TranscriptFebruary 9, 2021 ~ Select Board Meeting

the Durham Board of Selectmen to order on Tuesday, February 9th. U we are still in a virtual format. So I will call ro of board members so that we can confirm that board members can be heard by anybody who's calling in or watching the meeting. So Rich George

present, Rosanto here. Mark Farren and I'm Kevin Edo and uh obviously I'm here. Todd Bolier is not here. Um he may show up later. We're not sure but we have four of the five board members tonight. So we do have a quorum. Um any

amendments to the agenda board [clears throat] or Ruth? unless there's an objection like if you haven't read it yet, I won't do this. But um down on the consent agenda on 6A, it says approve minutes. So January 26. Uh we also were sent and and need to approve the minutes from the uh 19th.

Does any anyone object to having that added to the consent agenda? we will add January 19th minutes uh to the consent agenda. Okay. Uh is anybody here for public comment? I'm not seeing anybody that's not normally here for business purposes in the list of participants, but

Oh, it's on his way on. Okay. is just okay. Then we will close the public comment portion and move on to action and discussion items for a uh policy on pole permit. on the screen or I can. Yes, absolutely. Um I just had it two seconds ago.

It just Okay, great. Thank you. here is that rather than require that these come to the board of selectment every time that there's a utility poll um that needs to be put in that we authorize the road commissioner to um inspect the proposed site um and approve

the permit. So, um, if I essentially got that the the concept of that correct, Ruth? Yes. Uh, any board members have questions or comments on this policy? I I guess I'm uh geez I I swear we've looked at this or done something similar to this every year since I've been on this board, but maybe my mind's tripping here. But um I would only I wonder if it should be either the road commissioner or the code officer. I only say that simply because a lot of times some of these polls, you know, you might need four or five polls up a private driveway that has nothing to do with the road commissioner. They wouldn't come for a permit for that, Rich. These are only ones that are in the right of way.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. You're right. Okay. That's why it's the road commissioner because it's in the right of way. Yeah, that's true. Okay. Any other Rob, just out of curiosity, who would do like an aerial easement? Do we have anything unless it's on Tom property?

Okay. Yeah, I couldn't tell you. They don't come up often, but they do come up. Yeah. Yeah. I got no objection to this. I I uh Anybody else have any comments or questions on this? No. I'll just say uh this is consistent with uh you know what like the town of Toppsum and town of Brunswick do. So, it's not uncommon. Um my only question I I will stay upright. I realize I am like this is a nitpicky thing beyond nitpicky thing too is that it just says pole permit. What kind of pole are we talking about? Flag poles or fence poles or um do we need to

specify that this is for util utility poles in the um you know public utility poles in the um within the right ofway or something like within the you know what I mean? You know what I'm getting at there? Yeah, I would say utility poles within the public right of way.

Yeah, let me do it around the way. No, I would just add public right away. I wouldn't make it right away because that could be a private right away. That's kind of what I wasing. Yeah. sentence, um, Rob, you got to kill your mic.

Um, Uh does the commot road commissioner will inspect the proposed site and approve the permit? I think something after approve the permit like if necessary conditions have been met or whatever. The way this is worded it just says yeah he'll he'll inspect and he will approve the permit. We want it to it should be approved not just because the policy said he needs to approve it.

Uh and approve the permit if all applicable conditions are met. Yeah. Keep it simple. Yep. I think that's better. town of Durham utility pole permit policy as currently presented uh on the screen uh which authorizes the road commissioner to inspect and approve utility pole permits if the applicable conditions have been met.

Second. Rich seconds. Any further discussion on that before Oh, no worries. Okay, now now you can vote. That was a good idea to do. All right. [laughter] All right. So, uh motion on the is to approve the permit as we're looking at it. Um Rich George,

yes. Mark Farren, yes. Yes. Buller. Rob Pontto. Yes. And I am a yes as well. Motion passes. Five. emails. Um I think Ruth said in her report that we um got approval for the durham.gov. I had somebody call me last week to confirm like that we really asked for it. Um I said, "Yeah, we really asked for it." Um and um yeah, I was surprised that it's ready so quick. They told me it might still be a couple of weeks. So that was good that it came back so quick. All right, Ruth, where do we need to go from here? Well, uh, so then the next, uh, step would be to, um, get together with BEK and and work through the the process of of switching over.

We have, do we we have to vote to approve the um, quote though, right? And the expenditure of the money or no, that' be a good idea. Well, certainly because it's over I think the board has to approve it because it's over $5,000. So, where's the money come from?

Telecommunications. Okay. In 2021 or 2020? 2021. Can we put the fees up or you want the spreadsheet? One pager I think that lists everything. Yeah, that would be good to have on the record as well for the meeting. Hold on, let me find it.

associated with it. Um there's per month costs that can be dropped. Um but at this point I figure we should probably go with them. uh and then I'll have a discussion with BEK2 it as to what exactly um this entails and then um they would set up the anti-PAM for our emails uh and they would set up a backup for the 365 as well.

Sorry. Sorry. I was just going to call for comments or questions but the BB tour go ahead. Do we need Comcast emails? Why are we paying for them? We never use them. So, we we right now we have a few Comcast emails. I think there are five that are still active. Um and those um

my assumption is is that we will well we will get rid of those um and uh there will be some lapse but uh so the cost for the five months for the Comcast emails uh would be until we actually switch over and then maybe a month or two afterwards uh to make sure that we don't lose anything.

So it's for the part of the year that we've still had the Comcast emails. Right. and then we would dis discontinue them. Okay. I just um my only question would be regarding I think it all looks pretty decent um and very well laid out. So, thank you. So, my only thing would be the professional service to set up the the Office 365 backup, which it says it's optional. Um how how is the email

service going to be backed up? Is it going to be backed up off our server? Is it um is it going to be backed up now towards in the cloud? What what does that mean? Um this is there's a certain amount that's backed up in the cloud, but I believe that our server would back it up as well. It to be honest, Rich, I I don't really it's a little bit outside of my my wheelhouse. Um but it's certainly something that I I would have an in-depth discussion with BEK about as to how that would work. Um,

we're just wondering if there's a second or third tier layer of backup, you know, if it's just a redundancy. Uh, right. Like if we don't have that, does that mean we don't have a backup at all? Right. That's what I mean. Is it a redundancy backup or is it the primary backup or is it is it like a like on a PC like a RAID backup where it just copies a drive or and that's there for the server? I was just kind of curious what it was. So what I what I think is that they're just making sure that that they're clean um uh path for the backup

and making sure that there is a backup available. So I I don't think it's an additional backup. I think it's just um setting up so that so that it does back up correctly. Yeah. It just seems like a lot of money for a backup like compared to like a carbonite or something of that nature. That's that's why I was asking what's so special about it. I didn't know if it was a hard drive, if it's an actual, you know, physical system that we're using or

Well, we have our own system, uh, that we do a hard drive that we do back up to. We have two, um, systems, one at the fire station and one at our office that back up to each other. So, um, so this would be a third. It's a good start.

We don't really know. This [laughter] whole conversation is speculation, right? We don't really all speculation at this point, right? Well, that's the only thing I would want clarification on. Other than that, I mean, the anti-PAM thing, I mean, I a lot of these programs now come with that. I was just curious as to is that an added also an added additional anti-PAM or is that the anti-PAM that we would have?

built in. Plus, your email has the features built in. So, if it was my choice, I'd say no to both of those and and move on because Office is also going to guarantee you um I mean, this is an executive level email service, so I don't think there's an extra need to back it up off site.

Yeah. No, I I'm kind of where you are, Rob. I was going to suggest uh that we move forward without those things tonight and ask for a um somewhat detailed written explanation from BEK on to the board on what those two things are and um what we're getting for that and maybe when we ask for that we can include the question like you know is this a secondary backup or a tertiary backup I mean how is it different than what we might be getting as our normal backup in the uh process and then if

based on that if we determine that yeah you know what that's actually something we should do and is good value we can always add it on talking about there two things that are 978 and change yeah seems like a lot of them all right so I'm going to move that we approve approve the plan for e migration uh license to office 365 as presented but without the optional professional services to set up anti-PAM and without the optional professional services to set up Office 365 backup pending a more complete explanation from uh the vendor.

I'll second that. Any further discussion on that? then. Uh, if you're in favor of the motion, say yes. If not, say no. Rich George, yes. Mark Farren, yes. Todd Bullia, yes. Rob Panto, yes. And I am a yes as well. So, um, Ruth, if

you could, I think you c captured what we were looking for from be there in terms of some additional information on those two things. And, um, we may consider adding those after we get more info, but we're, let's move forward with what we've got.

Okay, that's fine. Great. Thank you for putting that together. All right. 4C, um, date for public hearing. Um we because we're in a referendum uh format town meeting part of the law is that you have to have a uh um a public hearing prior to the um

scheduled day that you're going to be voting at the polls. Um I can't remember the exact I think it's like at least 10 days before. Is that right? Yeah. And then it needs to be noticed for seven days. But yeah. You know, I I will say based on the experience from our last goound at referendum, I do not feel the need to have two public hearings.

I think um I think one um would do it, but I think last time we did like a weekday and a Saturday morning. Fine with either one. I'm fine with one. I think that's sufficient. Was the attendance much higher one versus the other?

No, they were um the second one was a bit less if I remember right. They were pretty close to each other. It wasn't one wasn't significantly bigger than the other. Um and there was a lot of overlap. there was a lot of people that um had something to say at the first one and they all they came back again to say essentially the same thing in the second one because they wanted to make sure that if there was new people they were hearing what they had to say. Um but so Ruth, what were you thinking um as far as uh dates? Well, the uh so the the

the absentee ballots are going to be available on the ETH, starting the ETH. It's supposed to be the sixth, but it'll be the 8th because 6 is Saturday. So, um we probably want to have it maybe the 16th. That's three weeks before the uh the actual day of the election.

Um you do that after the after the ballots are done or do you want to do that before the ballots so people have more information before they potentially vote? Well, I suspect I mean they could potentially vote starting the 8th, but I suspect most people won't come in until after the 16th. Um, we could, you know, make it Well, yeah, we could make it like the 2nd or I don't know if you guys want to do it on

No, no. That gets to be pretty far out. I I I'm hesitant to benchmark it off the absentee availability date. Um, I was thinking the 16th or the 23rd. Yeah. Two to three weeks feels about right because they will have had the the um the mailer will have gone out, you know, by the first week of March, right?

Yep. They should re get it like the fourth or the fifth. Yeah. So that would have gone out. They have a week to digest it. And in that and actually in that in that mailer, we can uh we should have a a pretty large notice of this public hearing, right? That's part of the deal.

Y and so they'll they'll they'll know when the hearing is um mailed to every address in town with info about the warrant. Now, are you thinking um is on doing it on a regular meeting night? I was thinking of of not actually doing it on a regular meeting night.

Good. I agree. Yeah, I think that um that's why I was kind of picking the 16th because the 9th and the 23rd are your regular meeting nights. everybody? Yeah. Yeah. All right. March 16th, was going to say, should we do it at 6 to start earlier, but we tried to do that last time, and people got confused, like we always start at 6:30, so they just assumed we were starting at 6:30. Um, so we should probably stick with that.

6 6:30 on the 16th. Yeah. So I don't know at six o'clock. I mean that's a long meeting typically a couple hours. So you saying you want to start at six. Is that what you're saying? Or I think I'd prefer to but you know whatever everybody else I I don't think our typical meeting I mean this meeting is typically on a Saturday. So I mean

it's an atypical meeting. It's a meeting starting at six. I mean, I I would actually prefer it, too. And I guess printing it in a notice mailed to every town. And I think actually part of the reason it was confusing before because we had published six, but it was on the calendar on the website is That's right. That's what the issue was,

right? So, as long as we make sure we're we've got it right on what we're putting out there for information, it shouldn't really be that big of an issue. But I I'm I agree with Rich. I would go with six. Todd, I'm sorry. What you just said?

I think six would be better. We'll get it done earlier. Yeah, sounds good. Rob, shake his head. I think Mark. Yeah. So, I think we're we all agree. Let's go with six o'clock on March 16th for the public hearing. Okay. And oh, 4 D. Todd, you weren't here when we asked for amendments. I saw an email from you. You wanted to take this off the agenda. Is that right?

Yeah, it was. I had talked to Bob about we're my family is doing a wedding venue if any of you getting married. We have a wedding venue starting up next spring uh this spring and uh he was thinking originally we would just need an event permit but no we're not we're going to do probably six or eight of them this summer. So

Oh yeah. Need a conditional use. Yep. Okay. Not building anything. this. Good luck, my friend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] All right. Um Oops for registar and conservation commission. Um evidently we're supposed to appoint a registar. What' you say? In oddnumbered years, Ruth is that right?

Maybe January and an odd number year. only when there's a full moon before you know that. Yeah. What? Um and then uh an old for someone volunteering to work on the conservation commission. And I don't know if you guys read this woman's qualifications, but and she's the type

of person we want on that committee. She's got some pretty amazing credentials and um I think it's great that she's uh stepping up and I'm sure we could use her expertise even beyond the scope of the conservation commission um in some areas. So um I'm going to move that we approve the oaths uh as presented for a registar and for um do

we have to name the actual people in the motion? Ruth, you might as well um so you know it's Becky and then the other one's Jessica Costa. Yeah. I'm fine with um the applicant and I don't know if it's just a formality but I thought whenever we appoint somebody now we had to go through an executive session.

Oh yeah. Yep. Though that's a good call out for the conservation commission. Uh yes, but not for registar, right? Yep. Yep. And we can do that. Um we have an executive session on on the books tonight. Yeah. Thanks for uh catching that, Rich. So, I'm going to um move that we uh um approve the oath for Becky Taylor Chase as our town registar.

Second. Rich seconds. Any discussion on that. All right. If you're in favor of the motion, say yes. If not, say no. Rich George, yes. Mark Theren, yes. Bully, yes. Rob Panto. [clears throat] Yes. And I'm a Yes. Okay. Um that will move us on to department and committee reports. And the road commissioner is first tonight. Calvin.

Yep. they're still out there cranking. So, um I've been working on storms back to back. Apparently, we've uh changed the weather pattern in a hurry. So, um been uh communicating with surrounding towns regarding the road postings, the spring postings. Um, [clears throat] and you know, we're all in agreement that this week, uh, we're fine. Maybe, uh, you know, you I think last week it was the 16th of February. So, probably another week or two we'll be posting the roads for spring th

Um, I'll be attending the next Southern Main Southern Main public works group meeting tomorrow. Uh we'll be discussing things like uh uh staffing during pandemic and [clears throat] um vaccinations and I guess they're going to discuss what towns are requiring it and [clears throat] if we can and all that stuff. Um um I've updated the software on all of our new trucks. Um this uh this is a

very good software. It alerts me as to anything that's going on with the truck before there's a big issue. We find out when it's small. I get an an email right off saying it's either over temperature, low coolant, or if a truck's revving over 2500 RPMs. So,

[clears throat] um that's uh 500 bucks a year for all the trucks. Um we're continuing to work with Maine Department of Labor for video through videos, phone conversations. They've we've been kind of they've had some hiccups with the co thing and staffing. So, looks like we're getting back on track with being in touch with them to get our videos ordered, mailed, and back to them. So, a lot of uh [clears throat] a lot of safety training this time of year. Um the new 2021 Wheeler is in service. This is probably its third storm today. Going very well.

ordinance. I sent you guys a copy. Um not sure if you guys have any questions regarding that if you've had a chance to look at it. [clears throat] Is it is what you sent before the last meeting, right? Oh, sent it yesterday. Um and as I say, it's no hurry. You don't have to look at it today because we're we have a uh we have a uh spring postings coming right up. [clears throat]

in Word and there's uh anything in red is u the changes very very minimal changes [clears throat] basically just fix some typos and but you also sent the statutes that that give us the authority to do it. So that was helpful too. Thank you.

Thanks. I remember I asked for that too. Yeah. I haven't had a chance to do it yet. Unless you want to wait till next meeting. [clears throat and cough] The only thing with that is we're going to have to set a date for a public hearing, but maybe we put it as an actual agenda item next time and then set a public hearing date at that meeting. Something like that.

Yeah. And I think that public hearing we can like we do with junkyards, we just make it part of a regular meeting. So, yeah. Yeah. And I've been working with the engineer on getting all the uh bid docks ready for um [clears throat] paving. I had hoped to get them today, but I plowed all day yesterday and again today and just uh just haven't been able to nail that down to get it all get all the bugs worked out on that. So, I'll have that for you for the next meeting.

Okay. Great. Anybody have questions for Calvin? Okay, great. Thank you, Calvin. Go get some rest. need more. You're up, sir. All right. Good evening. Uh, very brief report tonight. Uh, we just continue to work and manage calls. Our our call volume had dropped off at the beginning of the year. It's now starting to tick back up again. Uh, seeing several chimney fires in the last week. uh reminding people to to be mindful about not only what they're burning in their stoves, but having them serviced appropriately prevents us from coming to your house at 2 in the morning. Um uh I received uh we did the bid opening on Monday afternoon. We received three bids on the RFP and I'm reviewing that information right now. Uh and more more to follow on that.

Uh we're still hosting the firefighter one2 program. That's going very very well with four of our staff involved. And that's really all I have right now. Uh the only other thing is the end of this week I'll be submitting uh for the FEMA grant for 2020. Um I I had mentioned that I believe last month to the department uh to the board. Um we'll be submitting that and we'll see what happens with that. Once again, it's a it's it's a hope, but we'll see.

Yeah. Are there other grants other than the FEMA process that you um follow and and try to apply for? Uh we uh we applied for again and got the forestry grant again this year and used that the forestry service grant to use that to upgrade some of our radios. Uh looking on the federal side of things, there are several different FEMA grants that come out, but they're they're not really a lot of them are based around um adding to department staffing and it's it's not really something that we are in line for applicable for things like that. So this is this fire act grant. This is the one that's really focused on us. That's the one. Okay. All right. Thank you.

And that's all I have. Any other questions for the chief? Ruth, town administrator report. Yeah, I don't I don't really have much that we haven't talked about already, right? Just working on everything in the office. Okay. Um yeah, I think we

everything you mentioned in your um in your report. So, okay. Anybody have any questions for ROF? That being said, I'm going to move that we uh accept the consent agenda as presented, which is approval of the minutes from January 19th and 26th and the accounts payable warrant.

Second. Todd seconds. [clears throat] If you in favor of the motion, say yes. If not, say no. Rich George, yes. Mark Farren, yes. Todd Bolier, yes. Rob Panto, yes. And I'm a yes. So, select comments, upcoming meetings, Tuesday, uh, February 23rd, uh, regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. and also Tuesday, March 9th at 6:30 p.m. And I'll throw in we just, uh, scheduled the public hearing uh, for town meeting on uh, Tuesday, March 16th at 6 pm.

All right, we um we are not going to adjurnn yet. We uh I'm going to move that we go into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA section 4056A for discussion of personnel matters. Second. Rich seconds. You're in favor of the motion say yes. If not, say no. Rich George,

yes. Mark Faren, yes. Buller. Yes. [clears throat] Yes. And I am a yes as well. Okay.