Select Board Meeting ~ December 28, 2017

2017-12-28 · Select Board · 1:22:46 · watch on YouTube →

A select board meeting on December 28, 2017, chaired by Kevin Nadeau with all five members present. The board set out a tentative schedule for the January budget workshops, heard that the fire chief search panel had cut 18 applicants to five for interview, and authorised Ruth Glaeser to circulate a request for proposals for part-time contract planning services. Fire chief William St. Michel reported on the station lock replacement, the wind-damaged standing seam roof and the apparatus committee's work, which recommends replacing Engine 22 with a Pierce at roughly $487,000 after discounts, and presented the competing bids for a replacement rescue. The board took no position on either apparatus, with the chair saying he wanted a clearer picture of public works needs first and a member pressing for an apples-to-apples comparison of the rescue bids. The board voted 4-1 to send a letter to Central Maine Power in support of its transmission proposal, appointed Bonnie Cobb to the planning board 5-0, and moved into executive session on personnel as the recording ends.

What was discussed

1. 0:11
   Call to order and amendments to the agenda

   Kevin Nadeau opened the meeting and led the pledge of allegiance. Three items were added: an update from Richard George on the fire chief search, thank you letters from organisations the town had donated to, and a review of the draft RFP for planning services, with executive session and adjournment moved to items nine and ten. No one was present for public comment.

2. 0:11
   Consent agenda

   The consent agenda carried the treasurer's warrant, the minutes and correspondence. The only correction was to the minutes, which recorded the meeting as called to order at 6:00 p.m. when it had actually met at 4:30 p.m.

3. 0:11
   Scheduling the January budget workshops

   Ruth Glaeser explained the board normally meets three times in January on the budget, one night for the fire chief, one for the road commissioner and one for administration, with the smaller budgets attached to hers. Members worked around the regular meetings of January 9 and 23, the audit, and their own commitments, agreeing they did not want to take roads on a night Rob Pontau could not attend or fire on a night Richard George or Todd Beaulieu could not.

4. 5:12
   How the budget moves to the budget committee

   Glaeser described the budget books, tabbed by department with past years' budgets, actual spending and the proposed figures. The board goes through them in January, she then makes the changes it wants, and the budget committee takes the board's recommended budget through three meetings in February; department heads may argue there for the figures they originally requested. She aims to get the budget committee's books out no later than the very beginning of February.

5. 10:13
   Capital expenditure material for the budget

   The chair said there would be a fair number of questions on capital expenditures and asked for the various categories set out in a common format so they could be seen in context, short of a full capital improvement plan.

6. 10:13
   Getting the budget committee on notice

   Members asked whether the budget committee chairman had been contacted. Glaeser said she would email the committee with updated budget sheets after the books were closed, and the chair asked that at least a save the date go out so members could plan.

7. 10:13
   Fire chief search update

   Richard George reported that the panel had met and gone through 18 applicants in a single session, and had narrowed the field to five who would be interviewed over the coming weeks. From those the panel expects to bring two or three finalists to the select board.

8. 10:13
   How the finalists come to the board

   Members confirmed the process agreed earlier: the panel conducts first round interviews, the board may interview the finalists itself, and the board and committee might then meet jointly to compare views before a decision.

9. 15:18
   Thank you letters from donation recipients

   The chair passed around letters from three of the five organisations the town made charitable contributions to: Lisbon Area Christian Outreach, Tri-County Mental Health Services and the Oasis free health clinic.

10. 15:18
    Draft RFP for contract planning services

    The board reviewed Glaeser's draft request for proposals for part-time contract planning services to support the planning board, ordinance writing and the future land use plan for the comprehensive plan committee. Much of it was taken from Lisbon's contract with its planners, and the chair had asked that the introduction make clear the town is seeking contracted services rather than hiring an employee.

11. 15:18
    Where the RFP would be advertised

    Glaeser proposed the Maine Association of Planners, which has an employment board, and the MMA website, and to forward it directly to planning firms. Members added the town manager and public works director email lists and the town Facebook page, and agreed against newspaper advertising because the work is specialised and the town is split across three papers.

12. 20:18
    Fire station lock replacement

    The chief reported the locksmith had finished this phase, with keypads on the equipment storage room and the exterior side door so keys no longer have to be issued; codes are generic for now but will become individual, so people can be programmed in and out. The front and rear door locks were changed to regain control of exterior access, with organisations using the station issued new keys, and the town office holds a key that opens everything.

13. 20:18
    Wind damage to the station roof

    The station's standing seam metal roof is formed on site by a machine few contractors own. Wind got under the end seal at the drip edge and ripped up about six panels to the ridge; cleats have been installed to stop them tearing off entirely. The chief said the roof is secure and weatherproof for now, but the cleated section will no longer shed snow and may have to be cleared.

14. 25:40
    Difficulty getting a roofing estimate

    The chief said three or four contractors came out, said they did seamless metal roofing and then declined once they saw the machine required, and that even a ballpark figure from the roofer he did find had not arrived in writing. Members suggested contacting John Simino of the planning board and budget committee, who manages capital projects at Bowdoin College, and named a contractor in Lisbon and another firm; others argued the MMA risk pool handling the claim should be recommending contractors it will stand behind. The opposite side of the roof was itself replaced on an insurance claim around 1990, but the risk pool no longer holds the records.

15. 30:46
    Apparatus committee: services review

    The committee began by listing the services the department provides and the apparatus needed to deliver them, with the equipment deliberately blanked out so members judged the services first. Its conclusion was that the services are the right ones and that there is no efficient way to consolidate apparatus, so it continued to recommend replacing Engine 22.

16. 30:46
    Engine proposals narrowed to two

    Four proposals came in on the engine, one vendor having submitted two. One make was eliminated as effectively untried in the region, with one unit in Maine and one in New Hampshire and many specification questions unanswered. That left Pierce, through Minuteman, and Sutphen; vendors were asked to come back with concessions or changes that would reduce cost.

17. 35:55
    Price and the prepayment discount

    The Pierce came in at about $536,264 before a fleet discount of roughly $44,000 and a prepaid discount of $17,654, leaving about $487,005, against roughly $475,000 for the Sutphen. Members worked through what prepayment means: the price is reduced if the town pays before the truck is built, through the manufacturer's finance company, with a performance bond covering the risk and payment not due for a year. Neither truck would be delivered in 2018.

18. 35:55
    Which cost-reduction options the committee accepted

    The vendor's suggested savings were mostly accepted, but the committee declined three: dropping to a 380 horsepower engine, changing from hot dip galvanising, and switching to the standard SCBA brackets, which crews on another apparatus dislike because they will not release if not secured exactly right. The committee separately wanted on-spot tire chains and the air conditioning moved to the top of the engine tunnel, and the airbag option deleted.

19. 40:55
    Whether a fire truck goes on the warrant

    The chair said the board was approving nothing that night and that at some point it must decide whether to write a warrant article with a not-to-exceed figure. He said his question was not which truck but whether to put it to the town this year, given that voters have turned a truck down two years running, that a rescue is also in prospect, that the road plan is unsettled and that a plow truck may have a blown engine.

20. 46:12
    Rescue proposals and how they were narrowed

    Five vendors submitted eight packages. One was dropped immediately for quoting a gas engine where the RFP specified diesel, and others for submitting parts lists rather than specifications. Three were asked to bring demonstration vehicles and clarify their proposals: Greenwood with a Horton, Minuteman with a Road Rescue, and Autotronics with a Braun. Only Autotronics returned a revised proposal on the agreed basis, having also been the only one to include the cardiac monitor and the 2018 price increase in its original figure.

21. 46:12
    Objection to recommending the most expensive rescue

    A board member disagreed with treating the failure to respond as decisive, pointing out that the recommended package is by far the most expensive and that on the spreadsheet the Greenwood Horton and the Autotronics Braun look almost identical while about $40,000 apart. He asked that differences such as radios and an auto-load against a centre-load stretcher, each worth ten to fifteen thousand dollars, be documented so the board can compare like with like.

22. 51:30
    Condition and replacement cycle of the existing rescue

    The current rescue will be 12 years old and has around 60,000 miles, which the chief said understates its use because rust and maintenance rather than mileage end a chassis's life, and because a rescue run to hospital and back is 25 to 30 miles against ten for an engine. He said the rescue goes on roughly 70 percent of calls, that an oil leak repair quoted earlier in the year at around eight thousand dollars is the kind of cost now appearing, and that the 12-year cycle was derived from comparable departments' practice.

23. 51:30
    Diesel against gasoline

    Asked why diesel matters, the chief said the station stores only diesel, that adding gasoline brings metering and security requirements, and that services which moved to gas engines reported worse performance, with diesel giving better torque and idling for running equipment on scene. He said he is not a mechanic but that everyone on the committee who is was flatly against gas, and a board member asked to hear directly from those mechanics when a formal proposal comes forward.

24. 56:51
    Whether the rescue makes money

    Members discussed the claim that the rescue generates revenue. The chief said it does bring in money compared with the previous arrangement, but that costs not charged against those revenues mean it is subsidised, and that no department should start a transport service for revenue rather than for the quality and availability of service.

25. 56:51
    Cardiac monitor as a separate capital request

    The chief said the monitor is the genuinely outdated piece of equipment, comparing it to a 13 or 14 year old laptop, and recommended that a cardiac monitor be replaced whenever a rescue is replaced on a 10 to 12 year cycle. A board member said it should be a separate capital request and warrant article rather than rolled into the rescue price, which is part of what made one vendor's original figure so much higher.

26. 1:02:06
    What transfers to a new rescue

    Asked what equipment would carry over, the chief said most of it would, apart from the cardiac monitor and items such as suction, which is built into the new design, and that safety features including restraint requirements have changed substantially. He undertook to have the committee fine-tune the rescue spreadsheet and continue meeting the two engine vendors.

27. 1:02:06
    Town administrator's report

    Glaeser reported the painting and the floor finished with everything still to be put back, the office open only until noon the next day to close the books, and audit and budget work filling January and February.

28. 1:02:06
    The CMP letter and what the project is

    Members recapped Central Maine Power's proposal to carry clean energy from Quebec across Maine to Boston, one of several bids to Massachusetts utilities. CMP (?) asked towns along the corridor for letters because a bid that looks likely to meet local resistance and litigation is worth less in the evaluation.

29. 1:07:15
    What the line would look like in Durham

    Members recalled that the line would follow an existing corridor at the North Auburn end of town, with larger structures roughly 50 feet higher, towers with arms and suspended lines rather than traditional cross poles, carrying higher capacity.

30. 1:07:15
    Objection to appearing to endorse the project

    Richard George said the town had heard only CMP's side, with no rebuttal on matters such as the taller structures or electromagnetic fields, and did not want the letter read as unconditional support that CMP could quote back later. Others said the letter only records that CMP has been a good business partner over the years, that it is not legally binding, and that the project would still face planning board review and permitting, while the chair noted the potential commercial property tax revenue.

31. 1:12:28
    Road damage from previous corridor work

    Members recalled that crews working the line and the gas pipeline tore up Stackpole Road with overloaded trucks and either did not repair it or repaired it poorly, with the town ending up doing the work. They wanted photographs taken beforehand and a commitment to restore any road crossing at least to its previous condition, noting the road is now newly cold paved and not built for 100,000 or 200,000 pound vehicles.

32. 1:12:28
    Calvin's draft road plan

    The chair said the spreadsheet the road commissioner had circulated was extremely detailed, and that at this stage the board needs it a few levels up: which roads, how many miles, in which year, with a ballpark estimate rather than something close to a bid. Members agreed he was doing thorough work but that the level of detail was more than the initial plan required, and that he should be told.

33. 1:17:42
    Planning board appointment

    An application had come in from a resident willing to serve on the planning board, and members confirmed the process: the applicant files the form with the town office, the town administrator brings it to the board, and the board appoints. Another prospective member was away on vacation and had not yet been reached. Members noted the online form should ask whether an applicant wants an active or alternate seat.

34. 1:17:42
    Upcoming meetings and executive session

    The next regular meetings were announced for Tuesday, January 9 and Tuesday, January 23, both at 6:30 p.m. at the town office. The chair then moved the board into executive session on personnel matters, and the recording ends there.

What was decided

• 0:11
  Accept the consent agenda as amended, the amendment correcting the minutes to show the earlier meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. rather than 6:00 p.m. Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Todd Beaulieu, carried 5-0.passed
• 0:11
  Set a tentative budget workshop order of roads on January 9, fire on January 16 and administration on January 23, with January 30 held in reserve, subject to Ruth Glaeser checking which of the road commissioner and fire chief would be ready by the 9th.passed
• 20:18
  Have Ruth Glaeser send out the RFP for part-time contract planning services. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Mark Blake, carried 5-0.passed
• 1:12:28
  Send the letter to Central Maine Power. Moved by Todd Beaulieu, seconded by Rob Pontau, carried 4-1; the objections through the discussion came from Richard George, who did not want the town read as giving unconditional support to the transmission project.passed
• 1:17:42
  Appoint Bonnie Cobb as an active member of the planning board. Moved by Rob Pontau, seconded by Richard George, carried 5-0.passed
• 1:17:42
  Go into executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. 405(6)(A), personnel, to discuss annual reviews of town employees. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George, carried 5-0. The recording ends as the motion is made.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from 20180118112815.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• Accept Consent Agenda as Amendedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• have Ruth to send out the RFPcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Mark Blake

• Send the Letter to CMPcarried 4-1

  Moved by Todd Beaulieu, seconded by Rob Pontau

• Appoint Bonnie Cobb as an Active Member of the Planning Boardcarried 5-0

  Moved by Rob Pontau, seconded by Richard George

• go into Executive Session-Pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. 405(6)(A)- Personnelcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• come out of Executive Sessioncarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Mark Blake

• Adjourncarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Mark Blake

Worth knowing

• 35:55
  The apparatus committee's recommended replacement for Engine 22 is a Pierce at about $487,005, after a fleet discount and a $17,654 discount for paying before the truck is built, against about $475,000 for the other finalist. Neither truck would be delivered in 2018.
• 40:55
  The chair would not commit to putting a fire truck on the town meeting warrant, noting voters have rejected one two years running, a rescue is also in prospect, the road plan is unsettled and a plow truck may have a blown engine.
• 46:12
  A board member objected that the rescue recommended by the committee is roughly $40,000 more than an alternative whose specifications look almost identical on the spreadsheet, and that two vendors simply not answering questions is not reason enough to choose the most expensive option. He asked for the differences, such as radios and the type of stretcher, to be documented for a like-for-like comparison.
• 1:12:28
  The letter to CMP passed 4-1. The dissent was that the board had heard only the company's account of the project, and members recalled that earlier transmission and gas pipeline work tore up Stackpole Road with overloaded trucks and left the town to repair it.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 2 passages of motion language, against 6 decisions summarised.

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