February 9, 2021 ~ Select Board Meeting

2021-02-09 · Select Board · 34:48 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met remotely on February 9, 2021. Four of the five members were present at roll call; Todd Beaulieu joined later and voted on every motion. The board adopted a utility pole permit policy delegating permit approval to the road commissioner, approved an email migration to Office 365 with two optional vendor services removed pending a written explanation, set the public hearing on the town meeting warrant for March 16 at 6:00 p.m., and approved the oath naming Becky Taylor-Chase as town registrar. It heard reports from the road commissioner, the fire chief and the town administrator, approved the consent agenda, and went into executive session on personnel matters.

What was discussed

1. 0:01
   Call to order and roll call

   Kevin Nadeau called the meeting to order and took a roll call so that anyone watching or calling in could confirm the members could be heard. Richard George, Rob Pontau and Marc Farrin answered; Todd Beaulieu was not present at the start. Four of five members gave a quorum.

2. 0:01
   Amendment to the agenda

   The consent agenda listed only the January 26 minutes. Minutes from January 19 had also been sent to the board, and with no objection they were added to the consent agenda.

3. 0:01
   Public comment

   Nadeau said he saw nobody in the participant list who was not there on business. The public comment portion was closed with no speakers.

4. 0:01
   Utility pole permit policy

   The policy would stop requiring every utility pole permit to come before the board and instead authorise the road commissioner to inspect the site and approve the permit. Richard George asked whether the code officer should also be named; it was explained that the policy covers only poles in the right of way, which is why it goes to the road commissioner. Nadeau said the approach matches what Topsham and Brunswick do.

5. 5:03
   Wording changes to the pole permit policy

   Two changes were made on the screen before the vote. The scope was narrowed to utility poles within the public right of way rather than any right of way, which could be private, and the approval clause was changed so the road commissioner approves the permit only if all applicable conditions are met.

6. 5:03
   Email migration to Office 365

   Nadeau said approval of the town's .gov domain had come back faster than expected. The next step was to work through the switchover with the vendor, BEK. Because the cost exceeded $5,000 the board had to approve the quote and the expenditure; the money comes from the 2021 telecommunications line.

7. 10:26
   Cost detail, Comcast accounts and backup questions

   Five Comcast email accounts were still active and would be paid for only until the switchover and a month or two after, then discontinued. Richard George questioned the optional professional service to set up the Office 365 backup, asking whether it was a primary, secondary or redundant backup. The town administrator said it was outside her area and she would need an in-depth discussion with BEK; she noted the town already backs up between two systems, one at the fire station and one at the office.

8. 10:26
   Board decides to drop the two optional services

   Rob Pontau said Office 365 has anti-spam features built in and, as an executive-level email service, does not need off-site backup on top. Nadeau proposed moving forward without either optional item and asking BEK for a written explanation of what each one provides, so the board could add them later if they proved to be good value.

9. 16:12
   Date for the town meeting public hearing

   Under the referendum format a public hearing must be held before the polls, at least ten days ahead and noticed for seven days. Drawing on the last referendum, where the second hearing drew slightly fewer people and largely the same speakers, the board agreed one hearing was enough rather than two.

10. 16:12
    Choosing March 16

    Absentee ballots would be available starting March 8, and the warrant mailer to every address in town would land around March 4 or 5, giving residents a week to read it. The board picked March 16 because March 9 and March 23 were regular meeting nights and it did not want the hearing on a regular meeting night.

11. 21:46
    Start time set at 6:00 p.m.

    A 6:00 start had confused people last time because six had been published but the website calendar still showed the usual 6:30. The board agreed that as long as the notice and the website agree, 6:00 would work, and settled on 6:00 p.m. on March 16.

12. 21:46
    Item 4D withdrawn

    Todd Beaulieu had emailed to ask that item 4D come off the agenda. His family is starting a wedding venue this spring and, expecting six or eight events over the summer, he was told he needs a conditional use approval rather than the event permit originally discussed.

13. 21:46
    Registrar and conservation commission appointments

    A registrar is appointed in odd-numbered years. Nadeau praised the credentials of the conservation commission volunteer, Jessica Costa, but Richard George pointed out that appointments now go through executive session. The board agreed that applied to the conservation commission seat and not to the registrar, so only the registrar oath was voted in open session.

14. 21:46
    Road commissioner's report

    Calvin (?) reported back-to-back storms and said crews were still out. He had been talking with surrounding towns about spring road postings and expected the town would be posting in another week or two.

15. 27:20
    Public works: training, trucks and paving bids

    Calvin was to attend the Southern Maine public works group meeting the next day, where pandemic staffing and vaccination requirements were on the agenda. He had updated the monitoring software on the new trucks, which emails him about over-temperature, low coolant or over-revving before problems get large, at about $500 a year for all trucks. Safety training videos with the Maine Department of Labor were back on track and the new 2021 Wheeler was in service on about its third storm.

16. 27:20
    Road posting ordinance revision

    Calvin had sent the board a marked-up ordinance the previous day, with changes in red that he described as very minimal typo fixes, along with the statutes giving the town the authority. The board agreed to hold it for a future meeting as a proper agenda item and set a public hearing date then, folding the hearing into a regular meeting as it does with junkyards. Paving bid documents were delayed by two days of plowing and would come to the next meeting.

17. 27:20
    Fire chief's report

    Call volume had dropped at the start of the year and was ticking back up, with several chimney fires in the past week; the chief reminded residents to have stoves serviced. Three bids were received at Monday afternoon's bid opening on the RFP and were under review. The firefighter I and II program was running with four staff, and the department would submit its 2020 FEMA fire act grant application by the end of the week.

18. 27:20
    Other grant sources

    Asked what else the department pursues, the chief said it had again received the forestry service grant and used it to upgrade radios. Most other FEMA grants are aimed at adding department staffing, which Durham is not in line for, leaving the fire act grant as the one that fits.

19. 32:29
    Town administrator's report

    Ruth (?) said she had little to add beyond what had already been covered and what was in her written report.

20. 32:29
    Consent agenda

    The consent agenda was the minutes of January 19 and January 26 plus the accounts payable warrant.

21. 32:29
    Upcoming meetings

    Regular meetings were noted for Tuesday, February 23 at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m., plus the newly scheduled town meeting public hearing on Tuesday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m.

22. 32:29
    Executive session

    Rather than adjourn, the board moved into executive session on personnel matters. The recording ends with that vote.

What was decided

• 0:01
  Add the January 19 minutes to the consent agenda alongside January 26. The chair asked for objections and none were raised.passed
• 5:03
  Accept the Town of Durham utility pole permit policy as presented on the screen, authorising the road commissioner to inspect and approve utility pole permits within the public right of way if the applicable conditions have been met. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George. The roll call recorded five yes votes and the chair said the motion passes.passed
• 16:12
  Approve the plan for the email migration and Office 365 licences as presented, but WITHOUT the optional professional services to set up anti-spam and WITHOUT the optional professional services to set up Office 365 backup, pending a fuller explanation from the vendor. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George. All five members answered yes on the roll call.passed
• 21:46
  Hold a single public hearing on the town meeting warrant on Tuesday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m., not on a regular meeting night. Reached by stated agreement around the table rather than a roll-call vote.passed
• 21:46
  Take item 4D off the agenda at Todd Beaulieu's request, since the wedding venue his family is starting will need a conditional use approval rather than an event permit. No objection was raised.passed
• 21:46
  Do NOT act on the conservation commission appointment in open session. The board agreed the appointment of Jessica Costa must first go through executive session, and only the registrar oath was voted on in public.passed
• 21:46
  Approve the oath as presented naming Becky Taylor-Chase as town registrar. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George. All five members answered yes on the roll call.passed
• 27:20
  Hold the revised road posting ordinance for a later meeting, taking it up as its own agenda item and setting a public hearing date at that meeting rather than tonight. Agreed in discussion; no motion was made.tabled
• 32:29
  Accept the consent agenda as presented, being the minutes of January 19 and January 26 and the accounts payable warrant. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Todd Beaulieu. All five members answered yes.passed
• 32:29
  Go into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA section 405(6)(A) for discussion of personnel matters. Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George. All five members answered yes.passed

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

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from bos_minutes_2-9-21_final_1_.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• accept the Town of Durham Pole Permit Policy as currently presented on the screen, which authorizes the Road Commissioner to inspect and approve utility pole permits if the applicable conditions have been metcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• approve the plan for the email migration license to Office 365 as presented; but without the optional professional services to set up anti-spam; and without the optional professional services to set up an Office 365 back…carried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• approve the oath as presented naming Becky Taylor-Chase as Registrarcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

• accept the Consent Agenda as presented, including minutes from January 19 and January 26carried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Rob Pontau

• go into Executive Session at approximately 7:09 p.mcarried 5-0

  Moved by Kevin Nadeau, seconded by Richard George

Worth knowing

• 10:26
  The board stripped two optional professional services out of the Office 365 quote before approving it. Rob Pontau argued Office 365 already includes anti-spam and does not need extra off-site backup, and the two items were described in the meeting as coming to $978 and change. BEK was asked for a written explanation of what each provides, with the option of adding them later.
• 16:12
  One public hearing on the town meeting warrant, not two. The board's read of the last referendum was that the second hearing drew slightly fewer people and largely the same speakers repeating themselves. The hearing was set for March 16 at 6:00 p.m.; absentee ballots become available March 8 and the warrant mailer reaches every address in town around March 4 or 5.
• 21:46
  Richard George caught that appointments now have to go through executive session. That split the two appointments on the agenda: the registrar oath for Becky Taylor-Chase was voted in open session, while the conservation commission seat for Jessica Costa was held back for the executive session at the end of the night.
• 27:20
  Spring road postings are close. Calvin (?) said he had been coordinating with surrounding towns and expected postings in another week or two. He also brought a revised road posting ordinance, which will need its own public hearing before adoption.

Elsewhere

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