Town of Buxton
Minutes for August 5, 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: Patrick Hanna, David Harmon, Michael Grovo, Joel Bizon, Cynthia Bizon, Julie Gamelson, Ellen DeCotiis, Charlene Libby
Public Hearing – 7:00 PM
Liquor License Renewal for Gail P. Landry, D/B/A The Barn at Flanagan Farm
Selectman Emery read the hearing notice and opened the Public Hearing at 7:00 PM.
Chief Grovo commented on an incident that occurred at this place on June 13 that he was concerned about. He said there have been no other incidents there. Gail Landry, the business owner, described what happened on June 13 and assured the Board and Chief Grovo that it will not happen again.
There were no other comments or questions. The meeting was closed at 7:07 PM.
Selectmen’s Meeting Agenda
Selectman Emery called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM.
Selectman Emery led the recital.
- Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
Selectmen Meeting Minutes July 29, 2015
Approved 5-0
- Discussion held between 4:00 & 7:00 p.m.
Our Treasurer, Charisse Keach, gave the Board some updated information on this year’s audit that is going to start next week.
Chief Grovo was asked in and Selectman Burns talked to him about the concerns of a resident.
Chief Schools was in and the Board looked at the bill for fixing the utility pickup truck they have over there and Selectman Emery said it was a conservative number of about $4800.00. Selectman Emery said that may just get us through another year so the Board is going to think that through.
Michael Beaulieu came in to talk with the Board. He owns property on Davis Road and had talked with Fred Farnham about getting a temporary occupancy permit while they are working on his house. It was the Board’s decision that there will be no occupancy permit issued on that property until Davis Road is brought up to Town specifications, like it was supposed to have been, so it can go before the people to be accepted as a Town road and so that the people who live on Davis Road are not getting stuck with all the responsibility of taking care of the road. The Board made that very clear to Mr. Beaulieu who said he was going to meet with the Public Works Director on Monday to go over what needs to be done to bring that road up to Town specifications.
- Four (4) emails from Dave Francoeur, Deputy Director, York County Emergency Management Agency – Re: (1) NIMS Alert – Fed. Interagency Operational Plans; (2) Announcement of Fiscal Year 2015 Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Local Capacity Grants; (3) Emergency Exercise Design, and (4) Training delivery
- Email from Kayla E. White, Maine DOT Assistant Resident – Re: Bar Mills/Hollis Project Meeting Minutes
- Email from Tonya Muchemore, Data Information Specialist, MSAD 6 – Re: Notice of Record Destruction Class of 2007
- Email from Maine Municipal – Re: Weekly Legislative Report 27, End of session report
- Review of Projects and Issues
Selectman Poitras reported that this past week he spoke with a resident who had concerns about a dry hydrant in Groveville village part of town, and spoke with the Fire Chief about that. He said there should not be any issue going forward from what he understands.
Selectman Poitras has been working with the new Cemetery Committee Chairman, Dana Ryder, and helping him with the transition of picking up where Steve Nichols left off.
Selectman Burns reported he briefed the Board earlier. Last week he was assigned to looking at samples of types of aluminum or painting on board to re-do our Town signs. After reviewing the signs he recommended the Board pay a little extra and get the wood signs. He said they don’t reflect like the aluminum signs do and would look much better.
Selectman Burns met with the Fire Chief and a vendor recently for a couple of windows in the Bar Mills Fire Station that have to be replaced. He also asked Public Works to sweep in front of the pad where the old Town Garage was to clean up a significant amount of broken glass. He did not want to have anyone playing in the area or children falling and getting cut or glass getting in someone’s tire.
Selectman Burns reported he is still working on quotes for repair to the EMA building.
Selectman Santolucito mentioned that there will be an Executive Order later in the meeting for the high definition video surveillance equipment we are upgrading and the financing, purchase, installation and service agreements.
Selectman Santolucito said he was out last night right after the storm and expressed appreciation for Public Works, Fire, Fire Police, Police and CMP crews. He said everyone was out doing a great job and he said it was a real team effort and great job by everybody.
Selectman Harmon reported she has not been in too much but the auditor will be here next week so she will be in to make sure that there are not any issues coming up with that. She mentioned that today she had the opportunity to go with Joanne Groder who runs the Buxton Community Food Co-op and they were the recipient of a Share the Bread Donation that was one of the Maine Credit Union’s fund-raising efforts this past year. They donated close to $20,000 to area food banks in each County plus a donation to the Good Shepard Food Bank. The co-op received a donation of $600.00.
Selectman Harmon remarked about the wild weather last night and talked about loss of power twice in one day which she said prompts her to call CMP. She said areas of Buxton over the last two weeks have lost power four (4) times. She talked briefly about some of the causes and solutions. She talked about lines down in the road and people who were driving over the power lines. She said she could not stress enough the CMP commercial “No line is safe to touch ever”. She cautioned people to be careful and, don’t drive around downed trees and power lines. Selectman Harmon reiterated what Selectman Santolucito said that Fire Police and Public Works were out and did a fabulous job.
Selectman Emery spent a couple of days finishing up the Code Enforcement position and got that squared away. He said the Board will be awarding that position to a new gentleman.
Selectman Emery also reported that he went over to see the Fire Chief and they went over the $4800.00 bill to fix their truck and went out to see the truck and realized they don’t have much there to work with. He said he does not think the Board will be spending $4800.00 on it. He does not know what they are going to do but said they will have to sit down and try to figure that out.
Selectman Emery mentioned talking with Mia Dodge about two poles she has. He said when Tom Kennie gets back next week he will get the two of them together to talk about setting the poles up this side of Plummer’s Store.
None
None
E.O. 151608003 – An order to replace Executive Order 151607006 (approved 7/1/15) with a corrected order to appoint Dana W. Ryder to the position of Member of the Cemetery Committee effective until December 31, 2015
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608004 – An order to approve a Commercial Installation & Service Agreement with AdvanceTechnology, and Commercial Finance Agreement with Susquehanna Commercial Finance Company for the purchase, installation and service of high definition video surveillance equipment
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608005 – An order to approve 16 hours of vacation time for Beverly Gammon
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608006 – An order to approve 24 hours of vacation time for Tashia Pinkham
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608007 – An order to approve 40 hours of vacation time for Nathan Schools
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608008 – An order to approve 8 hours of bereavement time for Charisse Keach
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608009 – An order to approve 26 hours of time off without pay for Suzanne Shorter
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151608010 – An order to approve the hire of Branden Walker as a Reserve Dispatcher, starting August 12, 2015, at a pay rate of $14.73 per hour
Approved 5-0
- Executive Orders by Initiative
E.O. 151608011 – An order to approve an application for a Liquor License renewal for Gail P. Landry, D/B/A The Barn at Flanagan Farm
Approved 4-1-0. Selectman Harmon abstained.
E.O. 151608012 – An order to approve 8 hours of time off without pay for Krystal Dyer
Approved 5-0
E.O. 151618013 – An order to set the Tax Rate at $12.95 per thousand for Fiscal Year 2015/16
Approved 5-0
- Accounts Payable and Payroll Warrants
E.O. 151608001 – An order approving expenditures as documented in the Accounts Payable Warrant #11
Approved 5-0
The amount was $49,442.96
E.O. 151608002 – An order approving expenditures as documented in Payroll Warrant #10
Approved 5-0
The amount was $67,420.75
- Next Meeting of the Board
Special Town Meeting Thursday, August 6 at 7:00 PM at the Municipal Building located at 185 Portland Road, Buxton, Maine
Selectman Emery read the articles in the Warrant for the Special Town Meeting. He explained that the Board did not realize that Fred Farnham was retiring so there was no provision made in the budget for the payout for his vacation time and 50% of the maximum 240 hours of sick time he has accumulated. That payout all comes out of the salary line so it leaves us short. Selectman Emery said that the money in the warrant article is so that we will have enough to cover that and to pay for the new Code Enforcement Officer. Also, Fred has been working 32 hours per week for the last few years but the Board is moving that back to the 40 hours per week position that it always was.
Planning Board Meeting Monday, August 10 at 7:00 PM
Board of Selectmen Meeting Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM
Selectman Burns mentioned that there may be a Twelve Town Group Meeting 6:30 Monday night at the Waterboro Town Hall. The Board has not received confirmation of that yet but it is the second Monday in the month which is when they usually meet so there is a possibility that they may meet.
None
Selectman Burns commented that all the crews that worked after the storm last night did a fantastic job. The Fire Department was down on Deering Road for a fire, Fire Police were out everywhere along with Public Works and Police and everybody did a great job. Selectman Burns backed up what Selectman Harmon said earlier that people were driving over downed lines because they did not want to follow the detour suggested to them. He said people were driving way too fast last night on Back Nippen Road. He talked about how bad the driving conditions were and said people were just flying through there. He thanked the crews and Public Works that were out today doing a lot of cleanup on Back Nippen Road and Hurlin Smith Roads.
- Public Comments and Questions
Cynthia Bizon introduced herself and her husband, Joel Bizon. She said they are fairly new property owners here in Buxton. In January of 2014 they purchased a property on Old Orchard Road. Since that time they have made improvements to the property and Mrs. Bizon said it has come to their attention that the adjacent property is a piece of town-owned land that they are interested in. Mrs. Bizon asked what the process would be to bid on that. They feel that it would improve their location and have spoken with Charisse Keach, our Treasurer a couple of times about that. Mrs. Bizon said they are not sure if there is something more formal they should do to let the Board know of their interest.
Selectman Emery explained that the Town had a piece of tax acquired property on Upper Egypt Road that they put out to bid. The people who wanted to buy the land were told that people who owned that property when it was acquired for taxes still had some legal right for the next 15 years unless they would sign off to the Town so we could give the new buyer a Quit Claim Deed. Without that, the buyer would have that 15 years hanging over his head so if he tried to sell the property a new buyer might not be able to get financing because he could not get a clear title to the property.
Mrs. Bizon asked if at this time there would be any action required on their part or would it have to come from the Town.
Selectman Emery reiterated that the prior property owner would have to sign off to the Town and there is no action required on the part of Mr. & Mrs. Bizon. Selectman Emery said at some point the Selectmen might do it anyway and put a nominal amount on the property for just the amount of unpaid taxes, and sell it but at this point in time they are holding off on that hoping that the prior owner will sign off.
Mrs. Bizon thanked the Board and had no further questions.
There were no other comments or questions from the Board or the public.
None
Motion made and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 7:37 PM
Approved 5-0
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