April 28, 2020 ~ Select Board Meeting

2020-04-28 · Select Board · 1:17:15 · watch on YouTube →

A Zoom Select Board meeting six weeks into the COVID-19 shutdown. The recording begins mid-discussion with Pine Tree Waste, which agreed to draft a six-month contract at the negotiated year-one rate so the town can bridge to a town meeting it cannot yet hold. The board extended the one-free-bag trash tag suspension through May 31, cancelled the Memorial Day parade, and spent most of the meeting on how to hold a town meeting at all, settling on the assumption that a secret ballot referendum piggybacked on the July 14 state election is legal for Durham and limited to budget and business articles. Ruth Glaeser laid out the alternative of operating on last year's budget article by article, the tax commitment deadline of roughly the end of July, and the need for a tax anticipation note. The board declined to send a letter of support for reclassifying the Androscoggin River, authorised Ruth Glaeser to sign the Civic Plus web hosting contract, accepted the consent agenda, and scheduled an extra meeting for May 5.

What was discussed

1. 0:02
   Pine Tree Waste contract: the recycling cost

   The recording opens mid-sentence with the hauler's representatives already speaking. They asked the town to at least cover the recycling disposal cost from July 1 while the collection side of the new contract waits on a town meeting vote, saying the recycling market is the big number and that they have been funding it under existing contracts everywhere.

2. 0:02
   A six-month bridging contract

   Rob Pontau asked why the board could not sign a six-month agreement on the terms already negotiated through the RFP, since the bar is on committing future boards to a multi-year contract. Ruth Glaeser (?) said the board could do that and that the sticking point is the budget: the last payment under the current contract falls in July and the new recycling prices would not hit until August. The current contract runs to June 30.

3. 5:27
   Pine Tree agrees to draft it

   Nate and Erica of Pine Tree Waste agreed to draw up a six-month contract at the monthly rate from year one of their three-year proposal, with options written in for a further six months and for years two and three so their legal team only has to do it once. The board will review and vote on it at the next meeting.

4. 5:27
   Bulky waste day

   The board asked whether bulky waste day, normally the third Saturday in May and already under consideration for cutting from the budget, could still happen. Pine Tree (?) said North Yarmouth had moved its own to September at best for 2020 and that Durham could do the same since the item is priced separately. Whether a September event would still be covered by this year's contract or billed on top was left open.

5. 5:27
   Effect of suspending trash tags

   Asked what a month without tagging had done, Pine Tree (?) said Durham's trash was up about a ton to a ton and a half a week and recycling about a ton, but that this matches what they see across all municipalities with people working from home and no restaurants, so the free bag is probably not skewing the numbers much. They contrasted it with Portland, which dropped pay-as-you-throw entirely and saw tonnages go through the roof, and said giving one bag free while keeping tags beyond that struck the right balance.

6. 10:29
   Trash tags for May

   The one free bag policy had been set for April with a commitment to revisit it. With the town office still closed, the board moved and carried an extension through the end of May by roll call.

7. 10:29
   Memorial Day parade

   Ruth Glaeser (?) reported the governor had that day extended the stay-at-home order to the end of May, with the limit on gatherings likely 10 in May and 50 thereafter through July or August. Kevin Nadeau moved to cancel the parade outright and leave any discussion of a later parade to a point when the town knows what is possible.

8. 15:34
   Alternatives to a parade

   Members floated a vehicle cruise instead of floats, with public works trucks, fire apparatus and cars driving most of the roads in town blowing horns while residents watched from the end of their driveways, possibly with a senior riding in each car. It was noted that the Memorial Day committee is down to three dedicated members and has been looking for help, so there is no group standing ready to organise something new.

9. 15:34
   Town meeting options

   Kevin Nadeau said that after meeting Ruth Glaeser earlier in the week, the only way to get residents voting on anything is a secret ballot referendum with every warrant article on the ballot. Ruth (?) said Richmond is proceeding that way while Fairfield's lawyers told it that it cannot, on a reading of Title 30-A requiring a prior authorising vote, and that she still needed the Maine Municipal Association's view and to speak with Jack.

10. 20:37
    Why Durham thinks it can

    Kevin Nadeau said the provision applies to towns that have never adopted secret ballot voting for electing their officers; Durham adopted it several years ago and so can send any question to referendum. The board agreed to proceed on that assumption and keep checking, adjusting if it turns out to be wrong.

11. 20:37
    What to put on the warrant

    A ballot could carry 25 to 40 questions, all hand counted, with only a remote public hearing available. The suggestion was to hold back the land use ordinance articles and the marijuana articles, decide separately on the town manager question, and keep it to budget articles and the housekeeping business articles at the end of the warrant.

12. 20:37
    Consolidating articles and the school vote

    A member asked whether the town could present one budget up or down as the school does; Kevin Nadeau explained the school's budget validation referendum follows an actual town meeting that still goes article by article. The RSU's own meeting, tentatively June 17, looks unlikely, its July 14 validation referendum is in doubt, and there had been talk of asking the governor to waive validation this year. The board wants to consolidate budget articles where it can without forcing voters to accept things they oppose to get things they want.

13. 25:52
    The option of not voting at all

    A member asked why the town could not simply keep operating on last year's budget under the executive order and hold a town meeting when allowed, noting next year's proposed spending is lower except for bond payments. Ruth Glaeser (?) said taxes have to be committed by about the end of July and can only be committed once, so whatever is committed is what the town lives with for the rest of this year and the first three months of next.

14. 25:52
    Constraints of running on last year's budget

    Operating on last year's budget binds the town article by article, not just to a total, so the administrative line would almost certainly be overspent given election expenses and the hiring and training of a new town clerk. County assessments are already up and the schools are looking at a little under 2 percent, both of which eat into what is left for municipal spending. Ruth Glaeser and Kevin Nadeau disagreed on whether the constraint is the municipal commitment or the total raised, and agreed an opinion is needed.

15. 31:02
    Reallocating between lines

    A member asked whether money could be shifted between departments under last year's budget, for example from public works to administration. The answer was that it is article by article, but that an overage can be cleaned up afterwards with voter approval at a town meeting, as was done for a minor fire department overage last year.

16. 31:02
    Timing of the tax commitment

    With no prospect of a normal town meeting in a gym this calendar year, the choice is a secret ballot piggybacked on the July 14 state election followed by commitment on about July 15, or no budget vote at all and commitment at last year's level. Delay is mainly a cash flow problem: the town is on a calendar year and has until December 31 to recoup lost revenue, but pushing further out would mean a larger tax anticipation note.

17. 31:02
    Machine counting ruled out

    Asked whether the ballots could be machine counted, Ruth Glaeser (?) said the thumb drives that go into the voting machine have to be programmed and the ballots printed by the company, which is expensive, and that with the state changing its own dates she doubts it could be done in time for July 14.

18. 36:14
    Format of the ballot questions

    Kevin Nadeau had looked at other towns' referendum warrants and found some phrase the questions exactly as a normal warrant does, with selectmen's and budget committee's recommendations. What is unclear is whether a none of the above option must be offered, and whether the town can add language reverting to last year's budget if neither recommendation passes, since towns doing that usually draw the power from a charter or ordinance Durham does not have. Definitive direction is needed.

19. 36:14
    Budget committee and voter information

    The board did not think the budget committee has to reconvene, but agreed that if it alters its own recommendations it should tell the committee and let it amend theirs. With no town meeting discussion, members discussed sending a sample ballot with two or three sentences per article explaining what each one means and why a figure has changed. A Zoom town meeting is not allowed, because municipal legislative bodies were excluded from the remote meeting exemption, but a remote public hearing is.

20. 36:14
    The referendum calendar

    For a July 14 vote, absentee ballots must be available a month before on June 14, the public hearing has to be at least 10 days before that, and the hearing has to be noticed at least seven days before that, which backs the first deadline into late May. Kevin Nadeau said there would not be much time to execute if the board decides to go ahead.

21. 42:03
    Extra meeting proposed

    Rather than wait two weeks, Kevin Nadeau suggested meeting the following Tuesday with firmer answers on article format and possibly a draft warrant in hand, then deciding whether to stand pat on last year's numbers or seek approval of a new budget. Members agreed.

22. 42:03
    Scope of the warrant settled

    The board agreed that a secret ballot warrant would carry the budget articles including capital items, the business articles, and the Pine Tree contract, and would leave out marijuana, the town manager question and the land use ordinance changes. Item 5F on the budget numbers was held to the following week with only a short overview taken that night.

23. 42:03
    Where the budget could be cut

    Ruth Glaeser (?) said the town budgets tightly and there is not much wiggle room, so holding the tax rate down would mean cutting capital improvement contributions and possibly maintenance paving. Kevin Nadeau described one scenario leaving only $60,000 in maintenance paving and another spending half the paving budget, with varying use of undesignated funds, and warned against cutting so hard this year that the return to normal next year is a shock.

24. 47:21
    Paving timing and the size of the swing

    Calvin (?) said there is at least a month of ditching before the crew would be ready to pave anything. Richard George asked whether cutting maintenance paving simply postpones it a year; Kevin Nadeau clarified that the concern is the size of the jump if the town goes from the usual roughly $375,000 down to $60,000 and straight back up. Ruth Glaeser (?) added that the hit to revenue sharing, possibly homestead exemption reimbursement, and excise tax will land on next year's budget.

25. 47:21
    Pay freeze and staffing put on the table

    Kevin Nadeau said he was not looking for a decision that night but wanted a pay freeze for all municipal employees for 2020 considered, given how many people are getting no raise, have lost their job, or have taken a pay cut. Another member agreed and said the board also needs to look at which positions are essential right now and whether cutbacks are needed.

26. 47:21
    How unemployment works for a town

    Ruth Glaeser (?) explained that Durham does not pay into the unemployment fund and is a direct payer, so if it lays someone off it writes a check to the state for whatever that person receives each week. The federal program appears likely to pick up 50 percent of that for direct payers, though it is not settled. Most municipalities are direct payers, though some go through an MMA program.

27. 52:39
    Unanswered questions on layoffs

    Ruth Glaeser (?) said her question in that day's webinar went unanswered: whether the federal 50 percent share covers only the first eight weeks or runs as long as the person is on unemployment, which could be a long time. It was added to the list needing a definitive answer. Members discussed that public works and the office can keep working, but that with less revenue the town might only be able to afford four days a week rather than five.

28. 52:39
    Tax anticipation note

    Ruth Glaeser (?) said the town is always close on cash flow and committing taxes a month late will make it worse, with revenue this month at about $100,000 against a usual $250,000. She is looking at a revolving tax anticipation note drawn down as needed, with her projection putting the maximum the town could borrow at a little over $1 million. The supporting attachments had not come through on her email, so the item goes to next week.

29. 57:54
    Letter on the Androscoggin River classification

    Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (?) asked the town for a letter to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection supporting an upgrade of the river from Lisbon down to Merrymeeting Bay from class C to class B. Richard George said he had no desire to send one, and another member agreed, saying he is not against clean water but the board is not qualified to weigh in. Kevin Nadeau thanked Rob Pontau for circulating information from an engineering firm that had worked on the issue.

30. 57:54
    Fire chief's report

    The chief had sent his written report on Friday and had nothing to add beyond waiting to see what happens with the RFP for the well and septic. Asked whether the town's volunteer firefighters were at home or still working, he said a lot of his people are still working full-time jobs.

31. 57:54
    Road commissioner: storm cleanup

    Calvin (?) said the last two nor'easters caused a great deal of tree damage and the crew is going road to road pulling trees out of ditches, including trees dumped there over the winter. Leaving them is not an option because a significant rain event sends water around the blockage, undermining the pavement and taking out the shoulder, which is expensive to repair.

32. 1:03:06
    Dig Safe problems on Deervale Road

    This season's ditching in the Deervale and Rangdale neighbourhoods is almost entirely over underground power, which means slow work and a lot of hand digging because locators give the position but never the depth. Dig Safe has cleared Deervale Road three times and the markings were plainly wrong each time, with two routes still missed; the PUC is coming at 7:30 the next morning to look at it. Calvin (?) said he will not dig until it is straightened out, and that the previous locating contractor was replaced by a lower bidder.

33. 1:03:06
    Route 9 shoulders

    Calvin met the project engineers by the school on Route 9 and measured; there is room to move the guardrail back on both sides for a five-foot paved shoulder all the way through town toward Yarmouth, with some inslope stabilisation. The engineers would not call it a bike lane even though one of them put the criterion at four feet, but agreed bikes are already using it. The southbound drop-off that pulls loaded trucks toward the guardrail will also be regraded.

34. 1:08:10
    Prioritised paving list requested

    Kevin Nadeau asked Calvin to send the board, by the end of the week, his maintenance paving plan with a sense of how urgent each road is, flagging any where deferral risks a much more expensive rebuild soon. He framed it as: if you had half the budget, what would you do first. Calvin agreed to put it together in priority order.

35. 1:08:10
    Civic Plus web hosting contract

    Ruth Glaeser (?) said the town's web host, Virtual Towns, has been taken over by Civic Plus, which sent a contract at the amount she expected, so it is essentially a formality. She asked for approval of the contract and authority to sign it, and the board took a roll-call vote.

36. 1:08:10
    Planning to reopen the town office

    The stay-at-home order runs to the end of May but the governor's checklist allows opening with measures such as plexiglass and six-foot distancing. With a small external office, Ruth Glaeser expects to allow only the person at the window inside and to mark six-foot spacing for the queue outside, as at a grocery store.

37. 1:13:34
    Consent agenda

    A member asked about roughly $900 for an electrician at public works. Calvin (?) explained that electrical work was needed in the cold storage because plugging the trucks in was tripping breakers, and that the engineer advised keeping trucks in cold air because salt corrodes steel much faster in the warm. The consent agenda was then taken by roll call.

38. 1:13:34
    Meeting schedule and adjournment

    The board scheduled an extra meeting for Tuesday May 5 at 6:30, likely by Zoom, with May 12 and May 26 also expected. Kevin Nadeau asked Tammy to work out how a hybrid meeting would function technically, with the board and department heads in the building and the public joining remotely, given speaker and feedback problems with multiple laptops. The board then adjourned by roll call.

What was decided

• 5:27
  Agreed that Pine Tree Waste would draft a six-month contract at the monthly rate from year one of its three-year proposal, with written options for a further six months and for years two and three, to come back for board review and a vote at the next meeting.passed
• 5:27
  Agreed that bulky waste day will not be held this spring or summer and would most likely be September if it happens at all. Whether a September event would be covered by the current contract or billed in addition was left unresolved.passed
• 10:29
  Extend the suspension of the use of trash tags, allowing one untagged bag, through May 31. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu; roll call Rob Pontau, Richard George, Todd Beaulieu, Marc Farrin and Kevin Nadeau all yes.passed
• 15:34
  Cancel the Durham Memorial Day Parade and discuss any other later parade at a later date. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George; roll call all five yes.passed
• 42:03
  Agreed that if the town holds a secret ballot referendum town meeting, the warrant will carry only the budget articles including capital items, the business articles, and the Pine Tree Waste contract. The land use ordinance articles, the marijuana articles and the town manager question would be left off.passed
• 42:03
  Agenda item 5F, the detail of the budget numbers, was held over to the following week's meeting after only a short overview.tabled
• 52:39
  The tax anticipation note was held to the following week because the supporting cash flow projection did not come through on the town administrator's email.tabled
• 57:54
  The board decided that it would NOT send a letter of support to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for reclassifying the Androscoggin River from class C to class B. No motion to send a letter was made, no vote was taken, and the chair stated that the board was taking no action and no letter would be sent.passed
• 1:08:10
  Authorize Ruth Glaeser to sign the contract with Civic Plus for web hosting. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu; roll call all five yes.passed
• 1:13:34
  Accept the consent agenda as presented. Moved by Richard George, seconded by Todd Beaulieu; roll call all five yes.passed
• 1:13:34
  Agreed to add a meeting on Tuesday May 5 at 6:30 rather than waiting until May 12, most likely again by Zoom.passed
• 1:13:34
  Adjourn. Moved by Richard George, seconded by Rob Pontau; roll call all five yes.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_board_minutes_4-28-20_final.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.

• extend the suspension of the use of trash tags through May 31carried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• cancel the Durham Memorial Day Parade and discuss any other later parade at a later datecarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• authorize Ruth Glaeser to sign the contract with Civic Pluscarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• Accept the Consent Agenda as presentedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Todd Beaulieu

• Adjourn at 7:37 p.mcarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Rob Pontau

Worth knowing

• 5:27
  With trash tags suspended for a month, the hauler measured Durham's trash up about a ton to a ton and a half a week and recycling up about a ton, but said that matches every municipality it serves with people home from work. The one free bag was extended through May 31.
• 15:34
  The Memorial Day parade was cancelled. The stay-at-home order ran to the end of May, with gatherings capped at 10 during May and 50 after that into July or August.
• 36:14
  For a secret ballot budget vote on July 14, absentee ballots must be available by June 14, the public hearing must fall at least 10 days before that, and the hearing must be noticed seven days before that. The first deadline lands in late May.
• 42:03
  Maintenance paving is the board's main lever. Against a normal spend of about $375,000, one scenario leaves $60,000 and another about half. Kevin Nadeau also put a 2020 pay freeze for all municipal employees on the table for consideration.

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: 5 passages of motion language, against 12 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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