Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
February 19, 2014
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. ACTION ON MINUTES:
A. Meeting minutes from February 5, 2014. *Motion to accept minutes with edits. HF/RM – Unanimous. Sandy will send them to TT to post on website.
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. None.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Conservation Committee: Bob Blake provided an update on the signs for 2 Ponds Trails. Color copies of proposed signs submitted into public record. Terry Swett Signs out of South Paris Quote came in at $736.00. Muddy River Signs of Bridgton came in @ $325.00 for same products. *Motion to go with Muddy River Signs out of Bridgton. Bob would like to put signs up as soon as weather permits. The paint is ready to be ordered to blaze the trees. A 6x6 post needs to be ordered. Voss Signs invoice is $31.60 for (4) 12 x 12 aluminum reflective signs @ $7.90/each. *Board thanked Bob for all of his work on this project.
B. Conservation Committee: Jeff Stern and Kristen Roy would like Pixie Williams to be reappointed to the Conservation Committee. BOS: It’s not a written policy, but in the past if someone has resigned or leaves a committee, they do not come back on. This allows other people a chance to get on the board. BOS all agree, that precedent has been set to not allow this, but does not discourage anyone from attending the meetings. HF: The Town of Otisfield Board/Committee Policies are on the Agenda to be discussed and the Board intends to review extenuating circumstances. (See 11 B below)
C. Ordinance Policy Review Committee: Kristen Roy: I put in an application for OPRC and BOS added Diana Olsen without ever bringing it before a BOS meeting. HF: The board was full at the time that we received your application. The composition on the board calls for a maximum of seven members with two of that number being from the Planning Board. The only exception at that time was for a second Planning Board Member and Karen Turino took that position. Kristen Roy: She was never voted in and placed on the committee without an application. RM: I do not think that’s accurate and asked TT to confirm. TT found in the minutes dated 10/03/2012 that she was in fact voted in by the board at a public BOS meeting. Kristen apologized for inaccurate information.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. Phone in Annex: David Hyer: Phone has been installed in the annex meeting room. Instructions have been emailed and David is willing to help anyone who needs it. Restrictions have been added to phone in meeting room, so no long distance or over sea phone calls can be made. RM requested that Sharon change the external greeting message to add Planning Board extension under CEO extension.
B. Great Falls security: LA will request Todd Olfene to provide signs or stickers stating Security Cameras in Use and David Hyer asked Todd about replacing Camera Seal to the Town Garage Camera and it will be done prior to next meeting.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC.
A. Kristen Roy: Thanked the Town for reimbursing her for unspent BOA funds.
B. Vicki Rogers – Cobb Hill Road: Can town individuals provide information for this project? On the Storm water modeling, Martins Way and Franks Lane are not mentioned. RM: Those were roads Ross Cudlitz P.E., of Engineering Assistance & Design, Inc had mentioned as examples. No studies can be done on private property with Town money. Vicky: Ivory Hill Road was not mentioned and it all seems to be centered on Cobb Hill Road, but the roads below it need to be addressed. Will Ivory Hill Road be addressed? RM: This was based on the water shed, so it will be considered. RM: Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District is on the Agenda to be discussed and the Board intends to review. (See 12 A below)
C. Jeff Stern: Would like to know why he was on Tonight’s Agenda: RM: I had just talked to you about this before the meeting, but will reiterate. The office phone line/ internet was knocked off line with the recent storm. We had a glitch in the system when putting up the Agenda. TT had used a template from a prior meeting and your name was left on erroneously. It was a mistake that was corrected within minutes of sending out Agenda.
8.ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS (MIM not in Attendance)
A. Town Fees: BOA fee went from $200 to a $250 flat fee, The RBB fee was removed and the Sign fee was eliminated.
B. Town Article Verbiage: HF updated, provided and submitted into public record:
VII. APPEAL PROCEDURE: The amount of the fee to accompany applications for appeals shall be reviewed and set by the Selectmen annually. This fee identified in the Town of Otisfield Fee Schedule, is a firm fee and is non-refundable. A check in this amount is to be made out to the Town of Otisfield. This will be a portion of a town meeting article for proposed Ordnance Changes. *Question from Kristen Roy: Was told the $200 was to discourage people from appealing: RM: We try to make sure that everyone understands the (4) criteria for the BOA is hard to meet. The dollar amount could be less and we would still want the applicant to know meeting all (4) criteria is almost impossible.
9. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA
A. None.
10. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A.
11. SELECTMEN’S ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED & VOTED ON
A. Town Warrant: *Motion to sign Warrant #15 to pay the town bills. LA/HF - Unanimous.
B. Town of Otisfield Board/Committee Policies: BOS wanted to revisit and update. HF provided a draft with some changes that he would like to see added. (Submitted into Public Record) BOS will review and provide final version at next mtg. HF: Policies have been set by BOS for years priors to current board. In the template provided HF tried to document what the Town has actually been doing and added what he felt they could be doing. Discussion: Extenuating Circumstances: LA would like it to remain as is. If you resign from a board, you should not go back on that Board. RM and HF understand that there are extenuating circumstances and will give this some thought. RM: Kristen & Jeff would like to see Pixie back on the OCC, and say that she had extenuating circumstances that forced her to resign. I have no problem
with her being on this Board. *Motion to reappoint Pixie Williams to the Conservation Committee. RM/ - Not seconded therefore Motion failed. Discussion: HF would like to see the policy updated before going against what we currently have as a policy. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting when the policy will again be discussed and finalized.
C. Great Falls security: Todd Olfene outfitted FD w/ security cameras. *Motion to pay $3,765.00 for outfitting the Fire Station w/ cameras. LA/HF – Unanimous.
D. Snow Blower: Originally purchased by the FD and recently sold to Garry Dyer *Motion to put the money made from selling the snow blower back in the Fire Department budget. LA/HF – Unanimous.
E. Oil prices: LA: We should see about getting fuel oil bids from others in addition to SAD17.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
A. Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District – RM: A scaled down version of the proposal has been submitted into public record. Comments from the public can be passed along to Ross, but all agree he should discuss w/ Jeff Stern and Richard Bean primarily. Too much time and money can be spent answering questions from all concerned citizens. Designating spokespeople will limit exposure to input. The District’s Engineer will as requested by the BOS provide engineering services in connection w/ the review, evaluation, modeling and design of the Cobb Hill Road Project. Services include office review time, field review, site walks, attendance, public or project related meetings and consultations w/ the Town as the District deems necessary. The estimated cost for both phases is $5,795.00 (OCSWCD rate
is $95/hour) Jeff Stern suggested Ben Pratt be considered when doing the informational gathering. RM: You can speak w/ Ben and bring the information gathered to Ross as spokesperson. HF: we are going to try and do this before Town Meeting, which may only allow Ross 3 weeks in May to work on this. LA: If Richard Bean is agreeable we have the Road Construction Repair Account that could be used for this. All agree. *Motion that based on Richard Beans approval we take the $5,795.00 out of Road Construction Reserve to pay for the 1st and 2nd phase for Cobb Hill Road. LA/RM – Unannimous. Discussion: Follow up on funding will be discussed by the Finance Committee with Richard Bean and will be presented in an article at the Town Meeting.
B. Winter Carnival: HF: There was a great turnout. HF thanked all involved.
C. Community Hall Oil Fills: We need to discuss auto fill with CN Brown for the Community Hall and Fire Dept. All agree filling every (2) weeks would be adequate.
13. ADJOURNMENT. *Motion to adjourn at 8:45 PM. HF/RM-Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on March 5, 2014
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