Select Board Meeting ~ November 14, 2023

2023-11-14 · Select Board · 2:39:18 · watch on YouTube →

A Select Board meeting on 14 November 2023, restarted partway through and streamed from an iPhone after audio-visual problems in the town system. The Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation asked Durham to put $10,000 in the coming budget, and the board agreed it should go to the voters in April as its own warrant article. The Conservation Commission brought the resolution that completes Durham's entry into the state's Community Resilience Partnership, which the board adopted, designating the commission as coordinator and opening the town to no-match grant funding. The longest discussion was about space: the town manager wants to partition the meeting room to create an office, which means the board meeting somewhere else, and members pushed back on both the Eureka Center and the fire station before directing him to cost out the partition, find a temporary venue, and bring back a long-term plan for expanding the town office. The manager also reported the town's financial position, a cooperative electricity contract cutting the rate from about 16 or 17 cents to 10 cents a kilowatt hour, and that the town is currently a staff member short.

What was discussed

1. 0:09
   Restarting the meeting on a phone

   The chair explained the meeting had started earlier and had to switch platforms because of audio-visual problems in the town system, so it was being streamed from an iPhone. The Pledge of Allegiance and the motion to remove the minutes from the consent agenda had already taken place before the stream resumed.

2. 0:09
   Public comment and old business

   No one came forward for public comment and the session was closed. There was no old business.

3. 0:09
   Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation

   Stephanie Paine explained the group is the Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation, a 501(c)(3) started in 2021, and introduced former superintendent Becky Foley, newly joined to their board. They asked Durham to include $10,000 in this year's budget to support Freeport High School graduates going on to certificate programmes, vocational training or two or four-year degrees.

4. 0:09
   What the foundation has awarded so far

   Two scholarships were awarded in 2021, three in 2022 and two more this year, so seven students are currently supported, six of them at $5,000 a year for four years. Three of the seven are from Durham, studying nursing, welding, theater and civil engineering.

5. 0:09
   The endowment and its goal

   The foundation holds $1.1 million against a goal of $2 million, which would fund four new scholarships a year, supporting 16 students at a time in perpetuity. Stephanie Paine said the funds are professionally managed and invested because the scholarship is intended to be endowed and go on indefinitely.

6. 0:09
   The mentorship programme

   Mentors are matched to students' interests, with one Durham student paired with retired teacher Diane Whitmore over a shared love of theater. A student studying nursing was paired with an emergency room doctor and shadowed her for a senior project.

7. 5:53
   Getting the word out in Durham

   A board member asked whether this belonged in the town newsletter, and Stephanie Paine said they were already working on a piece with photographs and had used the Pownal and Freeport news blasts, the polls and a school craft fair. She said Freeport had been covered well but Pownal and Durham had been harder, and asked for at least one Durham resident to join their board.

8. 5:53
   Where to leave brochures

   Brochures were left at the town office and members suggested the farm on Route 136 and the Christmas tree farms, which are about to get a lot of traffic. The high school principal is on the foundation's board and works to publicise it at the school.

9. 5:53
   Applications and the vocational route

   About 32 students applied last year and two scholarships were awarded. With community college now free the need there has shifted, so the foundation is looking at what else a vocational student needs, such as getting to the campus, living costs and equipment.

10. 11:06
    Supporting certificate students

    The foundation described supporting a young woman on a free welding certificate programme with the costs that are not covered, such as special boots and tools. Scholarships are also awarded in a student's junior year so they know the help is coming as they apply.

11. 11:06
    Where the million came from

    The money is mostly private donations, together with an older scholarship fund that had sat under the town of Freeport and was awarded irregularly before being folded in. Stephanie Paine said 20 to 25 percent of RSU 5 students are on free or reduced lunch, so the need is there and many applicants are first generation.

12. 11:06
    Getting the request in ahead of budget season

    A member noted the foundation had come in just before budget season last year, too late to act on, and that this time the board could get the question in front of the voters in April. The manager would include it in the proposed budget.

13. 11:06
    Whether it should be its own article

    Members discussed the precedent of a single article covering social and community service agencies with the amounts broken out, and the way the baseball programme's roughly $2,500 sits inside the budget. The view that prevailed was that this should be its own separate article, since the foundation is not a town organization the way the baseball programme is and could be asked to speak on its own behalf.

14. 16:14
    Earmarking the request

    Members agreed to earmark the request now and settle the wording during the budget process, noting other organizations such as the snowmobile club have asked in past years. A member said he had already written it into his notes so it would not be lost from the docket.

15. 16:14
    Community Resilience Partnership (?) introduced

    Roberta Brezinski and Michael Friendly of the Durham Conservation Commission came forward with Rebecca Lynn Ronson of 207 Permaculture, the town's service provider for the process. They asked the board to approve a resolution completing the final step for joining the state's Community Resilience Partnership, a process the select board began by approving a letter of support on 22 March 2022.

16. 16:14
    What joining makes the town eligible for

    Membership makes Durham eligible to apply for up to $50,000 in no-match funding through the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation, for projects that avoid the impacts and cost of failing to prepare for extreme weather. Gray and New Gloucester are partnering with Durham, and projects identified in common would unlock additional funding.

17. 21:19
    The three steps completed

    The first step, a self-assessment of what planning the town already does and what remains, was completed by the fire chief and town manager Jerry Douglass with added comments from the Conservation Commission. The second was a public workshop on 15 March 2023 at the Durham school, attended by perhaps 40 people, backed by resident interviews, a municipal employee workshop on 25 July 2023 and an online survey.

18. 21:19
    What the resolution does

    The third step, the reason for the visit, is adopting a municipal resolution designating either a citizen committee or a municipal employee to coordinate work making the community more resilient to climate change. The risks named were increased flooding, extreme weather, drought and public health impacts, as distinct from historical risks already covered through the county hazard mitigation plan.

19. 21:19
    Why the actions were chosen from the state's list

    To get no-match funding a town has to choose from the actions the state has laid out; other actions require a 10 percent town match, so the commission did not pursue them. The area that rose to the top from their research was designing for resilience, and the projects marked in yellow on the chart were those judged to add capacity for the town.

20. 26:22
    The background work behind the choices

    Subject matter experts reviewed the comprehensive plan against the state's climate strategies, and census material on social vulnerability was gathered, with a packet handed out at the community meeting. Roberta Brezinski described the selection as not strictly scientific: they read through the interviews and comments and sorted them into the strategy areas.

21. 26:22
    Storm debris and a resilience plan

    The commission said the town plans well for low-risk events such as a culvert washing out, but a hurricane would require identifying contractors beyond the single company public works currently uses for grinding trees, and the debris might not just be trees. A climate resilience plan would set out what the town does now, what is coming and where the gaps are.

22. 26:22
    Vulnerable residents and a peer-to-peer programme

    The plan would identify vulnerable community members beyond the usual focus on elderly residents, including anyone without a car who cannot get to a heating or cooling center. A peer-to-peer programme was proposed so those people could be telephoned and asked whether they have a way to get there.

23. 26:22
    Warning systems and signage

    Another project covers early warning systems and community evacuation plans. Staff had long wanted an electronic sign, possibly at the Eureka Center, to show where the heating or cooling center is during extreme weather, though the commission could not say for certain that the funding would cover it.

24. 31:55
    How the state handles applications

    All the identified projects can go into one grant application and the state decides what to approve. Rebecca Lynn Ronson said there is a track record of approving the whole package where the application is strong, sometimes with modifications.

25. 31:55
    A volunteer resource for private property

    Roberta Brezinski described a veterans organization that travels to clean up private homes after major events, with its Maine volunteer representative based at a local farm, which she had visited after speaking to Calvin. Because the town cannot help private roads or private residences, members saw the value of that model, and one recalled a resident trying informally to organise checks on elderly neighbours during last year's storms.

26. 31:55
    What the resolution does and does not commit to

    Members confirmed the resolution joins the partnership and makes the town eligible; the grant application comes afterwards and can be delayed. The designated body would pick the projects, apply, and come back to the select board, which would then have a second chance to approve the project.

27. 37:03
    Designating the Conservation Commission

    Asked whether he was comfortable with the commission rather than a municipal employee as point of contact, Jerry Douglass said he had put the commission in himself, because staff are already stretched and he did not want to add to their plate.

28. 37:03
    How the joint funding works

    Asked whether the $50,000 would be shared between the three towns, Rebecca Lynn Ronson said it is either or: a town goes in independently for $50,000 or jointly for $125,000, not both at once. Funded joint projects elsewhere have included sharing a sustainability planner, green economy and agriculture and forestry work, and waste management.

29. 37:03
    A sub-regional resilience plan

    Rebecca Lynn Ronson noted there are 72 actions in the partnership's list and that project F1 is the one all three towns identified independently. She suggested a sub-regional cohort of the three towns, perhaps with others, doing a resiliency plan and full vulnerability assessment together, which would set Durham's needs in the context of neighbouring towns.

30. 37:03
    Motion on the resolution

    A member moved to support and adopt the resolution with the Conservation Commission designated. Asked for discussion, another member said it was hard to see a downside to money.

31. 42:52
    Publicising the work

    Members asked that the material be added to the Conservation Commission's section of the town website, including any report or summary of the survey results, to help build community support. Rebecca Lynn Ronson suggested approaching Pownal as another rural town and noted county boundaries have not been an obstacle to these partnerships.

32. 42:52
    Budget timeline: the 12 December workshop

    Jerry Douglass explained that some budget committee members did not understand or agree with the notes in the audit, so he invited Mark to come with the budget committee to answer their questions. He said an audit is a picture as of 31 December that changes the very next day as revenues and cash move, and that everyone needed to understand it going into budget season.

33. 48:28
    The 26 December meeting

    Members discussed moving the December meetings a week earlier to avoid the week of Christmas and back-to-back meetings, with one member out of state from 24 to 30 December. Because Christmas falls on a Monday and is observed then, the office would be open on the 26th, and members discussed whether staff should be given that day.

34. 48:28
    What a December meeting would need to cover

    Members agreed any meeting that week would be an essentials meeting to sign warrants and approve payroll rather than to discuss anything substantive, needing three members. An alternative floated was for members simply to come in during the week and sign the warrant.

35. 54:15
    The motion to move the meeting is withdrawn

    A member moved to move the 26 December meeting to the 19th, and another said he might be in trial that week and was opposed. Since the manager will not propose the budget until January, members concluded there was no budget business needing December, and the mover withdrew the motion so the question could be settled on 12 December.

36. 54:15
    Where the capital requests sit in the process

    A member asked about the initial review of capital improvement materials the board did on 24 October. That first look is so the board can stop anything it would never fund before the CIP committee spends time ranking it; the requests are now with the committee.

37. 1:00:06
    Whether that first look is still needed

    Members noted the existing CIP policy was written when Durham had a town administrator rather than a town manager, and that the board had to do that step itself then. Once the policies are updated to the town manager plan, that step may fall to the manager and the rankings would simply come to the board.

38. 1:05:24
    Whose budget is whose

    Jerry Douglass explained the sequence: he presents his proposed budget, the board can change the numbers, and what the budget committee then vets is the select board's budget rather than his. He said state law provides for a manager's budget, a select board's budget and a budget committee budget, and that he wanted to return to running it the way it was designed.

39. 1:05:24
    The dates in the timeline

    The CIP committee forwards its final rankings to the select board through the town manager around 30 November, so the board sees them at the 12 December meeting without voting on them. Budget packets with the manager's proposed budget and supporting documents are complete and ready for pick-up at the town office on 5 January.

40. 1:11:07
    No joint meeting with the budget committee this year

    A member noted that in recent years the board and budget committee heard the department presentations together, and asked whether that was changing. Jerry Douglass said he would attend all the meetings to answer questions from any group, and members observed the joint sessions ran four or five hours with fifteen people asking questions at once.

41. 1:11:07
    A proposed budget information session

    Heather Roy proposed holding an informational session on the budget before town meeting, as the town does for ordinance changes, so residents can hear the reasoning behind the numbers rather than meeting them for the first time in the warrant. She acknowledged it need not involve the whole board.

42. 1:16:17
    Caution about the burden on staff

    Another member said the difficulty is that the questions have to be answered by staff who are already coming in on Saturdays through budget season and dealing with storms, and that there are already sessions planned on housing and solar. He noted every meeting is filmed and online and that questions get answered thoroughly on town meeting floor, and warned against overloading a minimal staff.

43. 1:16:17
    The Eureka Center and where the board should meet

    Members turned to the Eureka Center, which previous boards had discussed improving so meetings could be held there. At the recent CIP presentation the town manager had instead suggested the fire station, because if the meeting room is partitioned to create an office the board needs somewhere else to meet.

44. 1:21:24
    Why the manager wants to partition this room

    Jerry Douglass said reconfiguring the town office for more office space was already a board goal. The back room holds the server with nowhere else to put it and would need a window cut, the bathroom is too small and would leave the building with one unisex facility, and the storage room is full and needed, so partitioning the meeting room into an office and a smaller conference room is the only economical option.

45. 1:21:24
    The state of the Eureka Center

    The furnace at the Eureka Center has been disconnected, leaving heat pumps that do not keep up in cold weather, and during cold weather water froze and leaked. There are four poles in the middle of the room, it is a community center used for cribbage on Tuesday nights, and a staff member would have to go over and set it up for each board meeting.

46. 1:21:24
    The case for a dedicated board room

    Jerry Douglass argued a town of Durham's size should have a board room that is set up and ready, where the microphones and cameras are switched on and the meeting begins, rather than putting out plastic chairs and tables each time. He said he would implement whatever the board wanted but thought a town should have a proper one.

47. 1:26:44
    Objections to the fire station and public works

    Members raised that a fire call during a meeting would empty or fill the room, that the same space is used for debriefing afterwards, and that it doubles as the town's heating and cooling facility. Public works drew similar objections over plows moving in and out during storms and parking.

48. 1:26:44
    Could staff work from public works

    Heather Roy asked whether the codes officer, the planner or anyone else could work from an office at the public works building, given how much space appeared to be available on the tour. She also asked for an inventory of the town's spaces and how they could be used, leading to a plan, saying that is what she looks to the town manager to bring the board.

49. 1:32:03
    The 2006 plan and the cost of the Eureka Center

    Jerry Douglass said the town had studied adding onto the town office with a board room back in 2006, and the question had been tabled for seventeen years. He had vetted the fire station idea with the chief before proposing it, and put internet at the Eureka Center at about $100 to install and $164 a month, with the real cost being infrastructure and furniture.

50. 1:32:03
    Firm opposition to moving codes and planning

    A member said moving the codes officer out of the building would be a mistake and that he would be one hundred percent opposed, with nothing anyone could say to change his mind, since codes and planning work together and people walk in without appointments. Members agreed staff space matters more than the board's meeting space and said they would accept a less than ideal venue for a few months.

51. 1:37:21
    Why a partition rather than cubicles

    Asked why cubicle dividers would not do, Jerry Douglass said he needs a door because he holds confidential conversations with attorneys and with employees, and even now can hear and be heard through a closed door. He said the point of the change is to give the manager's role, whoever holds it, somewhere those conversations can happen out of earshot.

52. 1:37:21
    The manager asks for direction

    Jerry Douglass said he could propose anything but did not want to spin his wheels doing work the board had no appetite for, and asked which direction it wanted: the Eureka Center, an addition to this building, or something else. Members countered that they wanted a recommendation from him, since he knows the employees, the town and the space best.

53. 1:42:51
    Not to microwave the process

    Richard George argued for bringing in a municipal firm to look properly at what a town this size needs for its infrastructure and staff, rather than lay people on a select board deciding, and warned against rushing something short term that would have to be undone. He floated renting a temporary modular office or moving the existing modular as interim options.

54. 1:42:51
    The case for expanding this building

    Josh Klein-Golden said the board was beating around the bush: the town needs more space, a purpose-built addition would be better than converting a community center into a part-time board room, and the existing room already looks professional on video. He said he would be inclined to tell the manager to explore adding onto the town office.

55. 1:48:04
    The GPCOG study

    Heather Roy raised a GPCOG grant she recalled at around $8,000 to look at this area, and whether it could pay for someone to come in and design the space. Jerry Douglass said the consultant is working with George, has sent two timelines and has not fulfilled it yet, and that it would probably not happen until spring.

56. 1:48:04
    Which meetings actually need the room

    Jerry Douglass noted that only the meetings that are filmed and streamed, such as the select board and planning board, need the equipped room. Committee meetings such as the historic district commission and solid waste committee already happen at the Eureka Center or elsewhere without cameras.

57. 1:58:18
    Employees before the board room

    Members agreed the employees' space matters more than the board's, and that they would rather meet somewhere less than ideal for a year than leave staff as they are. One member cautioned against an interim fix that costs money and then has to be torn out, saying the partition should not go in if it will only work for a year or two.

58. 1:58:18
    Using the school

    Heather Roy suggested the school, where the town has held public information sessions on marijuana and on the comprehensive plan and where the school board holds its budget meetings, using the cafeteria so as not to conflict with the gym. Jerry Douglass agreed to explore whether that would work.

59. 2:04:10
    The direction the board settled on

    The direction given was for Jerry Douglass to cost out turning the room into the office he needs, find a temporary meeting space at the school or the fire station, and develop a long-term plan to expand the town office over the next couple of years, bringing in a designer as Richard George (?) had suggested. The AMVETS hall, whose upstairs has been redone, was also floated as an option.

60. 2:04:10
    Manager's report: Union Church

    Jerry Douglass had forwarded the structural report for the Union Church to Bill Snider (?), who is expected to call a meeting on it. A member asked that it come to the board by the 12th, given the possibility of only one meeting in December.

61. 2:04:10
    Historic District Commission chair

    Jerry Douglass reported that Lois, who resigned as chair while remaining on the commission, is willing to take the chair again, subject to the commission electing her. That means the commission can hold meetings and review permits if one is pulled in the district, where otherwise someone from Maine Preservation would have been needed and a member noted the town would have had to pay someone to moderate.

62. 2:14:26
    Financial reporting transition

    Mark Roy has the accounting transition about 95 percent complete, with account coding still being translated and the next budget set to look different. From 1 January the board will start receiving budget-to-actual reports; Jerry Douglass said questions should go to him or to Mark rather than becoming an email discussion.

63. 2:14:26
    Where the departments stand

    About 16.67 percent should remain in each department's budget at this point in the year. Administration had 22.4 percent remaining, assessing 27.6, telecommunications 26.9, planning 39.2, fire 16, animal control 1 as a fixed cost, public works 17.8, solid waste 21.6, parks and recreation 36.3 and Eureka 19.6, while municipal buildings, covering heat, electricity and fuel, was at minus 4 percent.

64. 2:14:26
    The town's overall position

    The total town budget, including county and school, was given as a little over $10 million, with actual expenditures to date of $8,763,765 and 15.2 percent remaining. Jerry Douglass attributed the overrun on municipal buildings to not estimating CMP and fuel costs well enough in a year of steep increases.

65. 2:14:26
    Cooperative electricity and fuel contracts

    Jerry Douglass reported joining a cooperative electricity bid, so from December the town pays 10 cents a kilowatt hour instead of the 16 or 17 cents it had been paying CMP. He also moved fuel onto a fixed cost rather than the rack-plus arrangement under which the town had at times paid $3, making the budget more stable.

66. 2:14:26
    Affordable housing meeting not streamed

    A member asked why the planning board's affordable housing meeting the following night at the fire department would not be live streamed, as residents had asked. Jerry Douglass said there is no capability to stream from there, but that if the board moves over, the infrastructure would be installed.

67. 2:19:27
    Solid waste committee's remit

    Calvin attends the solid waste committee in an advisory capacity and reported the members were unsure of their purpose. Board members set out their understanding: explore long-term options for trash removal, given the current contractor will not renew without automated pickup requiring a new truck, looking at models such as North Yarmouth's three sectors and at composting and other organizations.

68. 2:19:27
    The committee's progress and the RFP

    The committee has met twice, first to organise itself, review bylaws and elect a chair, vice chair and secretary, and second to go through the tonnage and price data and the contract. Jerry Douglass will put out the request for proposals and wants it back by the middle to third week of December so the numbers are available for the budget.

69. 2:19:27
    Workshops on town policies

    Heather Roy asked the board to give explicit direction that it wants to hold policy workshops in a round-table format at the start of meetings. Another member said the first priority should be converting policies written for a town administrator to reflect the town manager form of government, and a third suggested starting with an inventory of the existing written policies.

70. 2:24:43
    The personnel policy and timing

    Jerry Douglass said the personnel policy is almost done and would come to the board at an appropriate time, since budget season takes precedence and the discussion could run long. Members agreed most of the remaining work is changing references from town administrator to town manager, with some straightforward policies such as no smoking.

71. 2:24:43
    Asking department heads what they lack

    Heather Roy also wanted department heads asked which policies they lack in order to do their jobs, giving as an example a public health situation the fire chief, as health officer, has no policy to work from. Other members distinguished that from personnel matters, which sit with the manager and only reach the board when a policy change is proposed.

72. 2:30:18
    An undesignated fund balance policy

    Jerry Douglass raised whether the board wants an undesignated fund balance policy, saying he could put one together at perhaps two to three months of expenditures but would rather be told what the board wants than draft it several times. Members thought it a good idea but not before budget season.

73. 2:30:18
    Policies on the next agenda

    The board settled on putting a policy discussion on the 28 November agenda, with Jerry Douglass photocopying the existing policies from the binder for members and flagging those he sees as immediate needs. Heather Roy said she did not want to keep talking about it without action, and wanted someone made responsible.

74. 2:30:18
    Staff absence

    Jerry Douglass reported the town is down a staff person whose role he described as important, saying he could not share the details but that she is fine. He noted it slows the work when others have to pick up something they do not normally do, particularly heading into the busiest season of the year.

75. 2:35:29
    Consent agenda and warrants

    The board took the consent agenda, with the minutes of 24 October already removed, and signed the 10 November and 14 November warrants, both payable. Members noted in passing that a selectman who missed a meeting can still approve its minutes by watching the recording.

76. 2:35:29
    Upcoming meetings and executive session

    The next select board meetings were given as 28 November and 12 December 2023, with the planning board convening on 6 December. The chair then moved the board into executive session on a personnel matter and the recording ends mid-sentence.

What was decided

• 0:09
  Remove the minutes of the 24 October meeting from the consent agenda, because board members had been absent from that meeting. The motion was made before the stream resumed and was described by the chair; the minutes record it as moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy, carried 4-0.passed
• 16:14
  Include the Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation's $10,000 request in the coming budget as its own separate warrant article, rather than folding it into a combined social and community service agencies article or into the administrative budget as the baseball programme's funding is. Agreed in discussion; no formal vote was taken, and the exact wording was left to the budget process.passed
• 37:03
  Support and adopt the resolution completing Durham's entry into the Community Resilience Partnership, designating the Conservation Commission to coordinate the planning, implementation and monitoring of energy and resilience projects and to be the primary point of contact. Moved and seconded, and although the vote itself is indistinct in the recording, a participant shortly afterwards refers to the resolution as passed and the town as about to join the partnership.passed
• 54:15
  Motion to move the 26 December meeting to 19 December. After a member said he might be in trial that week and objected, and members established no budget business needs December because the manager does not propose the budget until January, the mover withdrew the motion. The schedule stands as it is and whether to cancel the 26 December meeting will be decided on 12 December.tabled
• 2:04:10
  Direct the town manager to cost out partitioning the meeting room to create the office he needs, to find a temporary meeting space with the school explored first and the fire station remaining an option, and to bring back a long-term plan for expanding the town office, using an outside designer or municipal firm. Given as direction rather than a vote; the manager said explicitly he needed no vote, only direction.passed
• 2:30:18
  Put a policy discussion on the agenda for the 28 November meeting, with the town manager to copy the existing written policies for members beforehand and flag those he considers immediate needs, starting with converting administrator-era policies to the town manager form. Agreed in discussion; no formal vote was taken.passed
• 2:35:29
  Accept the consent agenda, with the 24 October minutes already removed, and sign the 10 November and 14 November warrants, both payable. The minutes record the motion by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy, carried 4-0.passed
• 2:35:29
  Go into executive session on a personnel matter. The chair began stating the statutory citation and the recording ends mid-sentence, so no motion, second or vote is audible.outcome unclear

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 sb_meeting_minutes_11_14_23.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.

• remove the October 24th meeting minutes from the consent agenda, due to board members absent from previous meetingcarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy

• accept the consent agendacarried 4-0

  Moved by Josh Klein-Golden, seconded by Joe Roy

Worth knowing

• 2:14:26
  With about 16.67 percent of the year's budget expected to remain, the municipal buildings account covering heat, electricity and fuel was already 4 percent overspent. The manager put the town into a cooperative electricity bid taking the rate from about 16 or 17 cents a kilowatt hour down to 10 from December, and onto a fixed fuel price instead of rack-plus.
• 1:21:24
  The Eureka Center is in poorer shape than the discussion of moving meetings there implied: the furnace has been disconnected leaving only heat pumps that do not keep up in cold weather, water froze and leaked, there are four poles in the middle of the room, there is no internet, and it is rented out and used for cribbage.
• 0:09
  The Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation asked Durham for $10,000. It holds $1.1 million toward a $2 million goal and currently supports seven students, three of them from Durham, six of whom receive $5,000 a year for four years.
• 1:32:03
  The town office space problem is not new: a study of adding onto the building with a board room was done in 2006 and has sat since. The manager asked the board for direction so as not to spin his wheels, while board members told him they wanted a recommendation from him instead.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 4 passages of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

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