Select Board Meeting ~ February 10, 2026

2026-02-10 · Select Board · 2:39:02 · watch on YouTube →

Regular Select Board meeting of February 10, 2026, running from the pledge through board member reports. Most of the meeting went to two subjects: the budget timeline for the new fiscal year, including whether the budget committee should be at the table before the select board finalises its budget, and the move to automated trash collection with a pay-as-you-throw bag system. The board voted 3-2 to invite the budget committee chair and vice chair to the April 14 meeting where the select board finalises its budget, and voted unanimously to go with pay-as-you-throw bags priced at $3 for the large bag and $1.80 for the tall kitchen bag, with a budgeted net annual revenue of $150,195. The Durham Agriculture Committee asked the board to drop the permit fee on high tunnels and greenhouses; the material arrived that afternoon, so the vote was put off to a later meeting. Lois was appointed to the RSU5 board of directors 4-1, an alternate was appointed to the solid waste committee, and $2,363 was transferred from public works to debt service to clear an over-expenditure in the 2024 audit. The budget timeline debate was heated, and at one point a board member moved to remove Joe Roy as chairperson.

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. 6:14
   Agenda changes and public comment

   A request for an expenditure out of reserve funds was pulled from new business and moved to the next meeting because more information was needed. Budget committee co-chair Jill Gastonay (?) of Stackpole Road (?) asked that the budget committee, or one or two representatives of it, be invited to the table when the select board reviews the budget with department heads, saying a joint meeting five or six years ago produced better understanding and the same recommendations from both bodies. A suggestion to consider moving budget approval from town meeting to a ballot vote was set aside as a future agenda item of its own.

2. 11:35
   Minutes of January 27

   John (?) moved to approve the minutes of the January 27 meeting and Deb (?) seconded.

3. 11:35
   Budget timeline

   The board reviewed a written timeline for the first budget built on a fiscal year rather than a calendar year: department head meetings on March 10 and March 24, the select board finalising its budget on April 14, documents to the budget committee on April 16, a joint presentation with the budget committee on April 28, committee recommendations back on May 7, and the select board's final review on May 12.

4. 21:40
   Disagreement over when the budget committee is involved

   Joe Roy (?), from the chair, argued the budget committee's charge is to comment on a finished select board budget and that bringing it in earlier moves it into policy development and expands its authority without a vote of the town. Josh (?) argued the committee's questions are about numbers rather than policy, that its questions have changed budgets in past years, and that the timeline between the joint meeting and the committee's recommendations is short; a member who had served on the budget committee recently, Deb (?), agreed. John (?) said the full committee of 13 or 14 people plus department heads would be too many, but the chair and vice chair could carry the questions.

5. 42:48
   Alternative motion to move the whole timeline up two weeks

   Josh (?) moved to shift the budget process up two weeks so the town manager's proposed budget would come on February 24 and the budget finalised on March 24. Jerry (?) said he was still waiting on state revenue figures, which were posted on February 2 one year and March 3 the year before, so the numbers might not be available that early. The motion was withdrawn.

6. 47:57
   Agriculture committee: permit fees on high tunnels and greenhouses

   Members of the Durham Agriculture Committee, including Jonah (?) of Celebration Tree Farm at 125 Bowie Hill Road and Dave (?) of New Leaf Farm on Davis Road, presented a proposal to add agricultural high tunnels and greenhouses of 96 feet by 35 feet or smaller to miscellaneous structures on the fee schedule with no construction permit fee. High tunnels are currently permitted at the commercial rate of $1 per square foot, so a 2,000 square foot tunnel costs $2,000 to permit. The committee cited a 24 percent rise in average cost of production per farm between 2017 and 2022 and no permit fees for agricultural buildings in Warren and Auburn.

7. 58:10
   Questions on high tunnels

   Board members asked how a high tunnel differs from a greenhouse, whether electrical and plumbing permits would still be required, and whether the change would also apply to non-farming residents putting up a greenhouse. The presenters said high tunnels sit on bare soil with pipes driven into the ground, that electrical and plumbing permits would still apply separately, and that the proposal covers residents as well as commercial farms. Dave (?) said outdoor tomatoes lost about 50 percent of the crop to weather and disease against about 10 percent under a high tunnel, and that a 30 by 96 foot hoop house can produce $25,000.

8. 1:14:11
   RSU5 board of directors vacancy

   The agenda was amended to take the RSU5 appointment up early because the sole applicant, Lois, was present. She said she had been in education for 40 years and was a former NEA president with a multi-million dollar budget, and that the new superintendent, Tom Gray (?), had written to the communities asking for input on the school budget. The seat runs only until the June election.

9. 1:19:38
   Automated trash collection and pay-as-you-throw

   Following presentations from Waste Zero and the solid waste committee at the last meeting, the board took up the bag system. Trash pickup is currently funded through taxes plus the sale of trash tags, with each household getting 26 tags; under automated pickup a robotic arm empties a bin and no one is there to pull a tag. Waste Zero projects about a 30 percent decrease in waste under a pay-as-you-throw system, which would also reduce the tipping fee paid on tonnage.

10. 1:35:38
    Costs, leftover tags and bag pricing

    The board discussed how to explain the cost to residents, what to do about unused yellow tags, and whether pay-as-you-throw could start later than automated pickup. Ideas (?) raised included a period of automated pickup with no bags required to credit leftover tags, and a raffle for tags turned in. Bin management adds roughly $80,000 a year, and about $101,000 in the next budget because April, May and June are billed after July 1.

11. 1:56:41
    Questions for Cassella

    The board assembled questions to send to Cassella through Jerry before inviting the company in: what happens if a bin breaks, which private roads the truck will go up, which side of the road bins go on, the plan for Routes 125, 136 and 9, and how neighbourhoods that bring many bins to one entrance will be handled.

12. 2:17:39
    Transfer between budget lines

    Jerry (?) explained that interest on debt was miscalculated using the previous audit's normalisation schedule, leaving the debt service line $2,363 short. Public works had $32,874 left in its 2024 budget, and article 39 of the 2024 town warrant allows moving up to 5 percent from other budget lines.

13. 2:22:54
    Solid waste committee appointment

    An applicant who had offered to serve on either the solid waste or agriculture committee was appointed as an alternate to the solid waste committee, on the strength of experience as a professional engineer in landfill closure, solid waste permitting and erosion control. The board noted the agriculture committee's membership numbers on the website are unclear and that the applicant could be considered elsewhere later.

14. 2:22:54
    Town manager report

    Jerry (?) reported public works is at full capacity with the hire of Ashlin Blake (?), who started February 2, and that the town paid a $25,230 IRS penalty over W-3 forms not submitted for the 2022 payroll. The town no longer has a cleaner and will advertise the roughly 10-hour-a-week position through the news blast and website rather than a paid service.

15. 2:28:04
    Economic development committee and the $75,000 grant

    Jerry and George (?) recommended forming an interim economic development committee of five: one member each from the select board, planning board, agriculture committee and conservation commission, plus a community member with a business background. The planning study, funded by a $75,000 grant, would be led with the Greater Portland Council of Governments and could take 18 to 24 months, with something possibly ready for town meeting in 2027.

16. 2:28:04
    Notice of violation at the gravel pit

    The code office issued a notice of violation for the gravel pit at 1104 Hallowell Road for a conditional use violation. The condition limited the pit to five acres; the Department of Environmental Protection inspected and found approximately 19.8 acres being excavated. The operator can either seek an amended conditional use from the planning board or reclaim the area outside the five acres.

17. 2:33:19
    Board member reports

    The board noted that a resident is running meeting transcripts through artificial intelligence to produce summaries, publishing them to a shared drive and a Spotify feed, with a caution to verify AI output. The fire department handled two structure fires in two weeks, one in Durham requiring mutual aid at zero degrees, and a handwritten note thanked fire and rescue for a Thanksgiving Day call. Deb attended the funeral of Peter Low (?), a 50-year member of Durham Fire and Rescue.

What was decided

• 11:35
  Approve the minutes of the January 27 meetingpassed
• 32:22
  Motion by Josh (?), after saying he had been interrupted at the last meeting and this one, to remove Joe Roy as chairperson. The transcript records the chair saying there was a motion on the floor; no second and no vote on it appear afterwards.outcome unclear
• 47:57
  Invite the budget committee to the April 14 select board meeting with the department heads, with participation limited to the chair and vice chair, in addition to the April 28 meeting already scheduled. Recorded as passing 3 to 2.passed
• 1:09:10
  Defer a vote on the agriculture committee's request to remove the permit fee for high tunnels and greenhouses to a later meeting, so the material sent that afternoon can be added to the recordtabled
• 1:14:11
  Amend the agenda to take the RSU5 board of directors appointment up nextpassed
• 1:19:38
  Appoint Lois to the RSU5 board of directors, on a motion seconded by Rebecca. Recorded as passing 4 to 1.passed
• 2:12:28
  Adopt a pay-as-you-throw bag price of $3 for the large bag and $1.80 for the medium tall kitchen bag, and have Jerry budget a net annual revenue of $150,195passed
• 2:17:39
  Exercise the authority granted under article 39 of the 2024 town warrant and transfer $2,363 from the public works budget to the debt service line item, resolving an over-expenditure in the 2024 fiscal year auditpassed
• 2:22:54
  Appoint Jay Pent (?) as an alternate to the solid waste committeepassed
• 2:33:19
  Approve the consent agendapassed
• 2:38:33
  Adjournpassed

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

• 32:22
  During the argument over when the budget committee should be involved, a board member, apparently Josh, said he could not finish a statement without being interrupted and moved to remove Joe Roy as chairperson. The board went on with the budget discussion and the transcript does not record a second or a vote on that motion.
• 2:12:28
  The bag price was set to cover about $101,000 of bin management in the next budget, which includes April, May and June billed after July 1, plus the loss of trash tag revenue. Tag revenue was quoted at several figures in the same discussion: roughly $2,000 a month, about $27,000 this year, and $33,000 to $34,000 a year. The budgeted revenue from bags is $150,195.
• 2:22:54
  The town paid a $25,230 IRS penalty for W-3 forms not submitted for the 2022 payroll, work left undone before the current manager started. The original bill was described as $75,000 to $80,000 and was reduced after the town asked for a waiver. The money comes out of the general fund; the board discussed whether the $50,000 contingency fund might be needed.
• 2:28:04
  The gravel pit at 1104 Hallowell Road was permitted for five acres and the Department of Environmental Protection found approximately 19.8 acres being excavated. The operator has 14 days from the date of the letter to contact the code officer; a figure of about 30 days was also given for bringing the pit back into compliance, which Jerry (?) said was not achievable by mid-February.

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: 8 passages of motion language, against 11 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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