DRAFT—MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVED BY TOWN COUNCIL--DRAFT
MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STANDISH, MAINE
TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005 - MUNICIPAL CENTER 7:00 PM
CALL TO ORDER
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Boy Scout Troup 875.
ROLL CALL
Councilors present: Christy, Hopkins, Lymburner, Nesbitt, Pomerleau, Simpson and Spencer.
At this time Councilor Lymburner explained that two member of the Public Health and Safety Committee were here tonight, Chair Frank Holcomb and Capitan Brent Libby the advisor from the Fire/EMS Department. She explained that they were here this evening to present a defibrillator to the SAD #6. Councilor Lymburner introduced Mrs. Vadnais the Budget Manager and Mrs. Lucas the Superintendent from SAD#6. Frank Holcomb presented the defibrillator to the SAD #6 representatives. He noted that SAD 6 is one of the first schools to have this state-of-the-art instrument. He explained that this was paid for by a grant and no town funds were used in this purchase.
On behalf of the SAD # 6 Mrs. Lucas thanked the Committee and the Town Council for this gift.
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING (S)
The minutes from the April 12, 2005 meeting were accepted as presented by unanimous consent.
PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
There were no petitions or communications.
REPORT OF THE TOWN MANAGER
Managers update included the following
The Town is under going an update of the Comprehensive Plan. They are waiting to have recently mailed surveys returned. Copies of the survey are available at the town hall and on the town’s web site. The survey information will be the Committee’s vision to what direction the town’s people want the town to move in. The Town recently received a $10,000 grant for the Comprehensive Plan process. It ways said that the application was one of the best received.
The tax due date is May 15 since that falls on the weekend interest will begin on Tuesday.
The Public Works Director went to a recycling conference this week. It was announced that Regional Waste will be going to a two stream recycling in the near future.
Recreation Committee will hold a Family Fun Run on June 4.
In last years budget a replacement fire engine was approved for Steep Falls. The previous engine was to be replaced this year, but didn’t make it, it was retired early and a temporary replacement vehicle was obtained.
Fire Chief Jordan thanked the Council for the ability tonight to recognize the individuals that did the work on the truck who saved the town a lot of money. He said that Kevin Warren and his team did work on this vehicle that saved the town a lot of money. He said that these guys did an amazing amount of work. He said that was a pleasure for him to introduce Kevin Warren who would explain the rebuild of the truck.
Kevin Warren explained that it was a team effort and he was lucky to be able to work on the project. He said that there were some issues with the truck. He went on to explain that the Town took delivery of the original truck in 1981 and came out of service in October 2004. He said that it did a fine job for the Town, but the time came to replace it due to various problems. He went on to say that they found a 1986 Kenworth that the Committee looked at as a way to get us through until the new truck was ready. He explained that due to other trucks being down they really needed to have a truck in service. He said that there had been some comments about the replacement truck and he would like to address those. He said that the truck is not perfect, if this truck was perfect we would be buying $2,000 trucks instead of $370,000
trucks. He said that we are a big supporter of this truck and it will work out well for us. He said that two trips were made to Massachusetts to look at the truck. He said that it was test driven and inspected. He said that if he was asking you to buy this truck new he probably wouldn’t support it because of the way that the body is built. But, to get six to eight years out of it will be great. He said for a low cost it is a great truck. The cylinder heads were pulled and a water pump was installed. The former fire department that owned this vehicle were of great help in disclosing various issues regarding the truck. He said that the truck cost $1,450, Engine 3 was sold for $1,500, and the tires on Engine 3 were put on the replacement truck which was a saving only costing the fee for swapping them over. Emergency lighting was taken from Engine 3 and used on the replacement truck. One member did the lettering at a cost of about $250. About
$700 was spent in engine parts. He said that he and another fellow pump tested it and it pumped about 963 gallons a minute on draft. He noted that pump wasn’t perfect, but it will do a fine job for the Town. He said that he would like to say that he would like to see this truck kept as a reserve truck when the new truck is in service. If something major needs to be repaired on this truck it will have to be looked into whether is worth the repair but as a reserve for it is fine for now. He said that he hoped that they will consider keeping this as a reserve truck as long as it is mechanically able. He said that the thoughts in the Department over the past ten years is as we retire a truck rather than to keep it as a spare.
Chair Christy said that the Council appreciates the innovative approach that the Department has taken on this project. He also said that they will consider his recommendations.
Councilor Pomerleau said that the Capital Improvements Committee agreed that this was a good move. He said that through the process they have ended up spending approximate $2,700 on the truck, we got $1,500 for the sale of the old truck which we took parts and tires from it. So, we have roughly $1,200 into this truck. He said that he called White and Bradstreet to get a value of the truck and they said sight unseen it had a value of approximately $2,000. He went on to explain that Kevin was presented with an award at the Annual Banquet for the amount of work that he put into this truck.
Kevin Warren said that it was a team effort.
Councilor Lymburner said that she would like to thank Kevin and the team for their work; she said that for years they have gone above the call of duty. She said that folks in Steep Falls were concern when we were down a truck. She said that she thought it was important to keep a reserve truck in the fleet.
Gordon Billington read a letter from Carol Bragdon of White’s Bridge Road expressing her thanks and appreciation to the Fire Department who responded to her home regarding a carbon monoxide detector that was going off. She said that both her and her husband found that the personnel were prompt and professional, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. They were very impressed by them and gave tips on carbon monoxide prevention. She said that they are new residents in the Town of Standish and think that it’s second to none. He said that the letter will be passed on to Chief Jordan for proper recognition.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
After a Public Hearing without Council or Public discussion the above noted application was approved and the hearing was closed.
VOTE: 7 Yeas – Nays
June 14, 2005 Municipal Referendum Question Informational Public Hearing
The Clerk read the referendum questions to the audience.
Chair Christy asked Town Manager Gordon Billington what was the amount of the bond outstanding.
Mr. Billington said that it is $2,188,435 which is far less than is allow by law.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Councilor Simpson said that the Finance Committee met this week, he said that financially we are in good shape. He went on to say that there are four departments that may be overdrawn. This is primarily due to fuels, lubricants and snow plowing which are over drawn approximately by $72,000.
Councilor Lymburner said that the Public Health and Safety Committee will help in the bike rodeo held by the Kiwanis Club. There is a bike check, the opportunity to purchase helmets, and safety recommendations are offered. The Safety Committee will be sponsoring a peewee rodeo in order to get children at a younger age to begin to get into the habit of wearing a helmet and to teach basic bike safely tips. The rodeo begins at 9:00 am this Saturday at the Bonny Eagle High School with a rain date of the following Saturday.
Councilor Spencer explained that the Ordinance Committee is working on a few things; some item have been table back to Committee. He noted that at the April Council Workshop some of these items were discussed. A Committee Meeting will be held next week.
Chair Christy expressed his thanks to the Budget Committee for a through job. He said that it has been a number of years since he has seen the amount of cooperation throughout the process. He thanked Louis Stack the Chair of the Budget Committee and asked that Lou pass on the thanks to the other Committee members.
Councilor Pomerleau explained that the Capital Improvements Committee met to discuss paving bids and an order is on the agenda tonight regarding that issue. They also discussed sending out bids on road projects.
Councilor Nesbitt said that the Economic Development Committee is working on the need to change the focus, at least by definition, by changing the name of the committee to include community development. He said that part of the questionnaire on the Comprehensive Plan Committee indicates that there are a lot of items in community and economic development that are tied together. They will also are trying to outreach to small businesses in the community to see the points of mutual interest.
Chair Christy said that many households received the survey and encouraged them to completing the survey and return it the Town Offices.
Councilor Nesbitt noted that there is a resignation on the Appeals Board as of June 30. Other committees also have openings for additional information people can call Mary Chapman.
Councilor Hopkins noted that the Senior Housing Committee met this past month with DHS and Westbrook Housing Authority both groups provided the committee with a lot of valuable information. She encouraged interested parties to come to a meeting. The Housing Committee also met with the Chair of the Comprehensive Plan Committee to see how the Committee’s can work together using the survey results. She said that the Committee will meet with the seniors group to gather more information.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Clerk read the orders by title only and one vote was taken for the items collectively as follows:
7 Yeas – 0 Nays
Councilor Nesbitt announced that Donal Drew was the appointee to the Assessment Review Board.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Simpson to remove this item from the table. (Unanimous)
Councilor Spencer explained that this has been discussed in Committee regarding protecting the range roads from future use. This ordinance was introduced then sent to committee for language changes and now it is ready to be brought forward.
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Spencer to dispense with the Clerk’s reading of the ordinance. (Unanimous)
Moved Seconded and Voted to move this to Public Hearing at the June Meeting of the Council: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Nesbitt to dispense with the Clerk’s reading of the ordinance. (Unanimous)
Councilor Spencer said that this was discussed during the last workshop, however, he was not at that workshop. He asked the Town Manager if this should come off the table.
Town Manager, Gordon Billington said that it should come off the table and be discussed at the Council workshop.
Moved Seconded and Voted to move this to Public Hearing at the June Meeting of the Council: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
NEW BUSINESS
Councilor Simpson explained that there was a Special Meeting of the Finance Committee to review the Budget Committees recommendations. They reviewed the recommendations line-by-line. Finance Committee members, Councilor Christy and Councilor Lymburner were at the meeting. These two items were a good catch by the Budget Committee the field maintenance was tied in with municipal maintenance. A new chair was purchased this year for dispatch which they wanted reimbursed out of next years budget. But, it should be paid this year.
Chair Christy said that there were many good recommendations.
Councilor Simpson said that several recommendations that were in principle not in money.
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Pomerleau to take an additional $100,000 to be taken from undesignated fund balance for reducing the tax rate.
Councilor Lymburner explained that was also one of the Budget Committees recommendations but it was her opinion that the Budget Committee identified several areas where funds could be carried forward, but that’s not allowed except for capital expenditures. She noted that the recommended both carry forwards and an additional $100,000 be used. She said that with all the places that there may be unexpended funds that we can easily take $100,000 in undesignated surplus.
Councilor Pomerleau said that he agreed with Dolly. He said that it was his opinion that the Budget Committee did a good job. He said that they were careful in their deliberations and we can take $100,000 from the fund balance.
Councilor Simpson said that he would say this again, the audited year end amount is the amount that you make your determination from. The recommendation of $300,000 that we put in will leave us with $2.5 million that is in the policy that was recently passed. He said that in the Finance Committee meeting they were trying to determine what amount will be in the undesignated fund but we won’t know until the end of July. He said that is why we are using what we knew we had in there last year.
The Clerk read the motion.
Councilor Pomerleau asked how would that drop the mil rate.
Mr. Billington said that it would bring it below $10/1,000.
Councilor Simpson said that we are talking about the budget that will go to the voters, last years rate was $10.75 to this year’s rate of $10.06 so that is a significant drop. He said that if you take an additional $100,000 it will drop it more, but he said that it is unwise to do that.
Councilor Hopkins questioned the School number on our budget.
Mr. Billington said that it will drop it to $9.99 so you will be below $10/1,000 with what the school presented tonight.
Councilor Hopkins asked a point of order regarding changing the amount that was recommended by the Budget Committee. Would it be appropriate in light of what we heard from the school to amend that amount to $50,000 due to the savings from the school?
Councilor Pomerleau said that since we’re saving $50,000 from the school so now we are only asking for $50,000?
Councilor Lymburner said that Councilor Hopkins question was a procedural one and had we accepted the Budget Committees recommendation then we could not change the recommendation. She said that since the Council had not accepted the recommendation in entirety it could be amended.
Mr. Billington agreed with that comment.
Councilor Lymburner said that she would change her motion as follows:
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Pomerleau to change amend to the following:
Further Ordered that $50,000 be taken from undesignated fund balance to lower the tax rate. (5 Yeas – 2 Nays, Simpson and Spencer)
VOTE ON ORDER AS AMENDED: 5 Yeas – 2 Nays, Simpson and Spencer
Councilor Lymburner said that she was pleased with the new information that the school representatives brought forward tonight. But, it was not what she expected; she noted that when LD1 passed she expected a decrease in the taxes. She said that SAD# 6 received approximately $3 million from state funding. She said that even with that state increase they have elected to go up another $135,000 in local shares. She noted that the other towns are getting a decrease and we all should. She said that maybe they will be happy with a little decrease but they should get a larger decrease.
Councilor Hopkins said that when she came here tonight she was not going to vote for this item. She said that after listening to the school representative presentation tonight she said that they don’t get it. They say that it “is out of their control.” She said that it was her opinion that they do have control of the bottom line of the budget. She said that they said that they are responsible for education; she said that we are responsible for policy and services to the town. She noted fiscally responsible and she said that she held them fiscally responsible. She noted that the Council had been very creative through Capital, Fire and EMS to be fiscally responsible and save dollars. She said that when the Superintendent said that she was sure that through new housing you can make up
the difference. She said that is what made up her mind to vote in support of this. She said that every year it is left up to the municipal budget to make up the ‘difference’ of the school budget. She said that we have done that enough and she didn’t want to do it any more. She said that we have a lean and mean budget thanks to creativity to many people and the Budget Committee. She said that we can’t take any more and it won’t get better next year.
VOTE: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
Chair Christy read the letter from Mr. Lunt to the audience.
Louis Stack asked if you do away with the MOU are intent with not pursuing a beach with Portland Water District.
Chair Christy said that the order spells it out pretty clearly.
Louis Stack reiterated there won’t be a public beach pursued by the Council.
Chair Christy said that from what he reads in the order that is the intent of the order.
Louis Stack said that per their charter anyone can use their land outside the two mile limit.
Chair Christy said that is how he interprets their charter.
Louis Stack said that he understood that they are putting fences up along their property. What is going to done to pursue our rights to use their property.
Chair Christy said that has not been discussed.
Councilor Simpson said that he recently attended a meeting regarding use of their property. He said that he asked why they weren’t fencing in the Sheesley-
Abbott lot and they said that it was because it was outside the two mile limit. He said that they have hired an enforcer who he met. The man is a twenty-one year retiree of the Sanford Police Department. Councilor Simpson asked if he would be deputized and was told that they were working on that, but having trouble with that. He said that there were two points on the MOU that they were adamant about. First, wanting us to support them putting up the fence. They wanted the Council to educate the people in Standish that they are not to use our land. Secondly, was the point that they had in the MOU that they could closed the beach without cause at any time. Councilor Simpson noted that the letter only went to Steering Committee Members. He said that the letter was very explicit that they
would not negotiate any further on those points.
Councilor Hopkins said that the Town was asked to come up with a memorandum which the town did. They (PWD) came back with the termination clause and saying Standish would work with them to keep people off their property. She said that the Council was told that those points were non-negotiable. She said that was the meeting that we were trying to set up. She said that the key point in all of this is we would like to see a public beach for the Town of Standish. She said that there was talk of putting this out to the public to see what they thought, but she struggled with that because it was her opinion that Standish should not work to keep people off their property and she didn’t want that to happen. Councilor Hopkins said that she believed that we have hit a brick wall on the
issue.
Councilor Pomerleau said that a workshop should be set up to talk about the fencing issue. He also said that the idea of someone patrolling the property bothered him.
Councilor Lymburner said she was upset about this but did have a couple of comments. She said that just because they have explained their position on the several occasions it doesn’t say that they won’t negotiate the MOU any longer. What she thought he meant is that they won’t come to Standish and explain their position. She said that the letter noted that they are still willing to negotiate the MOU on some level. She agreed with Councilor Hopkins that she didn’t want to be part of keeping people off their land. She said that she couldn’t support the order at this time.
Councilor Hopkins said that she wanted to clarify that we have asked then twice if those are negotiable points and they have said no. She said that this Council has been very open to the public about this process. She said that she didn’t want to go behind closed doors on this topic.
Chair Christy said that a lot of time has been spent in this issue. He said that this is a cocky letter.
Councilor Nesbitt said that we owe the people of Standish a workshop going all activities that are going on surrounding Sebago Lake and the Water District. He said whatever the final out come of the MOU is it needs to be done in a public setting.
Councilor Spencer said that he is in favor of this order. He said that the Water District has had numerous meetings regarding this; there have been articles in newspapers. He thought that the public were aware of the issue. He said that they will negotiate but not on those two issues.
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Nesbitt and Voted to table for one month. (Motion failed)
VOTE: 4 Yeas – 3 Nays, Christy, Lymburner and Nesbitt
Moved by Pomerleau Seconded by Lymburner and Voted to amend the order as follows:
Louis Stack asked what roads were being paved.
Roger Mosley noted the roads.
ORDERED that the attached bid from F.R. Carroll , of Limerick Maine, in the amount of $293,998 -for road paving and other paving work as described in the bid specs, is hereby accepted, and (Unanimous)
VOTE ON ORDER AS AMENDED: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
VOTE: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
VOTE: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
VOTE: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
68-05 Emergency Amendment to Standish Town Code, Amendments Related to Removing Victualer’s Licenses Approval from Town Council Agenda, Chapter 3, Administrative Code, Section 3-32 and Chapter 187, Licenses and Permits, Multiple Sections [Spencer]
Councilor Spencer explained that this has gone to the Ordinance Committee. Victualer License Application will now be handled thorough the town office.
VOTE; 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
69-05 Amendment to Standish Town Code, Amendments Related to Removing Victualer’s Licenses Approval from Town Council Agenda, Chapter 3, Administrative Code, Section 3-32 and Chapter 187, Licenses and Permits, Multiple Sections (Introduction) [Spencer]
Move Seconded and Voted to move this item to First Reading at the June Council meeting.
Gordon Billington explained that this is needed to finish up the Boundary Road project.
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Hopkins to amend to read $46,270 for the amount. (Unanimous)
VOTE ON ORDER AS AMENDED: 7 Yeas – 0 Nays
PUBLIC ITEMS
Louis Stack said that he would like to talk about the beach for a few minutes. He said that regardless of happened here tonight there would be people that would use the beach. He said that there may be a range road that goes to that property and we should pursue that. He also noted at Rogers lot and that the people could use and if anyone needed information on how to get to the Pine Cove Beach he would give directions. He went on to thank the manager and staff for the cooperation with budget issues during this budget season. He also thanked Chair Christy for all his help and leadership.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Several upcoming meetings were announced.
EXECUTIVE SESSION (S)
Moved by Lymburner Seconded by Hopkins to move into Executive Session for discussion of a real estate matter as provided under 1 M.R.S.A. §405 (6) (B).
Moved Seconded and Voted to arise from Executive Session. The Council arose from Executive Session at 9:55 pm by unanimous consent and the meeting adjourned.
Submitted by: __________________________
Clerk/Secretary
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