Board of Selectmen Meeting, Nov 1 2004
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TOWN OF MOUNT DESERT, MAINE
Monday, November 1, 2004
A meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held this date in the Meeting Room at the Town Office, Northeast Harbor, Maine.
Those present included: Chairman Rick Savage, Ernest Coombs, Patrick Smallidge, Jeff Smith; Town Manager Michael MacDonald; Public Works Director Tony Smith; Police Chief James Willis, Assessor John Brushwein, Harbor Master Will Boddy, Fire Chief Chris Farley, Recording Secretary Ellen Kappes and members of the public.
Call to order.
Chairman Savage called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Minutes
A. Approval of minutes of Regular Meeting of October 18, 2004.
MOTION: Selectman Smallidge moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 18, 2004 as presented, seconded by Selectman Smith. The vote was unanimous in favor.
III. Appointments and Communications
A.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of $500 donation from Atwater Kent Foundation.
Chairman Savage said the Board acknowledged receipt of the above and asked Town Manager MacDonald to send a letter of appreciation.
B.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of request to develop and maintain a public skating rink.
Mia Brown said the idea for a rink stemmed from not being able to use local ponds because of the weather. It would also provide a chance to keep kids active. She wanted to construct a temporary ice rink somewhere in the village of Northeast Harbor possibly at Sea Street on the tennis courts, in the parking lot, or at the elementary school. She said the School Board supported the idea by consensus and that Chuck Bucklin suggested a way to use the parking lot to the west of the tennis courts. Ben Moore told her he would donate plowing the rink. She asked Selectmen to approve the concept.
Chairman Savage noted that she would do all the work. He advised checking with Public Works Director Smith about plugging up the drain in the parking lot and with Harbor Master Boddy about where boats would be stored.Selectman Coombs thought it was a great idea and remembered when the Town had a rink in a corner of the ball field. He said too much money had been invested in the tennis courts to use them and thought school custodians might object to use of the ball field. Mrs. Brown was concerned about using the ball field where an irrigation system has just been installed. Harbor Master Boddy said the parking lots are full with boats and floats. More are scheduled for storage there than were last year. After Chairman Savage told her to pursue the idea, Mrs. Brown
said she would be back in two weeks. Selectman Smallidge said his condition would be to satisfy the Harbor Master. Mrs. Brown said she would meet with Harbor Master Boddy.
C.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of proposal from the S/L/A/M Collaborative for design studies for Town Hall renovations. ~(Possible 2005 budget item).
Chairman Savage said approval of the about $29,000 proposal would be needed at Town Meeting. Town Manager MacDonald said the proposal shows what it would cost to develop a plan for changes in the building.
E.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of first draft Cable Television Ordinance, inclusion in 2005 Town Meeting Warrant.
Chairman Savage indicated his insistence on enabling residents in all the Town’s villages to receive the same treatment. Town Manager MacDonald said the draft agreement includes those service areas. One issue is the large number of private roads. Because the Town does not own the right of way to them, it cannot give permission to the cable company to string wires along them. The people who have rights to the rights of way would have to grant the permission. He said the ordinance he had provided was a template adopted by most communities in the cable consortium. It is important to have an ordinance in place before approving a franchise agreement.
F.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of first draft Cable Television Franchise Agreement, inclusion in 2005 Town Meeting Warrant.
Town Manager MacDonald said this was a heads up for what would be a warrant article and would need to be discussed at some time.
G.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of Weekly Construction Summary for Seal Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade for weeks ending October 15 and October 22, 2004. Acknowledged.
D.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of request for letter of support for Upper Blue Hill Bay Coalition
grant application.
Chairman Savage wanted to know if this was a special interest group but Town Manager MacDonald did not know. Assessor Brushwein said Jennifer Mitchell told him she would be happy to talk with Selectmen. Chairman Savage said he wanted more background and information on the mission.
H.~~~~~~Acknowledge receipt of Planning Board Minutes for Meeting of September 27, 2004
Acknowledged.
IV. Consent Agenda
None
V. Selectmen Reports
Selectman Coombs asked about the proposed stop sign for an intersection on Oak Hill Road. Police Chief Willis indicated the Ordinance Committee was still working on the traffic ordinance on a broader scope than one stop sign but the subject did come up at every meeting.
Chairman Savage said a citizen from Otter Creek had asked about putting in rumble strips on the road at each end of that village to slow down traffic. Public Works Director Smith said the DOT regulates that road and added that there are other places where they would be needed too. He will contact the DOT.
Edie Crowley said Seal Harbor needs the strips too and asked for increased speed enforcement there. She and Police Chief Willis discussed the matter. He said the department issued about $14,000 worth of tickets for traffic infractions during the past three months.
I. Old Business
A.~~~~~~Award and accept bids for surplus 3,000 gallon tank (Farm Food Transportation for $2,000.34), fuel pump (J. W. Goodwin, Jr. for $250.00) and reject all bids for 1988 FMC Street Sweeper.
MOTION: Selectman Coombs moved to accept the above two bids, seconded by Selectman Smallidge. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Chairman Savage asked Public Works Director Smith to rebid the sweeper at a later date.
VII. New Business
None
VIII. General Issues
None
IX. Other Business
A.~~~~~~Continue Budget discussions, latest revised copy of budget
Town Manager MacDonald noted that Harbor Master Boddy and Public Works Director Smith got their sections of the budgets down as low as they possibly could. Because of unavoidable increases, he said it was almost impossible to get the percentage down to the requested 3.5%. The 7.27% was a very good effort on the part of the departments. Cuts in services or the reserve program would be needed for further reductions. Responding to Chairman Savage, he said they were not using reserves to bring the number down.
The budget proposed as of 11/1/04 was reviewed page by page.
Administration: Town Manager MacDonald said it is becoming more and more obvious that additional help is needed in the Town Office especially if the Board wants Mr. Brushwein and the new COE to perform their professional duties rather than do clerical work. Selectman Smallidge said he had been convinced of the need for an additional person.
Assessor: Town Manager MacDonald said that contract help is needed for the reassessment process. Assessor Brushwein said if everyone in Town were assessed at 40% of the fair market value, he wouldn’t care because the bottom line is equity and everyone would be paying his fair share. This Town’s problem is that some properties are assessed in the teens while some are at 60% of the fair market value. Responding to Chairman Savage, he said that with contracted help reevaluation would be ready for the 2006 tax year, not for 2005. He said that the assessors from Bar Harbor and Ellsworth and he are trying to get a cost reduction from Vision if all three towns join with them. On November 10th, the software will be installed in his machine and he will receive training. He saw
some potential for additional cost savings.
Town Clerk: Town Manager MacDonald confirmed with Chairman Savage that Kim Parady removed a fire proof file cabinet from this budget.
Police Dept: Chairman Savage noted the increase was greater than it was originally. Police Chief Willis said this was essentially due to wages. Town Manager MacDonald said the officers are averaging two hours more per week to provide more coverage. Police Chief Willis said the fitness incentive is a performance based cash award and is not mandatory.
Fire Dept: Fire Chief Farley said the volunteer incentive program provides some payment for doing essential work and participating in training. The line item includes former line items such as training. Chairman Savage was concerned that the incentive program would take away the volunteer aspect for firemen and would make it appear like a paid-to-serve program. Fire Chief Farley said the money would be distributed at the end of the year according to a formula based on the number of hours.
Selectman Smith thought there should be some form of incentives. He suggested that false alarms be paid for by homeowners. The alarm companies are using Town services for free for a faulty system. Fifty% of the calls are useless. Fire Chief Farley said Selectmen would need to create an ordinance to charge for false alarms. In most cases, they were not repeat cases. Selectman Coombs thought the problem might affect the police more than the firemen. Police Chief Willis said the system is antiquated. The alarm companies are charging the homeowners for monitoring but the dispatchers are doing the work for them. It is a liability for the Town. Town Manager MacDonald said he could search for a sample ordinance and try to have one for the next meeting.
Responding to Selectman Coombs, Fire Chief Farley said he would look into lease-to-buy programs from fire truck manufacturers. Chairman Savage asked for adjustments to the fire department budget which was still at a 22.4% increase. When the Town combined the fire departments, he had hoped to see cost savings but that has not happened, he said.
Selectman Smallidge asked how much it would skew the vehicle replacement schedule if it were ramped up over two years instead of one, basically removing $32,500 from the $65,000 reserve.
Chairman Savage stressed that the Board was saying the Town can’t keep maintaining such large increases every year with no new sources of revenue. Town Manager MacDonald said the Town could get revenue by developing user fees for pay-to-throw trash as proposed by Public Works Director Smith who said doing away with trash collection would save $225,000. Town Manager MacDonald said, if Selectmen wanted, he could develop fee increases for building permits and try to make the COE office as self supporting as possible. Selectman Coombs
said changes the Town has made have been expensive and that perhaps services would have to be decreased. Chairman Savage was concerned about the extraordinary services the Town provides and special services for clientele who can afford to pay for building permits, sewer permits, false alarm fees and similar things. Taxpayers are tired of double digit increases. Public Works Director Smith and Harbor Master Boddy said sewers would not have cost as much if they had been addressed years ago. Harbor Master Boddy stressed the importance of maintaining the infrastructure.
Communications: Town Manager MacDonald explained the $5,000 for radio reserve is for getting upgraded equipment on top of Cadillac Mountain. Police Chief Willis said the bottom line was estimated at $32,500 but he hoped to get a grant to offset some of the cost.
Highway, streets: Public Works Director Smith said the paving budget was decreased because of changes in planning for Sargeant Drive. He said his original budget was not a wish list.
Parks: Town Manager MacDonald said Public Works Director Smith suggested doing the Long Pond erosion project in two stages – the rip rap in 2005 and the planks for the ramp in 2006.
Other Services: After some discussion between Selectmen Smallidge and Smith, Town Manager MacDonald and Mrs. Crowley, Chairman Savage said he did not want to take up that item when no one was there to defend a request.
Sewer Capital & Debt: Public Works Director Smith said $130,000 for the Sea Street pump station is a rough estimate for this year. It is not enough. The estimate is now $310,000. He will contact the DEP to discuss budgeting for it over two years. He would like to pay the insured services and their associates out of the $130,000.
NEH Marina: Harbor Master Boddy said he would try to get the surveillance cameras through a grant. Town Manager MacDonald said most grants do not pay 100%. Selectmen decided it would be best to allocate $20,000 for this item as a place holder amount.
Personnel: Selectman Smallidge and Town Manager MacDonald discussed the idea of having employees pay part of the cost of health insurance.
Chairman Savage asked Selectmen to save the budget papers for the next meeting to save paper.
X. Treasurer’s Warrants
Treasurer’s Warrant #100 for $459,928.45. Signed as presented.
XI Executive Session
None requested
At 8:35pm Selectman Smith moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Selectman Smallidge. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Smith
Secretary
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday, November 15, 2004 at 6:30 P.M. in the Town Hall Meeting Room, Northeast Harbor
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