Select Board Meeting ~ January 24, 2023

2023-01-24 · Select Board · 3:50:07 · watch on YouTube →

Select Board meeting of January 24, 2023, which ran a short regular agenda and then turned into a budget workshop for the 2023 budget. The board took up a proposal from Berry Talbot Royer to take over the town's payroll and accounts payable for $70,000 a year, and asked town manager Jerry Douglass to come back with a full side-by-side of contracting versus hiring in-house, including counter coverage and weekly schedules; the firm's president is to attend the February 14 meeting. The board appointed Kimberly and Devin Garneau as deputy clerk and deputy treasurer and Susan Hardison to the scholarship committee, approved the January 10 minutes, and pulled the warrants out of the consent agenda so it could review and sign them in the meeting. In the workshop the board went article by article with the town manager, the fire chief and Calvin from public works, and settled the article totals to hand to the budget committee. It agreed to fund the capital items from ARPA and reserves, to drop the $23,000 town office generator from this year's plan and pursue an EMA grant instead, and to use $200,000 of undesignated fund balance, which produced an estimated all-in tax increase of 3.6 percent.

What was discussed

1. 0:27
   Amendments to the agenda

   Chair Kevin Nadeau (?) added item 7A for oaths on two appointments and pulled the warrants out of the consent agenda as item 7B, because additional warrants had arrived after the packets went out. He said the board would not meet again for three weeks and did not want the bills to wait.

2. 0:27
   Public comment on grants and ARPA funds

   Phyllis (?), a resident of Brookside Drive, asked the town to prepare a handout ahead of town meeting listing the grants department heads have applied for and received, how much came in and what it is being spent on, and a similar overview for ARPA funds. She said Heather may have raised the same point already.

3. 0:27
   2023 holiday schedule

   The board reviewed the list of 2023 holiday closings in the packet. Jerry Douglass confirmed the town's practice is to mirror the official state holidays, and the board discussed no longer granting a makeup day when the office is already closed on the holiday, using Friday November 10 as the example. Board members questioned why a vote was needed at all; no vote is audible in the transcript.

4. 5:49
   Proposal to contract out payroll and accounts payable

   Jerry Douglass presented a proposal from Berry Talbot Royer to take over accounts payable and payroll for $70,000 a year, with advantages and disadvantages set out in the packet. He said hiring a comparably qualified person in-house with salary and benefits would cost close to the same, and that the firm could also put the chart of accounts and reserves in order. Mark Roy (?), the firm's president, could not attend and is to answer questions at the February 14 meeting.

5. 11:31
   What contracting would leave behind

   Board members said the comparison was not one for one, because a treasurer and tax collector would still be needed in the office along with counter coverage, and asked for option A and option B laid out on paper with sample weekly schedules under each. Jerry Douglass said the town of Monmouth had done the same thing, and that he had already hired the firm to do bank reconciliations that had not been done since April 2020.

6. 17:13
   Interim coverage of payroll and accounts payable

   Asked what happens over the next two or three months while the question is decided, Jerry Douglass said the work is being covered now and the town would carry on as it has been. A board member suggested asking the firm whether it could supply temporary help in the interim.

7. 17:13
   Fire chief's report: grants and 2023 priorities

   The fire chief handed out ComStar ambulance billing rate comparisons for Maine fire departments that the board had asked for. He reported a $5,000 Wildland gear grant on a matching basis, with the town fronting $5,000 to outfit ten members and $2,500 coming back from the state. For 2023 he identified station and equipment upkeep as the two high-cost areas, noting the station is over 20 years old and the average age of the department's six trucks is 14 and a half years.

8. 22:57
   Fire and rescue call volume and mutual aid

   The fire chief reported call volume up 7.5 percent to 521 responses, including 225 medicals, 156 transports and 52 motor vehicle crashes. Durham provided rescue mutual aid 43 times and fire mutual aid 22 times, and received mutual aid 18 or 19 times, the transcript gives both figures. He said Durham is now on Lewiston's first-alarm run card for station coverage.

9. 28:35
   Questions about the Lewiston arrangement

   Board members questioned why Durham is on Lewiston's first-alarm assignment and whether the town is carrying another community's staffing costs. The fire chief said mutual aid is reciprocal and unbilled, that Lisbon, Auburn and Freeport ambulances had all transported for Durham that day at no charge while the rescue was out of service, and that the chief can decline a request when the town's own resources are committed.

10. 28:35
    December calls and EMS night coverage

    For December the department responded to 65 calls, including two structure fires, four motor vehicle accidents and 27 trees, wires or hazardous conditions from two storms. The contracted medical control director ran a training session at the station. The chief said he is compiling figures on overnight EMS calls because only two or three EMTs including himself live in town, and per diem night coverage will need to be discussed.

11. 34:33
    Public works report: storms, salt and the new truck

    Calvin (?) described an unforecast freezing rain event that started at dawn and ran nine hours, and said freezing rain has to be treated continuously and is costly. Salt deliveries that are supposed to arrive in 24 to 48 hours have been delayed because every town is ordering at once; a load arrived that day with more due the next. The 2023 tandem truck is delayed a further three or four weeks because the plow head gear did not fit after Freightliner widened the frame.

12. 40:14
    Salt storage capacity and use of sand

    Calvin (?) said the shed has been modified over several years to take more salt and less sand, that he has not measured the new capacity but it holds roughly eight to ten loads or 240 to 300 yards, and that the auditor had objected to buying salt in one year and paying for it in the next. A board member asked for sand on specific spots including the Route 9 hill, the bend on Route 125 towards Lisbon and the corner known as Dead Man's Curve; Calvin agreed to use more sand in those areas.

13. 40:14
    Town manager's report: GIS maps and a GPCOG planning grant

    Jerry Douglass said the GIS tax maps are finished and the link is on the town website. The town has been awarded an $8,000 non-matching planning grant through GPCOG to look at the Town Hall, Eureka Center, fire station and ball field area, including paths and possible facilities, with community input; George will assist and Jerry is working out a scope of work with Matt at GPCOG.

14. 40:14
    Tax stabilization applications

    Jerry Douglass said about 225 tax stabilization applications have been filed and that he needs to work out with Donna how the town pays the difference and is reimbursed by the state. Board members said the amount is spread among other taxpayers in the meantime and that the state has held back on revenue sharing and school funding in the past, so the law may change.

15. 46:20
    Affordable housing warrant articles deferred

    The board deferred the affordable housing warrant articles and ordinance language to the next meeting. Draft language written by George is in the packet; members were asked to send questions in beforehand.

16. 46:20
    Tax-exempt leasing for the new truck

    Jerry Douglass asked whether the board wanted to look at tax-exempt leasing to pay for the truck arriving in mid-February over five years. A board member said that is not possible for this purchase but could be considered for the next one.

17. 51:32
    Appointments of Kimberly and Devin Garneau

    The oaths were added so that Kimberly and Devin Garneau could handle money and voter registration behind the counter. A board member said appointments have previously been discussed in executive session and asked that the point be on the record, while noting they are already town employees and he had no objection.

18. 51:32
    Warrants pulled from the consent agenda

    The board took time in the meeting to review and sign the warrants, including bills that arrived after the packets went out. It was noted that payroll warrants need only one board member and do not have to be signed in a meeting, and that Jessica would look into what the oath requirements actually are. Part of this stretch is off-microphone and unclear, including an exchange about a setback, a consent agreement and whether a matter should have gone to the board of appeals, which the chair noted was not on the agenda.

19. 57:20
    Appointment of Susan Hardison

    Susan Hardison was appointed to the Durham scholarship committee. She was described as a retired teacher of more than 38 years who wants to serve her community.

20. 57:20
    Consent agenda and upcoming meetings

    With the warrants removed, the consent agenda was only the minutes of the January 10 select board meeting. Upcoming meetings were read out: budget committee January 31 and February 2 at the Eureka Center, with the start time corrected to 6:30, and select board meetings on February 14 and 28 at 6:30 at the town office.

21. 1:02:46
    Budget workshop: public works

    Calvin (?) said nothing had changed since his presentation apart from a $4,200 Crooker paving bill he had flagged as a 2022 charge. The paving line is $331,000 including chip sealing, line striping and crack sealing, adjusted for liquid asphalt and fuel prices, and the department's total is up 5.83 percent. Board members said the increase was reasonable but asked whether some lines, including salt, were being kept artificially low.

22. 1:08:04
    Paving list and timing of actuals

    A board member asked whether the roads left unpaved this year are the same ones carried forward; Calvin (?) said Hunter Hill and Ada (?) had been missed. The board and Jerry Douglass discussed that year-end bills arriving in January change the actuals the budget is built on, and that the budget calendar may need to be adjusted.

23. 1:18:35
    Budget workshop: fire department

    The fire chief said a late propane and diesel delivery and two outstanding equipment bills put him more than $8,000 over the 2022 appropriation, which will have to be encumbered on a warrant. Electricity, propane and diesel are up 32 percent and equipment maintenance 27 percent since the budget was set. The 2023 request is $522,470, a 5.3 percent increase, built on actuals after five years of roughly level funding.

24. 1:18:35
    Ambulance line and paramedic intercepts

    The chief said $10,000 was moved out of equipment maintenance into the ambulance line so it covers consumables such as oxygen, backboards and dressings, with vehicle maintenance staying in equipment maintenance. He said the original $4,200 for ambulance intercepts was too low because most surrounding towns charge when their paramedic is taken out of service, though Brunswick and Lisbon treat it as reciprocity.

25. 1:23:58
    Workers' compensation breakdown

    Jerry Douglass showed the MMA bill split: public works 42 percent, fire 52 percent and the front office 6 percent, charged quarterly and reconciled at year end. He said the town's experience modifier sits above the average of one and the town is working to bring it down, and that the rate for office employees is 0.338 against 10.57 for firefighters.

26. 1:29:59
    Fire department gear, building and equipment maintenance

    The chief said the personal safety line was budgeted at $16,000 and spent $27,000, with four sets of gear at about $3,000 each, gear cost up 33 percent and a ten-year replacement mandate. Building items included a $3,500 side door and a hot water heater under consideration, and the rescue has just turned 29,000 miles while the older pumper and tanker generate large unpredictable bills, including $6,000 for springs and shackles.

27. 1:35:28
    Budget workshop: administration salaries and benefits

    Jerry Douglass said the deputy tax collector and treasurer position is budgeted at $50,000, against an MMA average of about $54,000 for comparable towns, with the single health plan at $11,320 and the family plan at $24,500. He also proposes taking the part-time deputy clerk, currently 10 to 15 hours, to 36 hours a week. Along with his own position and the code enforcement salary, these are the drivers of the administration increase.

28. 1:40:40
    Contingency line and how benefits are budgeted

    The board discussed a contingency line so that a change in an employee's insurance status can be covered without budgeting the family rate on every line. The approach settled on was to budget the family rate only for unfilled positions and the actual rate for filled ones, with a contingency amount held separately, and to move towards wages and benefits lines rather than budgeting by named person.

29. 1:51:14
    Counter coverage and staffing calculation

    Board members said the case for a full-time position needed to be shown as a calculation of hours rather than described anecdotally, working out how many hours the counter and each role actually require and backing into the number of staff. Jerry Douglass said the office has 27 and a half counter hours a week, that staff need time either side of the counter hours to set up and cash out, and that the clerk and treasurer are covering the counter themselves.

30. 2:07:53
    How to advertise the finance position

    The board questioned advertising a deputy tax collector and treasurer while also considering contracting the finance work out, and whether $50,000 would attract someone with accounting expertise. Jerry Douglass said he could word the posting more broadly, and estimated about $60,000 for someone who knows the accounting side.

31. 2:13:08
    Size of the administration increase

    Board members said the administration article is up about $100,000, described as roughly a 23 percent increase, and that this would need a clear explanation on town meeting floor. They decided not to add a further $10,000 to the treasurer line, and asked Jerry Douglass to break out what is genuinely new spending as opposed to the manager's and code enforcement salaries already set and the part-time clerk position that had no full-year figure.

32. 2:24:27
    Debt service, assessing and cemetery mowing

    Debt service was given as $958,394 and assessing as essentially flat. Jerry Douglass had removed about $5,000 for cemetery mowing on the basis that public works would absorb it; board members disagreed, saying the amount is small, public works already struggles to keep up with mowing, and the equipment and man hours may cost more than the contract. The board agreed to try it for a year and keep track.

33. 2:29:44
    Capital plan funding from ARPA and reserves

    The chair proposed funding one group of capital items from ARPA, totalling $303,000 against an available ARPA balance of $303,483.87, and the rest from reserves: $50,000 for the stream crossing from public works capital reserves, and the chief's truck and the fire department generator from fire reserves. That would leave nothing to be raised for capital other than the contributions to the public works and assessing reserves.

34. 2:34:45
    Town office generator

    The board debated whether the $23,000 town office generator or technology upgrades at the Eureka Center were the better use of ARPA money, noting the generator ranked last in the CIP committee's list and that the Eureka Center is the warming centre. The fire department generator was quoted at $32,800 and the municipal capital account holds about $30,000.

35. 2:45:17
    Generator dropped in favour of pursuing a grant

    The fire chief said the latest EMA generator grant through Androscoggin County is a 50/50 match, which cannot be matched with ARPA money. The board took the $23,000 out of the capital column, holding the ARPA funds for Eureka Center technology, which would require a special town meeting to authorise.

36. 2:50:30
    Flatbed truck at $105,000

    Calvin (?) said the medium duty flatbed is needed so a crew working a linear job such as ditching is not left without transport when the truck leaves for materials. Board members objected that it is an addition to the fleet rather than a replacement; the exchange was direct, with one member saying he would not support a back door route to an extra truck. It was resolved by agreeing the 2008 truck, with a welded frame and a trade value of perhaps $10,000 to $12,000, would be run to exhaustion, making this a proactive replacement. The CIP committee had ranked it fourth.

37. 2:55:55
    Solid waste placeholder

    Jerry Douglass said the $350,000 solid waste figure may be low and is the best available until more information comes from Casella, and that it may be adjusted before town meeting.

38. 3:01:32
    Parks, Runaround Pond and River Park

    Sanitation at Runaround Pond and park maintenance were restored to roughly the 2020 level after little or nothing was budgeted through the covid years. The $1,500 proposed for a new River Park sign was removed because about $7,900 sits in a restricted River Park fund balance, subject to checking what that fund may be spent on.

39. 3:06:53
    Recreation funding from assigned balances

    Recreation has historically been funded from the recreation account, which is fed by snowmobile and boat excise. The board noted the revenue tab shows $8,557 against a recreation budget of about $9,380, and that the amount drawn from the account should match the recreation budget rather than the year's revenue.

40. 3:12:27
    Telecommunications and the public access channel

    The telecommunications article is $52,000, with the meeting secretary and public information officer line proposed at $25,000, offset by removing similar amounts from planning and other article lines, so the apparent increase is close to break even. The board agreed homework is needed with Comcast on whether the franchise agreement obliges the town to keep the public access channel, noting Freeport had ended theirs.

41. 3:17:45
    Planning, historic preservation and the Eureka Center

    The planning article is largely flat after the meeting secretary line was moved out. The historic preservation commission requested $3,200 and holds $1,330, so $2,000 was added to make up the difference for outreach, training and mailings. The Eureka Center lines were left close to flat with small increases for maintenance and supplies.

42. 3:23:20
    Article totals and undesignated fund balance

    The board walked through the article totals as amended. Jerry Douglass gave the undesignated fund balance as about $2.4 million and proposed using $200,000 to offset taxes; the board discussed the standard of roughly 16 percent of budget or two months of expenditures and concluded that measured against the total budget of around $8 million the balance is about 25 percent.

43. 3:40:24
    Lapsed funds and caution on using undesignated

    About $137,287 in unspent funds lapsed back into undesignated, with a further $8,000 into dedicated accounts. Board members said the town had drawn undesignated down too far in the past, and that a healthy balance reduces the need for tax anticipation borrowing, so they did not want to be more aggressive than $200,000.

44. 3:45:45
    Estimated tax impact and handover to the budget committee

    With $200,000 of undesignated applied, the worksheet showed an estimated mill rate of 20.62 and an all-in increase of about 3.6 percent, using placeholder 3 percent increases for school and county, with the municipal side about 1.3 percent and operating 1.9 percent. The municipal assessment is more than $300,000 under the levy limit. The board confirmed the article totals to pass to the budget committee, with Jerry Douglass and the chair to clarify how revenues and assigned funds are shown.

What was decided

• 51:32
  Appoint Kimberly and Devin Garneau as deputy clerk and deputy treasurer, moved by Josh Klein-Golden and seconded by Joe Tomm; the minutes record it carried 5-0passed
• 57:20
  Appoint Susan Hardison to the Durham scholarship committee, moved by Richard George and seconded by Todd Beaulieu; the minutes record it carried 5-0passed
• 57:20
  Approve consent agenda item 8A, the minutes of the January 10, 2023 select board meeting, moved by Josh Klein-Golden and seconded by Joe Tomm; the chair called it 4-0 and the minutes record 4-0-1passed
• 2:24:27
  Leave cemetery mowing with public works for a year and track what it costs, rather than restoring the contracted amount; agreed in workshop with no vote calledoutcome unclear
• 2:45:17
  Remove the $23,000 town office generator from the 2023 capital plan, pursue the EMA 50/50 grant instead, and hold the ARPA funds for Eureka Center technology upgrades; agreed in workshop with no vote calledoutcome unclear
• 3:45:45
  Confirm the article totals as amended, with $200,000 of undesignated fund balance applied, to be passed to the budget committee; the chair asked whether members were content and no vote was calledoutcome unclear
• 3:45:45
  Adjourn, moved by Richard George and seconded by Joe Tomm; the minutes record it carried 5-0passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from bosminutes_jan242023.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• appoint Kimberly and Devin Garneau as deputy clerk and deputy treasurercarried 5-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Tomm

• appoint Susan Hardisoncarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• accept the minutes from the January 10th, 2023 SB Meeting as presentedcarried 4-0-1

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Tomm

• adjourn the meetingcarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Joe Tomm

Worth knowing

• 5:49
  The Berry Talbot Royer proposal to take over payroll and accounts payable is $70,000 a year. Jerry Douglass said a comparably qualified in-house hire would cost about the same, and the firm's president is due at the February 14 meeting to answer questions.
• 2:13:08
  The administration article is up about $100,000, roughly a 23 percent increase, the largest of any article. The board declined to add a further $10,000 to the finance position and asked for the increase to be broken out between costs already fixed, such as the manager's and code enforcement salaries, and genuinely new spending.
• 34:33
  Salt deliveries that should arrive in 24 to 48 hours have been delayed because every town is ordering at once, and the new tandem plow truck is three to four weeks late because the plow gear did not fit the widened Freightliner frame.
• 3:45:45
  The worksheet showed an estimated all-in tax increase of 3.6 percent and an estimated mill rate of 20.62, using placeholder 3 percent increases for school and county that had not yet been set. The current mill rate is given as 20.70 in the discussion while 19.88 appears in the calculation, and the two figures conflict.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 2 passages of motion language, against 7 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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