Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
September 7, 2011
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. Hal Ferguson-Chairman & Rick Micklon present (Absent: Lenny Adler)
2. FLAG SALUTE
*Audience and Board members saluted the flag.
3. SECRETARY’S REPORT:
A. Meeting minutes from August 17, 2011. *Motion to accept minutes. RM/HF – Unanimous. ~
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. Jeff Stern- TLEA DEP 319 Grant update: 2011 construction on town roads for this year is complete. This included (9) sites. DEP requires Jeff to measure the amount of soil erosion reduction from each finished project by using the State’s formula. Soil loss calculations are ambiguous and not a science. The final result was impressive. Including only the (9) town road sites the formula showed a calculation REDUCTION of over 100 tons of soil erosion going into Thompson Lake. Just the town roads themselves exceed the goal, which was to reduce soil input by 80 tons per year and the original goal included town and private properties. This project is off the charts and DEP is going to be impressed. Jeff presented the Board with a letter of Agreement between TLEA
and the Town for the grant work. *Motion to sign letter. HF/RM – Unanimous. Jeff will compile a report for each of the (9) town road sites in the winter of 2012 and present it to the BOS at completion. This will include the same report and CD that was presented to MIM for Cobb Hill Road sites.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. Fire Dept. - Chief Hooker
1. Requesting Municipal Officials approval for Fire/EMS members to operate personal vehicle light. State law says this must be approved by municipal officers. BOS agree that this should be decided by Mike Hooker. *Motion to make Mike Hooker the designated Official for this function. HF/RM – Unanimous.
2. Recap of Irene: All town officials worked together on the response to those in need. There were a lot of power outages, but overall this storm was not as bad as it could have been. FD cones need to be replaced. All paperwork has been submitted to EMA Director Frank Blauvelt. FEMA money requested for Hurricane Irene was $4,755.00. *BOS agree that more propane is needed and that more than four days of generator run time should be on hand at all times in the event of an emergency. A repeater is needed because communication was difficult and this will be the next big purchase item on
the FD list.
3. Bottle Return container: FD had cans stolen last week. BOS agree a camera may be placed there to view unwanted activity.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:
A. None.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS: (MIM is absent)
A. Tobacco Policy and Workshop Smoking Policy: Oxford County’s District Tobacco Coordinator, Chris Davis, sent policy for Town to review last meeting. (Submitted into public record). The Elementary School, Beach, Community Hall and this Town Office are all non-smoking facilities. MRSA is a state statue. MIM contacted MMA and submitted state statues into public record. State law says that you cannot smoke within 20 feet of town owned and leased vehicles. Oxford Hills is requesting that towns be more stringent than the state. BOS agree that they would like to adopt and abide by State guidelines and want to send this to the OPRC to create a policy that says Otisfield will refer to the State’s Policy on smoking. TT will send OPRC a memo and have them refer to MIM for background materials.
B. Propane tank discussion: As discussed in 6:A; 2 above, BOS agree that more propane is needed on hand at the FD and 500 (min.) gallons should be on hand in the event of an emergency. This should allow an increase over the approx. four days of generator run time based upon full tanks at the time of emergency.
C. Oak Hill Road resident: Sent an email to the Town stating that Fairpoint will not provide internet access for this location. They want to know what the town can do to change this. BOS agree this is not a town issue and unfortunately not something they can fix. Fairpoint does not have any additional “internet” ports to take on new customers at this time. Internet is still accessible for this location, but requires individuals to use dial up or Hughes.net
D. CEO Thank you letter: Silvagua Assoc. sent Rich St. John, CEO, a thank you letter and wanted the Town to know that he has gone above and beyond. Richard met w/ them and explained in detail the Shoreland Zoning laws. The Assoc & BOS agree that Otisfield is lucky to have someone as knowledgeable as Richard working for them.
E. Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District: For background: RM is a Board Supervisor for Oxford County Soil & Water Conservation. He contacted Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District in hopes of finding available funds/grants for Pleasant Lake.~They informed him that there were funds available from left over grant money (used by Casco for Pleasant Lake in 2010) which could be used for the Otisfield end of Pleasant Lake. He was told that approx. $1,300 dollars was available. RM worked with them to secure the funds to provide improved soil erosion remediation at the boat launch area, performed by Otisfield road crew, and a check in the amount of $1,380.00 was received.
F. AVCOG salt bids. Otisfield will request 1,000 tons @ $61.53/ton price. This is $1.50/ton less than last year.
G. Public Hearings:
1) General Assistance Public Hearing will be held on October 5th @ 7:15
2) Junkyard Hearing will be held on October 5th @ 7:30 PM. Permits expire on October 1st.
H. Cemetery Revitalization: A check was received from Mrs. Bishop in remembrance of Jim Bishop. A plague will be purchased and placed on the fence. MIM will contact Mrs. Bishop to see what words she wants written on the plague.
I. Community Hall Events:
1. The annual Harvest Dance will be held on October 15, 2011, it’s a BYOB event and BYOB permit will be applied for through the State by the OVFFA. *Motion to make this a town sanctioned event. HF/RM – Unanimous. *Motion to approve the harvest dance on October 15th as a town sanctioned annual event. HF – Discussion: RM would like MIM to look into BYOB events being sanctioned. Are we risking any liability by sanctioning them? MIM will contact MMA. RM would like to table this until September 21, 2011. *Motion withdrawn. HF/RM – unanimous.
2. East Otisfield Baptist Church (EOBC) annual lunch will be held on Sept. 22nd. Currently has an application on file. This is an annual event. *Motion to accept that as a town sanctioned event. RM/HF – Unanimous.
3. Another two community free luncheons by the EOBC have applications submitted. *Motion to have these sanctioned. HF/RM – Unanimous.
9. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA:
A. None.
10. UNFINISHED /SCHEDULED BUSINESS:
A. Community Hall Roofing Labor Bid: Bid received August 17th from *Mitchell Contracting, East Hartland, CT. for $18,600.00 – Bid amount included labor only. All materials provided by Record Lumber. RM: Called Record Lumber to confirm contractor compared material list . Unsure of an exact comparison, RM and Record Lumber felt the bid was excessively high. More work may have been bid than the town requested. BOS agree that the bid amount is more than the Town can afford. *Motion to reject this bid. HF/RM – Unanimous. Town will rerun same add with dates modified. Bid will be due October 5th at 7:15 PM. Job to be completed by November 15th.
B. Town Office Renovations: (2) bids received August 17th from *Mitchell Contracting, East Hartland, CT. – $189,885.60 and *Bartow Construction Company, Otisfield, ME – $199,908.00 w/ a $20,000.00 additional contingency. David Hart, Fish Street Design reviewed both bids and contacted Fire Marshall’s Office to see if the application could be broken into two phases due to the higher than anticipated costs. Fire Marshall’s Office said yes and new drawings will be submitted. This project will go back out to bid w/ some minor modifications. I.e: No elevator, possibly adding two showers, etc. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting.
C. Community Hall: Rental Policy & gas stove discussions: FD would like to build a town propane cooking grill that can be used for all town functions. BOS would like to get rid of the stove at the Hall, give the parts to FD and scrap the rest. *Motion that the FD take whatever they need to make a town grill on wheels. HF/RM – Unanimous.
Community Hall winterization discussion: in response to people asking what it would cost to keep it open year round. RM will provide estimates on insulation, furnace upgrade and enclosing the air space below.BOS want an estimate for adding a shower so that the Hall can be used as a potential emergency shelter.
D. Town land surveyed: Del Maxfield, Maine Survey Consultants (MSC), Inc. in Harrison Maine is in the process of surveying~ town owned land so there is no question re boundaries. This project will
include the Town Garage parcel, Sat. Pond parcel, Henigar Park and South Otisfield Cemetery parcel. RM received a proposal tonight (submitted into public record). This proposal provides survey services for the town property situation on Station Road in Otisfield. The cost is $2,500.00 to finish what he has to finish on station lot. *Motion to approve what is listed to finish this project. RM/HF – Unanimous. Another project will include Town Cemeteries: Del Maxfield will look at a template used for charting plots and will lay this out for BOS and Sexton at a later date.
E. Scribner Mill Bridge: For background: Scribner's Mills Bridge was inspected by Ross Cudlitz, P.E. - Site walk was held June 2, 2009 w/ Ross, Otisfield BOS and the representatives from the Town of Harrison.Bridge needs lots of work, but the State still owns it. Pass at your own risk signs were purchased and placed up immediately. Currently it has a posted limit of 6 tons. Otisfield BOS and Town of Harrison representatives met at bridge last week. Harrison’s new town Manager is researching the options for repairs and funding. BOS all agree that until the state says it is condemned, they do nothing.. *Tabled until a future meeting.
11. SELECTMEN’S ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED & VOTED ON:
A. Town Warrant: *Motion to sign Warrant # 4 to pay the town bills. RM/HF – Unanimous.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD:
A. Employee handbook: *Tabled until next meeting when LA is in attendance.
B. Transfer Station: Erik was instructed not to open transfer station Sunday due to Hurricane Irene. Tuesday there was no power and he did not go in. BOS want to avoid any future dilemmas on how to avoid an employee losing pay. *BOS agree to table this until LA is in attendance. Discussion: Next year’s budget: should we have an appropriately sized generator switch installed.
C. Performance appraisals: *Tabled until next meeting
D. Salvation Army: At town meeting a donation of $200.00 was voted and approved to send to the Auburn location. MIM will send check.
E. Fireworks: BOS recommend that the Town have no policy until it becomes an issue.
F. Plowing and Shoveling Contracts for 2011-2012 - Annual contracts should be put out to bid. Workman Comp forms are required. HF suggests putting same newspaper ad as last year in the papers.
13. Upcoming Dates:
A. Board of Selectmen Meeting, September 21, 2011 @ 7:00 PM
14. ADJOURNMENT:
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM. HF/RM – Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted
Tanya Taft,
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on: September 21, 2011
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