Selectmen Minutes

Town of Newburgh

DATE: 01-19-2016

CALL TO ORDER:Meeting called to order at 6:06 p.m.

ROLL CALL: __X__ Leonard (Bud) Belcher, __X__ Renee O`Donald,

___X_ Stanley (Skip) Smith, __X___ Cindy Grant

WARRANTS: PY#96 =$3,710.34, AP # 97 = $7,183.02, AP#98 = $ 1,614.50, PY#99 = $5,632.78

AP# 100 = $13,334.69

Selectman Belcher made a motion to accept the noted warrants as written, Selectman O’Donald seconded, motion carried 3-0

MINUTES: 12-28-2015- Mr. Belcher made a motion to accept the minutes as written, Mrs. O’Donald seconded, motion carried 3-0

DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

  1. Fire- Chief Williamson reported on trucks that have had recent work done on them. He stated that all fire trucks are in good order. The rescue truck still needs rust repaired. Chief Williamson reported that the Fire Department had responded to a car accident on Route 9 and a mutual aid call for a chimney fire with Carmel today. Selectman O’Donald noted that Linda Hamilton had called to let her know that the Fire Department had donated $100 to the fuel fund and asked that she share that information with the Board.
  2. Rescue- 12 calls in December. Selectman Belcher questioned how many of the calls were in Newburgh. Kelly did not have that information with her to report. Kelly Hamilton reported that they have new jackets which the cost will mostly be covered by a grant received by the Town.
  3. Roads- Storm damage, Pot Hole – Town Manager Grant reported on the roads as Road Foreman Burgess is in Florida still. There was a pot hole on the Chapman Road that has been repaired. There was significant damage to North Road, Littlefield Road, Old Kennebec Road and Trundy Road and Dahlia Farm Road due to a rain storm. Wellman Paving promptly came and repaired all areas damaged by the storm as requested by the Town Manager. Town Manager Grant also reported that there is a problem on the Route 69 hill. There is water running from a driveway on the Route 69 hill. The sand crews have had to be there about every hour to sand it. Cindy contacted the homeowner to see if they knew where the water was coming from. The homeowner reported that the water was coming from a bank behind his house. Cindy had contacted DOT to see what could be done about this. They have a big project slated for 2017, so they will hopefully be able to include this in that project. Cindy also reported that Mr. Shannon on the North Road was concerned that he would lose his driveway due to the washouts that occurred during the rain storm. The Town provided the gravel to repair his driveway. Town Manager Grant will be contacting Unitel to see what they will cover as a lot of the damage was due to the tree cutting and debris done by contractors of Unitel.
  4. Recreation – Kelly Hamilton reported that there will be an Easter egg hunt on March 22nd. The committee is in the process of setting up additional activities for the spring.
  5. Library – No report.
  6. Town Managers –Homestead Exemption –Town Manager Grant reported that if the Homestead Exemption goes up, it has a direct impact on taxes. It is scheduled to go up an additional $10,000 in the next couple of years. She explained that the Town receives 50% back on any exemption, so in reality, this will directly impact residents’ taxes by having to increase our mil rate.

OLD BUSINESS:

  1. Roads- Dahlia Farm Rd. Project –A representative from Sewall’s reported on their recommendations. For all roads except Dahlia Farm, the plans remain the same. The Dahlia Farm Road was an additional project, so their suggestion is to put 2” gravel on the shoulders that are falling away and ditching all areas where needed and creating a proper slope where needed. These suggestions are to repair the dirt road as opposed to preparing for paving. The proposed cost for this is not yet available. A decision about this will come once an amount is available.
  2. North Rd drilling –Dennis from FGS reported on the test drilling findings. Basically, the results of the drilling do not change the original plan of action presented by Sewall in their plan. After discussion, the Board requested that Sewall finalize their plan to get ready for bid packages to go out. The Dahlia Farm Road project will go out as a separate bid.
  3. Charging for Car Accidents – There was discussion about charging for car accidents. Chief Williamson is opposed to doing this. Town Manager Grant reported that she had done some research on this and she has spoken with other towns that are doing this. Her understanding is that you cannot differentiate between residents and non-residents when billing. However, the towns that are doing this have been able to collect substantial money. They are not able to collect on every accident, but by billing every accident, you do bring in funds to help defray the cost of the Fire Department and Rescue that are paid by the Town to supply this service. There is really no recourse if someone does not pay, but anything brought in helps. Cindy had figured out that if we had charged for the past four years for accidents and everyone had paid, the Town would have collected approximately $45,000. This is based on set fees for various trucks, ambulance, etc. There was discussion about how this would be managed. Cindy has composed an accident report sheet to be used if this proposal goes through. No decision has been made on this at this time. It was suggested that this go to the Town for a vote to get the taxpayers input.
  4. MRC & PERC update – Cindyupdated the Board on the proceedings with MRC and PERC. There still does not appear to be any resolution and MRC is pushing to quickly get towns signed on. MRC is using funds accrued by all towns that had a contract with them. If a town decides not to sign on with MRC, there will be a way to recoup some of their money. Cindy explained that there are so many unknown parts of this MRC contract that could potentially cost municipalities a lot of additional money.

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Letter from the Governor – Cindy reviewed a letter from Governor LePage regarding eliminating income tax.
  2. School Board Meeting –Cindy requested that any Board members who are able to please attend the School Board Meeting tomorrow night. The school district is proposing a big project to upgrade McGraw School and reroute traffic throughout the school campus. Cindy feels it is important that the Board be involved in the process as it could potentially cost each town in the district substantial money in the future.

TABLED UNTIL SPRING:

  1. Road Paving Project –
  2. Paving North County Rd-.
  3. Fire Pond Dry Hydrant -

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

SELECTMEN’S COMMENTS: None

Meeting adjourned to go into Executive Session.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Per MRSA #1 section 405-6-a Personnel matter-

Meeting reconvened at 7:56 p.m. – Nothing resolved at this time on the personnel matter.

ADJOURN:Meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m.