Select Board Meeting ~ February 28, 2023

2023-02-28 · Select Board · 2:16:06 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on February 28, 2023, two weeks before the March 14 meeting at which it votes on which articles go on the town meeting warrant. Most of the meeting was taken up by public comment and a planning board update on the resource protection articles 1A and 1B, ending with the board asking the planning board to drop criterion F, the six-plus habitat rating, from 1B. The board voted to authorize the Town Manager to contract Berry-Talbot-Royer Certified Public Accountants for accounting and payroll work, and voted to double Durham Fire & Rescue ambulance billing rates. It agreed without a motion to put a question on the warrant asking whether to reduce the budget committee from nine members to seven, and agreed with the planning board's recommendation to hold the affordable housing articles until state legislation is known. Department head reports covered winter storms and plow damage, water leaks and heating at the Eureka Center, mutual aid and rising call volume, and the town manager reported on unspent money from the public works truck appropriation.

What was discussed

1. 0:03
   Agenda amendment and public comment

   The chair added a discussion item on a possible warrant article reducing the budget committee from nine members to seven, noting no ordinance or article would be voted on until March 14. Neil Berry of Stackpole Road (?) asked whether the accounting firm's proposal covers the payroll functions the town's Trio software handles, such as vacation and sick time, direct deposit, retirement reporting and W-2s, and was told it does. Luke Poussard of Runaround Pond Road (?) read a letter opposing criterion six of Article 1A, saying the habitat six-plus rating is ambiguous and subjective, that his own property falls under it because of Blanding's turtle habitat, and that the state maps are described in their own legend as a generalized starting point.

2. 5:17
   Further public comment on Article 1A

   A second speaker spoke in support of the planning board's recommendation on 1A and 1B and commended the work of the select board, planning board and Conservation Commission. A third speaker, DeWitt (?), said he was concerned about where the boundaries on the map actually fall, that landowners would have to pay surveyors to prove their land is outside them, and that people who recently acquired land have had no say.

3. 10:18
   Warrant schedule and planning board update

   The chair said the board votes on March 14 on which articles go on the warrant, that the public hearing is March 22, and that town meeting is the first Saturday in April. John Talbot, chair of the planning board, and town planner George DeBarge then gave an update: Article 1A would both add and remove land from resource protection using six criteria from the comprehensive plan, and Article 1B is a fallback that applies only if 1A fails.

4. 16:09
   Objection to the wording of Article 1B

   Kevin Nadeau said 1B as written would not only remove land wrongly mapped as resource protection but would also write the six criteria into the ordinance, which he said contradicts the intent of keeping the two questions separate. His concern was that if voters reject the criteria in 1A, the next question would ask them to adopt the same criteria.

5. 21:23
   Town planner on ordinance text and the zoning map

   George DeBarge (?) said the regulatory program has two parts, the ordinance text where criteria live and the zoning map that applies them, and that the current ordinance simply says 'as shown on the plan'. He said that gives landowners no stated justification and could be struck down in court without a clear factual basis, but that the board could instead cite the comprehensive plan criteria in the warrant article and amend only the map.

6. 31:49
   Board concerns about complexity and landowner impact

   Board members said the ordinance cannot be interpreted by a layperson, and that landowners buy land expecting certain rights and later find an ordinance they do not understand. There was also discussion of whether the town's comprehensive plan, adopted in 2018, is more restrictive than state law; DeBarge (?) said the plan is more restrictive, and that state law requires the plan and the ordinance to be consistent with each other.

7. 42:17
   Accuracy of the resource protection map

   DeBarge (?) said the existing map rests on 1980s and earlier technology while the proposed map uses lidar topography and current state data, and that maps will keep getting more accurate over time. He said the map is a starting point and that the burden has always been on the property owner to show their land does not meet the criteria, which none of these questions would change.

8. 53:36
   Rewording Article 1B and which criteria already exist

   Kevin Nadeau proposed wording 1B to remove the resource protection designation from any land that meets none of the criteria expressed in the comprehensive plan, listing those criteria in the article rather than amending the ordinance text. DeBarge went through the criteria in turn and said five of the six, including 100-year floodplain, land within 100 feet of most perennial streams, forested or emergent wetlands of 10 acres or more, and waterfowl habitat, are already in the ordinance, and that only the six-plus natural resources criterion is new.

9. 59:13
   Affordable housing articles held back

   The planning board recommended not bringing articles 2A and 2B on affordable housing forward this year, because a state hearing is scheduled for March 22 and the town needs to know what will be presented there. Board members said they saw no reason to counter that recommendation.

10. 1:04:43
    Private road ordinance article

    Talbot (?) described the private roads article as restoring language that was lost when the growth district came out of the ordinance. It states that acceptance of a town road for town-funded maintenance requires a town meeting vote.

11. 1:04:43
    Financial services contract

    The board returned to the accounting services proposal it had tabled at its previous meeting. Todd Beaulieu asked where the money would come from and whether the town would be left with one person at the front desk; Jerry Douglass said the plan is not to fill the vacant deputy treasurer position, that the cost is roughly a wash, that the contract runs one year and is paid monthly, and that payroll would move from weekly to bi-weekly.

12. 1:09:58
    Reasons given for contracting out the accounting work

    Jerry Douglass said he could not follow the money in what he inherited, that an undesignated fund balance figure of 2.4 does not reconcile against 1.9, and that the money is not missing but has not been reconciled. He said a qualified in-house hire would cost 70,000 or more and be hard to find, and that the firm would also reduce the audit line and help with budget planning.

13. 1:15:06
    Eureka Center technology estimate held over

    The board pushed the technology estimate for the Eureka Center to a future agenda, asking first that the building's water problems be confirmed as fixed before money is spent on electronics. The chair asked members to send questions to the town manager in advance, including whether the system supports hybrid meetings and whether a security system would be needed.

14. 1:21:06
    Public works report

    Calvin (?) reported on back-to-back winter storms and on catching up with salt deliveries. A plow wing caught and slammed back into a truck door and mirror; a replacement door was expected by the first of the week and training has been given on the difference between the full-trip plows on the newer trucks and the older ones. He said the roads were posted on February 22, coordinated with Freeport.

15. 1:26:10
    Eureka Center leaks and heating

    Calvin (?) said the reported roof leak was in fact three or four plumbing leaks in water lines run through the ceiling; a plumber, described as Kimberly's husband, repaired them for under 300 dollars, and ceiling tiles and a kitchen faucet were replaced. He said the furnaces were disabled when heat pumps were installed and the heat pumps could not keep up in the recent extreme cold, and that the generator was working.

16. 1:26:10
    Fire department report

    The fire chief explained how mutual aid and station coverage work, using run cards set by each department, and described sending crews and a Quint to a large fire in Lisbon in temperatures near 40 below. He said the town receives station coverage from Auburn, Lewiston and Lisbon as well as sending crews out, and that he always backfills the station when crews leave town.

17. 1:31:42
    Grant and call volume

    The chief said a 3,000 dollar Maine Municipal Association Ed McDonald safety grant is expected around April, likely to be used for technical rescue and fall protection equipment. He said call volume is running well above normal for January and February, attributing it to an aging population and growth in surrounding towns rather than to any one call type; the figures he quoted are garbled in the transcript.

18. 1:37:10
    Ambulance rate proposal

    The fire chief recommended doubling every line of the ambulance rate schedule, saying rates have not been raised in years and that even doubled they would remain below the Maine average of the billing company's clients. Board members asked how it would affect residents; the chief said Medicare, Medicaid and MaineCare pay only their allowable rate, the town cannot bill beyond it, and unpaid balances do not go to collections. Richard George and others said residents may pay bills they do not owe because they do not know that.

19. 1:53:43
    Budget committee membership

    The board discussed a warrant article asking voters whether to reduce the budget committee from nine members to seven, phased in by electing two members instead of three in 2024 and 2025 with no current member's term shortened. Kevin Nadeau said the reason is difficulty filling nine seats while other committees also need members, and that nothing about the committee's role would change.

20. 2:04:53
    Town manager's report

    Jerry Douglass said Devin and Kimberly covered the front window while Jessica was on vacation, alternating days around Devin's school schedule, and credited Kimberly with assembling the town annual report.

21. 2:10:41
    Truck appropriation balance and revaluation money

    The board worked through the accounting for the public works truck: 242,000 dollars was authorized between money raised and money transferred from the Public Works Reserve, the truck came to 234,815 dollars, and the 7,185 dollar balance goes back to the reserve as unspent appropriation. Douglass also said 60,000 dollars for municipal revaluation that went into the operating budget will return to municipal capital, and that a separate reserve account will be needed for the full market revaluation, which will take two or three years to fund.

22. 2:10:41
    Consent agenda and upcoming meetings

    The consent agenda consisted of the warrant and the minutes. Upcoming meetings listed were select board on March 14 and March 28 at 6:30 at the town office, planning board the following night at 6:30 at the Eureka Center, and historic district commission on March 9 at 6:00 at the town office. No executive session was held.

What was decided

• 59:13
  The board told the planning board that its only requested change to Article 1B is to strike criterion F, the six-plus habitat rating, leaving the five criteria already in the ordinance; no motion was made and Talbot (?) said the planning board would take up 1A and 1B and report back before March 14.outcome unclear
• 59:13
  The board agreed with the planning board's recommendation not to bring affordable housing articles 2A and 2B forward this year, pending the state hearing on March 22; no motion was made.outcome unclear
• 1:15:06
  Move forward with authorizing the Town Manager to contract Berry-Talbot-Royer Certified Public Accountants to handle the town's accounting; moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Todd Beaulieu.passed
• 1:21:06
  The Eureka Center technology item was pushed to a future agenda.tabled
• 1:48:16
  Double the ambulance billing fees for Durham Fire & Rescue; moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Richard George. The vote was taken at t=6823 and recorded as five to zero.passed
• 2:04:53
  The board agreed without a motion that the question of reducing the budget committee from nine members to seven would be drafted into the warrant it votes on March 14.outcome unclear
• 2:10:41
  Accept the consent agenda, consisting of the warrant and the minutes; moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Tomm. The transcript records only 'all in favor'; the minutes record it carried 5-0.passed
• 2:10:41
  Adjourn; moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Josh Klein-Golden.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 bosmeetingminutes_022823.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.

• move forward with authorizing the Town Manager to contract Berry- Talbot-Royer Certified Public Accountants to handle the town’s payroll and accounts payablecarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• double the ambulance billing fees for the Durham Fire & Rescuecarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Richard George

• acceptcarried 5-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Tomm

• adjourncarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Josh Klein-Golden

Worth knowing

• 10:18
  The dates given for the resource protection articles: the select board votes March 14 on which articles go on the warrant, the public hearing is March 22, and town meeting is the first Saturday in April.
• 1:09:58
  Jerry Douglass said the town's undesignated fund balance does not reconcile, citing figures of 2.4 and 1.9, and said the money is not missing but has not been reconciled. He also said an outside accountant has been hired to reconcile bank statements running from 2021 through December 2022; the start date is garbled in the transcript.
• 1:37:10
  The fire chief's ambulance billing figures for last year: just under 94,000 dollars billed, only 86,000 allowable under Medicare, Medicaid and MaineCare, and 74,000 collected, at an 85.5 percent collection rate. He said a transport costs the town upwards of 1,000 dollars and that doubling the rates would still leave Durham below the Maine average.
• 1:59:28
  There are three open budget committee seats on this year's ballot and only two names on it, which the chair gave as the reason for asking voters to cut the committee from nine seats to seven.

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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