Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2012
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting was called to order at 7:01 PM. Hal Ferguson, Chairman, Rick Micklon & Lenny Adler present.
2. FLAG SALUTE
*Audience and Board members saluted the flag.
3. SECRETARY’S REPORT:
A. Meeting minutes from October 3, 2012. *Motion to accept minutes. LA/RM– Unanimous.
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. Portland-Montreal Pipeline to be Converted for Shipping Tar Sands Oil into the US
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Conservation Committee; Jeff Stern Chairman: Discussed plans for the Portland-Montreal Pipeline to be converted for shipping tar sands oil into the US through existing local pipelines. The committee thought they should bring this to the BOS’s attention because of the possible health risks and environmental ramifications it could have on the surrounding towns. Lee Dassler- Western Foothills Land Trust Director and conservation committee member explains: An oil spill on the Crooked River could also have a wider effect, the river provides much of the flow – around 40 percent – into Sebago Lake, the water source for 200,000 people in greater Portland. ExxonMobil owns a 76 percent stake in the Portland-Montreal pipeline, and the company is looking to increase its investment in the pipeline. Tar sands oil is more corrosive than conventional oil. The diluted tar sands bitumen travels through the pipelines at high pressure increasing the chance that weakened pipelines will break. The
Conservation committee will be having a film presentation next week at their mtg. and they are encouraging all to attend. LA asked if both sides of the issue would be represented. Lee and the other Committee members thought Exxon Mobil would present their side well enough but Lee will check with Waterford to see what some of their pros are, but their meeting is the same night. LA feels both sides should be represented.
B. Community Social Group; Elaine Doble-Verrill, East Otisfield Baptist Church wants to say thank you for BOS support to get Community Lunch Project started and helping people get to know each other in Otisfield. She wanted to let the BOS know that the State Director of AARP is coming to town to speak about Medicare at an upcoming lunch. She is looking for some town office support to find out what people might be interested in. She thinks the town office and web site may be able to reach more community members and bring in younger folks as well. She would like to post a survey on the web-site and leave copies of the survey at the Town Office. BOS support this request. Elaine will email survey to TT to be posted on web-site.
C. Heniger Park Reassessment Committee: Current (4) members are Chairman Hal Ferguson, Rick Micklon, Lenny Adler and Administrative Assistant Marianne Izzo-Morin. The Board would like to have an additional (5) community members. The criteria the Board is searching for include: Must live in Otisfield. They would like representation from all parts of town. Adiverse make up of men and woman. (9) Applications received for volunteers for this committee: Craig Turner, Rick Jackson, Judy Hall, Bob Blake, Anne Pastore, Sandy Ouellette, Kyle Jordan, Herb Olsen, and Karen Turino. BOS reviewed all applications and after much discussion decided to add Kyle Jordan, Karen Turino, Judy Hall, Craig Turner, Anne Pastore, TT will email individuals selected. The HPRC will officially meet December 20th at
7 pm in the annex room for their initial meeting.
D. Planning Board: Dan Peaco wanted to update the Planning Board Policies. Currently it states the Board has two meetings per month, DP would like to change this to Board has one meeting per month, and as needed. BOS agree.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:
A.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS:
A. Assessors return for Oxford County - $214,849.00. This is the first time in a long time that we’ve gone up.
*Motion to sign the assessors return. LA/HF – Unanimous.
B. Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Facility: AVCOG: Environmental Depot in Lewiston, has a cap of $1,000 maximum amount for Otisfield. Currently Otisfield may dispose of up to 2 units of waste per person, per visit. One unit equals up to 5 gallons of liquid waste or up to 20 pounds of dry waste or a combination of both. A smoke detector can be substituted for 1 gallon or can be disposed of for $5 each. Last year BOS all agreed that Town should keep contract as is until someone abuses it. MIM has a call into Fergus Lea because a couple people went over the limit, even after being told the max. drop off amount. One family brought in 28 containers, that consisted of 5 gallon units. Another family brought in 14 units. The town received a $2,400.00 bill. MIM will call AVCOG to discuss why they
allowed individuals to go over. HF feels the issue is more with AVCOG’s lack of proper supervision than it is with the abuse of the residents.
C. Municiapl Solid Waste Transportation: The town accepted a $165.00 refund which is retroactive from October 1st, Last year we paid $197.50. There will be no fuel adjustment through September 30, 2014.
D. Proposed 2013 valuation $275,550.00 went down from 2012.
E. Town Clean-Up Day: Scheduled for next Sunday, October 28th from 8 to 11 AM.
F. Town Office Hours: The town office will be closed 10/26/12 for - ELECTION TRAINING
9. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA:
A. None
10. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Municipal Garage update: Cement floor is in. Everyone agrees, it looks great.
B. South Otisfield Cemetery – A bid will be put out for a 12 foot opening in the stone wall and the rearranging of the stone so it creates a roadside wall. DP & RM will stake it out and RM will put a bid together. DP said no rush until next spring.
11. SELECTMEN’S ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED & VOTED ON:
A. Town Warrant: *Motion to sign Warrant #7 to pay the town bills. HF/LA – Unanimous.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD:
A. RM: Otisfield resident wanted to know why Town agreed to pay for the debris removal from the roadside and Saturday Pond. This person felt the Town should not be paying for this. The people on the lake should. RM explained we had volunteers doing it from Saturday Pond Association, and saw no problem with keeping our town looking good, but would mention it at BOS mtg. HF and LA agree w/ RM and its volunteers who do it. Saturday Pond has the Association volunteering to do this. So the town took advantage of the resources made available. All agree it will continue and appreciate the efforts of the volunteers.
B. Double Wall Oil Tank Ordinance: LA would like this to be reviewed. RM stated that CEO is looking into this A new ordinance will be available for next year’s public hearing prior to town meeting.
C. No Parking Ordinance: In front of OPRC currently. HF would like MIM to order signs that say “no parking between signs” All agree.
13. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM. HF/LA – Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on November 7, 2012
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