Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
July 17, 2013
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. Hal Ferguson – Chairman & Rick Micklon present. (Absent - Lenny Adler) Anne Pastore is filling in for the administrative assistant.
2. FLAG SALUTE:
Audience and Board members saluted the flag.
3. ACTION ON MINUTES:
A. Meeting minutes from June 19, 2013. *Motion to accept minutes. HF /RM – Unanimous.
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. Opened (3) bids) for cold mix on Forrest Edwards Road.
1) FR Carroll Inc. Hidden Lake Road
2) Allstate Materials Group, Hidden Lake Road
3) C.H. Stephenson Inc. – Forest Edwards Road
Discussion: This is a difficult process in comparing bids because they are not comparing apples to apples. HF: We typically go w/ who Richard Bean recommends.
*Motion to award paving bid for Hidden Lake Road to FR Carroll, Inc. for $194,568.00 and if requested by Richard Bean we will agree to the shim, but not to exceed $2,700.00. RM/HF – Unanimous.
*Motion to award paving bid for Forest Edwards Road to C.H. Stephenson, Inc. for $53,800.00. That is a cold mix as requested by Road Commissioner. RM/HF – Unanimous.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. None.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. Fire Chief, Mike Hooker: Regarding Norway/Otisfield antenna systems. *Tabled until next meeting when Mike can be in attendance.
B. Health Officer, Lenny Adler: There will be state training coming up. *Tabled until next meeting when Lenny can be in attendance.
7: QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC.
A. Coon Road Swamp – Herb Olsen: Just an F.Y.I.; The State had an enclosure over the culvert at this location. They maintain it every couple weeks to clean it out. Someone trapped the beavers in there to save money and with the high waters the dam gave out. It is going to smell a lot worse than it does now. An attempt has been made to resolve this issue and dam it back up.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS (MIM Not in attendance)
A. None.
9. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA
A. None.
10. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. None.
11. SELECTMEN’S ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED & VOTED ON
A. Town Warrant: *Motion to sign Warrant #1 to pay the town bills. HF/RM - Unanimous.
B. “No Parking” signs / letter received from the Law Office of Gregory Braun, in regard to the parking at the intersection of Shore and Silvaqua Roads. Bonnie & Gary Jackson, Gregory Braun’s in laws are in attendance. Herb Olsen: An incident in that area occurred 3 weeks ago and there was a car w/ 4 young ladies on the left hand side coming up the road, Herb just missed the post w/ the front bumper of the FD Tanker. Herb feels that with anyone parked there the tanker will not make the turn. He also feels that if we had to get Oxfords ladder truck in there the town would have been in trouble as there is no alternate route to access down there. HF: Brought the audience up to date about a mtg that took place w/ RM, the Jackson’s and the Road Commissioner. Hal mentioned he didn’t
go to that original mtg, because he didn’t want anyone to think he had an ax to grind, as he lives beyond the intersection. He has only brought this forward because someone brought the complaint up to the BOS at the 10/3/12 Selectmen Meeting. HF: It’s one thing for Herb and others firefights in town to know about the lack of space on this corner, but when Mutual Aid comes and they are not familiar with the road it could be an even bigger issue. Gary: I would like to see the tanker take that corner. We have a proposal in front of the BOS now. HF: I would like to wait until Lenny Adler is in attendance to comment on the letter. He is on the Fire Dept and would like to participate in this conversation. Gary: You won’t comment on this now? And you are bringing in the Fire Chief? HF: No decisions will be made, but we are discussing it. HF: I personally have 3 issues, 1) Existing posts were not installed by the town and if the town removes them there could be a
liability issue. Gary: The letter makes a proposal, let’s discuss it? HF: I am going to wait until Lenny Adler is in session as he is a tanker driver and has some opinions. Gary: You can discuss this, but you won’t? Bonnie: No other sign in town where handicapped signs go. I didn’t ask for handicapped sign? . RM: I was trying to come up with a temporary solution that would assist you while Bonnie is going through recovery and physical therapy. She has a legitimate handicapped placard. HF: 2nd thing is for the town to move posts back to the further side of easement and push more dirt down on to your property. This would impact the ability to ever install a driveway and impede a future sale. Bonnie: That house will never be for sale, we will never sell it, so you can be sure it will NEVER sell. I made it clear a month ago we had a driveway and we had someone come barreling down the hill and almost hit our house at which point my dad put posts
in. When we built, there was a plan for a road, now it’s impossible for me to have a driveway. I’m not going to jeopardize my family to have a driveway. HF: My 3rd and primary concern is the safety issue. If we have a Fire Chief saying he has a problem getting emergency vehicles in there, I want to address it. Bonnie: I agree w/ that Hal, if in fact that’s the case, I want to see it. I want to see the tanker not be able to make that turn Hal. RM: Richard Bean said it’s not a problem to pull up posts and getting new posts if it makes the plowing better. He does agree, they plow down the hill and it does build up. He said he felt like if you were not there, then there was no harm, but he didn’t realize you didn’t have access to your property. He said he would plow down the hill and they can take some of that snow away. He never knew it was an issue and will resolve it, now he knows. The challenge will be to find another location, but he
will do that now that it has been brought to his attention. He understands the posts are on town property, and has no problem cutting trees back and installing new posts. If it’s on town property the town is going to pay for it, otherwise he would have to do that for everyone. Richard Bean is an elected official and he does not have to consult w/ the BOS on what he does. He would like the BOS to get something in writing from legal counsel about this. When we talked about accessibility, I asked if we could put up a temporary handicap sign for you because at last meeting you said you needed one. So we located some signs and Richard Bean went down and installed them. I am certain I am clear on Richards thoughts and positions and if that changed I’ll stand corrected. Gary: We didn’t mean for that letter to come from Gregory as an attorney. The letter addresses “no parking signs” and we wanted to discuss it. Bonnie: This is personal for you Hal, you think
this is a game. HF: I don’t think this is a game and it’s not personal. I have mentioned several times it’s not personal and that’s why I didn’t go to that meeting that Rick attended with you because you keep stating that it is personal. Someone brought the access problem to our attention and we had to bring it up. Gary: You can address and resolve this, you just choose not to. Bonnie: You are trying to load this up so that everyone is against us. HF: if I was trying to load it up, I would venture that I could bring in 20 families saying they have had issues getting through there. I am not doing that. Fire department personnel are coming in to the next meeting who are involved with safety/access matters. Bonnie: Well I want to see the fire truck make that turn Hal, because it’s on video tape and there was no problem making that turn. RM: It is not unreasonable to request FD and others to have a site visit with the actual trucks. Discussion
pertaining to a site walk by HF and RM resulted in the scheduling of a site walk that will be held on August 7, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. This will include the town of Otisfield tanker.
C. Otisfield Cove Road, parking area: Three parking places at this site. It states in the court order that it’s only to allow people to get their boat in and out of the water. It is not for trailers. They are to be parked in a different location. *Tabled until next meeting when the court records will be available.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
A. Town Office Boiler: RM: The boiler is inefficient and costing the Town a lot of money. It’s running, but it could stop running tomorrow. Bradbury Plumbing and Heating came in and looked at boiler, due to MMA insurance inspector saying a blow-off/drain valve had to be added. Bradbury said it’s an oil boiler not a steam boiler so it doesn’t in fact need to be changed. That being said, it is on its last leg and should be updated. BOS would like to put out a bid for some proposals, allowing them to run the numbers before its too late and boiler is not working. RM will update BOS as progress develops.
B. Crooked River Watershed Grant: RM: At a prior BOS meeting the Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) came and discussed DEP grant; Crooked River is identified as “at risk”. Otisfield and Norway are two of the fully funded towns that were approved. RM has been working with DEP and asked that Road Commissioner Richard Bean join him in the field inspection / site walk, as the sites identified are all on town roads (Jessie Mills, Tamworth, Oak Hill).
The grant was awarded from DEP to CCSWCD and signed. Upon approved completion $13,400.00 will be provided. It’s a 2 year grant. Work will be started after August and what Richard doesn’t get done this year he will finish next year.
C. Municipal Garage update: RM: Working on an action plan for the Town Garage based on the loss control survey that was done April 5th. We have posted the loading information, resolved the labeling on the electrical panel, and the GFI is in process. Update to follow.
D. Transfer Station: Annie Pastore will call and have the Porta Potty at the transfer station repaired and serviced.
E. Office Computers, David Hyer: Planning to purchase (3) new computers, this includes the tower and monitor. We are going to rebuild the CEO’s computer and relocate it to the Town Garage. (2) monitors will be purchased for the front office. BOS agree this has already been discussed and David can move forward.
13. ADJOURNMENT. *Motion to adjourn at 8:33 PM. HF/RM-Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on August 7, 2013
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