Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
June 4, 2014
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 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 May 21, 2014. *Motion to accept minutes. RM/LA-Unanimous.
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. Public Complaint Update from last BOS mtg: HF: Kristen Roy is not in attendance, but for follow up, I met with Kristen last Friday at 9am as discussed at last mtg. The security tape was set up for her to review in CEO office so that Kristen would have privacy. When Kristen arrived she opted not to review the tape and wanted to see if she could have her last submittal at BOS mtg replace the one she had sent prior to that. HF explained to her that we cannot allow 2nd letter to replace 1st letter, because once something becomes public record there is no undoing that. It is part of Freedom of Access. Kristen provided four letters, one for Sandy and one for each BOS. They have also been added to public record.
B. Twin Bridges Petition; Twin Bridges has a total of 252 acres. The BOS are in support of this endeavor, but at a 03/19th BOS meeting LA explained “This is mandated by the State and voters cannot forgive taxes but can vote to raise the money by a town warrant article and use those funds to pay the taxes on that property” the board explained a petition will need to be done to place it on the warrant. 120 signatures are needed and the wording for the warrant is needed by June 1st. At this time only 54 signatures have been collected. Lee Dassler (not in attendance) would like to know if this can be done electronically. BOS all agree it would be impossible to verify signatures. HF: State mandate suggests we need at least 10% of last town voting attendance in signatures and the BOS cannot
waive the State’s requirement. Discussion: MIM will contact Lee and let her know BOS have extended the deadline to June 16th in the A.M.. LA: It’s too bad she didn’t go to the luncheons, suppers and board/committee mtgs in town for support, as she could have easily reached her goal. HF would like MIM to suggest she go to the transfer station on a Sunday morning because it’s a very busy location.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Road Study Review Committee: Quen Henderson submitted warrant verbiage into public record. “To see if the town will vote; non-binding straw poll, to support an effort to make major improvements to the Town’s roads. If approved, a recommendation will be provided at the 2015 town meeting”. BOS agree this will be submitted.
B. Robinson Dam Committee: HF: There was a meeting in Oxford on May 28th. Otisfield representative Hal Ferguson attended. They are looking for a secretary for several months and HF asked if TT would like to take minutes for them. Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 25th. TT will attend.
C. Job Description Review Committee: Finalized Board of Selectmen job description. (See 11 B, below) BOS approved and HF will send off to TT to put on letter head and post on the town website.
D. Finance Committee: HF: The average pay raise recommended for town employees this upcoming fiscal year is 4%. There was a motion made that the BOS get an additional $500.00 year added to their stipend. HF abstained from the vote, but it was otherwise unanimous. MIM: Will change the article. RM: BOS will abstain from the vote supporting this so that the public sees this was a Finance Committee decision not a BOS one. We need to be careful not to take it personally if the towns people say no, because some people don’t realize the time and energy we put in. Quenton Henderson: The finance committee also recommended not to have a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) line item.
E. Otisfield Scholarship Committee: Chairman-Lorette Ayotte, (17) 2014 Scholarship recipients: (12) already attending college and (5) entering college. Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) was available for scholarships and seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) was awarded as follows:
1) Emily Libby, $750.00 - University of Southern Maine.
2) John Gustaitis III, $500.00 - New England College of Communications.
3) Nicholas Attaliades-Ryan, $500.00 - University of Maine at Farmington.
4) Jared Jacobs $1,550.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
5) Randy Bosquet $500.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
6) Matthew Kelly $250.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
7) Abigail Egan $250.00 - University of New Hampshire.
8) Heidi Hayden, $250.00 - Maine College of Art.
9) Kyle Rainey, $200.00 - Colby College.
10) Jacob Sutcliffe $500.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
11) Jacob Kelly, $200.00 - Holy Cross College.
12) Heather Hayden, $200.00 - College of the Atlantic.
13) Matthew McVety, $200.00 - Wheaton College
14) Jordan Millett, $1,000.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
15) Zebb Duffany, $200.00 - Assumption College.
16) Nicole Donnellan, $250.00 - University of Maine at Orono.
17) Jillian Jacobs, $200.00 - Colby -Sawyer College.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. Town Sexton: Dan Peaco: South Otisfield Cemetery: Someone was doing donuts in the cemetery. Posts beside the stone work and the two entrances should be put up and possibly a fence for after hours. HF: For background, because a tree fell and hit a grave stone and we own the property we have asked that the Sexton take dead trees down. Left hand side of cemetery is private property but the Town has received written permission to remove these trees as well. RM: I would rather see a natural setting, as in shrubs, or a living hedge, but plans to get a quote for a wooden fence (like cedar) that fits the environment so the town has options. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting when prices have been looked in to.
B. Web Master – HF: Asked TT to update FD website; 1st Monday changed from training to truck checks, and in meetings calendar, change school budget time from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC.
A. Quen Henderson: Having a difficult hearing all that is said during the meetings and is asking that the BOS look into bringing a microphone down stairs to help him with this. He has moved to the front of the room, but it is still difficult to hear all that is said. HF: we will look into bringing the PA system down stairs and see if our IT support person, David Hyer can address this.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS
A. Oxford Hills Technical School letter from Director, Shawn Lambert looking to see if Otisfield would be interested in purchasing declared surplus items that are no longer productive to them. Submitted into public record.
B. Governor LePage is encouraging greater awareness of elder abuse. To draw attention to what is sometimes referred to as the “crime of the 21st century” because of its increasing prevalence and devastating effects, the governor issued a proclamation designating June 15 as Maine Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The proclamation urges the state’s residents to join this effort by reporting suspected abuse of Maine’s seniors. MIM is going to contact the State about some possible abuse that may be going on in our town.
C. Generator Grant: RM is that the same grant that Frank Blauvelt had discussed with us for the Emergency Plan Review Asking Oxford County about a new grant on generators back in May 2013? MIM: No, this grant was for the sign, the generator and the tank, the exhaust fan was not included. HF: suggests we look into this. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting.
D. Rental of Community Hall: HF: How have we progressed with this? MIM office has been busy collecting taxes and no information has been received as of yet. *Tabled until an upcoming meeting when MIM can provide other hall prices.
E. Town Office Closed: All agree that there will be no BOS meeting on July 2nd due to the holiday. This will be posted on website.
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 #22 to pay the town bills. LA/HF - Unanimous.
B. BOS Job Description: the word “association” was added to Maine Municipal . LA: Under Requirements of Work, would like to note, you can’t require an elected official to do anything. Suggests that if this gets work-shopped again, instead of saying requirement, perhaps it could say “BOS should be required to”. This is a WIP, but all agree. *Motion to approve the recommendation for Board of Selectmen job description with the word association added as presented by the Job Description Review Committee. RM/LA – Unanimous. *TT will update web site.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
A. Fairpoint Communications: RM: I received a phone call from Fairpoint’s Legislative Division. They are going to be submitting a $50,000.00 grant application to approve services in Otisfield. The town’s support is needed to move forward with this. The more support provided the better chance of getting the grant. Other towns compete for this grant. Usually towns with no coverage have a better chance, compared to those with some coverage. However, they have received many complaints from Otisfield residents and there is a good chance this may happen. RM will continue to look into this.
B. Community Hall: HF: The letters need to be taken down and filed after each use. It will save a lot of time and energy for the next person who would like to post something. MIM will contact Community Lunch group to discuss letters being put away properly.
C. Del Maxfield, Maine Survey Consultants, Inc. in Harrison Maine: RM: Del sent a survey proposal for Abbey Road and he wanted to know why BOS had not responded to it. RM told him we did not see it and it was sent again. HF: Does not think that parcel of land needs to be addressed at this time. Perhaps somewhere down the road, but not on our current radar. RM will contact Del to let him know board has no desire to move forward on this survey at this time.
D. HPRC: HF was contacted by Peter Barber, Pleasant Lake Parker Pond Association: The association is concerned about the 99 year lease as well as environmental issues. Would like to suggest adding the verbiage, it can be inspected at will. He feels the leach field should be looked at periodically to make sure it is being maintained properly. RM: suggests we run it by Town Attorney, Geoffrey Hole to see if access with permission is allowed or should it be added to the lease. LA: 99 years is a long time and they could turn into rental properties. We should put some sort of stipulation in about renting for a period of x days or longer. LA and HF both think the time frame of 99 years may be discussed, as they are being approached from people about that time frame being to lengthy. RM: I feel like we need to be careful
because it was discussed in our HPRC meetings and thinks that we should be careful if discussing something different now. HF: We are not planning to change what the committee recommended or what the “straw vote” will be on at the town meeting.
E. Time Warner Cable: HF: It should be clear that Dean Raymond is a Representative from our Town working to bring Time Warner Cable to Otisfield, but that HF will still remain a member of the group representing Lake Region towns in this effort and if any meetings are set up, HF will be the person notified and attending. All agree.
F. BOS Budget Workshop – June 12th to begin at 7:00PM
13. ADJOURNMENT. *Motion to adjourn at 8:35 PM. HF/LA-Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on June 18, 2014
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