to have both of them both biders come in on the meeting of the 23rd okay so we'll get you both bids for you to review so they'll be here for you to ask questions or whatever so that the uh the

date is the 23rd but it's we'll have to confirm that because I haven't heard whether they can make that date or not but that's kind of the plan so one of the first meetings yeah and I'll keep you posted hope because one of them's coming from Massachusetts so uh if they can make it on the 23rd great the other one is uh the other bidder is from Maine so okay I I'll keep you posted on that um that's

about it right there oh I did today um we did fuel bids today so we got some pretty good pricing some actually some uh less expensive pricing than we had last year so it worked out good um so that's how we're all we're all set for the next year well the the it doesn't really take effect until July 1 the contract so we're still working on last year for this year but that was a good that's always a good process when you do Cooperative bidding came in lower than you expected diesel went up a little bit but we were paying like a179 for propane but we got it for a144 this year oh so that's good that's a good sign gas is 275 which isn't bad and it's all locked in I don't like to do the the uh rack Price Plus because it for Budget stability you you don't know how to budget for it right so if you lock it in and that's a spike waiting to happen there so spent a lot of the time today doing that so that's good

electricity rate bids will come out in another couple months we'll just keep an eye on that see how that's going but what I'm hearing CMP is dropping their rates a little bit but we're paying we were paying 17 cents but when we get into the Cooperative of last year it down to like uh 10.5 so we'll see what happens this year with you just never know but uh other than that um things are going good I mean like I said Jess moved into her office that's going good right Jess I mean she's doing good with the with the AP um so things things are good I I

noticed that it's Al I don't want to use the word less chaotic but there's less movement around the office everybody now situated the way they are so that must make for a much nicer working atmosphere not as um not as uh disruptive yeah you know with folks going behind the behind the uh counter all the time so that works that looks really good code officer he's been on vacation he he went to Ireland so he's been gone now he's out sick he's got the Irish cold same thing I got when I came back so um but other than that things things are going really pretty good great Heather you know me I always have questions yeah um bulky waste is pending budget approval right so we should just make that really clear that when we're putting it out as a date it's tentative or pending or however we want to word it because if we say it's May 18 and then it doesn't pass the budget they people are going to complain if they're expecting that it's

going to happen it doesn't pass budget have to make sure on that day that then there will be no there will be no poy was I just think if we put the information out there we definitely have to have the caveat that it's pending budget approval at town meeting in April okay um I'm pass out the stickers again at the election and town meeting but if it doesn't pass you just um okay that was my only question for for now that's it yeah that's it and then and then our thanks to uh both of departments uh during the storm this past that was that was tough on everybody um surrounding communities included so that was uh pretty brutal yeah pretty surpris did a great job on the roads the roads were were were awesome and um I know the chief had a few calls that he went out on so no I you know the the staff is great I mean they work hard they they do their job um no questions asked it's a I'm pretty lucky yeah I really feel pretty lucky

that the staff that we do um they they make my job easier there's no doubt about it and I probably make their job harder so it's not probably an even so um with some of my uh questions and stuff so but no things things are going good no good no worries looking forward to town meeting yes I mean a lot of work goes into leading up to that to that meeting so that's good okay that's that's all I got for you thank you Gary anything else questions sorry I have was the Bulet was thing and there was one other thing I wanted to ask but I just forgot what it

to so you got write stuff down you remember in a minute I tried to get out of your ways you can you can bring it back okay uh any board members reports so this isn't a report this is you know when when the annual report gets posted and people start looking at the information that's in there and they see taxes that are not paid and then

they reach out asking questions about that kind of thing and so I I would just like to understand if if we have policy um issued if back taxes are o and if we don't that that's something that the board should consider and take up in the future okay if wait if building permits

are issued when back taxes are okay correct yeah there are multiple year delinquent taxes for certain individuals that are also accessing not not sure you can do that but that would be an interesting question but I don't think you can tie that way but especially if it's for a different lot that's where the taxes haven't been paid see you see what I mean we'd have to look into that that whole that's a really long drawn out process that we're

now just getting into so if you want to come in come in we can I can explain it but we do have a policy and most of that policy is following the state law right and it's it's a a process for sure that would be better served than a discussion because because there's time and it's it's um I mean

you're talking about people's property so you you know they they have rights and of course yeah so it's yeah I just it's a it's an interesting situation to owe the town money especially multiple years and then go get the ability to be able to increase the value of the property even though you haven't paid what you already owe yeah so just something to put on people's radar that other residents are asking about which is why I sent the email asking right that's all I got okay um only thing I have is like I said I I attended the historical district commission um uh meeting the other day went very well uh had a lot of good input um and I did attend the um uh Conservation Commission meeting as well I'm trying to hit all the meetings just to um I was doing it

somewhat to just be ready for town meeting see if there's anything on their agendas that would come up other other than the things we know already and um there didn't seem to be anything new um in either meeting um so just it was just showing my face and something I'm going to try to keep doing uh as the next year goes on so and I did not get to that meeting today that we got invited to which was unfortunate um the housing the housing meeting they had in Portland uh I I was going to go to that but I got hung up with something and wasn't able to cut free um so that was um uh everybody I

I'll say commiserating about what the affordable housing is doing what people are doing for housing uh I believe Janet Mills was going to be at the event as well so it would been interesting to hear her viewpoint up in person so I'm sure that's available online somewhere to go look at later but um uh that that was something that I I think we were all invited to but it was I think a first come limited party um so anyways Josh you uh so I I would just you know after uh Chief McGee came in and with his presentation I I think was the next day or so I ran ran into the chief Deputy uh and at our next meeting which will be the first with the new five member board uh I would like to try to get something set up because I think based on my conversations uh with the chief Deputy um the cost was a lot more than I was expecting and I think if it's something that is going to be considered um it's going to take a

significant conversation um and I would like to start that sooner rather than later because I I I will say you know not only Chief McGee but another uh at least one other well there's two police Chiefs who live in Durham in neighboring communities a number of officers and uh I spoke with another officer who I just happened to run into who lives in Durham and um hoping to get him to give me an opinion one way or the other what his thoughts were uh and it was you know not a terrible idea mhm um and so I think based on that I think it's a conversation that needs to be had and it's going to be a lengthy one based on the cost and everything involved I would like to start that sooner rather than later yeah there's certainly a lot of uh a lot of pieces to that puzzle that need to be put together to be presented before anything moves but starting it early is the right thing to do so yeah we can put that on our agenda to I'd

like this the to schedule a workshop and bring in yeah uh and and then we can have a meeting where we can have a public comment after people have seen that um but you know if we're going to if we're going to start a commit create create a committee or something like that i' I'd like to do it sooner rather than later because like I said I had a number in my head

the information that Ryan or chief M gave us I I was thinking it felt reasonable so I'd be interested to to have that conversation and see where the deputy chief landed with that because this is I mean this was what I mean I would let him explain it the what he did what he was looking at was something similar to what Poland does so it's 247 coverage and okay um yeah I I I agree I think it's definitely a conversation that needs to take place sooner rather than later yeah I think yeah I think there's a number of options that could be laid out as well you know you know different different different scenarios to be looked at by the professionals and against the data right I think is really the the key to it okay thank you we get that on the

agenda for April all right consent agenda um agenda proving the amendes um proven sign the AP warrant and then we have a region 10 um has their signature page in here way they go a separate fold I'm was part of the I have already read it but it's not in my pap just yeah got right here

to looks like rebuild a bridge that goes between the believe the buildings for the facility um it looks it's a u I'll say a matching Grant it's not quite 5050 it is uh 45% 44 99% Grant um against 55% that the region would have to repay at a z% interest over the term of 10 years um so they're looking for all the signatures to here from the other towns and uh they're requiring our signatures on this to approve so my only question is it has what I think my knowledge of

this has been in terms of region 10 is that that's part of the school budget region 10 funding is is a supplement to the school budget correct and so when we're looking at our number in terms of our whole our budget this would impact the school budget line or is this something completely separate and how does that

then impact our tax rate do we know if we don't it's okay I'm just I'm just thinking that's a question that people are if people are going to ask like is that coming to us and the school board has already reviewed that and that's part of their number that they're giving us so this is this is going to be uh it own ballot so we're going to get the RCU budget referend ballot on one side going to be this question so this just puts the question on the ballot that's what I understand it to be so this is just putting it in front of the voters okay okay that's just like the warrant warrant yes warrant I see okay thank you for explaining this is just our signature for that warrant article sorry this is out of place it should have been earlier but um what's not in the consent agenda is the um adoption of the Angel County Natural Hazard mitigation plan um I think that we had talked about we have the signature page in our packet

I think that should have been included in the Cent agenda so I would just again it's out of place should have been done earlier but I would just move to amend the agenda to include that uh resolution of adoption in the consent agenda

second any further just add that approval of the mitigation plan in the consent agenda oh if we just add that he Josh is moving to add that to the consent agenda I see what you're saying okay okay and I've seconded it or we could go back to new business but either way no that probably sounds like a plan all in favor move that in all right motion

the consent agenda I move that we accept the consent agenda as amended second second Heather any further discussion all in favor okay motion carries unanimously and you want us to each sign individual you're sign just one one go ahead start off you want me to start it off

also add when you announce all of that can you talk about the Municipal elections the day before add that the April 5th April Friday April I put that down April 5th okay uh let's see we have town meeting on 46 at at um 900 a.m. 9:00 a.m.

shop um we have the Municipal elections April 5th uh that's at the Eureka Center starting at 8 amm regular 8 to 8 um we have um select board meetings uh following that 49 and 423 and a planning board meeting on 43 uh and all those are at the fire station uh town meeting is at the school uh by the way just uh in case folks uh need to

know the location um that's all I have there and we had a executive session this evening or we going to pass on that we we can do that and we'll see where we get with it I think that makes sense I think that makes sense y do what executive session okay yeah y have it have it yeah we'll have it yeah let's we'll have a discussion um so I make a motion we go into executive session to uh discuss uh an abatement all second Josh seconds all in favor okay we're now in executive session thank you everybody have a good evening and we'll see you on the

way I probably have this all mixed up because I flipped it fine there just three of these yeah we got