Regular Meeting (06-13-2016)
Selectmen Present: Suzan Rudnicki, Earlyn Bowers, John Luce and Jared Fitts
Absent: Douglas Small
Interim Town Manager: Julia Pike
Recording Secretary: Coreen Sylvester
Guests Present: Glennis McSorley, Toby Pelletier, Code Enforcement Officer/Interim Road Commissioner Kevin Howell, Jeffrey Hand, Fire Chief Ryan Simpson, Lt. Darren Corriveau and Mark McKay of Northeast Fire Apparatus
7:30PM: Suzan Rudnicki called the meeting to order.
MINUTES: John Luce made a motion to accept the minutes of May 23, 2016 as written. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Three voted in favor. Suzan Rudnicki abstained as she was not present for that meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
Open Town Garage Bids: Selectmen received the following bids for building the Town's new garage:
Company Bid Amount
Ralph McNaughton Construction $30,950.00
Hands General Contracting $31,000.00
Generation Improvements $29,350.00
Aaron Newcomb Bldg Const Inc $31,500.00
John Luce made a motion to award the bid to Generation Improvements for $29,350.00. Jared Fitts seconded. Four voted in favor.
Fire Chief Ryan Simpson & Mark McKay - Air Packs: Fire Chief Ryan Simpson asked to go into executive session to discuss this matter. As the subject did not fit into an executive session category, the request was denied.
Sue Rudnicki asked how many air packs we are required to have. Ryan stated we have to have 18 at an approximate cost of $7,222.00 each. Sue asked if they all expire at the same time, and Ryan said they do. Ryan said the air packs are on the 15-year mark andformer Fire Chief Joey Pelletier had set up a program for them but it was never followed through for some reason.
John Luce asked if we have any steel packs and Ryan said we do not. Darren Corriveau stated that right now our air packs are four times out of compliance with NFPA new standards. Earlyn Bowers said he would like to see the written regulations for the air packs. Ryan said we can't refurbish the packs because they would still be the same age. Sue asked if the packs would pass or fail right now if the State came in and inspected them. Mark McKay said they would pass right now, and said that Chief Simpson is trying to plan ahead because everything will have to be replaced within just over two years, or we will not be in compliance. John said the Town can vote to use money from the Equipment Fund toward purchasing air packs when the time comes. Ryan said a lease/purchase agreement would cost $26,000.00 down and $13,000.00 per year for ten years. Then there would be a five-year gap again, and hopefully have a plan in place for when they need to be replaced again. There was discussion about whether there might be grant funding available and what is available in the Equipment Fund. Selectmen decided to have the fire department add the air pack down payment into their budget for 2017 for Town Meeting approval. Ryan said he will bring in a printout from NFPA.
Ambulance Receivables: Sue Rudnicki asked Ryan Simpson how we are doing on collecting the money for ambulance billing. Ryan said that as of right now we have $145,000.00 in bad debt owed to us, and said collection agencies would charge three percent to go after it for us. Ryan said that two years ago our auditor took $40,000.00 from our reserve ambulance fund and used it to pay down our bad debt. John Luce said he believes she wrote off bad debt without actually taking any funds away. John said he would like to have th e auditor come in and explain it to us, because generally writing off bad debt is not going to take money out of the bank account.
Ryan said the ambulance is now a business, and it would be worth paying three or four percent to a collection agency to get even part of the money that is owed. John Luce said that when we first agreed to start billing for ambulance calls a few years ago, we agreed not to chase people for money because most of them are still paying taxes and contributing towards ambulance costs. Tabled for future discussion.
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER/ROAD COMMISSIONER REPORT:
- Kevin Howell let the Board know he received the application today from Department of Transportation for the Local Road Assistant Program and has already sent it back to them.
- Kevin said he got the Town added to the D.O.T. bid list for salt today, and to be safe he also got a guaranteed price of $65.00 per ton from New England Salt.
- Kevin let the Board know he has scheduled a pre-bid meeting for the road projects for next Monday with the same four contractors who bid last year.
- Kevin gave Selectmen a proposal from the Planning Board to change the Land Use/Zoning Ordinance to reduce the lot size and frontage in 'looped' subdivisions only, and asked if the Board approved of the proposed changes. No action taken.(proposal attached.)
- Kevin let the Board know Deputy Kari Kurth delivered a letter to Stephen Dunham
letting him know the Town is going to clean up his junkyard.
NEW BUSINESS:
Appoint Election Clerks: John Luce made a motion to appoint the election clerks (see attached list) for the years 2016 through 2018. Jared Fitts seconded. Three voted in favor. Sue Rudnicki abstained.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: Sue Rudnicki made a motion to go into executive session pursuant to 1MRSA § 405(6A) to discuss a personnel matter. John Luce seconded. Four voted in favor. Selectmen went into executive session at 8:55 pm. Selectmen reconvened in regular session at 9:30 pm. No action taken, informational only.
Cemeteries: Julia Pike let the Board know that Tom had previously talked with CAI Technologies about digitizing our cemeteries, which would make our cemetery records accessible online. Julia stated she went up and looked at Highland Cemetery with a man from CAI, and he said he could look at the others on GPS. Julia said he is going to give us a quote and she will look into getting other quotes.
Highland Cemetery Sign: Julia stated she would like to have a sign made up to post at Highland Cemetery that spells out the ordinance rules for flower containers etc at gravesites. John Luce made a motion to allow Julia to buy the sign for approximately $100.00. Jared Fitts seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the full-time fireman’s payroll warrant of May 31, 2016 in the amount of $878.49. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the payroll warrant of May 31, 2016 in the amount of $4,779.56. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the accounts payable warrant of May 31, 2016 in the amount of $21,135.85. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the full-time fireman’s payroll warrant of June 6, 2016 in the amount of $878.49. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the payroll warrant of June 6, 2016 in the amount of $4,273.83. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the accounts payable warrant of June 6, 2016 in the amount of $37,547.28. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the full-time fireman’s payroll warrant of June 13, 2016 in the amount of $878.49. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the payroll warrant of June 13, 2016 in the amount of $4,361.30. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
WARRANT: John Luce made a motion to accept the accounts payable warrant of June 13, 2016 in the amount of $125,453.51. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor.
OTHER BUSINESS - Policy & Procedure Manual: Earlyn Bowers gave the rest of the Board updated copies of the proposed policy & procedure manual he has been working on and asked that they look it over and make suggestions on it.
ADJOURNMENT: Suzan Rudnicki made a motion to adjourn. Earlyn Bowers seconded. Four voted in favor. Meeting adjourned at 9:50 pm.