Select Board Meeting ~ July 25, 2023

2023-07-25 · Select Board · 2:32:36 · watch on YouTube →

Select Board meeting of July 25, 2023. The transcript begins about nineteen minutes in, during department reports, so the opening of the meeting is not covered by the recording. Department reports covered a long fire and EMS call and county dispatch staffing, road and culvert work and the temporary traffic signals at the Route 125 bridge, and the town manager's update on the audit, the capital improvement schedule and an Efficiency Maine lighting application. Three Casella staff then presented on automated curbside collection ahead of the end of the town's one-year contract extension, and took questions on cart costs, contract length, collection frequency and the loss of trash-tag revenue. The board went into and out of Assessor's session to accept abatements and approved its consent agenda. The rest of the meeting was goal and priority setting, covering the property revaluation, the 2018 comprehensive plan, the fee schedule, and a disagreement about how information is shared among board members.

What was discussed

1. 18:59
   Fire and EMS report

   The fire chief described a long Saturday night call and problems with radio traffic and incident command, and said Androscoggin County (?) dispatch had lost three staff to other jobs and had dropped to two dispatchers at night. He said he bypassed dispatch and called other resources directly over the radio to cut lead time. Three residents have joined the department as volunteers, including two drivers and a woman who has her national EMT and will ride per diem.

2. 18:59
   Solar-powered traffic lights not working

   The lights had stopped working after several cloudy days. The manufacturer's engineering department explained that when the marine battery drops below a set level it shuts the unit down and it comes back an hour or two later. Options discussed were running power to the site, which would mean a meter and a bill, or adding a second backup battery; the cost of a second battery was to be checked.

3. 24:23
   Public works and roads report

   The road commissioner, Calvin, reported that mowing at lawns and cemeteries is still going because of the wet summer, and that rain has been rutting and potholing the gravel roads. Beavers have blocked a culvert on a hill road (name garbled in the transcript) and the crew is pulling the debris out and installing metal grates; ditching has been done on Quaker Meeting House Road under the power lines and groundwater is still running through the dip.

4. 24:23
   Route 125 bridge work and winter plowing

   Calvin (?) said he has raised with the Maine DOT and Sharpe Brothers (?) the risk of vehicles being stopped at the temporary signal on the hill during snow events, where one stuck vehicle backs up six or seven others. He said they have agreed to keep the way passable and to widen it so a plow truck with a wing can get through, rather than forcing a six or seven mile detour.

5. 29:42
   Swamp Road stream crossing and reliance on the signal lights

   A board member asked whether the Swamp Road stream crossing has been specified and whether plans could be shared; the answer was that it has to go through a licensed engineer and meet current rules, including capacity above the water for debris flow. A member thanked Calvin for the quick fix to the lights but said there is a concern in getting people used to depending on a signal that sometimes does not work.

6. 29:42
   Town manager's report

   Town Manager Jerry Douglass said the town's accounting firm (name garbled in the transcript) is now handling the accounts online and the audit is almost complete, with financial statements still to be prepared. The capital improvement process may start in the last two weeks of September. The Efficiency Maine lighting application for town buildings is due at the end of August; Enterprise Electric, a qualified contractor through Efficiency Maine, has done the assessments and is still pricing the work, and there would be an upfront cost to the town.

7. 35:09
   Casella presentation: automated collection

   Chris McHale, Mark Haley and Talya Bent introduced themselves and described automated collection: every household gets two 64-gallon carts, one trash and one recycling, picked up by a split-body truck with a side arm instead of a crew riding the back. The chair, Joe Tomm (?), said the presentation was informational and that the town has to decide its direction because it is in a one-year extension.

8. 40:26
   Labour, safety and disposal costs

   Chris McHale said 35 to 40 people ride the backs of trucks daily in his market with five or six workers' compensation injuries open at any time, that about half the crew comes from a staffing agency in Lewiston, and that the work is hard to staff. Seven municipalities have signed contracts to move from rear-load to automated collection, and new split-body trucks are running 12 to 18 months out. He said tipping and hauling costs have risen and he would not commit to a small annual increase.

9. 46:21
   Cart cost, ownership and sizes

   Carts were quoted at about $62 to $65 each including delivery to residents, plus maintenance afterward. Either Casella buys and manages them, building the cost into the contract and branding them, or the town buys them and handles storage, replacement and management. Casella recommends one 64-gallon size for everyone; Westbrook used many 32-gallon carts and has had trouble with the truck's grip on them in winter.

10. 51:39
    Contract length and truck cost

    Chris McHale said a minimum five-year contract is needed because the trucks now cost over half a million dollars, quoted at $550,000, and the return cannot be made over three years. He said the truck would serve Durham and other municipalities out of the West Bath location, and that carts carry roughly a ten-year warranty and life cycle.

11. 56:48
    Collection frequency, overflow and no rear-load bids

    A board member asked about biweekly collection; Casella does not service anyone less often than weekly for trash and said 96-gallon or two carts would be needed. There is no overflow service, and everything has to fit in the cart. Asked directly, Chris McHale confirmed that if Durham does not go automated, Casella would not bid on the contract.

12. 1:02:17
    Carts tied to addresses, and the trash tag program

    Carts are serial-numbered and registered to the address, and a new house on an already-served road just calls in for a cart. A board member noted the town currently allots 26 trash tags per home with extras sold at the town office, and asked whether automation allows any equivalent revenue; Chris McHale said pay-as-you-throw is effectively eliminated and nobody has a good solution for it.

13. 1:07:24
    Replacement fee idea and RFP timing

    Talya Bent suggested replacing tag revenue with an annual cart fee based on average current tag spending per household. Casella (?) recommended putting out any RFP before the end of the calendar year, but the board noted a contract has to go to town meeting in April, which means automation would realistically be at least 18 months after that.

14. 1:12:36
    Number of households and total cart cost

    The town was said to have roughly 1,600 residences. A board member calculated about $125 per household for two carts across 1,600 households, or roughly $200,000 for the carts alone. Chris McHale said if Casella buys the carts the cost is built into the monthly fee over the contract term, starting when the carts arrive with the truck.

15. 1:12:36
    Assessor's session and abatements

    The board moved into Assessor's session and took up the assessor's abatement notifications for James and Monica Millhime and two abatements for Jeffrey Pac. The map and lot numbers read out are garbled in the recording.

16. 1:17:58
    Consent agenda, absences and upcoming meetings

    The board returned to regular session and approved the consent agenda, after a question about whether the dates listed were June or July. A member asked how to be excused from an upcoming meeting and was told to say so at a meeting or send an email or text so people know. Select Board meetings were given for August 8 and August 22 at the Durham town office.

17. 1:17:58
    Goals and priority setting: list of live projects

    The chair went through the challenges and opportunities list from the April town meeting workshop: the long-term solid waste contract, property revaluation, capital improvement planning, remaining ARPA funds, a long-term plan for the Old Town Hall from a committee given about four months to report, technology upgrades at the Eureka Center, town office reconfiguration, and a move from a calendar to a fiscal year budget.

18. 1:23:31
    Property revaluation RFP

    The board discussed putting the revaluation RFP out now rather than later, since revaluation firms have a wait list and the town needs a real cost figure before asking voters for money. A member asked what it costs taxpayers not to do it; the chair said he would ask the assessor. The assessor was said to be uncomfortable doing a partial adjustment at this point.

19. 1:34:06
    Comprehensive plan follow-through and how to work the list

    Heather Roy said she read the 2018 comprehensive plan before the meeting and could check off only about ten items as complete, and proposed a spreadsheet format with goals, strategies, action steps and a named lead for each. Richard George said he agreed the items are high priority but did not understand the plan of attack, and that operational matters such as trash push things like an agricultural committee to the back burner.

20. 1:39:24
    Offers to lead on policies and the fee schedule

    Heather Roy offered to be the lead on drafting written policies and on the fee schedule. The chair said the appropriate route is to put a specific policy on a future agenda and bring proposed language to the board for discussion, and cautioned against individual board members inserting themselves into work the planning board and staff already handle.

21. 1:44:29
    Fees, the legal opinion, and a facilitated session

    The board went over the legal opinion on fees: a fee can be added where it sits in the land use ordinance, but where there is no ordinance provision, such as solar, the ordinance or policy has to be changed and voted first. Members disagreed about whether a fee can be set under a conditional use permit. A member said the discussion was not going as expected and suggested a facilitator, with GPCOG named as a possibility.

22. 1:55:26
    Members' individual goals

    The board went around the room listing goals to be written on the board: solar and cell tower ordinances as separate items, a housing ordinance, written policies and procedures, an agricultural committee, help for the roughly 35 properties whose house footprints now fall in resource protection, the fiscal year transition, a comprehensive plan status review, solid waste direction, a municipal building use assessment, the fee schedule, communications and transparency, and reuse of the CIP committee's ranking policies.

23. 2:11:52
    Town manager's response to the goal list

    Jerry Douglass went down the list: the fee schedule is work the town can do; ordinances should be left to the planning board and staff; he needs direction from the board on how to put solid waste out to bid; personnel policies including an outdated leave policy do need work; and the building assessment and comprehensive plan work belong to the board. He said the word transparency makes him uneasy because he considers the office an open book.

24. 2:17:06
    Sharing information among board members

    Heather Roy said answers to questions have gone to some board members and not others, gave the example of an MMA reply on housing legislation that reached two staff and the planning board chair only, and asked for board-wide email addresses so every member has the same information. Joe Tomm said the earlier Casella meeting involving only himself, the road commissioner and the former chair was about getting a budget number and was not underhanded, and that individual members cannot represent the board to outside agencies.

25. 2:28:52
    Subdivision approval example and adjournment

    Heather Roy gave an example of a planning board subdivision approval with no public hearing, where abutters had no notice, the 30-day appeal period had not run, and work was already underway. The chair said the board was off topic; a member said he would photograph the list on the board and send it to everyone, and the board adjourned.

What was decided

• 1:17:58
  The minutes record a motion by Joe Tomm to move the second part of Item #7, Goals/Priority Setting, to the end of the meeting. The motion is not in the recording, which starts later; the item was in fact taken up at the end, but the minutes record no seconder or result.outcome unclear
• 1:12:36
  Move the board into Assessor's session (moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Joe Roy)passed
• 1:12:36
  Accept the assessor's abatement notifications for James and Monica Millhime and two abatements for Jeffrey Pac (moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Josh Klein-Golden, carried 5-0)passed
• 1:17:58
  Move the board out of Assessor's session (moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Joe Roy, carried 5-0)passed
• 1:17:58
  Accept the minutes of the July 11, 2023 Select Board meeting and accept and sign the July 16 and July 23, 2023 warrants (moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Heather Roy, carried 5-0)passed
• 1:28:42
  The board agreed the revaluation RFP should go out now and that the assessor would be asked what the revaluation and the delay would cost. No vote was taken.outcome unclear
• 1:55:26
  The board agreed each member would write down goals and objectives, to be compiled into a list and prioritised at a later session, possibly facilitated. No vote was taken.outcome unclear
• 2:28:52
  Adjourn (moved by Richard George, seconded by Joe Tomm, carried 5-0)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 sb_meeting_minutes_07_25_23.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• amend the second part of Item #7 – New Business (Goals/Priority Setting) to the end of the meeting

  Moved by Joe Tomm, no seconder recorded; no outcome recorded

• move the board into Assessor’s sessioncarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Joe Roy

• the Board accept the Assessor’s abatement notifications for James and Monica Millhime and (2) abatements for Jeffrey Packardcarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Josh Klein-Golden

• the Board out of Assessor’s sessioncarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Joe Roy

• accept the meeting minutes from the July 11th, 2023 SB Meeting and accept and sign the July 16th and July 23rd, 2023 Warrantscarried 5-0

  Moved by Joe Tomm, seconded by Heather Roy

• adjourncarried 5-0

  Moved by Richard George, seconded by Joe Tomm

Worth knowing

• 1:12:36
  The town was said to have about 1,600 residences. Casella quoted carts at about $62 to $65 each including delivery, and a board member put two carts per household at about $125, or roughly $200,000 for the carts alone. Trucks were quoted at over $550,000, which is why Casella wants a five-year minimum contract.
• 56:48
  Chris McHale confirmed that Casella is no longer taking rear-load collection contracts: if Durham does not move to automated collection, Casella would not bid on the town's contract.
• 1:23:31
  The town's certified ratio was given as 67 percent, with the state requiring a revaluation if it falls below 70 percent. About $60,000 is set aside for the revaluation, and firms were said to have roughly a two-year wait list.
• 1:34:06
  Heather Roy said she read the 2018 comprehensive plan, 31 pages, before the meeting and could check off only about ten items as complete, including an agricultural advisory board that was supposed to be formed by 2020 and never was.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 1 passage of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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