Select Board Meeting ~ 4/12/22

2022-04-12 · Select Board · 1:12:03 · watch on YouTube →

A regular Select Board meeting with all five members present, dominated by the search for a permanent town manager. No written minutes accompanied this recording, so speaker names below carry the (?) marker where they are inferred from context. The board approved the hiring packet and the advertising plan, adding a resume to the list of submittals, and set the interview schedule for citizen applicants to the hiring committee, whose applications close on 22 April. Public comment ran long, covering training on the Trio software, contracting out payroll, using the interim manager to build systems the town lacks, the failure to post a meeting notice, and a resident's questions about a $25,000 settlement in a case where a $50,000 writ of execution had been issued. The interim manager's report raised the failing heating and cooling system in half of the town office and a proposal to convert the women's room into an office, which the board did not approve, asking instead for costs and arguing for professional design work rather than moving things around piecemeal.

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. 0:19
   Call to order and reports not given

   All five members were present. There were no reports from the fire chief or road commissioner; public works was to report at a later meeting on the new pricing the town is getting for diesel, kerosene and gasoline.

2. 0:19
   Town manager search: the advertisement and the website page

   The interim town manager, Mitch (?), brought a memo dated 8 April and asked for authority to place the advertisements. There are two documents: a short piece headed Town Manager Opportunity that would run as printed in newspapers, and a fuller Town Manager Search and Selection page on the town website setting out the process, the submittals expected and a disclosure to applicants.

3. 0:19
   What applicants have to submit

   The website will carry the application for employment and the consent to a background check as downloads, so it is a single stop. Applicants must also provide a summary statement of under 500 words on why they think they would do well in Durham, which the interim manager said would tell the board a good deal straight away.

4. 0:19
   Where the post would be advertised, and what it costs

   The recommendation covered the Portland Press Herald Sunday edition, the Sun Journal, the Kennebec Journal, the Bangor Daily News, and the Maine Municipal Association, New Hampshire Municipal Association and Vermont League of Cities and Towns, each at a small cost for about a 60-day run. The International City Managers Association was deliberately left out: the town is a member, but the interim manager said it would bring highly qualified applicants from Nevada and California who want to move to Maine at the town's expense.

5. 6:25
   Electronic reach and whether to advertise into Massachusetts

   The municipal association listings put everything on their own websites; the newspapers were not thought to carry it electronically. Massachusetts was left out because a Sunday run there would raise the price significantly, and readers there tend to pick up the New England papers and their own association listings. The board noted it can cast a wider net in a second round if the first pool is not good enough.

6. 6:25
   Paid job boards

   Asked about services such as Indeed, the interim manager was sceptical, saying that if the aim is simply to be able to say you received a hundred applications you could do it that way, but the town is not set up to screen them and he would not gamble the money.

7. 6:25
   Where applicants will most likely come from, and timing

   The Maine Municipal Association website was named as the most likely single source, because people already working in Maine municipal government check it constantly. The interim manager said the timing is right: candidates have got their own towns through town meeting, children finish school in June, and that leaves time to give notice and move, which is better than starting after Labor Day and running into the holidays.

8. 11:31
   Edits to the packet

   A member suggested wording to position the town for searches, and the point was made that the packet did not ask for an actual resume even though the other submittals cover much of the same ground. A resume was added to the list.

9. 11:31
   Hiring committee applications and the code enforcement post

   Applications to serve on the town manager hiring committee close on 22 April; only two had come in, one of them received that day. Separately, the code enforcement officer appointment was in offer and counter-offer, with the applicant given until the 18th to accept, counter or decline.

10. 11:31
    Public comment: Trio support and posting documents

    A resident read a prepared statement. She said she was surprised to hear the interim manager spends 50 to 60 percent of his time answering staff questions about Trio, and asked the board to consider hiring a trainer instead as a better use of tax money given his rate of pay. She also suggested the Adobe Scan app for assembling PDF agenda packets so material such as a job description can be posted with the agenda, at least to the town Facebook page until an IT person is hired.

11. 17:14
    Public comment: buildings and office space

    She argued that if the Eureka Center were upgraded as a meeting space, this room could become offices, and that the town already has an entire mobile unit that could be converted, which would also let the fire department be considered for significant grants. She asked how the second storey of the public works building is used and whether it has been considered for office space.

12. 17:14
    Public comment: Trio knowledge in the manager's job

    She said the town manager is also the tax collector and treasurer, which requires working knowledge of Trio for the tax commitment, liens and official reports, and that shifting those duties onto the deputy treasurer while she does the rest of her job is not feasible; she attributed this to a previous employee in that role. She asked that working knowledge of Trio be something the hiring committee explicitly checks.

13. 17:14
    Public comment: contracting out payroll and using the interim manager

    She asked the board to consider contracting payroll out, saying that as a small business owner she pays $30 a week and that it freed her from weekly tax filings, unemployment payments and workers compensation audits. She also asked the board to use the interim manager's experience while he is here to set up systems the town lacks: compensation structures, hiring processes, evaluations, exit interviews, policies, programmes and committees.

14. 17:14
    Public comment: the settlement agreement

    She said she was surprised the board settled for $25,000 when a writ of execution for $50,000 had been issued, and that what she was shown was an acknowledgment and receipt with none of the details. Speaking about the process rather than the individual, she said that from outside it looks as though someone damaged resource protection land, lost in court and received a slap on the wrist, and that publishing the reasoning would stop the speculation going round town. The chair (?) said there was too much legal detail for that setting.

15. 22:36
    A second resident on payroll

    A second speaker, whose name is not recoverable from the recording, supported contracting payroll out. She described the quarterly state reporting, child support orders and tax withholding that have to be kept straight, and said a payroll company produces all the reports and handles the paperwork for each new hire, which would also keep the town out of trouble with the IRS and the state.

16. 22:36
    Training on Trio

    A resident said her understanding is that neither the last town manager nor the deputy treasurer had a good grasp of Trio, and asked what is being done to train her, suggesting closing the office for a day if that is what it takes. She said the next manager must have exceptional knowledge of it, and should understand the front counter tasks even if not performing them, because they will be training staff.

17. 22:36
    Why a meeting had to be cancelled

    Asked about the timeline for posting agendas, the board explained that what had gone unposted was the meeting notice rather than the agenda, and that the meeting had to be cancelled once that was discovered. The cause was the departure of the public information technician with no notice, that being the role that normally posts notices. State law requires posting in the normal manner within a reasonable time but does not set a number of days, and an agenda is not itself required.

18. 27:38
    Communication as a goal for the year

    The board said it understands there is tremendous room for improvement in the town's communication processes and that this is a primary goal for the year: agendas out in good time, minutes posted, and meeting recordings on the site within a reasonable period after the meeting. This week's agenda had been posted by the Thursday before, and someone asking to be added afterwards was held over to a future meeting.

19. 27:38
    Email addresses

    There is no select board email address; the board uses the town manager address. The chair (?) explained that under a town manager form of government the first point of contact for any concern is the manager, who deals with most of it, informs the board where it matters and brings only the significant items to them. Whether the fire department and public works should keep their own addresses was left for the new manager to decide.

20. 27:38
    ARPA public input and the stream culvert wording

    A resident reiterated that public input on ARPA spending plans matters and said she would keep saying so. She also asked whether changing the wording from culvert to bridge alters what the town voted; the answer was that it is a bridge culvert, an open bottom type, and the change does not affect the vote or delay the work because the money was raised for that purpose.

21. 27:38
    How capital fund money can be spent

    The board explained that once the town votes money into a capital fund for a particular purpose, the board can authorise the expenditure without a further town meeting vote, though it usually takes big projects to a vote anyway. Additional money from undesignated funds would need a town vote; additional money from public works capital reserves would not, but can only be used for public works purposes.

22. 33:25
    What the town manager's job is in law

    Asked where to read up on the role, the interim manager pointed to the Maine Revised Statutes title governing the town manager form of government, rendered in the recording as MRSA 30-80. He explained that once a town adopts that form the manager is the chief executive officer and the board are the policy makers and the manager the implementer, and that every community modifies the duties, with smaller towns loading multiple jobs onto the position and larger ones segregating duties.

23. 33:25
    Knowing how versus doing, and segregation of duties

    The distinction drawn was between the manager knowing how a task is done and actually stepping in to do it. If the manager is at the front counter taking money, someone else has to record and deposit it, because the checks and balances depend on that separation.

24. 33:25
    Interview questions

    The interim manager will draft a set of questions but wants the board's fingerprints on them. The first round is introductory and the second more situational, covering personnel, philosophy, ethics and morality. The hiring committee could review the draft and suggest additions, but the board decides the final list; questions are then assigned around the panel so every applicant is asked the same things.

25. 38:51
    References and background checks

    The interim manager said he has never seen a reference an applicant did not like, so criminal background and credit checks are done as well, while accepting that no check is complete. He described a community where a hire's political views emerged only after the probationary period, and said a bilateral separation agreement is usually better than going to court.

26. 38:51
    Fiscal recovery funds fact sheet

    The board was given a fact sheet on the fiscal recovery funds to take away. The point made was that ARPA carries specific public input requirements the board could miss even while intending a robust process, and that the material will help guide a new manager who arrives without a federal funds background. Members noted there is time: the money need not be spent in 2023.

27. 43:57
    How not to spend the ARPA money

    The chair's principle was to avoid using non-recurring money to create recurring budget commitments, using the hypothetical of buying a cruiser and hiring two deputies and then being left with the salaries once the money runs out. Members expected the ideas to outrun the roughly $400,000 available and to need a funnelling and prioritising process.

28. 43:57
    Whether outside advice on compliance is available

    A member asked whether MMA, GPCOG or similar bodies set up advisory arrangements for programmes of this kind, saying his concern was compliance rather than ideas about what to spend it on. The interim manager said he would check, noted GPCOG had mentioned doing something along those lines, and that some communities have hired a consultant.

29. 43:57
    Agenda adjustment

    Oaths for the historic district commission, the cemetery committee and the conservation commission had been placed under upcoming meetings and belonged on the consent agenda, so they were moved there as item 7C.

30. 49:30
    Consent agenda

    Approval of the 5 April minutes was removed because the minutes were not available, leaving the 12 April warrants and the oaths.

31. 49:30
    Interim manager's report: office closures and workload

    The town offices are closing on Wednesdays through the balance of April so staff can complete quarterly reports and set up the approved budget, after which Wednesdays return to normal. In the three and a half days after town meeting staff registered over 120 vehicles and completed 20 title applications.

32. 49:30
    Coming weeks

    The board faces reviewing citizen applications for the hiring committee, with applications due by 22 April and the office closing at 12:30 that Friday. If all goes to plan the interim manager will confirm the hiring of a code enforcement officer at the 26 April meeting. Work continues on getting agendas posted in time.

33. 49:30
    Heating and cooling, and office expansion

    Half of the town office heating and cooling system needs replacement and should be moved along now, since the offices will need cooling this summer and better heating next winter. No appropriation has been made, but the interim manager suggested ARPA or other funds might be available because it is a longer-term investment. He urged the board to start discussing expansion now with a view to town meeting in the next year or two, saying the current facility is not working well.

34. 49:30
    Proposal to convert the women's room to an office

    As an interim step the interim manager asked the board to approve turning the current women's room into an office and making the men's room gender neutral. That would give the code enforcement officer a proper office while leaving the planner and the tax assessor desk and file space in the other office. Public works would do everything except the plumbing: strip it out, paint, and put a desk in.

35. 54:36
    Debate on the bathroom conversion

    Members compared the size of the rooms, several saying the office at the back is bigger. The case made was that the planner will be in on Mondays, Tuesday mornings and Wednesdays and needs somewhere to work, and that code enforcement files have outgrown shoe boxes. The board asked for a cost.

36. 54:36
    Paying for the heating and cooling work

    A member said the system will not make it to next winter and that there is money in the municipal building capital account which could be used. He asked whether, if the town spends capital money and keeps its receipts, it could later recoup that from ARPA funds; the interim manager said that was something to look into.

37. 54:36
    Design work rather than moving things around

    A member cautioned that the board are lay people when it comes to building renovation, and suggested budgeting in 2023 for design work so a professional produces a plan, possibly taking in the Eureka Center as well. A plan from around 2005 exists and could be re-evaluated, though the requirements have changed since the town then had no full-time code officer and no public works department in its present form.

38. 54:36
    Getting an evaluation moving

    Members noted the previous town manager had done some legwork on the heating and cooling and that information she left behind should be dug out. Given how long it takes to get contractors, the board wanted an evaluation soon so that work can be done before winter.

39. 59:55
    Form follows function

    The interim manager argued that nothing should be designed until the town analyses the functions it expects local government to perform over the next five to ten years, including growth. Members agreed the method is to list requirements, such as office space for a code officer large enough to spread out maps and hold file cabinets, a private office for the planner and provision for records retention, and let a designer propose how to meet them within the budget.

40. 59:55
    Cautions on the bathroom and on existing buildings

    A member warned about state code compliance and ventilation if a bathroom is removed, and that putting one back later would be expensive if two are required. Another (?) suggested the town look more closely at buildings it does not use to capacity, such as the Eureka Center, before undertaking major renovation.

41. 59:55
    Reminder on hiring committee applications

    Applications for the three citizen appointments to the town manager hiring committee are available at the town offices, with a deadline of Friday 22 April and interviews starting the 26th. The interim manager said he was repeating it deliberately so nobody could say they had not heard: no application, no consideration. A question about whether spouses of select board members may apply was left unanswered.

42. 59:55
    Interim manager's schedule and other notices

    He will be in the office on 14 April and from the 19th to the 20th around medical appointments, reachable by cell phone otherwise, in New York from the 21st to the 24th and back on the 25th. Calvin has been asked to provide the board with a fuel price report on the most recent bids for the 26 April meeting. The town offices are closed on 18 April for Patriots' Day.

43. 59:55
    Plan for interviewing hiring committee applicants

    With applications closing on the 22nd, the number received would drive the next steps. The working idea was to use the evenings of the 26th, 27th and if necessary the 28th, with interviews of five to ten minutes each so the board can put a face to a name and hear briefly why the applicant wants to serve and what they bring.

44. 1:04:59
    Availability and how to fit the interviews in

    Members were asked to keep the nights free and to tell the interim manager if one is impossible, since at least three members must be present. Options discussed were interviewing from about 5 to 6:30 before the regular 26 April meeting, or starting the meeting later. The interim manager advised that whatever start time is chosen should be treated as the official meeting time, and that because these are appointments the interviews belong in executive session and should be taken as early as possible.

45. 1:10:14
    Start time and notice to applicants

    The regular board meeting will start at 6:30, with the executive session beginning earlier; after discussion the start was set at 5:30. Applicants will be told which nights to keep free even before individual time slots are fixed.

46. 1:10:14
    Close of the meeting

    The board confirmed no executive session was needed that evening and adjourned.

What was decided

• 11:31
  Approve the town manager hiring packet as presented, with the edit of adding a resume to the list of submittals. Carried 5-0.passed
• 17:14
  The board declined to discuss the settlement agreement at the meeting, on the ground that there was too much legal detail for that setting, and asked the resident to send a written list of her specific questions to the town manager for a response. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 43:57
  Adjust the agenda to move the oaths for the historic district commission, cemetery committee and conservation commission from upcoming meetings into the consent agenda as item 7C. No objection was raised.passed
• 49:30
  Approve the consent agenda as presented, comprising the 12 April warrants and the oaths, with approval of the 5 April minutes removed because those minutes were not available. Moved by Todd (?), seconded by Rich (?), carried 5-0.passed
• 54:36
  The interim manager's request to convert the women's room into an office and make the men's room gender neutral was not approved. The board asked him to come back with a cost, and the discussion moved instead towards commissioning professional design work for the building as a whole.tabled
• 54:36
  Dig out the legwork the previous town manager had done on the heating and cooling system and get an evaluation under way soon, so that work can be completed before winter. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 1:04:59
  Hold the hiring committee interviews on the evenings of 26 and 28 April, keeping 27 April in reserve only if three nights prove necessary, since one member has a commitment that night. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.passed
• 1:10:14
  Authorize the town manager to schedule the interviews with the citizen applicants to the search committee as he sees fit, with the executive session starting at 5:30 p.m. ahead of the 6:30 p.m. regular meeting. Moved by Josh (?), seconded by Joe (?), carried 5-0.passed
• 1:10:14
  Adjourn. Moved by Rich (?).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.

Worth knowing

• 11:31
  Applications to sit on the town manager hiring committee close on 22 April, and only two had been received by this meeting, one of them that day. The interim manager repeated the deadline several times through the evening, saying that without an application there is no consideration.
• 17:14
  A resident questioned the board settling a resource protection case for $25,000 when a writ of execution for $50,000 had been issued, and said the only document she was given was an acknowledgment and receipt with no details. She argued that publishing the reasoning would stop the speculation going round town; the board said the matter was too legally detailed for a public meeting and asked for written questions.
• 22:36
  A meeting had to be cancelled because its notice had not been posted, which came to light late. The board attributed this to the public information technician leaving with no notice, that being the role that normally posts notices, and said state law requires posting in the normal manner within a reasonable time without setting a number of days.
• 54:36
  Half of the town office heating and cooling system needs replacing and members said it will not last another winter. There is money in the municipal building capital account, and the board asked whether spending it now and keeping receipts would allow the cost to be recouped from ARPA funds later.

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: 4 passages of motion language, against 9 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

← 2022-04-05 Select Board2022-04-26 Select Board →All meetings