Town of Buxton
Minutes for March 28, 2012 Selectmen’s Meeting
Prepared by: Beverly Gammon
Members Present: Peter E. W. Burns, Robert C. Libby, Jean C. Harmon, Clifford L. Emery, Dianne M. Senechal.
Others Present: David Harmon, Michael Grovo
Meeting Agenda
The Meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m.
- Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
Selectmen Meeting Minutes March 21, 2012. Approved 4-0-1.
Clifford L. Emery was absent.
- Discussion held between 5:00 & 7:00 p.m.
At 4:30 the Board had Chief Mullen in to give an ISO update; then a resident came in to talk about some land coming out of tree growth. After that the Board spent some time talking about budgets and updates, EMA, and building use for the Groveville Fire Station.
- Letters from Buxton Rescue Unit from a resident thanking the team who responded to recent calls at his home.
- Press Release from the Department of Agriculture – Re: Maine Senior FarmShare enrollment.
- Email from Sharon Leahy-Lind – Re: Maine Center for Disease Control Public Health Update.
- Letter from MaineEnergy – Re: Annual Policy Reminder on Waste Haulers Policies & Procedures.
- Review of Projects and Issues
Selectman Libby has been working on some projects that fell behind at the Tax Collector position. He talked about meetings and said budgets have been keeping him busy.
On Monday night Cliff Emery, Dianne Senechal, Peter Burns, and Jean Harmon attended the District Meeting at the Superintendent’s Office to hear their budget presentation. Selectman Harmon said there have been some changes since the last time they saw it. They are anticipating Buxton’s increase will be around $266,000. Selectman Harmon said Buxton, Hollis, and Limington were well represented at the meeting but there were no Council members there from Standish.
Selectman Harmon has been working with Peter Burns on the Warrant and going over budget numbers. She attended the Workshop last night to review the Selectmen’s Administrative Budgets.
On behalf of the Board, Selectman Harmon extended sympathy to the family of Anne Robishaw, our former Treasurer and Administrative Assistant to the Police Chief. Anne passed away last week.
Selectman Emery said the meeting Monday night was informative. He attended the Workshop last night and commented that the Board came up with a few new philosophies on how they may be looking at things in the future and they will be discussing that as the budget moves on and goes into the final stages.
Selectman Senechal attended the meeting Monday night with the Superintendent and said she was impressed to see that they are looking ahead and trying to stabilize changes from year to year for the municipalities rather than jumping them up and down. She thought the presentation was excellent.
Selectman Senechal said the Board had a marathon Workshop last night. Yesterday she met with the representative from Senator Collins’ office. She asked about Block Grants that might be available for upgrading our villages and was told that money is available for that and also for first responders. The representative is going to send information to the Board so they can take a look at it. Selectman Senechal also said she reviewed the lawn mowing bids and made her recommendations.
Selectman Burns said the District budget process is better this year than he has seen in the past. The tentative budget they will be presenting tonight to the School Board, for their first round with them, calls for an increase to Buxton of $266,000 over last year’s increase.
Selectman Burns said when the opportunity arises for the meeting two weeks before we vote on the Secret Ballot issue of whether to approve or not approve the school budget, more people should go to the Middle School. Last year there were around 40 people. He said Buxton had the most but that is terrible in a district with over 4,000 students. He said people need to turn out so they can know where their taxes are going and he encouraged everyone to get involved and participate.
Selectman Burns attended a luncheon yesterday put on by the Town’s lawyer, and attended the Board Workshop last night. He is going to talk with Bev to go over some of the things they talked about regarding I-9 Forms and other changes in the law.
Selectman Burns talked about the budget process. The Board has had a lot of requests this year for increases from both inside and outside the Town. They are having to scrutinize that quite a bit and are doing their best but it is taking some time. They finished the Administration budget last night and have two more department budgets they are tweaking a little bit. They are close to having it all done and agreed to release the Admin budget to the Committee.
The Board has not settled on awarding the Lawn Mowing Contract. They have some more review to do and hope to have it done by next week.
There was an IRS audit this afternoon at Town Office. Selectman Burns, Selectman Harmon, Marilyn, our Accounts Payable Clerk, and Charisse, our Treasurer, sat in. They thought it went very well. Selectman Burns said the Town will get a letter with recommendations but there was nothing glaring. Selectman Harmon said they were reviewing 1099s, W2s, W4s, and briefly touched on the I-9 forms to make sure that the Town paid people the correct way. They discussed that process and went over some of the forms we filed and wanted to make sure there was nothing out of order that needs to be corrected.
Selectman Burns reminded people to return the Comprehensive Plan Surveys by Friday, April 9th.
Post cards have been mailed out as a reminder that property taxes are due April 20th and interest will accrue daily starting May 1st.
Selectman Harmon mentioned the meeting the Board had with our Public Works Director when they went over his budget and the discussion they had about road projects and our aging infrastructure. Selectman Emery is going to meet with the Public Works Director and come up with a group to start working on that.
E.O.111203020 – An order to appoint Elizabeth A. Pratt of Buxton to the position of Town of Buxton Tax Collector effective March 28, 2012. Approved 4-1. Selectman Emery abstained.
E.O.111203021 – An order to appoint Jean C. Harmon to the position of Keep the Heat on Committee Member effective until December 31, 2014. Approved 4-1. Selectman Harmon abstained.
E.O.111203022 – An order to approve 16 hours vacation time for Greg Heffernan. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203023 – An order to approve 8 hours vacation time for Fred Farnham.
Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203024 – An order to approve Tashia Pinkham’s attendance at an MRPA Conference. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203025 – An order to appoint Tashia Pinkham to the position of Trustee of Town Farm Park effective until December 31, 2014. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203026 – An order to approve an Application for Veteran Exemption for [Map 4, Lot 18-7]. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203027 – An order to approve an Application for Veteran Exemption for [Map 2, Lot 36-9]. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203028 – An order to approve an Application for Veteran Exemption for [Map 5, Lot 39]. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203029 – An order to approve Abatement for tax year 2011 for Real Estate taxes in the amount of $140.08 [Map 6, Lot 007]. Approved 5-0.
E.O.111203030 – An order to allow the Tax Collector and the Treasurer to apply tax payments in accordance with Title 36 M.R.S.A., subsection 906. Approved 5-0.
E.O. 111203031 – An order to approve a Pole Permit for Central Maine Power Company and Country Road Communications to construct and maintain 1 Pole on Simpson Road, 450 feet southerly starting at the Intersection of Union Falls Road and Simpson Road. in accordance with Notification 100637667 and Work Order 1000397715. Approved 5-0.
- Executive Orders by Initiative
None.
- Accounts Payable and Payroll Warrants
E.O.111203018– An order approving expenditures as documented in Accounts Payable Warrant #89. Approved 5-0. The Warrant was for $27,000.
E.O.111203019 – An order approving expenditures as documented in Payroll Warrant
#88. Approved 5-0.
- Next Meeting of the Board
Selectmen will Workshop Monday, April 2, 2012, at 6:00 p.m.
Board of Appeals Meeting Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.
Board of Selectmen Meeting Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.
Buxton Budget Committee Meeting Thursday, April 5, 2012, at 6:00 p.m.
Selectman Burns read the open positions and reminded people that Nomination Papers are available from the Town Clerk’s Office and must be filed in the Town Clerk’s Office by 4:30 PM, Monday, April 30, 2012.
Selectman Harmon mentioned that the Selectmen’s Report needs to be written up for the Town Report.
- Public Comments and Questions
Chief Mike Grovo went over statistics for last week. There were 339 calls that came in.
Chief Grovo reported that Adam Ricci has been nominated to attend a training in Las Vegas through the ASPCA Scholarship. He was one of 6 people nominated in the State. They will supply him with training and an all expense paid trip. The Chief said this is quite an honor and he is very proud of Adam.
None.
Motion made and seconded to adjourn the Meeting at 7:37 p.m. Approved 5-0.
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