TranscriptDecember 22, 2020 ~ Select Board Meeting

Okay. No, it's good. Okay. I just I just need to My brain's just not working. It's okay. I'll get there. I'll get there. Now, do I need to hand you host for now? Okay. So, you are host now. Do you want to make me co-host and we'll just do it that way? Calvin's in the

Okay. I'm gonna pause my We'll call this meeting of the Durham Board of Selectmen uh to order on December 22nd, 2020. Um, since we're still in Zoom format, I need to call a roll. So, select board members, please uh say something when I call your name to confirm that everybody's hear you. Rob Panto

here, Rich George here, Todd Buller here, Kevin Neto is here. And then we'll uh we'll have Mark say something when he when he is able to join us. Uh, anybody have amendments to the agenda? comments. Is there anybody here uh that wants to say something in the public comment page? I only see one name that isn't part of uh the regular attendees, although this person is actually a regular attendee. But um

anyone public comment going once, going twice, gone. Okay. Action and discussion items. Uh 4 A is a discussion about items to encumber uh for 2021. Ruth, you wanna You're muted, I think. We can't hear you. You can't hear me.

Yeah. Well, about Oh, there we go. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. Sorry. I was going to say you should be able to hear me. Um, okay. So, uh, the two things that I wanted to encumber are for the truck, um, and the $8,000 for the, uh, manager search.

sense to me. Do we need a board vote to do that? Yes, please. Okay. No. So, nothing else? Um, just those two things. Yep. We'll take care of it. Okay. So, how does that how does just for the benefit of people that might be watching this um encumbering means that we basically these funds will not go back to undesated. We're essentially holding them over until the next budget year to be used still for their originally voted on purpose. Is that is that right?

Correct. And basically what it means is we don't have to vote on it again because the town has already voted on it. We just because of COVID and other things and delays with the public works truck, we didn't actually expend the money this budget year. It will get expended next budget year.

Right. Okay. Anybody have any questions or comment or concerns about that? for the minutes, please? Yeah. Yeah. What was the exact uh $188,600 for the truck and the $8,000 for the manager service? What' you say? 1886. Yeah. Right, Calvin?

Yep. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'll make a motion that we encumber $188,600 for the purchase of a plow truck and $8,000 for the town manager search um for 2021. that any uh further discussion before we call the vote though, I want to confirm. Mark, could you just say something so we can confirm that we can hear you?

Yeah, I'm here. Apologize for being late. and uh he'll be be able to vote on this. Okay. So, we have a motion. We have a second from Todd. Any further discussion on this one? Okay. Please state your whether you're in favor of the motion or not when I call your name. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Buller, yes. Mark Faren, I'll abstain just because I didn't hear all the discussion. So, okay. All right. That's fine. and um and I am a yes. So we have a four zero motion passes. budget schedule.

Uh yes, I'm a little discombobulated today. So, I had done up a, you know, we had talked about the idea that we would need to get the the budget uh if we're going to do a ballot, we would have to get it printed and out by uh the beginning of February. And uh so I have completed a budget.

Um so, hey, let me uh so I just want to say what it has to be the beginning of February if we're going to have our town meeting the first Saturday in April. If we decide to have our town meeting a little bit later, then that date could shift, right?

Well, there's a couple of issues with that. The first issue is that um we're only really allowed to spend um about a quarter of our budget. And the other issue is that um the date was actually voted on at town meeting in 2006. So in 2006, the town voted to have it the first the first they were going to do the the elections the first Friday before the first Saturday in April.

Yeah. You know, I know that. But I think I believe just like just like a town vote that um that town meeting shall be by referendum. Those votes are not binding beyond beyond the one year that they're voting for. Um so but you know, I think that's our intent. If we can pull it off, I agree that's what we should shoot for. I'm just saying that it's it's not a concrete hard line if for some reason something happens and we can't meet it.

Okay. Do you want me to share it or you guys? Okay. Yep. Okay. So, I have on the wrong screen, but um so that there's a select board meeting for the MMA on the 5th and then the first budget presentation would be on the 7th. The second one would be on the 11th. The third one could actually be on the 12th or the 14th. I don't know why. Um and then uh the following week the select board would vote on their recommendations and then the week after the budget committee would vote on their recommendations. Uh and then you could do the approval for the warrant on the 28th which would get us there uh in time. We would just have to make sure everything was

You can't hear me? Yeah, I can hear you but we're not seeing the calendar anymore. Oh, sorry. I think I moved it. I'm working it. I'm at work today. Oh, there we go. Is that better? Um, anyways, so that that's what it would look like.

Okay. And um I know why you're avoiding Wednesdays. Well, I guess probably two reasons. One is the office is closed and two there's a budget committee member that has committed on Wednesday. But is that creating does that create any issues any crunches on the calendar? Because my point is we should avoid Wednesday meetings just to accommodate one person.

Um not unless we run into an issue. I mean if we were to run in Well, it's going to be Zoom so the storm's not going to be an issue. Um unless you guys needed an extra day. I mean I don't see where that would be an issue.

All right. the 14th we would have the presentation right on the 19th have to put our we would that's when we'd be voting on our recommendations as a board to send to the budget committee. Is that right? Yes. 19th. Yes. Okay.

committee basically from the 19th until the 26th to get their work done. Is that is that what I'm Okay. maybe adjust maybe or not any of our recommendations and come to final warrant approval on the 28. Yes, that's a lot of meetings.

It's aggressive. a regular select board meeting because you're also dealing with the um manager issue and so I thought maybe the 12th might be another date for you guys to talk about the manager stuff as well as the normal selectman meeting. I think we can leave it on there, but um

I think in the month of January that we should pretty much be focused on the budget and keep as many other things, you know, um you know, optional things, if you will, off the agenda until we can get to February. Um the 20 the 26 will be a regular select board as well, right?

meetings so that that could work. What do you guys think of this? Ruth, will the department heads be ready for the 7th to start with? Uh, they have gotten me their budgets and I'm putting them together to hopefully print them out and put them in books uh next Monday and Tuesday so that people can pick them up. Yep, we're there.

Okay. We're going to have to estimate some of the numbers as far as the um what we spent this year because there's still a few things outstanding. That'll be good practice when we go to a fiscal year and you're estimating anyway. Any

with this? I mean, I don't think what the budget committee doesn't um doesn't require select board attendance at their meetings. It's often helpful if somebody can attend to explain things. Um, but it's not required. going to get the Oh, third bar. There is a third budget presentation.

budget presentations in two two nights? Because I don't, you know, I don't have I don't feel the need to have department heads go line by line through their budget. I think if they my opinion, it's just my opinion. If they came into these meetings and basically said, you know, last year our budget was this maybe a little bit of readout on where they over or under spent and then this year I'm asking for, you know, um, you know, 2% increase and here's why. You know, I think they should be prepared to answer questions at the line item level if it comes up. But I don't I don't know if we need to go through every single line. I don't I don't know what others think of that. Maybe others feel like they need that level of detail, but which is fine.

Um totally with you, Kevin. I think we can condense that down to two. And I'm looking what's the 19 selects board budget recommendations and then the budget committee makes theirs on the 25th and we could probably move that to the 21st. That might if they could do it on the 21st and the 25th.

That's right. You guys could do your approval on the 26th during your regular meeting. Yes. Yeah. take take that I would say take this um the Monday the 11th out and then we just have two budget presentations and get through them in two nights and then yeah and move move the budget committee to the 21st if that works for them and then take the 28th out. So you're talking about the 7th and the 12th for the select board. I mean for the presentations and then

no 7th and 14th for presentations unless Well, I guess I'd do the 12th. We probably could just have a 10-minute regular meeting if we had to approve a warrant before the budget. Yeah, I think so. Yep. Yep. So 7th and 12th.

And then if we have to go into the 14th, we could have that one available. Yep. Yep. So, we take the 11th off and we take the 28th off and and make that we do that on the 26th. committee to the 21st and the 25th. Because they really because having seen the presentations, I would think two nights should be enough for them to go through and make their recommendations. Yeah.

Okay, I will fix that. All right, good. Any everybody feeling okay about that? Yep. Yep. Okay. um 4C, New Year's Eve holiday. Not usually. It's not. Um several communities in our area um as an appreciation for the work that people have done this year with CO are giving uh New Year's Eve as a holiday um as in addition to uh the other holidays. Um since we can't give any bonuses um because we're municipality uh and because it's been such a difficult year, I just thought you guys might want to consider it. What thoughts on that?

I didn't know municipalities couldn't give bonuses. No, we can't give bonuses. Not Christmas bonus. You're getting bonuses, Rob. It's built into the personnel and benefits policy. Is it really? I've never seen a b a bonus at a municipality.

It's not a lot, but it is possible. There's no statute against it. Um but anyway, uh we traditionally close a half day early anyway to let you guys close the books out and you Yeah. So what it what it really means is is uh for my department, the other departments it would be different, but for my department, we're we're supposed to be open from 8:30 to 12 and then we're going to close the books. So what we would do is we would come in on Wednesday and close the books. And so we would be open a full day on the Tuesday um and then come in Wednesday for as long as it would take. Uh, and then have Thursday off.

it would be public works as well. The only the only caveat I have is if for some reason there's a storm and they're in plowing on New Year's Eve and it would be a normal hours of pay otherwise. I don't want to be paying overtime plus holiday pay because of that. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's the only hiccup I have. Otherwise, um I I don't think it's a bad idea. So,

this one? guess I would agree with the sentiment that um you know that it is it has definitely been a a um a tough year um especially at the town office um in terms of work environment and and what and expectations and what's been out there. Um, how do we address Rob's point though about um like Calvin, what are your thoughts if if the uh if for some reason we need to plow that day um and the guys are working,

do we just um how how do we how do we deal with that? really. I'd have to pay them I'd have to pay them um holiday pay plus potentially time and a half. What now? Why the time and a half? Just if it was if it happened to be into overtime.

Yeah. Yeah. Does holiday add towards overtime for the work week? No. They only get uh overtime for hours worked over 40. Okay. If there's if there's a holiday in that week, it usually takes most of the wipes out. So, they get their regular pay for the day that they're in and then the holiday pay.

Yeah. All right. I'm okay with that. I just didn't want it to add up and you start getting into two and a half, three times pay and so forth. But, okay. now. Potentially that could happen if they had enough hours. Yeah. What What could happen?

They could end up with two. Huh? You could end up with double time and a half. Well, yeah. Well, if they're already on overtime because it's been storming all week. That's another story. I'm just saying. That's what I mean.

Yeah. It wouldn't be because it was holiday like for instance if we weren't if take this off the table if on New Year's Day or Christmas day guys have to go and plow we pay a premium on those days actually it is it is in there that if they work on a holiday it's automatic time in hand.

Okay. Um, so we're I don't think we're going to declare if we decide to do this, I don't think we're not going to declare it as a holiday because it's right. We could we could say town is closed that day. Um, and have it not be a holiday, you know, technically

the other thing I could do is rather than rather than pay them the holiday pay, I could give them half a day on a couple of other days. So I could pick another day or something to I see you give them a comp day is what you're saying, Kevin. Yeah,

approached it? Um, can we add hours for a comb into our um payroll system and then when an employee decides to take it, it gets, you know, you know, debited off those hours? Yeah, we have a line for comp time. So, you could add eight hours of comp time. All right. I think I think that might be a good approach is to say the town office is going to be closed that day and for non-town office town employees um we could add eight hours comp time to their um

schedule. But sounds good. Any board members have any opinions on that approach? Sounds good. Yeah, I like it. No, I'm not necessarily in favor of adding holidays and time and things of that nature. We seem to have this discussion about every six months, every time there's a holiday close to another holiday or things of that nature, we seem to create days to create time off. But whatever you guys want to do,

I I would I would agree with that. Um, I think if this were not if if this were not a um a COVID year and with all the um idiosyncrasies of the election effort and everything, I would not be in favor of this. Um, but given the type of year it's been, then um I'm okay with it.

departments have have done a pretty good job this year. The fire department's handled more calls and public works has been uh receiving quite a bit of praise and and uh you know, Becky did a fantastic job and the with the elections and the town hall's been running great. So, yeah, I think it's a good idea to do it this year.

Right. Do you want to make a motion, Rob? Yeah, I would move that we uh close the town office on New Year's Eve and on for not other town employees that are not in the office, we add eight hours of comp time to their bank or whatever you want to call it.

That would be full-time employees. Full-time employees. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a second to that? I'll second it. All right, Mark seconds. Any further discussion? All right, if you're in favor of the motion, well, actually, tell me you state your vote on the motion when I call your name, please. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, no. Todd Buller, yes. Mark Faren, yes. And I'm a yes. So, we have four to one on that one motion pass. the town email service. All right, Ruth, where are we now? Because it seems like the spam has picked up again and we just we can't keep going like this.

Well, yeah. So, so the suspicion is that somebody's purchased the list and so, you know, now they're doing it. It's not that our server has been compromised again. It's just that the information is out there. And so, um, at your request, I had looked into doing Gmail. Um, we can do Gmail accounts at $6 a piece, uh, per email. Um, and then we can do $12 a year for a domain. Um, they do have a specific government, um, program. It's

not any cheaper, but they said that it has a little more um, um, security attached to it. I haven't really gotten into the the deep dive yet, but um I I think that frankly Tammy and I could probably transfer most of the stuff over.

Okay. Agree with that. Is that Rich? You say you agree with that? Yeah, I would agree with that. She It's pretty user friendly. Yeah, I think the only thing we may need um BEK for is maybe um uh migrating some of the emails um and maybe setting up the emails on some of the phones perhaps.

have email? We have about 33. So I figure somewhere between 33 and 40 is going to be the final number of emails. So it comes to about 3,000 a year. Or what are we paying now? Roughly about 2,200. But but we would also get rid of the Comcast emails. So that would go away too.

Yeah. You'd only have one email now instead of three or whatever that you have, right? Yeah, that would be good, huh? Yeah, I think so. Five or six. And that that $6 a month plan gives what? A 30 gig limit. Yeah, I think so. And then I I had it up and then um it gives you access to the doc stuff. Um the other thing that they were trying to they're trying to sell is um meeting abilities.

Yeah. But if you if you want the meeting abilities, you you pay more because you have you can't record unless you go up to the next level and the next level is $12 per email. So it doesn't make any sense for us to do that. It makes more sense to just stay with the Zoom.

Yeah. If you wanted to do that, you just do one or two accounts under a separate domain if you wanted to do that rather than get it for all 40 of them. I think it'd be just as easy to stay with the Zoom. Yeah, Zoom's good. Everybody, I have I have the full Gmail and I use Zoom at work, so

Yeah, Calvin. Calvin, go ahead. Can How Why do other towns all have emails at indon.gov and we don't? Is there a way to get that or is that Well, I will ask them that. Um, Robert asked me the same question. Um, but I I actually was looking at doing a.org. So, durhammain.org would be our our uh email address at the end. Um, but I will ask them about the gov.

Yeah. Do I don't know. Do those tags mean anything? Do they I think they look more official. I think people trust them more than they look more official, but there's sometimes some of these people go in and they buy up or they claim the rights to that particular domain and you're unable to get it for example, you know, that's what typically happens. I've had that happen with my own company. I mean,

right. And if I could I chime in like usually.com stands for like a commercial business, whatever. Org is a good organization. I think usually nonprofits so.gov might be the way to go because you are a government organization. Um, if you can get that, that would be my two cents on it. So,

I did look for the durhammain.gov and it said it wasn't available, but that I I may be able to find something else that we could do. Yeah, that might be something, you know, durhamtown.gov or, you know, Durhamme or whatever. So, okay. So,

um, what what next steps here? Do we need to um is this do we need to vote to have you start the process of I I don't think I need a vote. I just probably need your permission, you know, that you guys are okay with us. Anybody not okay with it?

I'm seeing thumbs up on the screen. So, um, the only thing I wanted is are we is there any risk of basically contaminating our new email by forwarding the all the crap to the new one? Tammy, potentially yes, but that's be where I might be an advocate of having Beck work with us to do the transfers because they were the they they are more adept at making sure that those viruses don't transfer with it. They'd be looking more at the signature of the emails and that's something that I can do, but it takes a lot more coding on my behalf. And I think they've already got a hold on what's in there because they've been looking at these virus emails. Um, so yeah, that would be my only thing is like maybe advocating for them helping us do the transfer over. So, or we could just try to keep eradicating them all, but the thing is some people are getting these and they're hitting reply or they're forwarding them again or

whatever and they come right back. So, yeah. Well, um, what's the additional cost to have them involved and helping you with the transfer? What do you Ruth? Well, they charge 135 an hour. Um, so I I don't remember what the quote was for the uh the 365, so I assume it's somewhat similar, although we might be able to cut it down somewhat because um because we'll be doing uh some of the leg work in the background, too.

Yeah, my biggest concerns would be the code enforcement officer one. I think that one got infected the most. Um, and then we can kind of assess as we go. But I'd like to have them on kind of retainer maybe if we need them. But I think we might be able to transfer without taking all that stuff. So,

well, even you know um I think as long as you can um as long as you can manage it within the administrative budget, then I think you know it takes what it takes to get it done. You want to get it done. So it looks like the email migration cost was a,160.

So yeah. But Rich, have we contacted Google not just through their site but as as one of their representatives? Yes. Because you have. And did they give you a quote of bringing anything over rather than using BEK? I didn't ask them that. I didn't know that they would do that. Yeah, they may migrate. Yeah,

they'll migrate. Um I don't know what they charge. I I have never really used that service, but I I I do know people who have. Um they're they're they're a full shop, you know, as far as what their capacity is. I mean, they can do pretty much anything.

Yeah. Might be worth giving them a call, Ruth, and and or Tammy, whoever whoever's taking lead on this. And um you know, kind of giving, hey, this is our situation. This is the move we're considering. Um what can you guys do to help us, you know, facilitate this? How much would it cost? yada yada yada. Um

Okay. But I wouldn't um I think I I don't know about how you guys feel, but I think we need to move on this like yesterday. We can Yeah. I don't want to just wait until the next meeting and have a report come back. um since it doesn't require a vote, I think, um move forward with your you know factf finding and then just you know keep the board informed and if something comes up that we do need to vote on then and we need to pull together a meeting then we can do that but I think we need to

prioritize and get it moving forward. I agree. Yeah. Okay. Um, we are now into department reports and the fire chief is first tonight. Good evening. Uh, I sent my report out this afternoon. There's very little on it. Uh, we just continue to manage calls. Uh, the only thing with the vaccine becoming available, we are working with the county EMA and with the main EMS uh, to get our staff coordinated. We're we're low on the list simply because of call volume. uh and the fact that we still have yet to transport a positive COVID patient. So, it's going to the bigger centers, Auburn, Brunswick, places like that. But we're on the list uh looks like the first in the year. So, I'm working with them uh to get that scheduled. Um and the only other question I had was had there been any movement or discussion? Uh the board was reaching out to other towns or Kevin, you had said you were going to reach out about the RFP.

Yep. Um, Ruth, did we get any other responses other than those first two you sent me like right out of the gate? Oh, man. Nope. No, that was it. Okay, that was it. Yeah. Okay. So, um I think we can be ready to send this out pretty soon, Chief. Um I, you know, I I in my own mind I was wondering, well, should we wait until we actually have hired the town manager before we send this out or whatever? And you know, and I talked to some um you know, and talk conversations with others that well, no, we can at least get the RFP out there,

right? Um I do want to and and I'll do this. I do want to add a section um that takes a little bit larger scope of issue and and basically um ask for whoever's doing this work to really like almost take a bottoms up approach like if Durham didn't have a fire department and EMS service today given the characteristics of the town and our fiscal capacity and whatever what would be considered you know appropriate And

so what you're so what you're talking about is a fire protection study and that's that's not Yeah. I I I don't I don't see anything wrong with that either. You can just expect that with something like that the cost is going to increase because they're going to be they're going to be taking a larger chunk of information.

Yeah. Whoever it is wasn't I believe you when you were originally pitching this to us I was I definitely got the impression that that was part of the process at least with the example that you gave us. Is that right? But that that is that is more it was more focused towards apparatus funding and things like that. You want to talk about it. Like I said, this is what we're talking about the difference between a fleet evaluation and a fire fire protection study for the entire town. There's, you know, there's information that comes out in the fleet evaluation, but if you're talking about a you're talking about a a really in-depth review like that, it's that's a that's a large that is a larger scope. So, just making you aware of that.

Yeah. I Well, and again, this is this is me. Other board members may not feel that's necessary, but um you know, to me, it it it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to just evaluate your equipment. And if you haven't even evaluated whether you actually need that piece of equipment or not or maybe you need something else that you don't have, you know, um especi

given the lack of a commercial tax base and the burden the town already has, they can't really afford that. So really, you should be looking at, you know, ABC instead of XYZ. Sure. I, like I said, I'm I'm I'm I don't object to any of that as part of putting that in.

No, I didn't think you would, but um Sorry. Go ahead. What's the difference in cost between the two? Like if you did the whole thing. Well, I I don't I don't know. I don't I don't do this for a living. I I know that um was it Falmouth recently had one done and they and they did that and they went, you know, they went they went full boat with, you know, full-time staffing. They they like tripled the size of their department. Um so, like I said, it depends it depends on what you're what you request out of the RFP and I guess it depends on what the company offers to provide in the response to that RFP. So, I think that I think that this is the groundwork for us to to look at what's out there, what's available for us.

You know, can we peacemail what we're looking for? Do we need to take it as an all-in-one kind of thing? So, I I think the start to get it out there is is where we need to go. We we don't have to accept any of them. Right. Right. Exactly. But but if we put it out there, it gives us an idea of if all of the RFPs come back and they're all missing a key element that we're looking

price point and an idea of where this is going is is what I really want. Yep. No, I agree because it it certainly inform um the budget process though I you know I don't know if um I mean even if the thing went out tomorrow I don't know if we're gonna I don't know if we're going to have a any hard numbers for you know by the end of January you know

I I don't I don't think it's anything that I don't think it's anything that provides us with a perspective for this year because any company that is able to turn around that much information that fast is not giving us a quality product. Yeah,

I I I'm expecting whoever comes in to really to take their time and do this right and give us valuable information to plan pretty far out with. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I think we're on the same page, Chief. I didn't see this, pardon the pun, as a burning platform that we needed to do something like, you know, today. Um but I think so. How about why don't I why don't I write up what I'm you know um I'll put down on paper as a suggested um additional you know section of the RFP and I'll send it out to everybody. People can provide feedback or whatever and then um see where it goes from there. Does that sound okay?

I'm fine with that. Okay. Are we looking to get the RFP out so we get actual numbers in in time for budgeting? I think as we were just saying that's probably not realistic because um so he's just going to carry a number and

make it close. I don't know. I I don't know. Do we need to carry a number for that in 2021 or are we using 2021 to kind of get the number and then budget for it for 2022? I I think I think we I think we use 2021 to get the number to budget for it because I mean we we've talked about this. We have we have no idea what the financial situation looks like in the next six months, you know.

Yeah. I think coming out of coming out of COVID 2021 is going to be a really um difficult budget year just if for no other reason there'll be so many unknowns with regard to um local revenue sharing and also you know even though it doesn't impact Yeah. It's nothing we can do anything about, but if the school district gets a lot less aid, then you know that's that's a bigger impact on our taxpayers as well. So, um, even though it's not the municipal budget. So, I I agree that we use 2021 to get the number and especially since we have a town manager coming on board, you know, hopefully sometime in 2021 to have them be pretty involved in the process, I think would be would make sense as well.

Right. I mean, you know, depending on what the number looks like, if it's feasible, we do it closer to the end of the year, but I don't think it's anything that we can plan for right now. I don't think that's realistic, but

All right, good. Sounds like we're all pretty much on the same page with that one, but Okay. Yeah. Anything else or any other questions from board members for the chief? Yeah, I had one. Uh, Chief, what's the total? You said in your report we're up by 20 calls for the year,

right? What's the total call volume? So, we're we're at 341 calls for the year right now. Um, and then at the at the end of the year that gets at the end of the year that gets broken out into fire versus MS response because sometimes they're dual response with car accidents and fires and things like that and sometimes they're not. So, 340 342

total calls for the year right now and that's 20 ahead of where we were last year. So yeah, it's like four and a half percent something like that. Probably 5% more. Okay. I was just curious. I saw the number. I didn't know what perspective that is.

So you you I think when you provide those numbers, you give us like three to five years of history too, right? So we can kind of see. Yes. Right. Last year was kind of abnormally low compared to the previous year and this year coming back up again. You know, it might be might be close to historical average or maybe even higher than historical average. But

yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to look at that once we get the final numbers for the year. Yeah. Okay. All right. Anything else for the chief? Thank you. Thank you, Chief. All right, Calvin, you're up. Road commissioner report.

So, Corker, uh, almost finished shouldering the Rangale. We were We finished Deerville and we're just about finished on Rangale and the snow hit when we had about 600 feet left on the final lane going in. So, we had to pull a plug on that. We couldn't get the snow out of the shoulder, and I didn't want to put a reclaim on top of it and have it melt in the spring. So, we uh I I touch on pull the plug. So, um we'll finish that in the spring. That's going to be about a $3,000 item that we'll take care of in next year's budget. Um

um continued work on the 2021 budget and get it to Ruth today. So, um both uh Ron and I completed a webinar class uh motivating, engaging, and inspiring employees. That was u quite insightful. We got some great takeaways from that. We're putting those a lot of those things into practice. Um I attended the Southern Main Public Works group session last week uh hosted by GP Cog um that our final work product

and went to the town managers meeting, GP Cog's town managers meeting and uh then the idea was to go over it with the town managers. the final product which I included in my report sent along uh was their was after their input was um in place and so that's the final work product after the town manager review and now we're kind of all in a place where all of the town managers and administrators have submitted that to their councils and boards and we're just all I talked to uh Tony Plant yesterday from DP COG and asked him how many towns were signed up and he said right now we're all doing the same thing where he said he's got a lot of interest from town managers and right now uh everybody's just uh waiting for the boards to to get these uh signed and back to them. So that's uh what I have on that. I don't know if you guys had a chance to look at that agreement. Uh

but we've pulled the plug on ditching now. Uh I think this rain will Calvin, hold up. Let's talk about the agreement to see if um since that's part of your uh thing. Any board members have any questions or comments on that um

mutually compact proposal? I read it over a couple times and I've seen similar stuff that I've dealt with at my office. Um there's a clause in there that basically says, you know, for each instance we decide whether we're going to help or not or um we can come up with our own contracts and agreements and and use the FEMA rate. So I don't have a problem with that. And then of course it says we can get out of the con compact at any time with or without cause. So there's nothing binding about this. It's almost symbolic in a way the way it's written. Um, so I have no problem signing it because there's so many safety valves built in. We're not we're not uh and I think Ruth, uh, you and I talked, you had Jack look into it. Um, as long as we're not adding any liability for the town, then I'm fine with it.

That was my question because the agreement doesn't really address liability. So, like my question is like, you know, Calvin, not that any of you guys would do this, but if we loan a plow driver to Felmouth and we swipe the

side of a BMW parked on the side of the road in Falmouth, where's the liability for that? That would be a chat question. All I know is they're telling us it went through their legal review process. That's that's all I know. But

yes, it feels like that it feels like the agreement ought to address that. So, in the in the manager's meeting, we did discuss things like that as far as, you know, workers comp and all that other stuff. And what it was agreed upon was that um that you covered your employee. So, so I I assume that that would mean that if you were to sideswipe a BMW, then your truck was the one that sideswiped it and you would be the one who would have to deal with that. Just like if somebody else came to Durham and swag swiped a BMW in Durham, their their liability would would have to cover that.

That include taking out mailboxes. Well, yes. I I I think Yeah. Up to like 50 bucks or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Should he take out a 500? I think the liability in terms of the swiping would would would go with the vehicle unless the driver was impaired or something of that nature, but the the vehicle would cover the liability aspect of it, whose vehicle it is.

you were done. So one of the other aspects is that the letter E on the section one says that an authorized representative. So that board would have to um assign an authorized representative to negotiate um with another town to either uh receive equipment from another town or send equipment to another town. Um so each town would have to have an authorized representative to make that decision.

Yeah. Well, that Yeah, but I would need the board to vote on that, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I'm happy to consult on it, but ultimately, you know what our resources are and what we can handle. So, yeah, definitely lean on you for that decision.

This the first time we ever had anything like this, Kevin or Ruth? I think it's kind of been behind the scenes for a while, but I don't we've never used it. Well, I I talked to several other town public works directors and they all just kind of said, "Well, this is, you know, if you need a truck, we'll be there." You know, it's like it's always been. If you need something, just call us. And so, this kind of put some this kind of put some legality to it.

Bureaucracy into it. That's what I'm thinking. Everybody's like, "What are you talking about? We've always done that." You know, if you need to help, you just let us know. Let's get somebody's signature on the paper, you know.

Well, I guess if the general cons I guess if the general consensus is we've always done this, which I agree, we we've always helped our neighbors and so forth, what what's the point of this? I I think it's just this cites the statute of giving us authority to do it and

but that's already on the books. I'm just I'm just asking. I think it also widens our ability. So, it's it's it gives us more options with more different communities that are going to be involved. thing I think it does is that it it kind of spells out like how reimbursement should work and what you what you're going to be expected to reimburse the other kind of leave that up to, you know, understanding in a handshake. It's kind of spelled out, you know, how how that would work, which I think there's value.

I think there's value. My only my only deal, like you you brought up Felmouth, I'm fine with mutual aid towards, you know, the neighboring communities. You know, your Lisbons, your panels, your Auburns, your you know, Lewons, etc., something close. But, you know, these larger cities that I would think, you know, I'm just afraid that, well, Durham's a slower town. we'll just pull from them because the town next to us doesn't necessarily have the resources or

That's a good point, Cal, because this is a GP COG agreement. Is that right? Yep. So, we're we are at the very northern edge of GP COG and so all most of the towns around us except for Freeport and Panel would be would not be part of GP

cog free. What's that? Freeport, Palmwell, Brunswick, New Glouester. Uh, four of the six ab budding towns are in Gland County. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's true. It's just Lisbon and Thompson that aren't. Okay. Right. there's still the clause that says we don't have to. So if Falmouth comes requesting, we just, you know, we say sorry Falmouth, but you know, I mean, maybe we'd still be able to, but you take it on a case by case basis anyway. So it's really just formalizing what we already do.

Yeah. So yeah. So Calvin, is this the is this the final version, the one that they're actually asking boards to vote on and somebody sign? So you see the one that Ruth forwarded says town of Yarmouth. The one that I forwarded, I changed that to Durham.

Yeah, that's good. tonight? Yeah. Yeah. I I personally don't want to be the first ones to see this. Um, it seems weird to me that no other towns have gotten it back to them yet. And that might be the case next meeting that, you know, a lot of the towns have gotten it in. They're just reviewing, but I don't I want to see what partakes before I'm interested in signing it.

What if we uh what if we made an approval for the contract assuming that, you know, 80% of the other towns in GP COG also signed on, then at that time we'll sign the agreement or something like that. because they may want to do the same thing. They may say, "Well, we're going to wait and see what the other towns do."

I think that's prudent in their behalf, but somebody has to. That's all I'm saying. Like, I guess if it's in place and, you know, the the chances of us, you know, we're typically, you know, working with Panel or we're working with Lisbon and so forth or Freeport, you know, we we we know that's in place if they need us or that we need them that, you know, we have that type of agreement. So, what's what's the rush to see to sign something until we know exactly I I'm I'm just not sure exactly what we're signing at this point in time. If it's already in place, I'm I'm not I know it formalizes it and it takes out the guesswork of what you're going to bill and billable hours, etc., or who's li it doesn't necessarily pose the question of whose liability because we we all have questions about that but um specifically um but what's the rush of signing this why don't we see what everybody comes up because I'm guessing there's going to be

different renditions that that come out from this if nobody's gotten it back yet could sit on it until our people more comfortable. Um you know on the one hand I think I mean you know this this even signing this agreement doesn't commit us to anything. You know we could just say

no we can't we don't have resources available to help at this time. Um, I get that component and that's why I'm kind of skeptical because because anybody that has the resources available is going to help out. chief, but do we sign a mutual aid agreement for the fire department? I don't remember us talking. I know we have it, but

uh we do. I I reviewed and updated all of those last year, actually. Uh but this is a little bit of a different um a little bit of a different animal because there's when it comes to the fire service, it's it's actual mutual aid. It's there's no billing involved. There's no recuperation of monies. You know, in speaking of liability, if I send a truck out of town um to Freeport to go to a fire and there's an accident, that's that's on us. That Freeport doesn't

take any ownership of that or anything like that. Um, what this really sounds like to me is an agreement that allows communities to bill us and vice versa to actually recoup money if they utilize this. It's it's it's really just a formalized billing plan.

Right. Yeah. Because because if it were truly just about the mutual aid aspect of it, like I said, with the with the fire service, we just we don't bill them. They don't bill us. It's it's actual mutual aid. this with this having a billing component and structure involved in it. That's that sounds what the majority of this is about. Yeah.

I don't know. I mean, we don't have to we don't really have to do this at all. We can, you know, say if if somebody needs something from us, they can call and if we need something from somebody else, you know, we can call. Well, without this signed, I wouldn't send a truck out of this town, and I don't think you would want me to, and and I probably wouldn't want to accept another truck without your authorization first. This agreement kind of opens that gate to allow me to negotiate if I need a truck if

don't if we have mutual aid, why wouldn't you send a truck out of town? Well, the statute allows uh for mutual aid, but as they except we said in the meeting, they wouldn't recommend doing it without your board's approval. I don't I don't know how the department works, but

so when panel calls us and says, "Hey, we need to borrow XYZ to go fix a road." We loan them a, you know, whatever it may be. Maybe they loan you their greater. Do we do we get board approval to borrow their greater? Uh,

no. In the past. No, not in the past we haven't. No. Okay. So, why is this different that Well, this is a little different in that we're just trying to make put some formality to it. The fire department aspect of it also does function under a state statute, but it works because there's no money exchanging hands. That seems to be hang up with

once you change money, there's a liability that exchanges hands. But they're trying to but they're trying to have money exchange hands without liability exchanging hands. And I wouldn't get into that. Just my two cents. I agree. I agree.

Yeah. I mean, the more we talk about this, I mean, it's kind of a useless I mean, it's or maybe not useless, but you know, I'm just not wondering. I'm just other than bureaucratic structure, I don't I just don't know what purpose it serves.

And and being honest, if I can if I can throw another thought in there, are we more likely to need help or are we going to more be more likely to give help to another community? We're we're a smaller town. We have less resources. So, if we lo you Calvin goes down a truck, he's more likely to need a truck or a driver. This is this leaves us on the hook to pay another community more likely than they're going to take anything from us at any point really.

That's what it seems. Well, that's actually a good point. I mean, yes, we may have to pay another community, but if we have an outbreak of COVID, we're going to be hurting much more than like the city of Portland. And so, it does give us more resources to to pull from. We could we can call Portland, Gorum, um you know, South Portland, some of those larger communities down there that you know, if they've run 20 trucks, lending one to Durham is not that big a deal. So that so that's a good point, but I think it's actually a benefit to the smaller communities more than it is a hindrance, you know.

And again, we could still call Gorm in South Portland without this in place. So, I guess that's why it's just confusing to me because I've operated in the last 25 years and it's never it's never been an issue because just you go to help out and then you go home and there's no money involved. So,

yeah, it's it's kind of like helping your neighbor, right? You don't you don't really question it. You just go and help your neighbor. There's no my neighbor needs to be plowed out because his snow shovel broke or whatever. I don't I don't question it and say, "Well, how's 45 bucks an hour sound?" and I'll get that done for you so you you and your wife can get to work today.

If that's what you're paying, I'll be over. Oh, you know what I'm saying? Yes, I do. But I I would say that the town of Durham has a lot more to gain than the other communities. I mean, we have more to gain than to lose. Like like Rob says, the other towns around us have, you know, transfer stations, public public water, public sewer. They have other departments to draw from that we don't have. Most every other town has a full-time employee for every plow route, which we don't have. we have. So, it's it it's I think we're more vulnerable than most, which is why I've been pushing this uh since the beginning is we need to make sure that we are prepared.

Yeah. But I think we've also said from the beginning that this should not be your plan A for it's not it's not plan A, but it's just an added security that guess, and tell them that we're not really we don't really have objections. We're just we want to get some feedback from the other towns and and make sure that they sign on and then I think we'd be more comfortable from that standpoint.

Calvin, what what prohibits you from starting agreement outside of GP COG with such a entity such as Lisbon or Freeport and Panel? Why do we need or even Auburn for that matter? What why does this why does this gentleman's agreement or in this case a written agreement have to be through GP COG? Why why don't we have those resources in place already just by you know our networking within the community? Well, they've they've put the legal uh they've put all of the uh resources into it from a legal standpoint and contractual uh they they've put the work into this document that

Well, I think that's where my my issue lies is just the two words that you say, the legal and the contractual part of it, but it's not really a contract because it's open-ended. But I'm just asking from your standpoint, your shop standpoint, what don't you have the networking already in place between the the towns that surround the our community?

Yeah, but we would have to hire, you know, we'd have to get Jack to draw up just draw up an agreement. Just a gentleman's agreement. Like, hey, if I if I have a truck down, can you come help me? Just as the same as if Panel has a truck down, I'm sure you would go help them. We've done it in the past many times. Well, we had an agreement with tunnel back then and uh but that that was that was different. And now that we're split towns, we don't have that. So,

I'm just talking about being a neighbor. I'm not talking about anything specific. And perhaps I'm not wording this correctly. I'm just talking about you know their road commissioner, they know you, you know public works director of Lisbon. Hey, do we have a gentleman's agreement or something? That's just networking between the towns that are in our existing area.

Yeah. I mean, if you're okay with me sending another truck to another town without talking with you guys, I could do that. But this document puts that in place. And I mean, I I guess I'm not sure where you're going. Well, it sounds like just like you're basically looking for us to vote to give you that authority to do it anyway.

Correct. this um agreement other than somebody in an agency needed something to do. You know, that's where I'm at with it. So, but to be clear, Rich, you're telling Calvin, go over to your neighbors, give them a call. I'm not telling them. I would think that would already be in place, Rob. I'm not telling him to do that. We would already have those established that established that type of relationship with our neighbors.

Yeah. But if it's not, go do it. Get a couple towns. Why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't it be? Why would Why wouldn't you know the surrounding communities in terms of the public works directors in in the town of Pal's road commissioner, etc. And you know, why wouldn't we? We we've done joint operations, per se, for lack of better words, with panel many times over the years. Well, panel, like you said, because we had agreement. We've never sent a truck to Lisbon or Brunswick or

But if they needed it, just like if we need an ambulance or we need a police intercept to come over here real quick because they're the closest in town, they come. It's just what you do to your neighbors is what I was trying to, you know,

I don't have a problem with. I'm just saying we we'll give Calvin that same authority basically to just do it. I mean, work it out is make the best decision and and uh you know, soon we'll have a town manager and he can talk it over with the town manager and they can decide what's what's best if he has a question. But I'm all in favor.

I don't I don't know if he necessarily needs I, like I said, I I didn't I know we've used, for example, maybe whatever agreement was in the past, but for example, we use Connell's Road Grader every year. I don't I don't think the board gives him approval to go negotiate that. I I think there might be though, you know, I'm gonna kind of talk, you know, play devil's advocate the other side of the issue. Now, I think there's a difference between, you know, a Durham and a PO, two very small towns, you know, that don't have large um

organizational structures controlling these like public departments and things. But as you as you get into bigger towns that are managing bigger departments, structure and um a bit of a road map, if you will. It's like if towns need to borrow from each other. Here's kind of the rules of the road. you know, like if um if I have to send a plow driver to another town, um you know, paying that

the taxpayers of that town are paying that driver, then the taxpayers of the town he's helping out should reimburse the taxpayers for the sending to the sending town. Um and I get what you're saying, Chief, about if he's still with us. Yeah. About the mutual aid and emergency services. Um, I think that's a different level of, you know, urgency, if you will, and cooperation and and maybe just much more longer established, you know, behavior,

if you will. But um I guess you know as much as this agreement may not be necessary in our minds or needed is there really a downside just signing it and at least you know I mean it says right in the opening paragraph it's as needed as needed as able basis. So,

right. So, it's completely our call. If somebody calls us, it's completely our call. Um whether we send anything or not, right? We don't have any extra. What's that, Todd? We don't have any extra files, helping I think to Rob's point and Calvin too, you know, if three of our plow drivers been down with COVID, um, you know, some

of these larger towns have deep enough staff where they might be able to spare to come drive one of our trucks for a storm if we were stuck. where I started. There's It doesn't hurt. There's nothing that says we're there's no commitment and there's no added liability. So,

right. So, I'll make a motion that we approve the contract. And are you are you going to include in that motion who is the appointed authorized representative? Yeah, Calvin would be the authorized representative. Okay. All right.

Signs it too. And you guys could always add that Ron would look over the agreement before anything left town. Yeah, you should consult with myself and and at least the chair and you know and in our absence get at least one other selectman at least let us know for sure

too. Okay. I I would move that uh we approve the contract and allow Calvin to sign it as the authorized representative. discussion phase. the I want to get the name of this right. the memorandum of understanding, the mutual public works mutual aid compact and to appoint Calvin as the um

authorized representative. Okay. All right. So, if you are, please state your vote on the motion whether you're in favor or not. When I call your name, Rob Panto, yes. Rich George, no. Todd Buller, yes. Mark Baron, no. And I'm gonna vote yes. So, three to two motion passes.

I don't We've never had that before. matter either way. So, so three to two is fitting. It's kind of like are we creating a bigger headache by not doing it than by doing it, but okay, moving on. Um, Calvin, anything else in your report? We kind of stopped your report there when you were um

new a new plow truck is in Durham being painted and u we should have that uh I think right about the first of the year. They're telling me the first of the year. Could be done next week. Okay. But we're we're still looking at a 2021 delivery.

Yep. Yep. Because at this point, we just encumbered the money. So, well, I guess we don't have to. We can still We could still pay it in 2020, right, Ruth? We don't have to carry it over. We can we not getting any money till 2021. Okay. All right. All right. That's only eight days or nine days. I think they'll be all right. We waited long enough for the truck. I can wait a little bit for the check.

That's all. Anything else? That's it. Okay. there anything the board members wanted to pull pull off the consent agenda or if not I would entertain a motion there. Oh, I'm sorry. I sorry I'm going back to 5C. I think we covered all our stuff already but town administrator Ruth, did you have anything else to discuss?

No, not really. Okay. All right. So, I will go to consent agenda. Is there a motion on the consent agenda? So moved. Accept this consent agenda as written. Okay. Is there a second on that? I'll second. Mark seconds. All right. There's no discussion on this one. So, state your vote when I call your name, please. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Boyer, yes. Mark Farren, yes. And I'm a yes as well. Okay. Um so announcements uh upcoming meetings. So our next actual um meeting is the January 5th workshop um with David Barrett from MMA to uh and this will be a public input workshop for the needs assessment for the town manager search. This is the one where we're really inviting people to come and um provide their input on what they think is are important skills and characteristics of a town manager for Durm. That is January 5th at 6 PM. A little bit earlier than our normal start on Tuesday, January 5th. Um and then our

next regular meeting uh is Tuesday, January 12th at 6:30 and then again January 26 at 6:30. But as we saw earlier, there's several budget meetings in there um as well. move that we enter executive session pursuant to one MRSA 4056A personnel matters. I need a second on that. Please

second. Rich seconds. All right. And state your vote when I call your name. Rob Hanto. I am muted for a sec. Yes. Okay. Um, Rich George, yes. Todd Ber, yes. Mark Faren, yes. And I am a yes. Okay. We are going into executive session.