TranscriptAugust 17, 2020 ~ Select Board Meeting

here. Rich George here. Todd Bullia. Yep. Mark Farren present. And I'm Kevin Nitto and I'm here. So all board members are present and can be heard. Okay. Um under amendments to the agenda, we have we have three listed on the agenda. Are there any other amendments besides uh what we have listed here?

business since we've uh recently had our election is uh to elect the chair and vice chair uh of the board. It's something we do um we're supposed to do after every uh every time a new board member is elected. Well, I should election until we didn't actually have new board members elected this time. Um, so I will uh take nominations for the

role of chair. as chair. I'll second it. Any other nominations? nominations. continuing in the role of chair. We have to do this by a roll call vote. So, if you're in favor of that uh motion, then say so when I call your name. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Bullier, yes. Mark Farren, yes. and I won't vote. Um, okay. Nominations for vice chair. I'll second it. Any other nominations? vice chair, I'll say so when I call your name. Rob Panto. Yes. Yes.

Todd Buller. Yes. Mark Farren. Yes. And I'm a yes on that as well. Okay. Thank you all for that. Um CEO office schedule. This one is um I don't know if he reached out to others, but um Bob Force, our code enforcement officer, reached out to me asking about the possibility of slightly changing his work schedule on Thursdays so that he would work regular, you know, like 8:30 to 4:30 day instead of the, you know, 10 to 6:30 or whatever the extended hours are. He says he losing those hours in the morning kind of impacts contractors that he needs to meet with and that he has very historically very few people ever show up in those evening hours to talk to the code enforcement officer. So, um I told him I would bring it up to the board and see if there was any objection to that.

He talked to me about it. He definitely makes sense. Yeah, I was surpris I didn't even realize that he was I guess I did realize it but yeah it is a problem in Thursday mornings right are there any objections I think without objection um we'll let him know that it's fine for him to um adjust his hours on Thursday um to uh whatever he needs to do to get the job done.

mentioned um that it would be a good idea and this was actually request from the CIP committee um to have a selectman be a member of that committee and um Mark has agreed to go on that committee. Um, is there anybody else that um had thought about it and was interested in doing it themselves other than Mark?

So, in order to in order to make um have him be a voting member on that committee, uh we should vote and actually appoint him. So, I'm going to move that we appoint Mark Faren uh as a member of the capital improvement uh

program committee. Okay. Well, we got Rob as a second. So, if you're in favor of of Mark joining that committee as a voting member, uh, indicate when I call your name. Rob Ponto, yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Bolier, yes. Mark Farren,

yes. And I'm a yes. So, great. Thank you Mark for stepping up to do that. Thanks Mark. Yep. Okay, we are at the uh public comment portion. Uh this is the period of time in the meeting uh where any member of the public can um address the board on any topic that they um would like the board to hear about. So if you um use the raise your hand function, we have a lot of people here tonight. use a raise your function hand um in the Zoom meeting um or if you can't figure that out, you know, turn your camera on, wave your hand or something so we can recognize you somehow.

I was seeing Oh, there he is. Yep. Okay, let's uh Can we turn Can does he have to turn his own mic on or do we have to do that? Sorry about that. Oh, go ahead, David. Hey, how's it going? Uh my name is David Stevenson. I live at 176 Cushing Road in Durham, Maine. Um I'm also the owner of Hazy Hill Farm. Um a cannabis business uh here in Maine and also um High Peak Cannabis Company, which is an edible business. Um my business currently employs about 20 employees. Um and unlike a lot of businesses right now, we're actually doing really well. Um,

so, you know, I I would just really I've I've come to you guys many times just asking to at least, you know, have another vote um on opting in. Uh, the state is going to be um has already opened the application process. I already have um conditional licenses for a couple grows and I'm looking to expand in Durham where I own 150 acres. Um, you

know, I'm looking at, uh, potentially working with a solar farm to bring green power to some, um, green houses, um, because where I'm at, there's not a lot of infrastructure, but, um, I'm looking to to do, um, green power for, uh, many reasons. Um, social responsibility,

um, you know, uh, it's great publicity and it's more efficient, uh, for my business. Um, so again, I'm just kind of asking to at least, you know, put it before the town. I think there's a vote in September. Um, love to get it on the ballot. We, you know, we voted on this once, it passed. Um, you know, and so I

feel like I deserve or, you know, anyone that's in the cannabis industry in Durham, uh, should, you know, have this vote out there. So, um, so yeah, that's basically it. Uh, love love to see that. Um, you know, I'm trying to bring more jobs to the community. Um, trying to build a local business. Um, where the money is not just a big corporate, you know, goes to a big corporation out of state. It's all, um, local. Um, I've been doing this for 10 years personally. Um

and uh yeah, that's about it. David, which which specific um because there's there are could be up to um eight or nine different optin questions depending on whether it's medical or um I don't know if they're still calling it recreational or adult use, whatever they're whatever they're calling it. Um, which which specific um activities are you looking to have the town opt into?

Um I think most specifically cultivation uh then processing um which kind of go hand in hand and then um you know I think it's not really Durham's not like an ideal retail location but you know if I did have this um really cool farm and people wanted to come visit it would be a cool place for them to you know be able to buy just like a lot of the breweries. Um so that

was kind of my thinking. Um, my main goal would be cultivation. When you say processing, is that is that the same as like the manufacturing, like manufacturing edibles and things of that sort? So, processing is a really broad term. I mean, processing could be just trimming the bud. Um, but it could also be, you know, um, a butane extraction lab. Um,

you know, and there's really high standards for all that. It's not like you can just jump into that. Um, you know, there's some really strict um regulations around that, but I would just I'm not really into that. I I kind of um sub that part of it out. Uh I do do non-solvent extraction, so using ice and water to um uh remove the the

triricums and oils from the plant. Would we need to opt in to manufacturing in order for you to do that in Durham or would opting into cultivation cover that? I think that you would need to opt in, but I think there may be a subcategory of non-solvent um extraction. Um that

was one of the licenses that I got through the state, a conditional license. So even if even if we had to opt in, you know, if the town voted yes, we want to opt into like manufacturing, our ordinance could specify non-solvent.

Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. Y okay. for uh for David? because as as you I'm sure are well aware, you know, um we had this teed up to vote on at town meeting along with several other things and then, you know, COVID happened. And so, one of the things we're talking about tonight is um with regard to mariju marijuana and a few other issues. How do we want to address those? like do we um do we want

to maybe try to have a um take advantage of the large voter turnout in November and have a ballot in November um when people are voting or wait until you know next April's town meeting and vote then or you know I think that's the discussion we're going to have tonight. So

okay and so the next one is November not September. Well, there there had been talk of um of maybe a September special town meeting, but the reality is that even to vote uh in November, well, we wouldn't we we're still not going to be able to have a large group gathering in September, uh it's highly unlikely. Um so that kind of puts us on the referendum ballot again if we're going to do it this year. So, November obviously makes sense then. And then when you start backing up the timing that you need in order to have absentee ballots available, I think it's like 60 days before the election or whatever it is, um we we actually have to decide um

by the end of this month whether we're going to put these questions on the November ballot or wait until um sometime after that, presumably a Springtown meeting. But couldn't voters like vote online as opposed to coming in? Is that is that what we're worried about? is people gathering at the voting booths and and potentially spreading the virus.

Uh yeah, there's no online voting uh capability. Um they can do absentee and that that's why we have to make the decision quickly so that there's adequate time available for absentee ballots. Okay. And we have to vote on this, correct? Even though we voted on it once, it needs to be voted on again or or could we you guys make that decision on your own? No, that vote was clearly spelled out on that B. That was not a binding vote. It was simply a straw poll to kind of see where the town was. And um you're you're correct that um that those questions did pass. Uh but it was it was close. It was within a percentage point. So 5050. So um I think the way we've worded the questions this time is is we want to ask the questions like, okay, do you want to opt in? And then if if any of the questions are yes, then um the way the question is worded, then we have a certain amount of time to actually go through the expense of

getting ordinances written that will then come to the town for a vote. Uh and that's that's kind of the way it works and and the towns have to opt in and then you have to actually if you want to have your own ordinances, you have to vote on those separately. Um so that's kind of the path we're taking here. We we're asking the question upfront. Do they want to op do people want to opt in? Because it's a pretty expensive proposition to go through the process of hiring consultant and writing ordinances um and um doing the homework and go

through all that and then have people say, "Well, no, we didn't really do want to do that anyway." So, right. So, we're gonna ask a question first. If we get a yes, we will um then move forward budget money and and go through the process of developing our program and and our regulations, whatever they're going to be, and um and then vote on those actual um ordinances. So,

okay. So, in reality, if it passed in November, then you need to write up an ordinance and then need to vote on that again. So, in reality, would I be looking at like another year before I'd be able to do anything or I would say I would say that's a that's

probably a safe bet because then CO is still a wild card here because we don't really know when we'll be able to have like an actual town meeting again. So, I think um and this will be part of the discussion with board members later, you know, because we will we'll probably have to change the wording of our questions. I think originally it said because when we were going to vote on it at town meeting it said okay if they opt in then basically we have until the next town meeting to bring ordinances but it if we opt in in November it's probably not realistic that we could bring ordinances back to the town uh by early April at a at a um town meeting. So, um I think then then discuss the discussion does well then I don't know maybe we could get it done in time for the you know in accordance with the June there's usually a June vote whether you know like for school budgets or you know some state referendums or or

does it go to the next November or even the April town meeting after that. I mean I think it's that's part of the discussion um tonight. I mean, if there's anything I can do, like if it does p like it does go to a vote and it does pass, uh, you know, I'm I'm happy to help, um, write that ordinance, um, or help, you know, find people to do do so or whatever I can do to help with moving the process along and trying to get that sooner than a year or 18 months because I've already been waiting year, 18 months, um, or longer. Um but yeah, so um thanks for listening

and uh I hope we can work something out. Okay, great. Thanks. I'm sure I'm sure we'll be reaching out to you if one of those uh questions does in fact pass. So, excellent. All right. Thanks, guys. All right. Anybody else uh have a public comment? Yep. I'm sorry. I go ahead turn your microphone on. I see Nick a Kono. Yeah, it's okay. Uh, Nicolen Akono is my name.

Okay. Um, everybody can hear me. Yeah, I live I live at 11 Rabbit Road, which is at the corner of the infamous uh intersection of Rabbit Road and 136. Um, I lived here for nine years now. Um, I've been to a couple of town meetings pre precoid area to talk about traffic and speed um and and my frustrations with it, but I I suppose it's time for me to to be a little bit more of a squeaky wheel um around it. I have two kids. I've raised them here. They were both born in this house. Um, you know, I plan on sticking around, but the the traffic and the speeding um at that and the danger of that intersection has just gotten worse and worse since I've lived here. Um, you know, I've been the first responder at probably about six, you know, the first person on the scene at about six different accidents at this point. My kids have, you know, a a protocol, you know, that they know that they have to sit on the porch and wait

for me when I go out and and and call 911. um um kept up at night a lot of the time because people peel out, you know, and they just sit in the middle of that intersection and burn their tires. Um you know, the speed limit on Rabbit Road is 35 miles an hour. And I guarantee that about 5% of the people that drive on that road are listening to that speed limit. Uh and it's just I mean it's dangerous. you know, I have got I have a cat that was killed there and I'm, you know, I'm looking for solutions at this point. Um because it's gotten to the point where it's, you know, causing me to think about moving, which is not something that I want to do. Um I love this town. My kids don't go to school here only because their dad lives in Yarmouth. Um and so they they go to school down there. But um you know I I proposed a number of things but I would love to you know start a conversation and hear some feedback from you guys on

on what we can do. I know that 136 is regulated by um the state and so that presents some difficulties for sure. Um you know some thoughts that I've had you know is it feasible? You know obviously a four-way stop is one option. It's going to probably create more noise for me, but you know, maybe it's going to be safer. Um, does it make sense to put speed bumps on Rabbit Road and on Quaker Meeting House Road um on either side of that intersection? Because I mean, what what happens is and partially I think because the intersection is kind of nerve-wracking is people just bomb through it, you know, and then they just go. I mean, just yesterday I had, you know, two trucks, you know, one go through the intersection, the other one go through the intersection and pass the other one right in front of my house, which is only, you know, 100 feet away from the intersection. Um, so yeah, I guess I'm I'm here to to start the

conversation and um I I really think that I know that there's a lot of frustrations in the town right now about speeding. Um and I I heard that there was a change in the policing and so I would love some clarification on that um just on enforcement and uh yeah that's that's about it.

Um well I can answer your last question first. a change in policing. Um that was that was not something that the town initiated, but basically historically um Androsken County had an arrangement with the main state police where uh they kind of alternated months for covering um the town um and state police uh recently informed um uh the Anders County Sheriff that they didn't want to renew that agreement. So now the sheriff's office is has 12 month a year responsibility uh for the town of for coverage of the town of Durham. Um so that's that was the change there. Um leasing obviously it's I'm not going to have a lot of really good things to to tell you right now because enforcement would obviously be um something we could

uh would would help. And one thing we have done is that we we have secured a electronic speed sign. You may have seen it on Rabbit Road recently and we're we're collecting a lot of data from that. In fact, our road commissioner is going to show us kind of like the first report on that tonight. Um, and we can share that information with the sheriff's department and it will give them some data on, you know,

what rate of speed people are driving that road and also like what time of day are people, you know, speeding the most and at the highest level. And um, that can help them prioritize their limited resources when they're trying to uh, patrol. Um,

yeah, I called I called the sheriff's department and their suggestion was that I get a game camera. Um, so yeah, that's that's not a bad especially for the people doing donuts in the intersection. Sure. I mean, it is, but it requires a financial investment on my part and, you know, setting it up and keeping an eye on it. And I mean, yeah, I would prefer to not have to do that, though. Um,

I mean, I think, yeah, I think that data, I saw that and I was happy to see that. I think the data is going to be telling, I would hope. I mean, I think that you guys are collecting and I appreciate that. Um, you know, but I don't know if there's anything that the town specifically can do, you know, as far as I mean, you know, I know speed bumps are a pain in the butt, but they're certainly effective, you know. I mean, is that a possibility? You know,

I don't know, can you answer that? Is that even within our power to do that? I know like we can't really change the speed limit on Rabbit Road. That's that's a state function as well. But what about like um speed bumps and or you know um ruts or grooves, whatever. Rumble strips.

Just turn it back into dirt. It's actually more expensive than a paved road, believe it or not. Yeah, I know. I know. But certainly people drove a lot slower when there are potholes everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. the the uh MUTCD uh the DOT, they

frown on speed bumps. Uh they're they're uh they're they only allow them in very densely populated areas like in village centers like Yarmouth or somewhere where there's like beach properties or something where there's a lot of uh uh a lot of population businesses. They really would not want uh those in a rural road uh where they would be everywhere. Once we put one in, we'd have to put one on every road and nobody would be able to really get anywhere. So, that is not a method that DOT wants to use. And uh the four-way stop, we did

look at that last year and uh DOT uh did not want to do a four-way stop there because the numbers were um they said to do a four-way stop, you need some you need somewhat similar numbers from each road. They need to be somewhat similar. You can't have one with 5,000 vehicles a day and the other one with only 800, you know, with only 800, which I think Rabbit Road is 857. Um, so, uh, they didn't were not interested in that. They, uh, were looking at putting, uh, some advanced warning signs, and they did put some advanced warning signs on on 36 to help with that, but there was some talk about putting up a light, and then the COVID thing is hit and, uh, I need to follow up with them because I they they've kind of dropped off. They said they were working on it. They'd get back to me. So I can check u back with the traffic engineer and see if they've made any progress uh because we did specifically look at that intersection.

I mean now you know obviously now there's a business right there too and and I think that presents even greater risk for accidents frankly because you have you know cars slowing down to pull into the to the farm stand you know which is right across from my property. Um, I mean, frankly, I was in in in some ways in support of that business because of the fact that I was hoping it would maybe um, you know, positively affect that intersection and and that it would encourage some sort of change in in the structure of it. Um, you know, I know that there, you know, there was a four-way stop on 125. I totally get that 136 is a highly trafficked road and that's just, you know, the reality of me living on that road. But um yeah, I mean

it's it's it's also just, you know, people not following the rules, you know what I mean? Like the speed limit of 35 is reasonable, but like that's not what's happening, you know? Um and I just don't know what to do about that.

So, I can follow up with DOT, see what their uh recommendations, uh see if they've made any progress on that intersection and get that back information back to you if you want to give me a call or an email. uh the public works department.

Okay. Yep. I will do that. And it's and and like the rest of it is enforcement. And we're going to hand this data over to the sheriff's department and see if we can get them to uh or at least we can. That'll be up to the select board, but see if we can get them to uh

you're gonna you're gonna talk about that data tonight? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh, yeah, we won't be in any, you know, great analytical detail. I think Calvin's just going to show us what the report looks like and what kind of data is in it. Um, and then, um, you and then

we'll share it with the sheriff's department. But, um, right. Was that all, Nicoline? Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I'm gonna come back next month. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I know, you know, ultimately as Ken said, it's it's really about enforcement and um we have looked

into what would how much it would it cost if we had a dedicated sheriff's deputy in town. Um and the cost of that is somewhere around $300,000 a year um for a car and and a couple of full-time u people to provide coverage.

Um we even we asked for a fairly modest amount of money a couple of years ago. I think $1,500 to hire like we that would have given us the option to hire like special details a few times a year for speed enforcement and um and the town voted it down.

Um so um but if if people want to you know generate a little grassroots energy around something like that then um you know maybe maybe the vote would go differently next time. Yep. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you very much. There anyone else here for the public comment uh portion of the meeting?

function or if that's um not working for you, just turn the camera on and try to get our attention. going twice. Okay, public comment is closed and we will move on with our agenda. 4 A under action and discussion items. Uh request of no action letter for 759 Royalsboro Road. And Ruth, is this a different property than the one we talked about last meeting?

Yeah, the last one was Passbook Road. This one's on Royalsboro Road. That's what I thought. So, this is another garage built too close to the setback. Yes. And how I don't remember in what you sent us like how close is it?

I I sent you um I I did in a separate email send you the actual um mortgage uh survey. Let me see if I can bring it up. Oh, come on. I think No, no. Sorry. Having some technical problems. Um, out. Yes, it was. I believe.

it was today, so it should be easy to find. Agenda. yesterday. Thank you. That does help. It's hard to tell because it's not the scale. I mean, it's it's it's more like 10 instead of 20. Oh, I see it now. Yeah. Yeah. It's It's probably close to 10 versus 20. I'd agree with that.

It looks like the building's in It's not just the garage. Oh, it doesn't look like it's just the garage. It looks like the whole property is out of Docker, right? Right. Okay. anyone have any thoughts on this matter? My only thoughts. Do we have an idea of when the permit was pulled and when this garage was constructed?

2004. 2004. Okay. So, 16 years ago. Yeah. Same as I know this is our second one and we don't deal with these often. I just don't want to keep setting a a precedent that every time a house is in the setbacks, we're going to wave it. Um but if it's 16 years old and this house I mean there's nothing really more they can do here anyways than tear down this property. So I'd be in favor of um of the no action.

Any other thoughts? Okay. So, you want um Rich, you want to put that in the form of a motion? Sure. I'd make a motion that we take no action on the property on Sorry, doesn't even give the address. 759. Yep. Rollsboro. Yeah. I No action on 759 Rollsboro Road in Durham, Maine for setback violations. I'll second it reluctantly.

Yeah. All right. Um any further discussion on that? Motion is we uh no action letter. Um as drafted by Ruth, I assume Rich, any objection to that because she's already have as a draft. I Kevin, uh I have a question. I know I missed the last one when you guys discussed it, but I can actually speak personally to this cuz I dealt with the same thing when I bought my house. My garage was built too bad, too close to the setback, which is funny on a 5 acre lot, but uh think they'd be able to fit it in there. Um, but anyway, how like

this seems fairly common and is this a you think this is a product of our previous codes officer or I mean in 2004 good survey equipment existed. Like there's no excuse. Like this isn't like we're talking about the 50s and you're out there just trying to figure out where it is. Like we know where property lines are,

right? So how do we stop this from happening? Well, I don't know what we can do about stuff that's already built, you know, 15 plus years ago, but I think, you know, Bob now, it's part of Bob's standard practice. He goes when when the foundation goes in, he goes out and he measures against the setbacks.

That's a that's kind of a point of emphasis for him when he's reviewing uh plans to issue permits as well. So, um I I feel pretty good about what we this our situation now go forward. Um, I don't feel good at all about what happened 15 years ago.

I know. Yeah. Yeah. But as as I mentioned last week or whatever we were on, you know, it really isn't the code officer's responsibility to make sure houses are in setbacks. It's up to the builder and it's up to the the homeowner that's building it. In fact, Bob really he's he's he's more of a guide for them. He shouldn't be I mean, because it could be a 5/8 inch differential. I mean, I've seen that before. In fact, I personally have done it. Um, and you end up at a planning board or, you know, an appeals meeting. So, it's really not up to the code officer to make these decisions. I just don't want to set a precedent that anybody who gets it within the setbacks automatically gets a waiver from the select board. I mean, most towns, and I could be wrong on this, but most towns usually require some type of an appeals hearing before that is granted. Um, so the neighbors can attest, you know, to

what their feelings are and what happened and so forth. Um, rather than just granting these, but um, I understand these old ones are tough and we we have a variance process for that. Exactly. Correct. And I I went through it and I was denied the variance and I paid $4,000 for 2500 square feet

so my garage would meet the setbacks. Well, you had to buy a portion of a neighboring lot. Yep. Wow. Really? Yeah, but you know, I worked it out with my neighbor and we corrected the problem. Yeah. So, yeah. Just interesting.

This one This one seems really hard to correct from the from the I mean, they got the house in there. It's not just a garage. I mean, um it's it's it's basically non-conforming on all levels. Nobody checked it. It's shocking to me that somebody built this. And

I don't know how old the existing house is. I mean, if that was built prior to I mean, that's a pretty old home, I'm assuming. That is very um yeah so I mean maybe who knows what setbacks we had in play then I I certainly don't but um I just don't want to set the precedent that every time somebody's in the setbacks that the board is you know waving something irregardless of there should be some process that they have to go through

um to achieve this and you know I think we keep in mind that the no action letter the way those work according to uh MMA legal is that it's not a forever binding document. It's it's like this board intends to take no action. Um but that doesn't necessarily bind a future um a future

board. Is that is that would you agree with that, Ruth, based on what you were told by MMA? Yes. Yeah. It it's unlikely that a future board would would do it, but Right. It could, but it's it's it's not it's it's not as permanent of a solution as like what Rob did with his property. Um,

you know, it it conceivably could an issue again in the future. I I mean, typically these are done because they're mortgage surveys, because there's an interest involved, i.e. a bank. Um, so I have it I have a hard time believing that they would just say, "Oh, that's okay." Because if this if they end up owning this property in the future, they could be told that, hey, sorry, this this building that I've never heard of such a thing of that nature. Usually, if a town takes action on something, it's filed and recorded in their deed.

Yeah. Ruth, do you want to speak to that? letter and some some of the no action letters are recorded. There's I went back um I don't know 10 15 years and there there is um minutes that talk about having the people for the no action letter file it with the registry themselves.

Rich, that that process that you were talking about going to get a waiver, I mean, is that something that the we've done in the past for the town or I guess um I know towns I know newer construction in the town in the past have been in setbacks. The last one I can think of personally um was on the quarter Ca Pond and Route Nine. Um and I think there was a small fine that they had to pay. It was just a simple they went off the road versus the property pin. very typical um very typical problem in the housing and building construction trades. Um but it's just there's typically a process. It's not just someone magic, you know, in this case, you know, waving a magic wand, but I I have a hard time believing that this isn't binding that a bank would sign off on this. Um because if they end up with that property and they go to resell it, they're going to do another mortgage survey and they're back

to square one again if that's not the case. this one. I want to be clear with that because this this home and this garage look like it's it's been a long time. More more particular the home the home is really in violation. Um but I just like I said I just these have come up backtoback meetings and I just don't want to be the

I would think they'd go to the appeals board. That's what I originally thought it would go to the appeals board and get denied and go to us. Correct. That's what should happen process, right? Yeah. Um but maybe we uh clear this one

up and we should have a larger discussion about how we should handle these in the future. Yeah. Agree. That's really my point behind this. Yeah. All right. Any other discussion on the motion that we uh issue the no action letter as drafted by Ruth for the property at 759 Royalsboro Road?

Nope. If you're in favor of issuing the letter, um please say so when I call your name. Rob Panto. No. Rich George? Yes. Todd Buller? Yes. Mark Farren? Yes. And I am a yes as well. Four to one vote. Okay. Uh next uh 4B is the 2020 municipal

valuation. Um Ruth, you want to put that on the screen or discussion did you want to have on that? We already did that. No, we we cut the mill rate. That's right. Right. Sorry. Right. Go ahead. So, basically, it's just the valuation and uh you guys need to sign it so we can send it up to the state. Um uh the ratio went down to the 87%

in there that that you guys would want to talk about particularly. to sign that or um let's see. Yeah. sign the 2020 municipal valuation document uh prepared by the town assessor as presented. Second. Any discussion on that? All right. When I call your name, you know the routine. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, yes. Todd Bullier, yes. Mark Farren, yes. And I am a yes as well. municipal ballot for November election. So, we talked a little bit about this one during uh public comment, but basically with questions we had teed up for town meeting with regard to uh town manager ordinance changes and um the marijuana questions. Um we uh took

those off the warrant to streamline things for uh the recent election. And now the question is um what do we do with them now? Um, is there an appetite? Ruth has worked out a timeline on what it would take to put these questions on uh the November ballot. And uh Ruth, I don't know if you want to put that timeline up for um for a talking point, but basically we would have to vote on um final language of the questions at our meeting at the end of this month um in order to meet all the deadlines for um producing ballots, getting them coded, having absentee ballots ready, and um in time for November election. So

Ruth, do you want to take us through this along with the cost estimate? Well, Becky's actually the one that picked up and did the timeline for us. Okay. Is she here? She I think she is. Becky, are you here? Going once, going twice.

I'm here. Okay. Do you want to take them through it? Sure. So the biggest um thing is with ESNS, we have to give them the final draft 60 days before the election, which puts us at September 3rd in order to get it printed and coded in time so that the machines can count it and we're not hand counting it. So that's where it puts us with you guys deciding tonight if you want to do the ballot. We draft the the warrant and ballot in the next two weeks. You vote on it on the 25th and we send it to ESNS for coding. So that way we have the absentee ballots 30 days before the election to issue

with that. Correct. So to do the basic black ballots um and let's see trying to look at this with the wrong glasses on. We're looking at 1675 for the ballots and the coding. um if you wanted a color strip, which I don't think is really necessary. It's 1850. The other piece of it that's not on there is securing a second um DS200 machine. Now, we were lucky enough to have another townus one. Um but they've already told us they won't be able to do that in November. We've reached out to the state. Um they have secured some more machines and we are on the list for wanting one, but I'm not going to know. I really don't know when they're going to let us know if we're going to have one. So there's the, you know, the the possibility that we would have to feed the ballots either the next day or on Thursday if we only end up with one machine, which puts us, you know, at quite a bit more expense as far as

election workers and payroll there. have on that ballot? Is it is there a certain limit to the number of questions we can have on the ballot? Nope, you can have as many as you want. Um, I mean, we had what, 22 on the uh the one in July because it was two-sided. Um,

so yeah, it's really about the print size. I mean, you can make the print smaller, but I wouldn't recommend that. But we had 20 22 if I remember correctly for July. So, okay, thanks. I don't think we need any more than that.

I hope not. And so if we So this is one option. Um and the other option is to um I guess to be really cruel and make them count the ballots by hand. Um couch. Yeah. No, which I don't think is a just for the record I don't think is a serious option because we actually coming out of the last presidential election we had identified a significant bottleneck in our process in that we only had one uh voting machine and that that you know people were we had plenty of booths and we could get people through to vote in a pretty timely manner but it was the line to actually put your ballot in a machine that was um the bottleneck. So whe co or not, we had talked about adding a second machine to the um uh to the polling place uh this November. So hopefully that'll that'll work out.

So I hope so. So for board members shooting for um thoughts on putting these questions on a November ballot versus um just waiting for our next regular town meeting uh next April. Any board members have thoughts on that?

I'd like to see things on the ballot. I mean, at this point, you know, CO's doing great in Maine, but we're still not, you know, is it because of the regulations or or what what is it and what's it going to be like in April? I don't think we have any idea. So, I think it's I think we just got to bite the bullet and do it.

That's my opinion. Any other thoughts? November ballot is that's typically a long long night and a lot of work for folks. Um and as you mentioned the the process even with this I mean the last election I'm assuming this one's going to be quite the turnout also. um we seem

to be causing more to cause more delays by having people inside ballot boxes to answer 22 questions or whatever it may be. So that that's really my only hesitation. Do I think eventually it needs to get done? Yes. Um I do think that um the the time constraint is a little tough. I mean I think we could have looked at this last week and maybe get this maybe it deserves its own separate meeting to do it right. I don't know if we can get this done in a week and a half or two weeks. Um, that's my only concern with it.

What What do you think? So, we we have the questions. What What do you think we need to work on, Rich? Well, I Exactly what we're putting forth and how we're going to word him and so forth. Um, I I think it we're going to have just take some time on that. Um, and and I'm fine to do that. I don't mind having a separate meeting or anything of that nature. Um, that was just my token. exactly how many questions are we're going to have. Um I'm not necessarily against it or for it to do it on November 3rd. Um those are just some of the dilemmas that I personally see.

And we don't actually have to decide that tonight. Correct Ruth? I mean, really, I think if we came out of this meeting and and and were saying that, yeah, we're maybe leaning that way or we want to strongly consider it and we we could you could send out um the text of the questions from the last warrant maybe with the marijuana ones adjusted um with with to uh for the

date issues we talked about earlier and then we could discuss from there because the first step is getting is getting the questions going. But even after we do that, then we have to go into the whole, you know, public hearing and public education

uh process and getting um information out there like that. But we don't have to do that before we decide whether we're going to put the question out there. Chris, did you have something? I do. I I I do think I would I would only because I think we kind of owe it to the gentleman. Um he has been waiting for a long time. I I wouldn't mind even if we just had the marijuana questions. I think that's about as big as a as a turnout we're going to get and I think you'd get the true pulse of the town if we could get that um on that on that ballot for that particular election time.

Yeah, I I I would agree with that and I think that's uh I think that's true for all the questions that we might put on. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, obviously you're getting the most people. So, it's it's it's absolutely true. I've just as far as the marijuana one, um, you know, I think the turnout for that, the the more opinions the better. I think a 200 person attending town meeting might not be a true reflection of what the town

right sees and people can be swayed in those meetings. So, I I think the the the ballot on the during that election time would be great if we could somehow manipulate that. Same thing would could be said with the town manager one.

Yeah. How many questions did we leave off? Well, there were I think four for the land use. There was eight for the marijuana and then the town uh manager question. Yeah. So, was that about a dozen? Roughly a dozen dozen.

questions? Is there a timeline for that? There is a timeline. we would have to do a public hearing. Um I think it's 30 days before the vote. So part of the I I unshared it, but part of the the scheduling was actually scheduling a public hearing as well. Um and we actually probably should should check with George. I'm assuming that since um everything was all set to go um in April, uh that it's still all set to go. Um but I know that they have been doing more work on it.

Yeah, they've been doing some additional work. So, there might actually be there might actually be a couple of additional ordinance questions that weren't ready for last April, but would be ready for November. Um, so I think um I think we we there'd be a pretty uh a pretty heavy lift in terms of public education and public hearing on these things. But I I think I think Ruth and the staff did a pretty good job putting together the the mailer that we did uh on the warrant from the um from the referendum town meeting. I can see something, you know, something like that and you public hearings and maybe a couple of PowerPoint presentations on the on the website um to educate people and get the information out there. I think we have I think we have time to do that. Um

regulatory. Are there any obligations like for state things or is this just town related with these uh with the new ordinances? Well, yeah, technically the um the shoreland zoning ordinances are not uh in compliant with the state uh regulation. I mean, that's that's the one that's probably the most pressing in that and it's not necessarily from a timeline standpoint, like the state requires it by such and such a date, but in terms of the uncertainty and the ambiguity that it brings into planning board and code enforcement um decisions when we don't have a solid

shoreland zoning ordinance on the books. But other stuff, yeah, other stuff with regard to uh homebased businesses or roads or um you know, some of the other stuff they've been working on. Um there's um there's no deadline or anything like that in play.

the easier it makes it for people looking to do things in Durham and for the planning board and code enforcement officer to apply everything properly. So, sooner we get it done, the better for the process. board members that are thinking that there's just no way they want to consider November and um we should just go to next April or is it would everybody be okay with um having Ruth send out um you know a document with the draft articles on it that we can all review and um if there if people are

feeling a need we can um let me look at the next thing. We can get together before August 25th if we want to throw an extra meeting in there to purely talk about um referendum question things. What what are people thought people's thoughts?

I think we should review it, put them on there if we you know once we decide to do so. Especially the marijuana ones. Yeah. Should be a huge turnout. Yeah. How about this? Hey Ruth, do you think um would you be able to get um

uh the draft basically the document with the out by the end of this week um to board members and then board members we could look and we could determine um offline whether we think we need to have another meeting prior to the 25th to discuss or if we feel like we're just okay to discuss and um move forward at our at our meeting on the 25th.

could give you a really rough draft um of just the the questions that uh might be uh on the the ballot and then I can send George an email asking him to um look at the the draft from April and see if there's anything else um that he wants on it or that he wants to change and have him send it directly to you. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you could just send us the the draft from April.

Yeah. Yeah. And then and do what you just said with George and ask if there's any other issues that he thinks might be on there. And then um you're back next Monday, right? Yes. Yeah. So then sometime early next week, um if there were any other questions that George had, you know, maybe we could have language on those.

Okay. Does that sound reasonable to everybody? Reasonable approach? Yep. Yep. Okay. All right. So, that's what we'll do. Um action and discussion 4D update to town office HVAC system. Yes. What do you want to do? So, one of the biggest uh concerns uh among my peers in the business is the fact that we're coming up in winter and we already have an enclosed uh air system. So, we we have a recirculating air system by our HVAC and a lot of other towns and some businesses are talking about putting in um an ionizer and or a UV light. Um, and I had sent you the the bid that got the winning bid in from um um I think it was West was it

Westbrook Windom or something one of those Westbrook or Windom? It was Windom. Okay. Um and so there are several other towns that are looking into that and I wanted to bring up the idea that that the town might also you know invest in a UV

scrubber or ionizer scrubber uh in our system. Um, considering something like this, but I I think I'm wondering if it's putting the cart before the horse a little bit in that um I mean, I'm sure if you call up companies and say, "Hey, can you give me a bid on putting in an ionizer and a um UV light?" Sure, we'll give you a bid. But um I think I I'd almost

it seems like there ought to be some professional out there that would actually evaluate the system who's not trying to sell us equipment. We would evaluate the system and say, "Yeah, this is, you know, this is what we would recommend you do to provide the level of of uh protection that you're looking for." You know, I think we

Well, I did have somebody come and take a look. Um, so our HVAC system needs some cleaning and so a company came out and took a look at our system. There are two, uh, ducts that they would need to have the UV lights in. And and I just I guess what I'm looking for is to see whether or not, um, I should I should spend the time to pursue um, bids on this kind of a thing. you know, not necessarily a a bid opening or anything like that, but just calling different companies in the area to see what they would charge for that or whether um whether this was not something that I should spend my time on. Um,

but um, board members want to chime in on their thoughts on this one. I don't know much about it. thoughts either way. I guess um I think it's worth pursuing. I guess I don't know what level of improvement it'll provide. I don't know if there's already a problem, but I don't I don't have a problem looking into it and considering it. Yeah, there's um we actually um have a

resident in town who there's a friend of mine that kind of works in this industry and um not as not in sales of any sort but is like almost like a um she's like a safety protocol person and has been doing all types of work like this and is very familiar with you know various technologies. Um I I'm I'm going to reach out to her and say, "Hey, you know, there's a um there's a thought at town office of maybe we should do something with our air circulating system to um you know, help protect employees and the public, you know, during COVID and one of and just run this by her and and see what she thinks." Um because I'm I'm not ready to say, "Yeah, let's go buy stuff." because we don't even know. It could be hocus pocus for all we know. We just we just don't know whether this is the right thing to do or not. So that's why I say I think it's cart before the horse. I think I think the first step is to it's definitely worth

spending time on like okay do we have an issue here? Is this is this a is this a risk that we need to um mitigate somehow? And if so, what's the best way to do that before we jump in and get bids on specific pieces of equipment?

I agree. So, I would say don't worry about this one over your vacation, Ruth. Maybe put it on the agenda again for further discussion on the 25th. That will give me enough time to uh reach out to an expert that I know and and and and I may have them um if I think they'll be willing, but to reach out to you and have a conversation with you and and discuss um various options. Does that sound okay?

anything. Oh, yes, that's fine. Okay. All right. So, it's it's not a no. It's just don't get any bids on equipment yet. So, Okay. Right. Okay. 4 E main healthy grant. This is the grant that you successfully applied for a little over $9,000, I think, for COVID related expenses. Is that right?

Yes. Yeah. Is this just an awareness thing or do we have to vote on something? So, what I sent you guys is the actual contract and they're looking for a signature on the contract. Um Rob probably knows more about this kind of stuff than than I do for grants. But, um

you would have to vote for me to sign it. I move we authorize our town administrator to sign the contract for the keep main healthy grant. Second. All right. If you're in favor, say so when I call your name. Rob Hanto. Yes.

Rich George. Yes. Todd Buller. Oh, yes. Mark Farren. Yes. And I'm a yes as well. Okay. uh COVID 19 sick policy and Ruth has sent us a draft of that. Um when I and we had basically we at the last meeting we had asked her to put together something that was essentially based on CDC guidelines at the state and federal level which is uh seems to be exactly what she did which is great. The only

the only question I had Ruth was there's phrase in there where um employees returning to work will be required to provide a doctor's note. I I thought I've been reading places somewhere where they were saying that you can't really require a doctor's note. You could be wrong on that though.

I've heard both. Um I don't know. Yeah, I've seen it in different policies. I've heard also that you can't require a doctor's note. I've heard that COVID is different than the normal doctor's notes. Um I mean, you do get notes for people who are coming back to work after an injury um just to clear them that they can come back to work. Exactly. on on a work comp injury.

Yes, that's different because they're under your that's under your insurance. Although we have had notes from employees of the town previously who have had um procedures done um and then come back to work. The notes from the doctors specifically saying that they are ready to come back to work.

um was the symptomfree part um I've heard you know how long you should be symptom free before you can come back and and fever free. Um I've heard 24 I've heard 48 and I've heard 72 hours and I I went back and forth and I wasn't sure where to land. So I don't don't know if you guys have any input into that.

24 hours in. I started with 72 and I went to 48 and I've gone back and forth between 24 and 48 for a while. Yeah, we're at 72 at at my place, but I don't know. That's what I've heard is best. It's a long time. Yeah. What's the difference? and go 48.

Sounds good to me. In his head, yes. Yeah, I think 24 hours might be a little quick. Okay. Any other comments on on the policy? Go ahead. You got to say something, Ruth. Yeah, as part of the policy too, um the person who is experiencing the issue uh reports to their um direct supervisor. So in the department heads case, you know, I would report to Mark and and the other department heads, I assume, would report to their their liaison.

Anybody everybody okay with that approach? Yeah. Okay. All right. Then I'm going to move that we adopt the town of Durham COVID 19 return to work policy as presented with the edit of symptomatic persons must be symptom free for at least 48 hours not

24 hours. Rob seconds. Any further discussion on that one? All right. If you're in favor of adopting the policy as moved with the edit to 48 hours uh symptom free before return to work. So I call your name. Rob Panto. Yes.

Rich George. Took his took his earphones up. Yeah, we can't hear you, Rich. I don't know if you can thumbs up or thumbs down. All right, he given the thumbs up. Um, all right. Yes. Mark Farren. Yes. And I am a yes. So, all right. So even without Rich's vote, we have four positives. So um we're all set. Okay. So

that's the policy. There's that. And uh for action discussion 4G is Old Brunswick road speed. Um, I think we all got a copy of a letter um complaining about speed on this road and we got a letter basically from the sheriff's department telling us that they got a letter complaining about the speed on the road and asking if we had um

there was going to be some followup on the number of speed limit signs or something on that. Calvin, you want to speak to that? There are currently three. Um, that's never been an issue before. The road was repaved. Couldn't get to the speed limit anyway, but so there currently three and I've marked out dig safe for four additional signs and strategic uh places and those will go in this week. And uh we set up the uh speed radar sign this week. So, they should have uh the sheriff's department should have adequate signage that they can feel comfortable enforcing speed limit with

or they will at least after we get the signs up this week. Okay. item? I think it was just an awareness thing as much as anything. Okay. All right. So, moving on to department committee reports. 5A, the fire chief is first this week. Chief,

computer is very slow. Yeah, I can hear you. Okay. Uh, very, very brief report. Once again, we continue to operate um within the CO 19 restrictions. Uh we are going to if people need to come to the station, we're going to allow them in to do the business they need to do, but ask that they do wear a mask when they're in the station. Um just continuing to look at the budget and the call volume. Uh we're now 36 calls ahead of where we were last year. We've had several multi call days. Uh the department's done well handling those. Um had some public education issues that we've dealt with. uh a juvenile fire center issue which Diana Dmick handled uh very well with the fire marshall's office and we're also working with the school system uh in regards to what we'll help them provide uh for education for fire prevention week given the fact that things are not going to be back to normal by the time the school year

starts whatever that looks like. Uh other than that I have nothing else to report. Okay, any questions for the chief from board members? Okay, thank you. And Calvin, we are back to you for the uh road commissioner report. So, uh, following up on your request from last meeting to, uh, look into the Japanese notweed bamboo, talk to the main natural areas program, uh, the new biologist, Nancy Olmstead, and she uh, we discussed um some

different options and she gave me the um, a place to look up the information on their website and u, so I attached to my report that was u the link as well as the um um u co-op cooperative extension um so it is yeah Japanese notweed and bamboo they are one and the same um and a lot of towns are there's a lot of people that are concerned about it in their towns uh uh she said she u uh was still trying to get her feet under her on this, but that uh I I gave her what we did on the MP. She said it sounds like a very good practice for containing mitigating uh the the situation and keeping what we have in place. U she was going on vacation, so she was back today. I haven't talked to her today, but in the meantime, I was able to talk to DOT. Um, I did call the town of Brunswick and uh they said they don't uh they they don't spray it. Uh they've said they just keep cutting it over and over again and it keeps coming back. And

so, um, I did talk to DOT and Bob Mooseman, the, uh, vegetation management director for the state, and he, uh, said they've put together, um, a formula of herbicides, a mixture of three, and he's been developing this over the last 40 years, and feels that it is quite effective. uh statewide they do have to um allow for an opt- out option for abuing land owners and his comment to me was that uh only 1% in the entire state actually file for the opt- out option. So I found that to be quite interesting. Um and he said they actually help land owners if they need to go back a little further help them uh to keep to to mitigate it on their own property that they will do that. So they won't do acres and acres, but they'll go back a ways and help uh land owners. Um so the options I sent an email earlier are to continue what we're doing. Um or just uh you know as you

probably read that one option another option is to aggressively cut uh several times a year and keep cutting and keep cutting and over time Nancy said it could take you know probably 10 years or more for cutting it several times a year. Um so that would be a quite u an

extensive manpower operation. Um the third option would be laying and maintaining a construction fabric over it, which means we'd have to uh dig into the ground and and uh put the fabric over it and then maintain that um and

continue cutting as well. So and and the fourth option spraying herbicides. So, I guess with uh that I I I do think that, you know, we really should I should go out and GPS locate all of the current u locations and put that on a map so that we can see what the uh I know how widespread the problem really is. And that would also help us to be able to monitor if it's spreading or not. If a new location pops up, then we know that uh that we need to that we we can tell if the problem is really uh taking off or or holding the same. So, u

I would recommend that. Um but other than that, I guess the u um I did speak with the contractor. I did hear back from DOT today actually and they said we cannot piggyback their contract with the applicators because um that's only for goods, not for services. Um, so we would have to contract if that was what the board chose to do. We'd have to contract with uh with with they're using Cabby's property management and did talk with them today and they said they would uh basically have to do it by time and material and once I give them the map they would be able to give me an idea what that would cost but that's only if she decides to go that route. So that's about all the information I have on on on that if you guys want to give me some direction. Well, thank you. That's that's uh you did a lot of homework on that since we spoke last meeting. So, I appreciate the effort you put into that. Um I I agree

that it makes sense to map it out and see what you know what's the extent of the problem that we have and then um and then probably you know we can digest a lot of the information you sent and um when you get that map done let's let's put it back on the agenda again and we can um talk about if it's if we need to make some kind of change to the to the plan or if what we're doing now is fine.

Yeah. Well, I think it would be helpful too once we get the map done, we will know who the abing property owners are. Maybe we could send them some information about the the the problem and see if if they want some we could give them some guidance, too. So,

yeah. Okay. So, that's what I got on that. U work on that. Thank you. Uh fortunately. So, I'm back to uh uh this job now. Um I worked with Krooker last week. We got Bowie Hill and Apple Ridge paved. Um the tropical storm hit last week. We were out till midnight clearing trees and we were without power here at the shop for several days because the line went down out front and I thought there was a chunk of asphalt out here where the fire burned it burned some some land out here and I thought there was a chunk of asphalt but I didn't see any missing in the road. I was a little confused. As I get up closer to it, it actually turned the gravel into glass. So it looks like asphalt, but there was so much power in that line that it it turned the gravel into molten just a big block of glass. So I I didn't realize there was that much power, but I didn't know you could turn gravel into glass, but I guess you can. Uh

so we uh did go out, continue through the next day, got the roads all cleared and back. Then we had them open for morning commute and worked with the fire department on on some. And uh and so the uh the u the traffic uh report I have that and I can I sent that

to you yesterday and I can try to share that if I can remember how to do it. I think I hit this. It says the host has prohibited sharing. So, hold on. Let me let me make you a co-host. Where am I? Or can I not make you a co-host? Huh?

Or if somebody else wants to share it, if they have it, looks like that's what I'm gonna have to do. Anybody else can either Kevin, you have it up. Um, I do, but I'm not a I'm not a co-host either. Okay. know, I you want me to wait and pull it up or

version. You guys have it on your computer. Yeah. Yeah. Ruth, you don't you don't have it, Ruth. Oh, there we go. Yeah. So, the the pie uh shows uh the light blue is the um vehicles that slowed once they saw the radar sign. So, um and if you look at the if you look at the uh table on the next page, last column to your right shows the um signs effectiveness. So that represents uh all told 73.2% of the time the sign was effective in slowing traffic down.

radar unit is able to detect that traffic was moving faster and then slowed. So what's the um what's the threshold? What's the definition of the threshold? So, I set the unit from 35 to 45 uh to display the speed uh and then anything above that. And I still have some questions on some of the data here that I'm uh trying to get answers to that. Um I've got to call into the company now because DOT couldn't answer some of them. But I set the unit between 35 and 45. I I give I set it at 10 to 10 miles over and then I don't display any speed after that because I don't want to encourage people to see how high they can make it go. So um and then after that it just flashes a white light at them and tells them they're really going way too fast. So it it starts flashing strobes. So above the uh and one of the questions I have for DOS if you look at the the graph down below um it's there are four colors but

yet on the legend here there are only three colors. So I'm not sure why there's a yellow and an orange and they don't know the answer to that. So um but that that's the threshold that was set so the yellow is uh uh going uh 35 or below and I mean the green is 35 or below or going to the speed limit and the yellow would be they were in the tolerance range of which typically police would give people up to you know 9 miles over the speed limit or so. So

the uh you know and if the sheriff's office wants uh disagrees with that, but that's been my experience is that they typically would give people up to 10 miles over. So that's what we said of that. The the red are people that went over that threshold. Um so you see the uh biggest uh the the the top graph there bars are traffic uh count u more or less the time of day with the volume of traffic and the bottom one shows that like from 4 to from 5 to 7 a.m. And that also reflects on the next table. If you look at uh if you look at 18,900 hours uh

you'll see the uh uh uh the biggest uh violators are well actually no it's at uh between 4 and 8 between u between 6 and 8 a.m. is when you uh and that's what this graph here reflects is when your biggest problem is people going to work. they're they're in no hurry to get home, but they're in a hurry to get to work. So, um that u uh is that so the second page gives you more data that uh and the average uh uh so you look the average speed was 37.29 miles an hour. Now, of course, that's with the radar. I'm not going to say that if we didn't have the radar unit there that number wouldn't be different, right? So what people are experiencing out there, my objective in this first round was just to slow traffic down and it wasn't to try to uh catch people or find out any other right now. It was just to slow traffic down and then we'll move to the other uh trying to actually figure out because I can set this up in

different modes to figure out what traffic is actually doing when we are uh not collecting the data. So, but uh so this is with the uh the the sign pretty visible and uh the uh um so this was a collected over 15 days. Uh the a the total traffic volume was 12,688 vehicles. Uh the average daily uh

volume was 845.9 vehicles and I think 136 is like 3 or 4 thousand. just for reference, maximum speed was 65 miles an hour and minimum speed was 20 miles an hour. And so I think that the uh the sheriff's office could, you know, use this data and go out at strategic times. I, you know, we we're this is our first report and we still got some more bugs to work out. There are other reports I could print, but this is the first one that they recommended I start with.

that. So, we we did set it up on Old Brunswick Road. It is now on Old Brunswick Road. And um um there are some settings in the unit um that I want to work on and make sure that our set uh sensitivity because I uh sometimes when I go by on 136 it looks like I see a number I do see a number come up on the screen that shouldn't be there because there's no traffic going in that lane. So, I I'm not totally comfortable yet that we're getting the 100% accurate data. So, I still got some bugs to work out there to be sure that I'm getting the right information. I'm not sure if it's picking up people coming the other way occasionally or if they're somehow getting something coming off 136, but uh I I've noticed a few times the number that the that the light is lighting up with the speed. And I'm not sure how that's happening, but we're going to work that out. Okay. So, I mean, if it's picking up a speed,

I'm wondering if it's picking up a vehicle that really isn't there or so then that would skew the data. So, I'm going to continue to work on that before the next meeting so I can get that to the board. uh the uh private road signs. I sent this

information to um to Bob before. Um and uh I know that the board has the option to I think I think our ordinance um gives the gives the board uh authority to set fee schedules without having to go to uh to to vote. I think that's why it's usually left uh pretty wide open that select board has right to set fee schedules. That's usually the way it works. I think as to what I saw, but but at any rate, this is the cost. It costs my department to put up a sign. And we seem to be doing quite a few of them. So when anybody shares a driveway, they need to have a uh either they're either a backlot or a private way and they need a sign. And so I'm would like to see if I could get Bob to collect this, but we really would have no enforcement without there being some fees schedule set by the select board would be

Yeah. Huh. fee, but without the board setting a fee, I don't know really I'm not sure how that would work. this one. I think we probably need to do a little digging on um you know, what does the ordinance actually say? I'd want to see the actual language that um puts it in the board's hands to set this fees because uh most most of the fees are actually set by the planning board. Um, so I just want to confirm like if we

want to do a fee, what's the actual process for doing that? Yeah. And and Yeah. And then what do we do? I mean, there is many of them uh that we have to go out and replace because they like we have four-wheel drive off from Runaround Pond. People seem to want that sign or they have a sign that so we have to keep replacing them. And what do we do in that case? if they're on a private road, does the town pay for it or do they pay for it? I, you know, I don't know the

right on on the one hand, we need it there for public safety purposes and and on the other hand, it's a private road, so but it's in the town right away, so I I guess that's something the board would have to consider. Yeah.

All right. Any questions for Calvin on his report? administrator report. Ruth, you got anything left for us? Um, let's see here. Uh, no, not much. Just the financial report. Um, I sent out the the budget through July. Um, there's nothing really um bad on it. Um, we will be over budget for election. um even without doing the uh ballot for the municipal um by a couple thousand dollars. Uh so if we do do the municipal budget, that means we'll probably be about $4,000 $5,000 over um the budget

that we have for the elections. Um and then as far as the excise tax, uh we're actually um catching up to last year. We're only 9% below uh what was uh collected last year at the end of July. So, um, we've made up quite a bit of ground since we are opening. Um, and so hopefully we'll make up even more ground. Um, let's see. Uh, what else? We've been very busy with the tax collections, registrations. We are back to open our normal hours. Um we do have a couple of people that sometimes do call um for um appointments and what we do during that time is we lock the door when they're in the office and keep um everybody else out while we wait on that person. Um it's few and far between, but we will do that if anybody is a high-risisk category and wants to call and and uh and do that with us, we can do that. Um and then that's about it unless anybody has questions for me.

you very much. Okay, on the consent agenda, um I would take a motion on the consent agenda. I'll second it. Todd second. All right. If you're in favor of uh the consent agenda as presented, say so when I call your name. Rob Panto,

yes. Rich George, he's off right now. He's off right now. Okay. Todd Bolia, yes. Mark Farren, yes. And I am a yes. So that's a that's a 40 vote for our minutes taker because uh we lost Rich temporarily. Um okay. Um selectman's comments upcoming town uh meetings for the board. Uh Tuesday, August 25th at 6:30 and Tuesday, September 8th, also at 6:30. Uh expect those will continue in this Zoom format. Um at this point, I'm going to move us into executive session pursuant to one MRSA section 4056A discussion of personnel matters. If you are not part of this discussion or are not a board member, uh we would ask you to please um leave the Zoom meeting, but

I need a vote from board members to enter session. Rob Panto, yes. Rich George, was she still not here? Um Todd Bolier, yes. Mark Farren, yes. And I'm a yes. So, we are in executive session. All right. Give us a second to get everyone.

Yeah, we give we really need to give Rich a few minutes to give Zach