Town of Buxton
Minutes for July 22, 2015 Selectmen’s Meeting
Prepared by: Beverly Gammon
Members Present: Clifford L. Emery, Jean C. Harmon, Peter E. W. Burns, Dennis P. Santolucito, Chad E. Poitras
Others Present: Dave Harmon, Patrick Hanna, Miriam Rubin, Julie Gamelson, David Martin
Selectmen’s Meeting Agenda
Selectman Emery called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
Selectman Emery led the recital.
- Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
Selectmen Meeting Minutes July 15, 2015
Approved 5-0
- Discussion held between 4:00 & 7:00 p.m.
LeeAnn Pratt, our Tax Collector, came in to ask the Selectmen when they are going to set the tax rate. Selectman Emery said that will be done very soon because she needs to get it into some documents.
Greg Heffernan, the Transfer Station Manager, came in to give the Board a short commentary on the concept of taking in outside bulky waste for the Transfer Station to increase revenue. Selectman Emery said the Board will talk more about it when all the Selectmen are together.
At that same time a resident who came in talked with the Board about the Silver Bullet Program. There was a brief conversation but not all of the Selectmen were present so it was not discussed any further at that time.
Chief Grovo met with the Board to talk about some issues he wanted the Selectmen to be aware of. One issue that the Board took great interest in involves a residence in the Town that appears to be taking in court appointed offenders. There was a disturbance at that facility last night and when the responders got there no one really seemed to know who owns the building or what it is all about. Selectman Emery said they have a name that the police are looking into.
The Selectmen had Fred Farnham come in to talk with them about these types of facilities here in town. Selectman Emery said it appears that the house was put on the market and someone bought it and started an occupation in it. Fred Farnham is going there to speak with the people. The Selectmen are thinking about going to the Planning Board and starting the process of looking into these group homes, classifying them based on what they provide for services and talking about where these facilities should be located in town. Selectman Emery said there may be more of these that the Board does not know about. They happened to fall onto this one because of the disturbance last night. Now that the Selectmen have been made aware of it they are going to look into
it.
The Board had a brief discussion with Chief Grovo about the Animal Control Officer and how she is doing so far.
- Letter from Betsy Bouma, Cleo Fund Program Assistant – Re: Low Cost Spay/Neuter Program for low-income cat owners
- Notification from AT&T – Re: 2G Mobile Devices
- Email from Dave Francoeur, Deputy Director, York County EMA – Re: Firefighting Foam
- Email from Bonita Pothier, Regional Representative – Senator Angus King, Jr. – Re: General Services Administration Opportunities
- Email from Rebeccah Schaffner, Director of Sustain So. Maine, Greater Portland Council of Governments – Re: NOAA Coastal Resiliency Grant Program
- Email from Brittany Roy, Program Coordinator, Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition – Re: Property Owner Information – Well Water Education Mailing
- Review of Projects and Issues
Selectman Poitras reported that this week he is working with the Code Enforcement Officer on issues that were raised about the condition of a piece of property here in town.
Selectman Burns reported that he is finishing up an itemized list of materials for repairs that have to be done at the EMA building. As soon as he gets two more quotes, he wants to see how they compare to the quote we already have.
Selectman Burns is also working on a bus lease issue with SAD 6. He is going to set up a meeting at Central Office to go over some specifics for that.
Selectman Santolucito reported that he and Selectman Harmon sat in with Bev Gammon and Krystal Dyer on a conference call today with our current vendor who is going to take a look at our website. Selectman Santolucito said we had a nice overview of websites for some other towns throughout New England that our vendor has designed. Selectman Santolucito said they (vendor) have some good ideas; we gave them some feedback, and they are going to draft something up that the Board can look at, basically to increase functionality and increase visibility of our website.
Selectman Harmon also talked about the conference call at 4 o’clock today on the website. She said she is “enthusiastically hopeful” that our design will refresh our website and make it more user friendly. She said the Board needs to choose a background picture for the website and once the Board starts getting templates to look at she thinks it will do well.
Selectman Harmon was in this week signing BETE forms. These are the business equipment forms for how the Town defines personal property taxes for businesses.
Selectman Harmon mentioned a question the Selectmen had from our Public Works Director in regards to removing some grass clippings here in town.
Selectman Harmon said she was unable to make Community Days. She has not had a chance to talk with Tashia Pinkham to find out how everything was but noted that she had a phone message from a resident who expressed disappointment that there were no field events.
Selectman Emery was in Monday and Tuesday going over the final purchase of the backhoe, and the financing of it with the Treasurer. There was a minor issue dealing with the warrant article for the purchase and language referring to a five-year lease. The Board wanted to take that back to a four-year lease which would still be less than the amount that was appropriated. The Board had no trade-in price for the old backhoe when they wrote the article. After they got the final pricing with the trade-in allowance the amount was considerably less than what was in the warrant article which allowed the Board to go to a four-year lease instead of five. After conferring with the Town’s attorney who looked into the Statutes, the Selectmen were advised that they can change the term
of the lease from five to four years which will allow the Town to save money on the interest. Selectman Emery said the Board is going forward with the purchase of the backhoe with a four-year lease.
None
Selectman Burns mentioned that Tom Kennie has been given the names of some people who could do the cutting of the cement at the old Town garage.
E.O. 151607016 – An order to award the bid for the purchase of a 2015 John Deere 310L Backhoe from NorTrax Inc., for a final purchase price of $77,500.
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607017 – An order to approve the hire of Michael D. Hinkley as a part-time Reserve Officer starting July 8, 2015, at a pay rate of $15.01 per hour
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607018 – An order to approve the hire of Thomas Moore as a full-time Dispatcher starting July 20, 2015 at a pay rate of $16.35 per hour
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607019 – An order to approve the hire of Shelly Cave as a full-time Dispatcher starting July 22, 2015 at a pay rate of $16.35 per hour
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607020 – An order to approve John Myers’ attendance at the Secretary of State’s 2015 Election Conference
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607021 – An order to approve John Myers’ attendance at the Clerks’ Networking Day & Annual Meeting
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151607022 – An order to approve 16 hours of vacation leave for John Myers
Approved 5-0
- Executive Orders by Initiative
None
- Accounts Payable and Payroll Warrants
E.O. 151607014 – An order approving expenditures as documented in the Accounts Payable Warrants #116, and #7
Approved 5-0
The total of these warrants is $142,503.62
E.O. 151607015 – An order approving expenditures as documented in Payroll Warrant #6
Approved 5-0
The total of that warrant is $49,858.24
- Next Meeting of the Board
Board of Selectmen Meeting Wednesday, July 29, at 7:00 PM
A discussion followed with Selectman Emery asking the other Selectmen if they want to set up a time to interview for the Code Enforcement Officer position.
The Board of Selectmen will meet Monday, July 27 starting at 6:00 PM to interview candidates for the position of Code Enforcement Officer.
The Board of Selectmen will hold a Public Hearing Wednesday, August 5 at 7:00 PM at the Buxton Municipal Building on a Liquor License renewal Application for Gail P. Landry, D/B/A The Barn at Flanagan Farm located at 668 Narragansett Trail, Buxton, Maine.
- Public Comments and Questions
None
None
Motion made and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 7:24 PM
Approved 5-0
22paste minutes here
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