Select Board Meeting ~ January 9, 2024

2024-01-09 · Select Board · 3:11:24 · watch on YouTube →

A long Select Board meeting given over mostly to the first read of the FY24 budget. It opened with the fire chief presenting distinguished action medals to three Durham firefighters for their response to the October 25 shootings in Lewiston. The board then took up the Union Church, voting to put a warrant article before town meeting transferring the building and both associated lots to the Durham Historical Society for $1 for use as a museum and meeting space, with a right of first refusal and a reversion clause; a companion motion to appropriate $31,000 for repairs was moved and then withdrawn so the Historical Society can first present a public-use plan. Jerry Douglass and Marc Roy then walked the board line by line through a rebuilt budget document and a proposal to level fund capital reserves rather than raise money for individual trucks and projects each year. No budget lines were voted; members agreed to review the document individually and bring proposed changes to the next meeting, with the town manager needing an approved recommendation by the 23rd. The board accepted the consent agenda and adjourned.

What was discussed

1. 0:10
   Call to order, agenda amendments and public comment

   The chair opened the meeting, noted the fire department recognition would be taken up first, and asked for amendments to the agenda and for public comment. No one came forward for public comment.

2. 0:10
   Fire department recognition for the Lewiston response

   Rob Tripp presented distinguished action medals to three members for the response to the October 25 shootings in Lewiston, when every radio and pager in the county opened up and every rescue and EMS-trained firefighter was called to the city. Kevin Merrill and Timmy Dodson (?) were present; Lieutenant Joe Lamont had a prior engagement. The chief described the members being in the city for about three hours, coming under fire, encountering people on a roof with long guns, and a civilian brandishing a weapon at their ambulance at the hospital, and said Lamont had secured two victims and taken charge of about a dozen ambulances and up to 40 personnel staged at the hospital.

3. 5:28
   Union Church: committee recommendation and attorney's letter

   The chair recapped the December meeting at which the Union Church committee voted unanimously to recommend the town gift the church to the Historical Society for a dollar. The town attorney's letter said the select board can transfer the property at its own discretion, but the roughly $30,000 the town has set aside cannot be transferred by the board and would require a vote at annual town meeting.

4. 5:28
   Union Church: contents, reversion and the money article

   The chair listed what still had to be settled: whether the artifacts and contents go with the building, a reversion clause returning the building and contents to the town if the society ceases to exist, and how to word a separate warrant article for the money. He said he had spoken with the society, which understood the money is a separate question for town meeting.

5. 10:31
   Motion to warrant the Union Church transfer

   Josh Klein-Golden moved to put a question on the town meeting warrant asking whether the town supports transferring the Union Church to the Durham Historical Society for $1 for use as a museum and meeting space, with a right of first refusal for the town should the building be sold and a reversion should it stop being used for those purposes. The motion was seconded for discussion.

6. 10:31
   The two lots and the parking area

   Heather Roy pointed out from the map that the church sits on one lot and the current parking lot is a separate lot, and asked whether the intent was to lease the land as the town does with the softball field or to transfer both parcels. It was noted the Masonic Hall had stood on the second lot and was tied to the church; the board agreed the wording should name both lots rather than splitting them, since without the second lot there is no parking.

7. 16:15
   Whether the board must find a public use

   A member argued the board has to establish on the record whether it believes the money is intended for public use, because the attorney's letter conditions putting the money question on the warrant on that finding. Josh Klein-Golden said he had written "museum and meeting space" into the motion precisely to establish a public place. Another idea raised was tying the town money to grant money the society raises, in a matching capacity, so the town keeps oversight.

8. 21:41
   What happens if the town approves one article but not the other

   The board worked through the case where the town transfers the building but declines to transfer the money. Because the funds sit in a restricted Union Church account, a further separate article would be needed to move them to the general fund, so the two questions must be separate articles with the second voted only if the first passes.

9. 26:49
   Tia Wilson speaks for the Historical Society

   At Heather Roy's request, so the transaction would be documented for the record in a way the earlier Methodist Church transaction was not, Tia Wilson came to the microphone. She said she chairs the Durham Historical Society, has been a member over 15 years and at one point was its only member, that it now has nine members including an archivist, that every item in the church has been photographed for the first time, and that the society wants the building and is ready to fundraise and write grants.

10. 26:49
    Vote on the Union Church warrant article

    Before the vote the board confirmed it was voting only to put the question on the warrant, with the article's exact language to be drafted by the lawyer and voted on again later, and that whether the reversion is a separate article or part of the same one would be left to the attorney's advice.

11. 31:55
    Motion on the $31,000 for church repairs

    Josh Klein-Golden moved a second warrant article appropriating $31,000 for repairs to the Union Church. Jerry Douglass gave the figures: $21,457 is currently allocated, the $10,000 raised last year lapses back to general funds, so a further $9,543 would be needed to reach $31,000.

12. 31:55
    Why the money would be held rather than handed over

    Josh Klein-Golden said he had worded it as appropriating the money for a specific purpose rather than giving it outright because of the board's fiduciary duty, citing a case he had discussed where $112,000 was stolen from a fund in another county. Under his proposal the society would come to the town manager and then the board with each request.

13. 37:12
    Pushback: agency for the society

    Heather Roy said that is the situation the society has already been in for years, pointing to a warrant article on which the town was asked to move $10,000 into the restoration account with the select board recommending against it, and asked how the board would avoid the society owning the building and still not getting repairs funded. Another member suggested adding conditions such as a spending deadline instead. The language was reworked to authorise expenditures up to a total of $31,000 for repairs or improvements paid directly to a contractor, described as working like a construction loan where the bank pays.

14. 37:12
    Chair asks for a public-use presentation first

    The chair said the board should first determine whether it deems the use public, and that the society should come back with a presentation on how the building will be accessible and used, before the money question goes on the warrant. Members discussed what would count, such as set opening hours or school visits.

15. 42:42
    Money motion pulled back

    Josh Klein-Golden withdrew the money motion so it could be tabled for a separate discussion. Tia Wilson said the society has presented this material many times, that it is in the packet already provided, and that the church has been a museum for 40 years and open to the public every third Sunday since 1979; she offered to email it the next day. For budget planning the board confirmed the figures as $21,457 already allocated plus $9,543.

16. 42:42
    Budget presentation opens

    Jerry Douglass introduced a budget packet in a different format from previous years, describing a process begun in October with Calvin Beaumier and Rob Tripp over three or four meetings. He noted actuals were incomplete because December bills were still arriving and asked members to hold questions to the end of each section.

17. 48:21
    Budget summary page

    Spending is up 5.6% over the FY23 budget and 8.3% over FY23 actuals. Revenue is projected 9.5% above the FY23 budget but only about 1.6% above actual revenues. Jerry Douglass said he was recommending using $500,000 of undesignated fund balance to reach a flat tax rate, and identified the drivers as general government up 2.5%, public safety up 15.2% and public works up 5.5%.

18. 53:24
    Revenue coding problems

    Heather Roy asked why fire department permits and fees showed about $82,000 in 2022 but far less in FY23. Marc Roy said revenue had been coded inconsistently under the old Trio setup, with a large miscellaneous revenue line likely absorbing amounts that belonged elsewhere, and that FY24 estimates were built off FY23 actuals. Ambulance revenue was also flagged as having roughly tripled over two years and as having been recorded in two different places.

19. 58:43
    State revenue sharing discrepancy

    Heather Roy said the state revenue sharing figure in the budget differs from what the state says it paid the town by roughly $93,000, which would change the projected revenue total on the summary page and therefore how much fund balance is needed. Marc Roy said the first month or two had not been recorded to revenue sharing and it would take an audit of the coding to find where it went.

20. 1:03:58
    Administration budget

    The code enforcement officer, Allan, was moved out of administration into planning and codes. Both part-time staff were moved from 10 to 20 hours a week so someone is always at the window and the person handling accounts payable has time to code properly, and the telecommunications wages were moved into administration. Jerry Douglass said the office is still down half a person with Marc Roy leaving, and training and development was cut from $8,000 to $4,000.

21. 1:09:45
    Printing, elections and election worker wages

    Printing and copying rose because the Telecom printing line was folded in. Marc Roy explained the negative election cost actual as the RSU reimbursement being coded entirely to that one line rather than split with election worker wages. Jerry Douglass said he had sat down with Jessica and priced the presidential election year staffing directly, and warned the office may close on Election Day because it will be all hands.

22. 1:15:33
    Payroll outsourcing and whether an RFP is required

    Jerry Douglass proposed outsourcing payroll to Bangor Savings, saying payroll has not been right since he arrived and an employee is upset about it. A member said he supported the change but wanted to know whether town policy requires bids above a threshold, variously recalled as $5,000 or $10,000, because the town had to seek multiple bids the last time it looked at this. Marc Roy noted he will be leaving the firm by January 31 or February 15 at the latest, leaving no one to run payroll.

23. 1:20:41
    Municipal buildings department

    A buildings and grounds department was created, consolidating the cleaner's wages and the costs of every building other than administration, fire and public works. Heat at the Eureka Center is now essentially zero because heat pumps have replaced propane, with the propane tank holding enough for years and used mainly for the kitchen stove and generator; a member asked that the heat line be kept in place with a placeholder so it does not disappear.

24. 1:26:15
    Municipal buildings electricity and repairs

    Marc Roy said actuals through December were about $7,700 for heat and electricity in that department, so the $6,200 line may need raising once street lights are included, perhaps to $10,000 or $12,000. On the $5,000 maintenance and repairs line, Calvin Beaumier reported he has had multiple people look at the Eureka Center double doors without getting estimates back, and that a price from Hammond Lumber for the doors themselves came to roughly $8,800 with the crash bars and hardware quoted on top; members suggested the doors belong in a capital discussion.

25. 1:37:30
    How the board will handle budget changes

    Marc Roy suggested treating this meeting as a presentation, with members going through the document individually over the next two weeks and coming back with specific line changes to vote on, rather than voting line by line as they go. The board agreed to mark their pluses and minuses, send them to Jerry Douglass by email, and discuss at the next meeting.

26. 1:37:30
    Assessing and telecommunications

    Map updating was moved back out of ARPA and into the assessing operational line where it belongs, and the assessor is asking $100 more a month. Telecommunications lost its wages because the town has no IT department, leaving data services, software licences including Trio at about $23,000 with $1,000 for an additional program, and $5,000 for replacement hardware.

27. 1:43:11
    Planning and codes

    Allan's wage moved into this department, and George's part-time hours were raised from 20 to 24 a week to cover the codification work, help with the zoning board of appeals and a GPCOG planning project deferred from last year. Jerry Douglass said George nearly ran out of hours this year and predicted the town will need a full-time planner by 2030. Planning board stipends and a postage line reflecting mailing costs were also discussed.

28. 1:48:14
    Fire department budget

    This department showed the largest increase, driven by part-time staff wages to put someone on at night for EMS. Jerry Douglass said the chief reported 35% of calls come at night and cannot keep working days and nights, and that he supported the request. Gas and diesel will now be drawn from public works and tracked.

29. 1:48:14
    Propane pricing

    Rob Tripp said the fire station heat is propane and that a credit for fuel left in the old tank went back to undesignated rather than his budget. He said the town had been paying rack price, with a bill last year at $3.40 a gallon, and cooperative bidding has brought it to about $1.80.

30. 1:53:57
    Workers compensation, ambulance and radios

    Heather Roy noted significant reductions in workers compensation across the budget; Jerry Douglass said it fell from around $90,000 to $60,000 townwide and credited staff safety work. Ambulance services rose with call volume. A radio grant from EMA was moved to its own line item, and the radios, four portables and a truck, were delivered that day. Animal control was to be changed from $20,000 to $18,450 on a quote received that afternoon.

31. 1:59:32
    Public works budget

    Workers compensation in public works fell from about $40,000 to $25,000. Paving rose sharply for the same 2.47 miles of work, with the unit price going from $82 to $110 and shoulder material from $40 a yard to $105. Equipment repairs and vehicle repairs were split into separate lines, as were salt, liquid de-icer and winter sand, road painting and striping, and regular against overtime wages.

32. 2:04:42
    Solid waste as an operating line

    Marc Roy recommended moving solid waste out of an annual warrant article and into an operational line, since the town is committed to a five-year contract and going back to town meeting each year is like asking permission to make next year's lease payment. Actual cost was just under $300,000 in FY22 and $325,000 in FY23, and $350,000 was put in for FY24. Members discussed whether solid waste, like winter roads, should be a line the town is allowed to overspend, but no one could point to the authority for it.

33. 2:09:45
    Buildings and grounds consolidation

    Parks and recreation and the individual building lines were folded into buildings and grounds. Heather Roy pressed on whether Eureka Center costs could still be identified separately; Marc Roy said detail reports from Trio will show it as long as expenditure memos are entered consistently.

34. 2:09:45
    Outside organisation requests

    Jerry Douglass said he had put placeholders in for the outside organisations the town usually supports, including a scholarship request brought by Stephanie Payne and a $2,500 request toward replacing a generator at the veterans' hall the town uses for voting. Members agreed the recurring recreation request could go as one article but that the newer and larger requests should be called out separately, and that requesters should come and state their case.

35. 2:15:40
    Elections, the generator and the town scholarship fund

    Members argued the generator request is reasonable given the town uses the hall for elections without being charged rent, and raised the question of what the town would do if the power failed on Election Day, recalling a multi-day October outage when the school's generator also failed. It was noted the town's own scholarship account is restricted and not fundraised for, so it ends when the money is gone, and that flags for veterans' graves and the War Memorial Park are funded separately from donated flag money.

36. 2:21:20
    Overlay and tax abatements

    Heather Roy asked whether anything should be budgeted for abatements and what happens if abatements exceed the line. Marc Roy said there is no going back to town meeting, the line simply goes over, but recommended budgeting roughly what the actual overlay was last year because it drives the projection on the summary page. Unassigned general fund balance stood at $3.7 million as of December 31.

37. 2:26:33
    Capital level funding proposal

    Jerry Douglass presented equipment and building schedules projected out ten to twelve years, with the aim of level funding reserves so equipment purchases do not spike taxes. Public works would take $205,000 a year and municipal buildings $10,000, with $60,000 for revaluation and $2,293 added to the grant matching reserve to bring it to an even $30,000; total transfers out come to $457,293, rising to $466,836 once the Union Church $9,543 is added. The fire department figure was discussed but is not clearly captured in the recording.

38. 2:26:33
    Radios to be fronted

    Rob Tripp said the town has a $20,000 EMA grant for radios that have already been delivered, that the town needs to front the money, and that he will need to come back to the board for a quick vote to do so before being reimbursed.

39. 2:31:54
    How warrant articles would change

    Under the proposal, public works and fire department capital items would no longer appear as individual warrant articles asking to raise a set sum for a particular truck. Other capital items such as the codification, the trailer remodel and the revaluation would continue to be raised separately.

40. 2:42:46
    What each reserve may be spent on

    Marc Roy explained that a reserve can only be used for the purpose it is named for, so municipal buildings money cannot be spent on revaluation services, and that the existing emergency, grant matching, recreation and telecommunications reserves cover other needs. The mechanism would be one article raising money into the reserves and a second authorising the select board to expend from existing reserves for their designated purposes during the year.

41. 2:48:37
    The open checkbook objection

    Marc Roy acknowledged the standard criticism that this hands the select board an open checkbook, noting the reserves total $622,000, and said the article could be capped at a dollar amount though he would not recommend it. Members suggested instead tying spending to the adopted capital schedule. Heather Roy said residents need a clear five-year comparison of what this does to their tax bill before being asked to vote on it.

42. 2:54:07
    Transparency and publishing the schedule

    Heather Roy argued the capital plan and the reasoning behind it should be available on the town website so residents do not have to read every set of minutes and watch every meeting to understand why money was spent. Members agreed a capital expenditure schedule tab would show the list did not come out of nowhere.

43. 2:54:07
    History of the revaluation reserve

    Heather Roy asked for an on-the-record explanation of why the revaluation reserve holds only $60,000 when the question has been on the warrant twice. Marc Roy explained that in 2021 accounts were combined by warrant article into a municipal capital account holding about $997,000; in 2022 the town appropriated and transferred $60,000 for a revaluation that did not happen, so it stayed in that account; only the 2023 article actually raised $60,000, which is what sits in the revaluation reserve.

44. 2:59:59
    Interest on reserve balances

    Marc Roy said none of the reserves have their own checking account, so all interest earned is recorded to the general fund unless an establishing document requires otherwise, and that the board can direct him to account for it differently. A member asked about parking idle cash in a higher-yield account or CD at around 4 to 4.5%; Jerry Douglass said the town has significant idle cash but that he did not want to take the conversation up that night.

45. 3:05:26
    Telecommunications reserve and ARPA

    About $83,000 sits in the telecommunications reserve, built from cable franchise fees, and spending it would require a warrant article. Marc Roy said a reserve with no plan attached is better returned to the general fund to reduce the tax levy. ARPA money has to be obligated and spent in 2024 but the discussion was deferred.

46. 3:05:26
    Scheduling the rest of the budget work

    Jerry Douglass said he needs an approved budget recommendation from the board by the 23rd. Heather Roy said she would prefer an extra meeting rather than making final decisions before all the numbers are settled, but the board recalled it gets another pass after the budget committee reports and agreed to complete the work at the next meeting, with the next board meeting on the 23rd and another on the 13th.

47. 3:05:26
    Consent agenda and no executive session

    The chair moved to the consent agenda and said he did not believe an executive session was needed. The closing audio is heavily garbled.

48. 3:11:09
    Adjournment

    The meeting closed with a motion, a second and a call for those in favour. The recording is indistinct at this point.

What was decided

• 10:31
  Word the Union Church warrant article to cover both lots, the church lot and the adjoining parking lot, rather than transferring the building alone or leasing the land beneath it. Agreed in discussion without a separate vote.passed
• 26:49
  Add the Union Church transfer to the town meeting warrant as an article asking whether the town supports transferring the church and both associated parcels to the Durham Historical Society for $1 for use as a museum and meeting space, with a right of first refusal for the town if the building is sold and a reversion clause, the exact language to be drafted by the town attorney. Moved by Josh Klein-Golden and seconded by Heather Roy; the chair called for those in favour and then those opposed and stated nobody was opposed and it was unanimous.passed
• 31:55
  A second warrant article appropriating $31,000, being the $21,457 already allocated plus a further $9,543, to authorise expenditures for repairs or improvements to the Union Church paid directly to a contractor. Moved by Josh Klein-Golden and seconded by Joe Roy, then withdrawn later in the meeting so the Historical Society can first present its case for public use.tabled
• 1:20:41
  No vote was taken on outsourcing payroll to Bangor Savings. The town manager was left to move ahead given the timing, and to check whether town policy requires putting a service contract above a threshold out to bid; the board did not resolve whether that policy exists or what the threshold is.outcome unclear
• 1:37:30
  Handle budget changes by having each board member review the document individually over the following two weeks and email proposed line increases or decreases to the town manager, then vote on those specific changes at the next meeting, rather than voting line by line during the presentation. Agreed in discussion.passed
• 3:05:26
  Complete the capital, CIP and ARPA discussion and the budget recommendation at the next meeting rather than adding a further special meeting, the board noting it gets another pass after the budget committee reports and that the town manager needs the recommendation by the 23rd.passed
• 3:05:26
  Accept the consent agenda as presented. Moved by Joe Roy and seconded by Richard George; the closing audio is garbled, but the town's minutes record it as carried 5-0.passed
• 3:11:09
  Adjourn the meeting. The recording is indistinct; the town's minutes record the motion as moved by Joe Roy, seconded by Heather Roy, carried 5-0, adjourning at 9:42pm.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 sb_meeting_minutes_01_09_24.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• add the Union Church Transfer on a Warrant Article for Town Meeting that reads, “does the town support the transfer of the Union Church to the Durham Historical Society for $1 to be used as a museum and a meeting space w…

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Heather Roy; no outcome recorded

• include in the warrant article, ask the town to set aside the allocated funds of $21,457, plus the additional $9,543 in the general fund, for a total of $31,000 to help assist the Historical Society in paying repairs for…

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy; no outcome recorded

• accept the consent agenda as presentedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Roy, seconded by Richard George

• adjourn the meeting at 9:42pmcarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Roy, seconded by Heather Roy

Worth knowing

• 0:10
  Three Durham firefighters were given distinguished action medals for the October 25 Lewiston shootings response. The chief said every radio and pager in the county opened up, the members were in the city about three hours and came under fire, and Lieutenant Joe Lamont ended up in charge of about a dozen ambulances and up to 40 personnel staged at the hospital.
• 42:42
  The board voted to put the $1 transfer of the Union Church on the town meeting warrant but pulled its own motion on the $31,000 for repairs, requiring the Historical Society to first present a plan showing public use. Tia Wilson replied that the church has been a museum for 40 years and open every third Sunday since 1979, and that the material is already in the packet the town has.
• 48:21
  The draft FY24 budget spends 5.6% more than the FY23 budget and 8.3% more than FY23 actuals, with public safety up 15.2% and public works up 5.5%. Reaching a flat tax rate depends on drawing $500,000 from undesignated fund balance.
• 2:48:37
  The proposed capital level funding would replace individual warrant articles for particular trucks with one article authorising the select board to spend from reserves, which currently total $622,000. Members raised the open-checkbook objection and asked for a five-year tax comparison and for the capital schedule to be published on the town website before residents are asked to vote on 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 8 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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