Select Board Meeting ~ May 30, 2017

2017-05-30 · Select Board · 37:07 · watch on YouTube →

A short select board meeting with four members present. Routine business went through on the consent agenda (historic district commission appointments and a long-serving Conservation Commission member's resignation) and the board adopted a revised compliment, complaint and suggestion form along with a rough protocol for handling complaints that arrive by email or in person. A representative of the Pownal board asked whether Durham would keep lending its road commissioner month to month while Pownal hires its own, and Durham deferred an answer until it has spoken to Calvin Beaumier, while agreeing to a joint meeting on June 8. Beaumier then reported that the engineer on the stream crossing project recommends asking the town for $100,000, including a $25,000 contingency, appropriated from the public works capital reserve at a special town meeting rather than raised in taxes, and the board agreed to that figure and to a warrant for signing at the next meeting. He also reported that Bowie Hill Road can be done for 2,500 feet through the bad section within the current budget without cutting Cedar Pond short.

What was discussed

1. 0:02
   Call to order and agenda

   The chair called the meeting to order with four selectmen present and took the pledge. The agenda was amended to add an item to correspondence: notice of the death of Mrs. White, who ran the library at the Durham Community School for many years. The consent agenda was moved, seconded and voted.

2. 0:02
   Historic district commission appointments

   A representative of the commission attended to answer questions on a vacancy. Seth (?), a former member recently back from Afghanistan, would return as a regular member, with Chelsea Stewart Wallace, who is about to have a baby, moving from regular member to alternate, which would give the commission a full complement. It emerged partway through that the appointments had already gone through on the consent agenda.

3. 0:02
   Conservation Commission resignation

   The board accepted, with regret, the resignation of a Conservation Commission member of some 40 years' involvement who had also headed the planning board for many years.

4. 0:02
   Letter from the Durham Community School

   Members clarified that accepting the correspondence on the consent agenda only records receipt, not any action. Since the town has no donations fund beyond what is approved at town meeting, they agreed on a polite reply and asked Ruth Glaeser to draft it.

5. 5:06
   Board goals

   A member said the goal-setting workshop had been a good first step for brainstorming, but the usual next step is to pick two or three items off the list and build an action plan around them. The board agreed to hold another workshop rather than choose tonight, and to wait until after the June election so the fifth member is seated and can add to the list, with the aim of coming out with the goals to be worked on before the next town meeting.

6. 5:06
   The compliment, complaint and suggestion form

   Ruth Glaeser brought a revised form, the main change being that compliments are now an option, since the town does receive them. She explained the current practice: the original stays at the office, a copy goes to the relevant department head, and the copy comes back with what was done written on it. Members agreed the board should see complaints as a matter of course and that they should be tracked so that a resident who says they never heard back can be shown what was done.

7. 10:15
   How complaints should be handled

   Members agreed to put the form on the new website as a plain PDF for now and look into a fillable version later. Concerns arriving by email should be printed and attached to a form, selectmen should forward complaints they receive to Ruth Glaeser for distribution so the whole board sees them, and a response should be requested back from the department head within about a week, while recognising that not every complaint calls for action. On questions raised on the All Things Durham Facebook page, the sense was that it is generally better not to respond, though a simple question with a simple answer was thought harmless.

8. 10:15
   New form adopted

   A motion was made to accept the new format of the compliment, complaint and suggestion form, seconded and voted.

9. 15:29
   Pownal asks to keep sharing the road commissioner

   A representative of the Pownal board explained that its fiscal year does not end until July 1 and hiring a road commissioner could take a while, given how many similar vacancies are running in the MMA classifieds, and asked whether Durham would continue subbing out its road commissioner on a month-to-month basis at roughly the current rate, perhaps into September. Pownal needs a driver in place by autumn for the winter. Durham (?) said it had kicked several options around but had made no decision and wanted Calvin Beaumier's input first, and would have Ruth Glaeser pass on the answer.

10. 15:29
    Joint meeting rescheduled

    A joint meeting of the two boards had been planned and then overlooked. The two sides worked through dates and settled on the Thursday, June 8, at six o'clock, held in Pownal since Durham hosted the last one, ahead of Pownal's town meeting on the 19th. Ruth Glaeser will confirm it by email once both boards have checked.

11. 15:29
    Administrator's items

    Ruth Glaeser said she will be away from July 8 to July 22 but reachable by phone, and flagged a meeting on the 13th. She hoped to have the new town website up and running on Monday and asked members to look through it and email her about any broken links or anything that needs replacing or adding.

12. 21:16
    Stream crossings: the engineer's $100,000 recommendation

    Calvin Beaumier reported the engineer's reasoning for asking the town for $100,000: if something unforeseen turns up, going back to the town for more would not be well received, whereas anything not used simply returns to the fund it came from. The figure includes a $25,000 contingency against an unsuitable base or footings having to go deeper. The plans are not back yet (the engineer is waiting on figures from another firm to finish the costing) but he expects them by the next meeting.

13. 26:17
    Where the money comes from and how it gets approved

    The money would come from the public works capital reserve, which members put at somewhere over $320,000, so nothing is being raised in taxes; the town's permission is still needed to spend from reserve, which means a special town meeting posted for ten days. That would be a separate meeting on a single warrant article, distinct from the June 13 special election. Members noted the only accounts that can be overspent are winter roads and general assistance, and recalled the Eureka Center needing town permission to take a few hundred dollars from its own fund to buy a stove.

14. 31:24
    The case to put to the town

    Members settled on the recommended $100,000 and on the narrative for the floor: the road is collapsing so the work has to happen, grants cover most of it (the state is expected to put in around $200,000 across the two crossings) and the town is asking only for a cushion out of money already in reserve, not for new tax revenue. Getting two grants at once was described as unusual and probably a reflection of how bad the crossings are. Beaumier will put together a warrant for the board to sign at the next meeting and find a date, checking building availability.

15. 31:24
    Bowie Hill Road

    Beaumier had spent about three hours with All State on Bowie Hill Road and reported there is enough money to do 2,500 feet, from Davis down through the bad section. Two approaches are still under discussion: three inches of reclaimed DOT surface material, a high quality all-virgin product, with a double chip seal, or an inch and a half of it plus an inch and a half of cold mix and then a chip seal. Either fits the current budget, and without cutting Cedar Pond short as he had expected to have to.

16. 36:25
    Upcoming meetings and the June 13 vote

    Regular meetings were announced for Tuesday June 13 and Tuesday June 27, both at 6:30. The RSU referendum and the elections for select board and budget committee are on June 13 at the Durham Community School, with the polls open from 8 to 8. The board then moved to take its two executive sessions, beginning with the road commissioner's.

What was decided

• 0:02
  Accept the consent agenda as presented, which carried the historic district commission appointments (Seth (?) as a regular member and Chelsea Stewart Wallace moving to alternate) and the acceptance of a Conservation Commission member's resignation. Moved and seconded; the board confirmed later in the meeting that it had been approved.passed
• 0:02
  Send a polite acknowledgement in reply to the letter from the Durham Community School, explaining that the town has no donations fund beyond what is approved at town meeting, with Ruth Glaeser to draft it.passed
• 5:06
  Hold a further goal-setting workshop rather than pick goals tonight, and wait until after the June election so the fifth board member is seated, with the aim of coming out of that workshop with a defined set of goals to work on before the next town meeting.passed
• 10:15
  Accept the new format of the compliment, complaint and suggestion form. Moved and seconded.passed
• 10:15
  Agreed a handling practice for complaints: put the form on the new website as a PDF, print and attach emailed concerns, have selectmen forward anything they receive to Ruth Glaeser so the whole board sees it, and ask the relevant department head to report back within about a week so follow-up can be tracked. Members also agreed it is generally better NOT to respond to matters raised on the town's Facebook page.passed
• 15:29
  On Pownal's request to keep sharing Durham's road commissioner month to month, the board made no decision, saying it wanted Calvin Beaumier's input first and would have Ruth Glaeser relay its answer once made.tabled
• 15:29
  Hold the joint meeting of the Durham and Pownal boards on Thursday June 8 at six o'clock, in Pownal, subject to both boards confirming through Ruth Glaeser.passed
• 31:24
  Go with the engineer's recommended $100,000 for the stream crossing project, to be appropriated from the public works capital reserve at a special town meeting on a single warrant article rather than raised in taxes, with anything unused returning to the reserve. No separate motion was taken; Calvin Beaumier will bring a warrant for the board to sign at the next meeting and identify a date.passed

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

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from select_minutes_may_30_2017.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.

• accept Russell Jabaut's resignation with regretcarried 4-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Richard George

• Approve the Consent Agenda as Amendedcarried 4-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• approve the New Compliment/Complaint/Suggestion form as presentedcarried 4-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• the Board into Executive Session pursuant to Title #1, M.R.S.A. ss. 405(6)(A) — Personnel — at 7:10 p.m., preceded by a brief recesscarried 4-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Kevin Nadeau

• approve pay rates as agreed upon in Executive Sessioncarried 4-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Kevin Nadeau

• make Calvin Beaumier as the full time Road Commissioner as of July 1%* 2017carried 4-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• allow the contract with Pownal to expire as of June 30" 2017 and not enter into a monthly continuation of the agreement with Pownalcarried 4-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Kevin Nadeau

• deny poverty abatement until additional information is requested and receivedcarried 4-0

  Moved by Mark Blake, seconded by Kevin Nadeau

• Adjourn at 8:02 p.mcarried 4-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

Worth knowing

• 21:16
  The engineer on the stream crossing project recommends asking the town for $100,000, which includes a $25,000 contingency against an unsuitable base or deeper footings, on the reasoning that going back to the town a second time would not be well received. The money would come from the public works capital reserve rather than taxes, would need a special town meeting to release, and anything unused goes straight back into the reserve.
• 31:24
  Bowie Hill Road can be done for 2,500 feet, from Davis down through the bad section, within the current budget and without cutting Cedar Pond short, which the road commissioner had expected to have to do. The choice is between three inches of reclaimed DOT surface material with a double chip seal, or an inch and a half of it plus an inch and a half of cold mix.
• 15:29
  Pownal (?) asked Durham to keep lending its road commissioner month to month, possibly into September, because Pownal's fiscal year does not end until July 1 and there are a lot of similar vacancies advertised. Durham would not answer until it had spoken to Calvin Beaumier.
• 10:15
  The town's compliment, complaint and suggestion form has been revised and will go on the new website. Residents are encouraged to put concerns in writing rather than raise them by phone or in passing, and the board agreed to ask department heads to report back on each within about a week so follow-up can be traced.

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: 1 passage of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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