Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
September 5, 2012
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting was called to order at 7:01 PM. Hal Ferguson, Chairman, Rick Micklon & Lenny Adler present. * This is the first meeting in the new Annex.
2. FLAG SALUTE
*Audience and Board members saluted the flag.
3. SECRETARY’S REPORT:
A. Meeting minutes from August 15, 2012. *Motion to accept minutes. RM/LA – Unanimous.
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. None.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. Town Sexton, Dan Peaco:
1) South Otisfield Cemetery: Almost done w/ the annex lot. Richard Bean has done a great job getting the rocks and roots out. The plan is to hydroseed it this fall and then once again in the spring. HF recommended getting a fence up asap.
2) Town Office Road Side Washout: The state has fixed most of the sides of the road in town where it had been washed out. It is collapsing in front of Town Office when it is being mowed. Encroaching upon lower entrance. MIM will call the State to see if they can rectify the situation.
3) Telephone Pole @ South Otisfield Cemetery: RM: we ended up w/ (4) Four (4) Four foot pieces of telephone pole and found they would be well suited as benches for Two Ponds Nature Trail. BOS Agree.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:
A. None.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS:
A. Preliminary opinions of the bond issue: HF signed so it can be overnighted tomorrow.
B. MMA convention: Richard St. John, CEO will be attending.
C. Community Hall insurance: LA asked MIM to look into the insurance for the new sewing event. MIM: This is a town sanctioned group, not an individual luncheon event so they will be covered. LA: We should decide at some point what should or should not be sanctioned. All agree.
D. Community Hall Winter usage: In November the Church wants to come in and do a sale. BOS would like to figure the cost of oil for each event. LA does not think it should be rented in Jan. Feb or March. It’s too cold and it would be very expensive to heat. RM remembers the Board agreeing to leaving it open for the winter, and keeping the heat low, but high enough so that it doesn’t freeze. This will help get a base line on how much it will cost to keep it running. All agree to try it this year.
E. Letter from the Andersons, as taxpayers of the town of Otisfield they wrote to express their frustration over the fact that they cannot get satisfactory service for internet and cable. Letter submitted into public record. HF recommended to MIM that Sharon contact them as to current status of internet.
9. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA:
A. None
10. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Fire Station Bids: MIM asked Jared Damon to put three (3) Separate bid specs together. Two of the garages need roofs; a metal roof for Gore Station and an asphalt roof for Spurrs Corner. The lighting system will need to be updated on all three buildings. MIM will post in next weeks’ paper. Board Agreed on having bids due by October 3rd @ 7:00 PM.
B. Municipal Garage update: RM: Henry’s Concrete out of Harrison is on site. They are forming now and pouring concrete next. CMP has been on site. They suggest bringing power from opposite side of road. CMP will provide a proposal for the town. HF spoke to David Hart and David doesn’t suggest being there more often than he is. LA thinks we should have more hands-on to make sure that there are no mistakes and suggests constant supervision. RM: This is why we hired Building Solutions as the General Contractor. They are there to protect us and warranty the work of all the subs. But he is ok with whatever the Board decides. Board agrees that it’s worth paying Dave to be there more often. RM will ask David Hart to show up for increased inspections and bill the town accordingly.
11. SELECTMEN’S ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED & VOTED ON:
A. Town Warrant: *Motion to sign Warrant #4 to pay the town bills. HF/LA – Unanimous. *LA wants to know why the town is paying for CEO to go to an assessing course. HF will contact Richard St. John to discuss this one item.
B. Presentation of the Time Table of Cell Tower Events: HF: Not quite finished w/ it yet, still incorporating comments and information. Hopefully it will be put together by the end of the week. BOS are putting together a timeline, it will go on the web site and it will be available in paper form at the town office. Not taking sides one way or the other, just a timeline of events. Kristen Roy: Are you going to put in the lack of notifications to abutters? HF: We will make note of how many people were notified, not who was/was not notified. RM: It’s a timeline of events, not a Finding of Fact. Townspeople have been asking us why-when-how did certain things happen the way they did? We’re hoping this timeline will answer a lot of those questions. KR: Where on web site is it? RM: It is not on there yet, but
it may be a link on the home page and it will be available in hard copy at the Town Office.
C. Town land surveyed: RM: Del Maxfield, Maine Survey Consultants (MSC), Inc. in Harrison Maine sent an estimate to complete work on the following parcels: Town Office, Swampville Road, Oak Hill Cemetery and Town Pound. Board agrees to do the following and in this order, 1) Town Office, 2)Swampville, 3) Oak Hill Cemetary and hold off on the Town Pound. LA suggests taking money out of contingency fund or building account. RM will contact Del and report back to Board. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD:
A. Robinson Dam Committee Update: HF & Dan Peaco are the town representatives on this committee. HF attended the recent Thompson Lake water level meeting and noted that it was very well attended with more than one hundred people in attendance. There was a 20 min. presentation, followed by lots of questions, a little bit of skepticism, but overall it was very well received. All of the four towns involved Oxford, Otisfield, Casco & Poland have to adopt a Lake Level Ordinance otherwise they will have to go by the State guidelines. MIM will check w/ Dave
Morton, Town Manager of Casco to see if they currently have an ordinance in place.
B. The beach area has been cleaned up since the rain, but still needs “No Parking” signs down there. MIM will order more.
C. Sand/Salt Shed Security: Discussion on security system for Sand/Salt Shed area had been discussed in prior meetings, because it has been hit twice. Great Falls Security provided separate proposals for BOS approval and LA took this project on. Security System is up and running. HF & RM thanked LA for a job well done.
D. American Flags: Board agreed at a prior meeting that flags will be put up weekend before Memorial Day and taken down around August 15th. HF Update: The flags have been taken down and stored in the old kitchen area for safe keeping.
E. Fire Dept. Bottle Redemption Box: Just a friendly reminder that the F.D. has a returnable box at the Transfer Station and in front of the Spurr’s Corner Fire station for anyone to drop of returnable cans/bottles. The proceeds will benefit the Town through the purchase of necessary equipment for the Fire Department.
F. 2013 Oxford County Budget Committee: RM was elected for the Budget Committee again for the third year.
G. Jack Harth made the town road & map signs and Hal has now posted an 8.5 x 11” sign at the Community Hall for recognition of his contribution.
H. No Parking signs: HF had asked MIM to order some metal signs that many have felt are needed at the bottom of Silvaqua/Shore Road. This is a dangerous curve. Signs have disappeared over the years. HF and Richard Bean, Jr. recently posted (2) signs on posts about 7 feet in the air. They were removed by the next morning. HF would like to contact Town Attorney. MIM will call MMA first to discuss. Town has been put on notice that this is a problem. LA thinks that we should discuss having vehicles towed. All agreed.
13. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM. HF/RM – Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on September 19, 2012
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