Town of Otisfield
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
November 5, 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 October 15, 2014. *Motion to accept minutes. LA/RM -Unanimous.
Prior minutes that sandy took?
4. SPECIAL EVENTS
A. Cobb Hill Road: Ross Cutlitz P.E., County Engineer for Oxford County Soil Water Conservation District gave an update on Cobb Hill Road. A map and legend of his work is added to file. We are in the study phase. Property lines, USGS, the roads and Thompson Lake Watershed were examined. Started at station 00. Located at the 2nd stream in from main drag. A few site visits were made. Scott McLearon , Site Planner from Harrison assisted with site visits and markings. Points of reference were located. Scott drove a stake in at station 00 and every 100’ thereafter. An inventory of the road was entered into examining data. Ross examined office work sketches and site visit sketches and they matched up with running water appearing to be at all culverts. Final analysis: Over burdened culverts need to be
addressed, adding extensions to existing culverts needs to be done and steep drop off needs to be examined as the water enters onto private properties. The map submitted shows the watershed from Scribner Hill Road and Ivory Hill. No assumptions about size of culverts and # of culverts are being made as of yet. The field work provided is only to say we have identified this much of the issue. RM suggested utilizing OCSWCD Program Manager Michelle Windsor in assisting with the private land owners cooperation and requested Ross come back to an upcoming BOS meeting with recommendations. All agreed. Ross will have something to BOS in the next few months so that it can be looked at prior to spring. *Tabled until an upcoming mtg.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Robinson Dam Committee: Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 10th @ 6:00 PM. TT will attend as requested, to act as Secretary.
B. Planning Board: TT: Community of the Resurrection came before PB. They are a non-profit status. There is a $250.00 building application fee. Does BOS want to waive this fee? *Motion to waive the building permit fee. LA/RM – Unanimous.
C. Ordinance Policy Review Committee: Stan Brett’s term expired 06/2014. *Motion to renew his term for a (5) year period ending 06/2019. HF/LA – Unanimous. TT will update web site.
D. Road Study Review Committee: David Hyer: Was wondering if there was a way to notify the public more in depth about the upcoming RSRC mtgs. Does web provider, Virtual Town Hall, have a list of all emails we have in town. RM: Possibly a link on home page can be added for those who wish to sign up for any activity. If they subscribe, they will be added and can opt out at any time. MIM: RSRC meeting was posted on website, bulletin board and newspapers. MIM will talk to web site provider about access to links.
E. Job Description Review Committee: (Employee Hand Book) Callie emailed HF and the Job Description Review Committee is willing to now take on the Handbook updating and can get started in January. BOS will meet with them Wednesday, November 12th if all agree. HF will ask if all job descriptions on web have been updated.
6. DEPARTMENT HEADS:
A. None.
7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC.
A. None.
8. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ITEMS
A. Heniger Park Lot #2 reassignment- MIM: Removing interest from one sister and adding husband & daughter. *Motion to sign the reassignment of lot # 2. LA/HF – Unanimous.
B. Central Maine Power: MIM, CMP is requesting a signature for a pole permit. *Motion to sign the pole permit. LA/HF – Unanimous.
C. Fire Dept; MIM: Received an invoice from Yankee Fire and Rescue: Will be taken from FD budget; (2) Repair orders will be paid, and on next warrant.
D. Plowing and Shoveling Contracts for 2014-2015: MIM: All the Independent contractors have been in and the (2) that had the predetermination go through February of this year will send out another certificate to make it continuous from February of 2015. Independent contractor paperwork will be sent in separately as well.
E. Maine Municipal Association: MIM: Increase coming next year. MIM took a class on E911.
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 # 8 to pay the town bills. LA/HF - Unanimous.
B. Performance Appraisals: Reviewed with BOS in executive session. *Motion to have performance appraisal for CEO, Tuesday, November 25th @ 6:00 PM. and Administrative Assistant, Tuesday, November 25th @ 6:15 PM. HF/LA – Unanimous.
12. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
A. Pleasant Lake Dam update.RM: Has received the results of PLD survey. (Submitted into public record). Pleasant Lake Parker Pond Association (PLPPA) paid to have the survey done and as agreed at a prior meeting Otisfield will pay their share once the Town approves it at Town Meeting. July 1, 2015. The Town of Casco will pay $2,000.00 which was there portion. Map will stay with BOS in case there is a meeting. RM: Being half owner, Otisfield is financially responsible for half of the dam studies and associated repair costs. DEP came to the site. Otisfield and Casco have a mandatory statute water level agreement and are both obligated to maintain the level within 1 foot. The committee would like a mailing list of all Otisfield residents along Pleasant Lake. All abutters around the lake will be notified to let them
know what is going on with the dam, state inspections, site condition survey, etc. They would also like a web site notification link that RM and TT can work on. Casco is asking for Otisfield to come up with an additional $3,000 or $4,000 to move on with the next process, which would include an engineering study. A special Town Meeting may be needed to raise money for this. Discussion: RM believes its perfectly acceptable to use the Timber Account since it was created by using trees on town property and will be used for town property. LA disagrees. LA believes the BOS have no right to spend money without the voter’s approval. HF says he could be convinced either way. All agree to follow the advice of town auditor. MIM will talk to auditor and report back to BOS.
B. Town Garage: LA: The thermostat in the office is not reading properly and there is no heat there or in the shop. The break room is working properly. All agree this is a Charlie Bradbury issue. LA will call in the morning.
C. Fire Dept. Tank Truck: Lights have had issues on the back of the tank truck. LA will take to Ripley and Fletcher to have repairs done to correct this. HF: Do we have any money in the tanker funds? If there is money in that we can use it towards repairs. MIM will look into this account to give HF a balance.
D. Heniger Park Lease verbiage: HF: New Lease will have a commencement date of July 1, 2015. After last meeting, comments have been incorporated. 48 hour notice to go on property is considered a good idea and suggested it be left in the lease.
E. Virginia Arsenault: HF: October 15, 2014 BOS Meeting Virginia submitted some information on road abandonment and discontinuance into public record. HF read the documents and doesn’t feel as though it applies; it was handed back to MIM tonight to keep in records.
F. Two Ponds Trail: HF: A large laminated map for Kiosk will be purchased and placed at this location in the next 10 -12 days.
G. 3R’S – Ruth’s Reusable Resources: Membership is $500/year. Last year we had allocated $500 from town office supplies/admin to purchase a membership. All agree to discontinue the membership as it’s not cost effective at this point. MIM will cancel it.
H. Community Hall: HF and LA met with one of the propane tank guys and it will be installed next Tuesday. Richard Bean, Road Commissioner will do site work needed on Saturday afternoon.
I. Community Hall: HF: The Community Lunch group is having a Turkey Dinner on November 19th. The Community Center will be closed a day or two after this. Libby Hooker is requesting to have a benefit at this location December 6th. LA: We set a date and I think we should stick to it. The weekend after Saturday, November 22nd is an option.
J. Community Hall: Vicki Rogers says the light over the sink is ineffective and is asking the BOS if they can make it brighter. RM agrees and will have it changed asap.
13. ADJOURNMENT. *Motion to adjourn at 9:45 PM. HF/RM-Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Taft, Secretary
Approved by:
Hal Ferguson, Chairman
Rick Micklon
Lenny Adler
Approved on November 19, 2014
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