Select Board Meeting 4/05/22

2022-04-05 · Select Board · 2:31:39 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board's first meeting after town meeting, on April 5, 2022, seating two new members, Josh Golden and Joe Tom (?), in place of Rob and Mark. The board re-elected its chair and vice chair, then gave most of the evening to designing the process for hiring a town manager, guided by Mitch, the interim town manager, at his first meeting. Public comment ran long and was reopened later; residents pressed for real citizen involvement, better communication at each step, and a realistic account of what the budgeted salary will buy. The board settled on a five-stage process built around a committee of three select board members, three staff and three citizens, with every citizen who applies to sit on that committee to be interviewed, and with the order reversed from last time so residents screen and interview first rather than being brought in at the end. Away from the search, the board authorised the purchase of a plow truck at $231,015 before the price expired, heard that two grant-funded culvert projects have become bridges and will be split across two summers, and authorised execution of a legal settlement with Dean Smith.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:03
   New members seated

   The chair welcomed Josh Golden and Joe Tom (?) to the board, said Rob and Mark would be missed, and invited each to introduce himself without warning. Both (?) said briefly that they were glad to be there and looking forward to helping with town business.

2. 0:03
   Amendment to the agenda

   The interim town manager asked that a settlement recently reached with one of the town's parties be pulled out of the consent agenda and taken separately, so the signatures could be completed and the money deposited. It was established that because the board had already approved the terms, no executive session was needed, and the item was placed as 7.2 ahead of the consent agenda.

3. 0:03
   Election of chair and vice chair

   As the first business after town meeting the board elects its officers. The only nomination for chair was for the sitting chair to continue, and the only nomination for vice chair was Rich (?), who accepted.

4. 0:03
   Public comment on citizen involvement in the hire

   A resident praised how town meeting had gone and urged the board to build community involvement into the town manager hire, suggesting that interested residents answer a few questions about the experience they would bring, in leadership, project management or local government, rather than putting people on the committee at random. She also asked the board to think about how it would communicate through the process, noting the town has no communications position.

5. 5:24
   A communications hire already made

   The chair said the town had already taken on Kimberly Garneau on a trial basis to do communications work, and that while she is deciding whether she likes it, the board already knows it likes her.

6. 5:24
   Learning from the school board's process

   The same resident held up the school board as a model: it sets out the process from the start, says what each step is, communicates when each step happens and then communicates the outcome. She offered to send the board a copy. She also named residents she thought had the right skills for the committee, including Debbie, whom she had heard speak at candidates night.

7. 5:24
   Posting agenda packets

   Because the town does not take detailed minutes, the resident asked that agenda packets continue to be posted alongside the meeting notice. That way a resident searching the website for a subject can at least find the documents and know which meeting to watch, which she said matters for building any kind of historical record.

8. 10:42
   What went wrong last time

   A second resident said it was hard to comment without knowing the board's thinking, and the chair explained that the point of the evening was to design the process in public. She asked the board to reflect on what had and had not worked: the previous manager had no experience of a town manager and select board arrangement and had said herself it was nothing like the town council model she knew. She urged the board not to settle or to hurry because the interim's term is running out.

9. 10:42
   Executive sessions and office staffing

   The same speaker asked the board to limit executive sessions or at least say what stage they are at, rather than reciting 'personnel matters', so the public can follow the process. On the part-time town hall vacancy she suggested looking for a retired person with knowledge who could also train and answer staff questions, rather than someone with no experience, and suggested limiting counter hours to match the times the staff have identified as busy.

10. 16:47
    A resident opposed to the whole change

    A third speaker said he was there partly to decide whether to campaign to repeal the town manager form of government, having never been convinced the town should have changed. He said he had asked Shannon Floyd at town meeting whether she and Pam had trouble running the counter and was told no, with the administrative assistant filling in as needed. He urged that whoever is hired do the basics the administrative assistant did, which he thought would remove the need for another hire.

11. 16:47
    Matching the salary to the skills, and the superintendent model

    A speaker asked the board to set out what level of expertise a given salary range actually buys, so residents have a realistic expectation, since the town went into the last round assuming $80,000 would get what it wanted and found it did not. She asked the board to aim for the relationship the school board has with its superintendent, where a full-time professional advises volunteers who then decide.

12. 16:47
    A former member on the front counter

    A former board member said he had never been for a town manager and did not want to repeat the last attempt, which he said failed miserably. His concern was the counter: the office has been closed on a Friday for an election and will close again to finish the books, which he said never used to happen, and residents should not have to go to another town to register a car. He said the current staff have done better than a good job while largely learning on their own.

13. 21:51
    Fire chief's report

    The chief reported meeting the interim manager about town meeting and said he would start budget numbers with Janet the next day. A new wildland fire sign is up at the firehouse and fire season has begun, with one good-intent call that day and dry ground cover before the coming rain. He is trying to settle SCBA capital contracts before a May 1 price increase, and has begun talking about a committee for a multi-year apparatus replacement plan, half of which passed this year.

14. 21:51
    Avian and seasonal influenza

    The chief said avian influenza remains in three counties, which he is watching, and that on human influenza only ten people are hospitalised across the state, which the Maine CDC calls mild.

15. 21:51
    Swamp Road and Quaker Meeting House Road

    The interim manager relayed that the road commissioner is still working with the state on the two grant-funded crossings. The engineer originally engaged has since died, though the firm continues, and standards changed during the pandemic so what was to be a culvert will probably now be a bridge. Only one can be done this summer and the other the following summer, and the hope is that the lack of appropriation for the second may be met from ARPA funds since that would not displace money already appropriated.

16. 21:51
    Plow truck bids

    Two proposals came in for the public works truck and plow. Freightliner with Viking Cives quoted $231,015 delivered, including trade-in of the old vehicle; HP Fairfield quoted $250,680 for the same truck and the same plow. The chassis is $143,815 and was the same price from both, with the difference coming from the rest of the package.

17. 27:02
    Deciding without the road commissioner

    The manager said the prices would not hold and that a fresh bid would likely come back 10 to 15 percent higher, apologised for putting the board in a corner and said the road commissioner had a prior commitment. The information had only come together the previous Thursday and Friday. Members noted a November build date puts the truck in place just before snow, and that the supplier is far closer than the alternative, which matters for winter repair turnaround.

18. 32:21
    Code enforcement officer search

    The interim manager said the screening team assembled before his arrival wanted to follow up with one particular applicant, whom he also knows, and who has coordinated a planning board in another community including solar arrays. He was meeting that person on Thursday at 9:30 and, if the team is satisfied, intended to negotiate and report back. He said he is anxious to get the road commissioner out of the code enforcement role, though he would stay involved in training and coordination.

19. 32:21
    The town manager search: starting from expectations

    Asked how he had approached this elsewhere, Mitch (?) said he starts exactly as they were doing: establishing the board's expectations alongside the statutory requirements in Title 30-A, so that the job description and the advertisement reflect them. He said the board is looking for a policy implementer who understands municipal government broadly and, when they do not know something, researches it with staff.

20. 37:56
    Segregation of duties

    On the public suggestion that the manager fill in at the counter, Mitch cautioned that every audit report calls for segregation of duties between front and back office, precisely so that no one both handles transactions and validates them. He said the board is hiring its chief administrative officer and is the board of directors of the business, and that in a town under growth pressure with rising transaction volumes this matters. Members pressed him on whether Durham counts as a small town; he said there is no definition, and gave an example of a community of 860 people with full segregation of duties.

21. 43:28
    Closing the office to catch up

    Mitch (?) said one of the worst things is having to tell a taxpayer the office is shut, which the town would have to do the following day to catch up. He called it death by a thousand cuts, invisible on the day but corrosive over a year or two. He said the staff are competent and have come a long way quickly but still have questions and are building confidence, and what is needed is oversight of the office rather than the manager doing and checking his own work.

22. 43:28
    Is Durham at the tipping point

    Asked directly whether the town manager role is the right call for Durham now, Mitch (?) said the town is balancing on that point and tips against itself at certain times of year, such as closing the books. He said 4,100 people will be history within five to ten years, that the land use ordinance signals a town that does not want to regulate where people may live, and that growth will continue, driven partly by people buying land from out of state.

23. 48:46
    How the interim manager spends his time

    Asked for a breakdown, Mitch (?) said he works Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, roughly 9:30 or 10 to mid-afternoon, adjusting Thursdays for the late opening. Around half his time goes to the finance officer and town clerk, closing out and restarting in Trio and preparing for the election and town meeting, and to building camaraderie and support. The rest goes to reports from the fire chief and from the road commissioner in both his roles, and he noted spring is pulling the road commissioner away from code enforcement, with overload being where mistakes happen.

24. 48:46
    The chair on what has been missing

    The chair said what has been absent without a town manager is cross-departmental organisation and process management: making sure the capital improvement committee meets, that appraisals get done, that human resources work happens. Filling those gaps falls to the board, which is not good for the employees or the town. He said a part-time board meeting twice a month for a couple of hours cannot adequately oversee a multi-million dollar budget, more than a dozen employees and layers of regulation.

25. 53:49
    A hard market for candidates

    Mitch (?) said that if the town gets a committed person it will be fortunate to keep them three to five years, and described a supply chain problem in people. Town clerks are recognising they have much of the administrative capability and are moving into manager roles after further training, so Durham may see a strong applicant who has been a clerk for years rather than a manager, in which case the question is whether they have a 360-degree view of the operation.

26. 53:49
    Not a counter position

    The chair said what the town never had under the administrator form was someone able to lift their head and look at what is coming and what opportunities exist, rather than working through a weekly task list. He said he would rather hire someone at around $20 an hour to work the counter than have a manager paid $45 to $50 an hour doing it, while acknowledging that a resident present did not accept that.

27. 58:51
    What the budget will actually buy

    Asked for a realistic expectation, Mitch (?) said that over the last eighteen months he had watched managers move to smaller communities carrying their experience with them, and that two communities in the Androscoggin and Cumberland area budgeted $60,000 to $75,000 and settled at $85,000 to $95,000. He said Durham would be lucky at $75,000 or $80,000, and that he would not recommend a candidate from outside New England because they would use the town as a stepping stone and leave in two or three years. He said twelve to fifteen good candidates would be a good result. The budget carries $85,000 plus benefits, the figure carried forward from the previous manager.

28. 1:04:46
    What happened after the last hire

    The chair gave the new members context: the board knew the previous manager's weakest area was finance but relied on experienced long-serving office staff, and then the town clerk and deputy treasurer both left, leaving a new manager and two new office staff with no institutional knowledge. He said whatever else is said about the previous manager, she hired two very good people in the office and an excellent fire chief.

29. 1:04:46
    Growing the town's own staff

    A member asked whether there is scope to build a training and progression plan for the existing clerks rather than lose the knowledge base, on the model of junior to senior engineers. Mitch (?) said allowing them to grow may let them take on responsibilities the board has not thought of, that job compensation is currently outrunning job satisfaction, and that what the town needs is a manager who is a team builder rather than a dictator.

30. 1:10:08
    The search timeline

    Mitch (?) proposed getting the advertisement out with dates in April, with resumes flowing in, top candidates identified the first week of May, first interviews from May 10 to 14 and second interviews as early as the third week of May through Memorial weekend. He called it aggressive but said that starting now beats September, and that the timing suits a family who could move once school ends and be settled by Labor Day. Advertising across New England would cost about $2,400 to $2,500, and he does not advertise outside the region.

31. 1:10:08
    Composition of the interview committee

    Mitch (?) recommended putting a public notice out inviting residents to apply, with an application asking what they bring, and also including one to three staff members, who have to work with the person and should have a say. He warned that herding eleven, thirteen or fifteen people into a room with candidates becomes unworkable. He also advised that anyone appointed be interviewed in executive session, because they are dealing with personnel matters and are working on behalf of the taxpayer.

32. 1:16:11
    Agreeing on three, three and three

    The board agreed as a statement of principle that citizen and staff input are important. It settled on three board members, three staff and three citizens, with the interim manager conducting but not voting. Members thought staff should be drawn from public works, the fire department and the office. A resident pointed out that nine is odd-numbered and that three board members is a quorum, which is why the meetings have to be treated as official.

33. 1:21:52
    Interviewing everyone who applies to serve

    The board agreed that anyone who takes the time to apply to sit on the committee gets an interview, of perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, held in executive session as a personnel matter. Members accepted this could take two nights, or a third, if twenty-five people apply. Mitch drew the distinction that this rule applies to committee applicants, not to applicants for the manager's job.

34. 1:27:40
    Which stage the board should be at

    A member argued for more citizen legwork at the front and less board involvement, so residents feel ownership of the questions and the recommendation. Mitch (?) raised the legal point that three board members constitute a quorum and make it an official meeting, and said the final decision must rest with the board. The board worked toward a hybrid in which citizens do the early screening and interviewing and the board conducts the final interviews.

35. 1:33:23
    The last search by the numbers

    Members recalled the previous round drew over forty applications, perhaps forty-five, from which seven were identified for a first interview and one of those declined before being called. Only one went through to a second interview, at which point the board effectively had to go back to the well.

36. 1:33:23
    Public comment reopened

    The chair reopened public comment for five minutes with a three-minute limit. A resident who had served on both the town and school hiring committees said she strongly supported the reversed order and was content for the final decision to rest with the board. Another, a Durham resident who owns a business in Mechanic Falls, described Mitch's process there: two sets of questions, the second harder, and suggested having a citizen and a staff member present at the second interview so they can compare how candidates behave in each round.

37. 1:38:52
    What if the pool is thin

    A resident asked what happens if candidates drop out or only one or two reach the final stage: does the board hire anyway, or start over, or collapse two interviews into one. The chair said they would hire someone they believe qualified whether out of a pool of three or thirty, and if that person is not there they keep searching.

38. 1:44:21
    Why three board members and confidentiality

    Mitch (?) explained he recommended three board members partly to legitimise the committee's actions and partly to protect applicants: if the process were not officially a confidential personnel matter, word could reach a candidate's current employer and jeopardise their job. With three, three and three plus a facilitator, everyone is bound by the executive session requirements.

39. 1:44:21
    Coordinating interview dates

    Members said one lesson from last time was the impossibility of coordinating eleven people's diaries, and that anyone on the committee must commit to all the interviews. Following the RSU's practice, dates would be published with the application so people can say up front whether they are available. Members debated Saturdays against weekday evenings, and warned against a single eight-hour day of forty interviews, which exhausts the interviewers.

40. 1:49:37
    Who does the first cut

    A suggestion that Mitch make the initial call on applications drew the objection that it removes a layer of citizen input, as MMA had done last time. The counter-argument was that a lay person does not know the red flags a professional does, and that citizens are not shortchanged as long as they see everyone who is interviewed. The compromise reached was that Mitch and the three citizens together do the initial sort, and that his role is to screen out those who are not remotely qualified rather than to determine the interview list.

41. 1:54:44
    Selecting the three citizens

    The board confirmed it alone would select the three citizens from the interviewed applicants, in executive session. Members resisted enlarging the committee to fit however many apply, on the ground that eleven or so is the practical maximum and any extra places should go to staff, so three citizens it is even if only five apply.

42. 1:59:47
    The five stages, worked out on the record

    The board talked the process through until it was settled: citizen applications and interviews, the board picking three; Mitch and the three citizens sorting the town manager applications into yes, maybe and no; the committee of nine deciding from the yeses and maybes who gets a first interview; first interviews by the committee, which recommends finalists; and second interviews by the board alone. Members stressed all candidates must be asked the same questions in the same order.

43. 2:05:39
    Citizens at the final interviews

    Members initially wanted the round-one citizens to observe the final interviews, and Mitch's caution that the board must not discuss compensation in front of them shifted it to participation in the questions followed by a firewall: the citizens leave, give their views, and the board continues in executive session. Mitch (?) said he had not worked this hybrid before but was comfortable with it.

44. 2:11:01
    The complaint from the last hire

    A resident said the main grievance from the first town manager hire was that the employees' and citizens' recommendation felt ignored at the last stage. Members answered that citizens had not been involved until the second round last time, and that reversing the order is precisely the change being made. It was accepted that the committee's recommendation on finalists is a heavy consult but not binding, since the authority has to rest with the board.

45. 2:16:20
    Nailing down the numbers

    Mitch walked the whole sequence back through to make sure everyone left the room with the same understanding. The board settled that the committee should recommend a maximum of five finalists, and possibly only two or three, with no obligation to reach five, and that if none of them works out the board may go back to the next candidates rather than starting from the beginning. He was asked to write the process up as an official hiring strategy document to keep on file.

46. 2:21:32
    Authority to prepare the advertisements

    Mitch (?) asked for authority to prepare the advertisements and the citizen application and to work through the chair, circulating drafts to members individually. Members explained the practice: drafts go out one to one, and members reply only 'received', so that reviewing a document does not amount to conducting a meeting by email, while everything remains public and subject to freedom of access.

47. 2:26:59
    The Dean Smith settlement

    The item pulled from the consent agenda was the legal settlement between the town and Dean Smith over violations recorded at the county. The board had voted in a previous executive session to assess a fine of $25,000 plus costs, and what was needed now was authority for the town manager to execute the agreement so the cheque could be cashed and he could get his permits under way. A new member said he was uncomfortable voting having not been at the earlier meeting; the chair told him it was appropriate to vote but not required.

48. 2:26:59
    Consent agenda and next meeting

    The consent agenda was taken with the two new members abstaining, as it covered business from before their time. The chair proposed meeting again the following Tuesday, April 12, rather than waiting three weeks, because the twice-monthly schedule will not carry the search, and no one objected. The board concluded it did not need the executive session listed on the agenda, since the settlement had to be handled in public session.

What was decided

• 0:03
  Take the legal settlement out of the consent agenda and place it as item 7.2, to be handled in open session because the board had already approved the terms. Agreed by the chair on the interim manager's request.passed
• 0:03
  Re-elect the sitting chair as chair of the board, the only nomination made. The chair recorded it as 4-0, noting he did not vote himself.passed
• 0:03
  Elect Rich (?) as vice chair, nominated and seconded, and accepted by him. Recorded as 4-0 with Rich abstaining.passed
• 32:21
  Authorise the road commissioner to purchase the Freightliner chassis with Viking Cives plow equipment at $231,015 delivered, including trade-in of the old vehicle, rather than the $250,680 bid for the same truck and plow. Seconded by Todd; the chair recorded the vote as 5-0.passed
• 32:21
  On the code enforcement officer search, the interim manager said he would meet the preferred applicant on Thursday and, if the screening team is satisfied, take the authority to negotiate and report back. He asked whether there is flexibility and authority on the allocation; the recording does not carry a clear answer or any vote.outcome unclear
• 1:16:11
  Agree as a matter of principle that citizen and staff input are important to the town manager hire, and set the interview committee at three select board members, three staff members and three citizens, with the interim town manager conducting the meetings but holding no vote. Agreed by consensus with no member dissenting; no formal motion was made.passed
• 1:21:52
  Interview every citizen who applies to sit on the hiring committee, in executive session as a personnel matter, rather than pre-screening the applications. The board alone then selects three of them. Agreed by consensus, with the qualification that a very large number of applicants might force a rethink.passed
• 2:16:20
  Adopt a five-stage process: citizen applications and interviews with the board choosing three; an initial sort of town manager applications into yes, maybe and no by the interim manager together with the three citizens; the committee of nine deciding from the yeses and maybes who receives a first interview; first interviews by the committee, which recommends a maximum of five finalists as a heavy consult but not a binding vote; and final interviews by the board, at which the round-one citizens may take part in questions but leave before any discussion of compensation or the offer. Agreed by consensus after an extended discussion; no formal motion was made.passed
• 2:21:32
  Authorise the interim town manager to prepare the advertisements for the position and the application form for citizen committee members, working through the chair, and to circulate drafts to members individually to which they reply only 'received' so that reviewing them does not constitute a meeting. He was also asked to write the process up as an official hiring strategy document for the town's files.passed
• 2:26:59
  Authorise the town manager to execute and complete the settlement agreement with Dean Smith, following the board's earlier vote in executive session to assess a fine of $25,000 plus costs. Moved by Rich (?) and seconded by Todd. The chair called for those in favour and the recording carries an unclear count immediately afterwards, with no declaration that the motion carried, so the result cannot be reported here.outcome unclear
• 2:26:59
  Accept the consent agenda as written. Moved and seconded; the chair recorded three in favour with the two new board members abstaining because the items predate their taking office.passed
• 2:26:59
  Meet again on Tuesday April 12, the board's usual meeting night, rather than waiting three weeks, so the search can keep moving. No objection was raised. The board also concluded it did not need the executive session listed on the agenda.passed
• 2:26:59
  Adjourn. Moved and seconded; the recording ends on the call for those in favour without a stated result.outcome unclear

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.

Worth knowing

• 58:51
  Asked for a realistic expectation, the interim manager said two communities in the Androscoggin and Cumberland area budgeted $60,000 to $75,000 for a town manager and settled at $85,000 to $95,000. Durham's 2022 budget carries $85,000 plus benefits, the figure carried forward from the previous manager. He said the town would be lucky to hire at $75,000 or $80,000, would not recommend a candidate from outside New England because they would leave in two or three years, and that even a committed hire is likely to stay only three to five.
• 27:02
  The board approved a plow truck at $231,015 delivered against a competing bid of $250,680 for the same truck and plow, with the road commissioner absent and the information only a few days old. It was told the price would not hold and a rebid would come back 10 to 15 percent higher. The chassis alone is $143,815 and the build date is November, putting the truck in service just before snow.
• 21:51
  The two grant-funded crossings on Swamp Road and Quaker Meeting House Road have run into trouble. Standards changed during the pandemic so what was designed as a culvert will probably now be a bridge, the engineer originally engaged has died, and only one can be built this summer with the other the following summer. The hope is that the shortfall on the second may be covered from ARPA funds, but the agencies themselves have not been clear about where this ends up.
• 2:11:01
  A resident said the main grievance from the first town manager hire was that the employees' and citizens' recommendation felt ignored at the last stage, because citizens were not brought in until the second round. The board's answer was to reverse the order: residents now do the initial screening and the first interviews, and may sit in on the final interviews and ask questions, leaving only before compensation is discussed. The committee's recommendation on finalists remains advisory, since the authority has to rest with the board.

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: 3 passages of motion language, against 13 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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