Androscoggin CountyMainePopulation 4,262Sourced from U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2013-2024
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Select Board Meeting ~ April 7, 2015

2015-04-07 · Select Board · 50:36 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board's organisational meeting after the 2015 town meeting, with four of five selectmen present. The board re-elected Jeffrey Wakeman as chairman and Sarah Hall as vice chairman, approved the annual committee, fire and office appointments, and voted to stop contracting animal control to Lisbon and hire an officer of the town's own. It also set the codes official's regular hours, formed an Alternative Warrant Exploration Committee of seven to nine members to look at alternatives to voting the budget at town meeting, authorised the administrator to shop for tax anticipation note rates, let public works apply for a safety grant, and moved Bulky Waste Day to the new public works site. Department reports covered a possible septic failure at the town office, repeated damage to the public works building, ordinance review and comprehensive plan work, and the raising of the fire department's radio tower. The meeting ended with a motion into executive session on a personnel matter.

Who was there. The town's written minutes record these people present: Jeffrey Wakeman (Chairman), Sarah Hall (Vice Chairman), Mark Blake (Selectman), Michael Stewart (Selectman), Ruth Glaeser (AA/TA), Ronald Dube (Interim Road Commissioner), Paul Baines (Codes Official), William St. Michel (Fire Chief/EMA Director), Keith Russell (Deputy Fire Chief), Jill Toher (Secretary). Recorded absent: Joshua Libby. Names in this summary are checked against that list.

What was discussed

  1. 0:03
    Before the meeting was called to order

    Several minutes of unrelated conversation were recorded before the gavel, about a wedding present, a sign that looked like a Pepsi advertisement, the Chicago Cubs' ten-cent beer night and long-gone bars in Portland's Old Port.

  2. 0:03
    Call to order and pledge

    The chair noted four of the five selectmen were present, so there was a quorum, and led the pledge of allegiance.

  3. 0:03
    Selection of chair and vice chair

    Jeffrey Wakeman was nominated for chair and Sarah Hall for vice chair. No other nominations were offered and nominations were closed.

  4. 0:03
    Amendment to the agenda

    A new item 7F was added under action and discussion: a committee to look at alternative methods to the town meeting budget vote.

  5. 0:03
    Consent agenda and the MainePERS increase

    A motion to accept the consent agenda as presented drew a question about a MainePERS increase included in it. The administrator explained the budget had been built on a rate of about 4.1%, that the employer rate is going to 5.6% and the employee share from 7% to 7.5%, that this will hit every budget line carrying MainePERS, and that there is not much the town can do about it.

  6. 5:20
    Consent agenda approved

    The vote was taken on the consent agenda and the chair announced the motion carried.

  7. 5:20
    Animal control: contract with Lisbon or hire the town's own

    Calls so far this year were running at an average of between six and seven a month. The first question was whether to stay with the contract with Lisbon or hire the town's own officer; a motion to hire the town's own was made and seconded, with the seconder asking for discussion because she was on the fence.

  8. 5:20
    Debate over turnover in a stipend position

    Members put the saving from hiring in house at roughly $2,000 a year, but only from the second year, and argued about whether the risk of the officer leaving should count against it. One member said a small stipend position does not have the holding power of a salaried job with benefits, so the risk of losing the person is higher than for any other hire; another said the town should not refuse to hire a good candidate out of fear he might leave.

  9. 5:20
    The town's history with the post

    Members recalled one animal control officer who served for something like forty years, a successor who lasted about six months, and a failed recruitment after that, during which the town paid Lisbon per call before switching to the annual contract about three years ago. Two candidates had been interviewed the night before and members said both were strong, particularly the second.

  10. 10:32
    Cover, insurance and the decision to try it

    The board discussed what happens when Lisbon's officer is on holiday, recalling that Pownal's officer had covered in the past on something like a mutual aid basis, and that contracting out avoids extra insurance and makes turnover somebody else's problem. The member who had been on the fence said she was leaning towards giving it a try because the town could probably go back to Lisbon later, though possibly at a higher price.

  11. 10:32
    Vote on hiring the town's own officer, and executive session

    The motion was put and carried. The board then decided to take the choice of candidate into a brief executive session rather than move on hiring in open session.

  12. 10:32
    Whether the bridge with Lisbon is burned

    A member had understood that declining to renew would end the option permanently, but the administrator said Lisbon has $300,000 to cut from its budget, has found $100,000 of it, and reacted to Durham's enquiry as though it very much wanted to keep the contract. The board asked the administrator to notify Lisbon under the agreement that the arrangement ends with the fiscal year.

  13. 10:32
    Codes official's regular hours

    The budget was built on three eight-hour days plus extra hours for meetings. Paul Baines said he wanted to keep the days he already works, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, which are the hours the town office is open, and a motion was made to set them.

  14. 15:55
    Start date and vote on the codes hours

    The board settled on starting the following Monday, the beginning of a new pay week, and the motion was seconded and carried.

  15. 15:55
    Committee, fire and office appointments for 2015

    The annual list of appointments was handled as a single motion rather than read aloud, with the chair noting that the list is available for anyone to come in and look at. A member raised that election clerks also have to be appointed and are not on this list.

  16. 15:55
    Tax payment policy

    The board reaffirmed the policy, begun a year or two earlier, that a payment goes first to the oldest unpaid tax obligation and works forward to the newest.

  17. 15:55
    Results of town meeting

    The item had been put on the agenda in case anything needed discussing, but nobody had anything to raise beyond the alternative budget vote item that followed.

  18. 15:55
    A committee on alternatives to the town meeting budget vote

    Members said there had been a lot of interest at town meeting from people wanting to serve, so volunteers should be sought while it is fresh. They agreed the committee should be given as much of the legal framework as possible, including the limits of not having a charter, so it does not produce a plan that turns out to be against state statute, and debated how tightly to write its mission statement given that a petition of taxpayers had already framed the question.

  19. 21:19
    Size, openness and publicity for the committee

    The board settled on seven to nine members, large enough to break into subcommittees and to bring a broad range of views rather than a single-interest group. Meetings would be open and given a space at the town office or the Eureka Center, and the vacancies advertised on the town website, the town channel and if possible the Durham news section of the Tri-Town paper, with a direct letter or call to Donna, who started the petition.

  20. 21:19
    Naming the committee and the motion

    After trying several names the board settled on the Alternative Warrant Exploration Committee. Applications were to be sought over about thirty days with appointments intended at the 5 May meeting, and the board agreed to work on a mission statement, milestones and a final report date at its next meeting.

  21. 26:43
    Town administrator: bank balance and a tax anticipation note

    Ruth Glaeser handed round the bank balance with the month's deposits and withdrawals, showing about half a million dollars in the account, and said the town will need a tax anticipation note next month, particularly with two bond payments falling in May. Androscoggin Bank was used last year and Bath Savings was suggested as another to approach.

  22. 26:43
    Sewer smell at the town office

    There have been occasional sewer smells, and what looks like a well outside turned out on inspection to be a pump station. Paul Baines said he suspects the problem is more than needing a pump-out; the board noted the budget had been voted less than a week earlier, that there is money in the building fund, and that a major septic job would probably need a special town meeting.

  23. 26:43
    Public works safety enhancement grant

    Ronald Dube brought a safety enhancement grant application for $2,000 covering dump blocks and a welding blanket, and needed authorisation to submit it and a board member's signature. A member asked whether the shop has welding screens; the road commissioner said one had been put in for the previous year but he was not sure it was ever bought, and that there is money left to look at it.

  24. 31:51
    Moving Bulky Waste Day to the new public works site

    Ronald Dube had worked out a traffic plan with Barry Baldwin under which cars come in the long back driveway, circulate past the dumpsters and leave through the centre of the building so nobody has to pass anyone, with cones and signs to prevent backups onto a 50 mph road. Pine Tree Waste, which is sending three roll-offs, only wants to be told if the location changes; the plant sale at the Eureka Center the same day would help direct people, and members thought it was good publicity for a facility the town now owns.

  25. 31:51
    Damage to the public works building

    A board member said a resident had told him about damage at the building, so he went and looked and found damage to the trims, the door and the vinyl where something had run into it, and compiled a list of seven incidents since November, all of them driver error. He asked whether incident reports had been made, and was told they had not for most of them.

  26. 37:01
    Spotters and overhead clearance

    The board was told spotters are now used whenever a truck goes in or out of the shop, after one incident where a body was raised with nobody spotting. Members noted the doors are not quite wide enough for the plough wings, that the fire station's doors are undamaged despite big trucks, and asked that drivers be reminded about overhead clearance; the trim has been replaced and paint bought for the woodwork.

  27. 37:01
    Quaker Meeting House Road culvert work

    The road commissioner gave advance notice of a job he hopes to have together by June: six driveway culverts and ditching on Quaker Meeting House Road, plus a couple of driveway culverts on Rabbit Road. He asked that it go on the town website, and the board added the town channel, because the road is heavily travelled.

  28. 37:01
    Code enforcement: ordinance review quotes

    Paul Baines said Stephanie Carver at GPCOG had held off until she knew town meeting had funded the work and should have a proposal to him by the end of the week, which he will take to the planning board with other material. He had also contacted Planning Decisions in South Portland, which does ordinance review by contract, though he expects them to be out of the town's price range.

  29. 37:01
    Starting a comprehensive plan committee

    More people are asking about the comprehensive plan, and Paul Baines said this would be a good year to form a committee because a full revamp could take close to two years. He said the codes official usually plays a significant part in keeping such a committee focused and expected to be available to do it, and asked the board whether to be directed that way.

  30. 42:40
    How ordinance review and the comp plan fit together

    Asked whether one should precede the other, Paul Baines said the ordinance has to follow the comprehensive plan, so revamping ordinances first risks having to redo them. His approach for this year is purely structural: removing inconsistencies and redundancies and condensing sections without changing what the ordinance does, which he described as a document where one page can say almost the opposite of another two pages on.

  31. 42:40
    Timeline and the existing list of volunteers

    Paul Baines hoped to sit down with the planning board within a month, noting they meet only once a month, which he put at 24 hours a year to work with. A member recalled that Janet had put out a posting the previous year to test interest in a comprehensive plan review, so the town already has a list of names, some of them anxious to get moving.

  32. 42:40
    Fire chief's report

    William St. Michel said his father's condition is somewhat stable but continues to deteriorate gradually, that he expected to be back at work the next day, and that he would periodically need time off while his father's legal and financial affairs are settled. He said the personnel policy requires him to notify the board when he needs the time and when he expects to return.

  33. 42:40
    Deputy chief: garage doors and the tower

    Keith Russell said the fire department is not immune either and has replaced two garage door panels. He reported the tower is being raised by 40 feet, parts have been ordered and an assessment done, and that a pole for a guy wire will be set next to the station in the vicinity of the septic tank with a few trees cut behind the station.

  34. 47:58
    Tower timing and sheriff's antennas

    The tower work is hoped for May, possibly June, depending on ground conditions, and a charge for the beginning of it had already appeared in the warrant. The department met the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Department, which may put three antennas on the tower, probably not active for at least a year and possibly two, as a repeater link for deputies who currently struggle to reach dispatch from Durham; asked whether it would reduce the county tax, the answer was no.

  35. 47:58
    Upcoming meetings and RSU 5 budget sessions

    Regular selectmen's meetings were set for Tuesday 21 April and 5 May at 6:30 p.m., and the town office would close for Patriots' Day. An RSU 5 meeting was announced at the Durham school on 29 April, and another the following evening at Pownal Elementary School starting at 6:30 with a meet and greet at 6, for public input on the budget.

  36. 47:58
    Executive session

    A motion was made and seconded to go into executive session on personnel matters, citing 1 M.R.S.A. section 405(6)(A).

What was decided

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 bosmins2015_4-7_2.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.

Worth knowing

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: 5 passages of motion language, against 14 decisions summarised.

Show the 5 passages

Elsewhere

← 2015-03-24 Select Board2016-01-26 Select Board →All meetings

Source & method

Town of Durham meeting recordings, YouTube auto-captions, and the town's written minutes
Captions cleaned into timestamped transcripts; topics and motions found by pattern matching; summaries written by a language model and required to cite the second each item begins. Every name attached to speech is checked against the attendance list in the minutes, and marked (?) where no record confirms it
https://www.youtube.com/@durhammaine/videos
Summary written by claude-opus-5. Attendance from bosmins2015_4-7_2.txt.
Data as of 25 August 2026 (the date of the newest recorded meeting in the index); retrieved 2 September 2026.