MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TOWN OF MOUNT DESERT, MAINE
Monday, September 18, 2006
A meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held this date in the Community Room, Somesville Fire Station, Somesville, Maine.
Those present included: Selectmen Kathy Branch, Ernest Coombs, Acting Chairman Patrick Smallidge, Jeffrey Smith; Town Manager Michael MacDonald; Public Works Director Tony Smith; Fire Chief Mike Bender, Recording Secretary Ellen Kappes and members of the public.
I. Call to order.
Acting Chairman Smallidge called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
II. Minutes
A. Approval of minutes of Regular Meeting of September 5, 2006.
MOTION: Selectman Branch moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 5, 2006 as presented, seconded by Selectman Smith. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Joint Meeting with Mount Desert School Committee
Selectman Smallidge took this item out of order because of the presence of MDES Principal Scott MacFarland, Supt. Rob Liebow and School Committee member Gail Marshall. Ms. Marshall said the School Committee needs to interface more with Selectmen and share with them some of the things the school deals with.
Principal McFarland and Ms Marshall gave a ½ hour presentation on the No Child Left Behind legislation and what it means for this school. He said MDES does more assessments than required by the program and has had to cut back on its own testing to avoid overloading teachers. The bottom line is that MDES meets government standards. He agreed with Selectman Smallidge that the program has caused more paper work and more administrative work.
George Peckham and Supt. Liebow discussed schools' rights and lack of rights to exclude tuition students.
Selectman Smallidge said the Boards should wait for another night to discuss other questions.
Selectman Smallidge mentioned a League of Towns forum that would include the funding formula for the high school.
III. Appointments and Communications
A. Accept, with regret, resignation of Bernice Pierce as Mount Desert Housing Authority Tenant Commissioner.
Selectman Smallidge asked Town Manager MacDonald to send a letter of appreciation to Ms. Pierce.
B. Accept resignation of Steve Rittman as WWTP summer helper, effective September 14, 2006.
No action required.
C. Confirm appointment of Ryan Dunbar as part-time recycling attendant effective September 19,
2006 at hourly rate of $11.50.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to confirm the above, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
D. MMA Health Insurance advisory of LD 1021 (Retired County and Municipal Law Enforcement Officers and Municipal Firefighters Health Insurance Program)
Town Manager MacDonald was not sure of the effect the above would have on the Town but could see it would cause another layer of paper work.
E. MDI League of Towns notice of public policy forum on September 27, 2006 at 6:30 PM at MDI HS library; topics include TABOR, local option sales tax, MDI HS funding formula
Selectman Smallidge urged the press to printing something on the above and urged Board members to go to it.
F. Acknowledge receipt of board and committee meeting minutes: Planning Board minutes of August 14 2006 and August 28, 2006. No action required.
G. Acknowledge receipt of Department Reports; Fire, Public Works, Police, Code Enforcement, Administration.
In the absence of Fire Chief Bender who had to leave on a call, Town Manager MacDonald said the fire department had had some success with training during the summer months.
Gerard Haraden noted the absence of reports from the Sanitary Committee. Selectman Smallidge explained what Selectmen learned at its last meeting.
H. Petition to limit or prohibit construction activity from June 15 through Labor Day.
Selectman Smallidge noted many of the signers were long term summer residents. Selectman Coombs said that, when he met with a small number of summer residents, one of their concerns was the demise of Northeast Harbor as a viable town. He thought the above suggestion would certainly accomplish that. He did think judgment should be used about when to start construction work in the morning. He saw no need for discussion on restricting construction in the town. Selectman Branch seconded that idea.
Selectman Smith said a decent starting hour in the summer time could be a reasonable way to go.
Selectman Smallidge said the petition signers are exactly the people who are commissioning construction. He found it ironic that they would want to inhibit their own projects and cut into an already limited construction season. He noted that the petitioners compared this town with skiing communities which are busy during winter months. He said the very people responsible for the construction could take accountability on themselves and ask their own individual contractors to respect the peace of the town. He could see the idea snowballing into restricted hours for lawn mowing and boats.
Mr. Peckham said the requested restrictions would affect many people such a plumber, masons and electricians. He thought a petition could only be authorized by residents. He said summer is the prime time to get work done. He said there would be a real labor problem if people could not work in the summer. He thought the idea was terrible.
Selectman Smallidge did not think there was any malice intended but that it just showed ignorance about the working class. He did not think the petition was going anywhere.
Town Manager MacDonald said he told the person who brought in the petition that it could only be an advisory, not a legal, petition. Their main concern was the early start time for a lot of heavy construction, dump trucks and tail gates banging at 5:30 to 6:00 in the morning. He told them it would involve mainly a consideration of one another rather than an ordinance and that the petition probably wouldn't go anywhere because the Town does not want to restrict the activities of the construction business in the summertime. They told him they wanted to make everybody aware of their concerns with the petition.
Bob Smallidge suggested that a response be written rather than just saying no and to suggest that they police their own if they are having a house built. He agreed with Selectman CoombsDs who said that no natives are building houses. Town Manager MacDonald said the signors told him the construction in question is happening with newer summer residents.
MOTION: Selectman Coombs moved to look into a proposed anti-noise ordinance that would take effect from June 15 to Labor Day, seconded by Selectman Branch. The vote was 0 - 4. The motion died.
V. Old Business
A. Approve release of up to $35,000.00 from Reserve Account # 2880- Town Road Fund to stabilize a portion of Manchester Road and Somes Sound.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to approve the above, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
IV. Selectmen Reports
1. Selectman Smith asked that the board return to Section IV and said that with budget time coming, he wanted to set a deadline for the Sanitary District to submit a status report. October 2 was set for the requested report.
2. Selectman Smith was concerned about what seemed to be another rash of false fire alarms. Possibly a payment could be set for a second false alarm. A lot of expense is involved.
Town Manager MacDonald recalled that former Fire Chief Farley had been asked to look into a fee method but could not come up with one. Selectman Smith suggested that Fire Chief Bender be asked to draft an ordinance or policy for the Board's consideration.
V. Old Business
B. Approve release of $8,230.00 from Reserve Account # 2760 - Town Office Building. Funds will supplement $35,000 previously appropriated for Town Office siding replacement.
Town Manager MacDonald showed a sample of the recommended siding. Responding to Selectman Smith, he said he'd had only one call from a Main Street, Northeast Harbor businessman who commented that with the small difference in price, the Town should go with cedar. Public Works Director Smith said a number of people told him they wished the Town had gone with vinyl 20 years ago. Mr. Peckham asked about sandblasting the paint off. Public Works Director Smith said, because of the age of the shingles, more damage might be done with pressure washing. Sandblasting could present other problems. Selectman Smallidge told Mr. Peckham that he felt the Board would be fiscally irresponsible if it did not go to vinyl.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to approve the above, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
VI. New Business
A. Approve Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society request to place donation collection boxes at SH Village Green and SH Beach.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to approve the above, seconded by Selectman Branch. The vote was unanimous in favor.
B. SH VIS gift bequest policy request
Town Manager MacDonald noted that this item addressed concerns Selectmen expressed about what the donation boxes would look like. Selectmen acknowledged the above with approval.
C. Approve License for Harbor View Corp. d/b/a Main Sail Restaurant.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to approve the above, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
D. Approve amended Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy.
Town Manager MacDonald said that pre-employment testing for alcohol is no longer permitted for commercial driver's license operators.
MOTION: Selectman Coombs moved to accept the above, seconded by Selectman Branch. The vote was unanimous in favor.
E. Fire Chief request for authorization to sell surplus fire equipment (fire hose) to the Mariaville Fire Department.
MOTION: Selectman Smith moved to declare the above fire hose surplus and to authorize the sale to Mariaville, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
VII. General Issues
" None
VII. Other Business
A. Town Manager report on ICMA conference in San Antonio Texas.
Town Manager MacDonald said the above conference was very educational. He will share the information with department heads and the staff.
Responding to Selectman Smallidge's question about parking in the marina area, Town Manager MacDonald said the Marine Management Committee would be meeting the next night.
IX. Treasurer's Warrants
A. Approve Treasurer's Warrant # 76 for $532,267.14.
Signed as presented.
X Executive Session
None requested
At 7:57 PM, Selectman Smith moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Selectman Coombs. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey Smith
Secretary
Adjournment. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday, October 2, 2006 at 6:30 P.M. in the Meeting Room, Town Office, Northeast Harbor.
| 
