Select Board Meeting ~ November 18, 2025

2025-11-18 · Select Board · 2:08:22 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met at the Eureka Center and seated John, who had just been elected in a special election to fill a vacancy after serving on the budget committee and the planning board. The board took the fire department item first and approved converting the department's vacant part-time EMS and administrative position to a full-time position, proposed at 40 hours a week at $22 an hour with a hoped-for start of January 1. It reviewed the town manager's scenarios for raising the cash-in-lieu payment made to employees who decline health insurance but took no vote, deciding to wait until the HR consultant's full set of employee handbook recommendations is before it. The board approved a written capital improvement policy and walked through the budget calendar leading to the June town meeting, including a proposal to invite the budget committee to a select board meeting to have its questions answered rather than waiting to be invited to the budget committee's own meeting. Reports covered the November election turnout, the AMVETS generator, GPCOG work on tax stabilization and misinformation, and Casella's automated trash collection. The meeting was extended to 9:30 and closed in executive session on a property hardship abatement application.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 2:18
   Call to order, new member, agenda amendments

   The meeting was called to order at 6:50, a few minutes late because of a last-minute move to the Eureka Center. The chair welcomed John, elected at a special election to fill a vacancy. The board added an executive session to the agenda, citing 36 M.R.S. 841(2) and 1 M.R.S. 405(6)(F), and moved the fire department discussion to immediately after approval of the minutes.

2. 2:18
   Fire department part-time position to full time

   The town manager, Jerry, and the fire chief presented a request to convert a vacant part-time EMS and administrative position, part-time for more than 25 years, into a full-time position covering EMS, administration and the town's safety program. The fire chief said the department has 42 members with four files each to keep current, that he must make phone calls to find an ambulance driver whenever he is out, and that the town's three volunteer ambulance drivers are all over 70.

3. 12:44
   Questions on the cost of the fire position

   Board members asked how the position would be paid for between now and July, what would happen if the town meeting did not approve the line in June, and whether $22 an hour is competitive. The fire chief said the fire department is about 5 percent under spent, that per diem shifts run at about a 90 percent fill rate, and that the department could absorb the wages until June; he said the town would have to cut per diem hours if the budget were reduced.

4. 33:37
   Cash in lieu of health insurance

   Jerry (?) presented scenarios replacing the current $1,200 annual cash payment to employees who decline coverage with 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 percent of the single-coverage rate, for both 2025 and 2026 figures. Four of the town's roughly eleven employees currently take the $1,200. One board member said the change would help only four people, questioned raising taxes for retention, and said he could not support it; others said the town is in the bottom third of area municipalities and that retention should be judged across the whole benefits package. No vote was taken.

5. 1:04:37
   Capital improvement policy

   Jerry brought a draft policy covering equipment and buildings, written from what the town already does, because no policy exists. Board members pointed to avoidance of debt and interest, purchasing flexibility, interest income, and 10-year replacement projections built from department heads' own schedules. The policy still requires multiple quotes and board approval at the time of purchase.

6. 1:09:51
   Budget calendar for the June town meeting

   The chair read out the schedule: department head capital schedules in the first week of January, CIP due to the town manager January 19, budget workbooks to department heads February 2, department budgets to the town manager by early March, the town manager's budget presented to the board March 10, workshops March 24 and April 14, budget documents to the budget committee April 16, warrant articles April 28, and annual report documents due April 30.

7. 1:15:41
   Proposed change to budget committee process

   The chair proposed that after the budget goes to the budget committee on April 16, the board invite the committee to a select board meeting to put its questions, rather than waiting to be invited to the committee's meeting. He cited raised voices and suggestions of impropriety in the last two budget cycles, and the committee's demand last year for draft warrant articles before it would vote. Members noted the budget committee has no ordinance or statute setting its procedures beyond the requirement that its recommendations be included.

8. 1:26:02
   Town manager report

   Jerry (?) reported giving tree applications available December 1 with tags December 3; food donations collected over two weeks by two community members, Kathy Center (?) and Janine Costikin (?), of the Eureka Community Center committee; the annual ornament parade for pre-K and kindergarten classes on December 4 at 9 a.m.; an RSU 5 leadership meeting December 3; and a northern GPCOG meeting he attended with Josh, where other towns reported the same problems with social media misinformation.

9. 1:31:31
   Election day report

   Jessica (?) reported on the November election: 491 absentee ballots processed and 1,389 people voting in person, against about 3,500 registered voters. Power flickered several times during the day and the AMVETS generator was started by volunteers within about ten minutes of her call. She said the parking lot lighting was poor after the time change and that lights will be rented for the next referendum, and that the office may have to close on future election days because of staffing.

10. 1:36:33
    Chair's report

    The chair reported that the Sons of the AMVETS have obtained suicide awareness signs for the boat launch, going up around November 24 or 25, following a number of suicides there this year, and suggested the town post the 988 number on its website and weekly blast. He suggested the AMVETS be invited to seek reimbursement for the diesel their generator burned on election day, and said he is on a GPCOG committee on tax stabilization meeting the following day.

11. 1:42:08
    Board member reports on GPCOG and misinformation

    Josh (?) reported on the regional meeting Jerry hosted, saying the same issues came up that the board had discussed at its own meetings, including social media misinformation and economic development. He noted North Yarmouth posts misinformation alongside corrections on its website, and said the value the town gets from its GPCOG membership has increased.

12. 1:42:08
    Casella automated trash collection

    The board's representative to the solid waste committee reported meeting with Calvin and Jerry on Casella's automated pickup plan. A Casella representative attends the solid waste committee meeting in the first or second week of December, after which the committee chair and co-chair will come to the select board. A member raised carts being left in the ditch and destroyed, and asked that questions about damage and replacement charges be added to the committee's list.

13. 1:47:30
    Rebecca's report

    Rebecca (?) reported on the early childhood education task force and the new state pre-K law, which may carry budget implications for RSU 5's existing program, and on a communications seminar whose materials she circulated. She raised a resident's suggestion for better signage telling voters which building to go to, noting the school is used only for gubernatorial and presidential elections.

14. 1:57:57
    Consent agenda, AP warrants and committee appointments

    The consent agenda included two committee appointments: one for the conservation committee, which has six of a possible seven members, and one solid waste committee alternate. Kelly Wall (?) was named as the conservation applicant. Members disagreed over whether items on a consent agenda can be discussed before the vote; this stretch of the transcript is unclear about what the consent agenda vote covered. The AP warrants were then moved and voted separately, and the appointments were held for executive session.

15. 2:03:30
    Upcoming meetings and executive session

    Listed meetings: conservation commission November 19 at 6:30 at the Eureka Center, a committee meeting December 3 at the Eureka Center, solid waste committee December 8 at the Eureka Center, select board December 9 at the fire station, and planning board December 10 at the fire station. The December 9 meeting will include wage tables and a retirement plan discussion with the HR consultant, Betsy. The board extended the meeting to 9:30 and entered executive session on a property hardship abatement application that has to be answered within 30 days.

What was decided

• 2:18
  Amend the agenda to add an executive session and to move the fire department discussion to immediately after approval of the minutespassed
• 2:18
  Approve the minutes of the October 28, 2025 meeting as submitted; one member said he would need to abstainoutcome unclear
• 33:37
  Approve the fire department's request to change the vacant part-time EMS and administrative job description to a full-time positionpassed
• 49:10
  Take no vote on raising the cash-in-lieu health insurance payment until the board has seen all of the HR consultant's employee handbook recommendationstabled
• 1:09:51
  Approve the town capital improvement policypassed
• 1:26:02
  Hold the budget calendar and the proposed budget committee process for a vote at the second December meeting, after the chair and Josh meet with the budget committee's chair and vice chair; no board member raised a concern with the process as proposedtabled
• 1:57:57
  Approve the consent agendaoutcome unclear
• 1:57:57
  Approve and sign the AP warrants dated November 18outcome unclear
• 1:57:57
  Hold the conservation committee and solid waste committee appointments for discussion in executive session rather than acting on them in open sessiontabled
• 2:03:30
  Extend the meeting until 9:30passed
• 2:03:30
  Enter executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S. 405(6)(F) and 36 M.R.S. 841(2) to review confidential financial and personal records submitted in support of a property hardship abatement applicationpassed

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.

Worth knowing

• 12:44
  The fire chief said ambulance billing brought the town about $120,000 last year, that the money goes into the general fund rather than to the fire department, and asked for roughly $15,000 to $30,000 of it toward staffing. The departing part-timer was at $28 an hour after 25 years and took no health insurance; the new full-time post is proposed at $22 an hour.
• 38:44
  The town was notified that health insurance premiums are going up 9 percent and dental 5 percent. With no other change, the town's health and dental cost would go from $127,668 to about $164,000.
• 1:31:31
  The November election drew 491 absentee ballots and 1,389 in-person voters, about 1,880 ballots against roughly 3,500 registered voters. The power failed repeatedly and the AMVETS generator carried the polling place; the clerk said any larger turnout would put the building at capacity.
• 1:47:30
  Casella has its truck ready and wants to start automated collection March 1, about three months earlier than the town had been told to expect.

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: 8 passages of motion language, against 11 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

← 2025-10-28 Select Board2025-12-09 Select Board →All meetings