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Town of Fryeburg
Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2008

Members present: David Knapp, Ed Wilkey, Cliff Hall

The meeting was called to order at 6:05pm and a quorum was declared.

MANAGER’S REPORT

• Route 203 Assessment was sent to MDOT
• Letter to Time Warner will be sent tomorrow (2/8/08)
• Normandeau Study presentation date set – February 25, 2008 at 7pm at the Molly Ockett Middle School. Format to be determined.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Ms. Ella Cressy pointed out the over budget items. Mr. Knapp asked if she could provide a copy of detailed information to the board. Ms. Cressy recommended having a special town meeting to approve of over budgeted items.

Review of Board Workshop items from February 4, 2008 and joint workshop with Planning Board on January 29, 2008.

The Board workshop was an exclusive discussion on the budget

Joint meeting with the Planning Board – subcommittees were formed regarding the comprehensive plan and continued discussion on impact fees. Follow-up joint meeting is on February 26, 2008.

Review and approval of the minutes from January 3 rd and 17 th

After brief discussion and a spelling correction, Mr. Wilkey made a motion to approve the minutes of January 17, 2008. Mr. Hall seconded the motion and all were in favor. Mr. Hall made a motion to approve the minutes of the January 3, 2008 meeting. Mr. Wilkey seconded the motion and all were in favor. Mr. Knapp said there is a note to the public that the minutes of the January 31, 2008 meeting are video only.

NEW BUSINESS

Update on school consolidation from Supt. Gary McDonald

Gary McDonald gave an update on school consolidation – last July they formed an Ad hoc committee to work on the school consolidation plan and it was submitted to the state and not approved. The district feels it is not financial or educationally good to consolidate. An alternative plan requested to remain as a stand along district was submitted in December and was approved pending further information. At the time, no other district’s plan had been accepted fully, now Bath is the only fully accepted district. Currently the committee is looking for cost reductions in the budget specifically in the areas of; system administration, facility, transportation, and special education. These are the four areas that the state has asked for due diligence in order to fully accept the alternative plan.

Supt. McDonald also mentioned the application for a new Snow School. It has not been forgotten, but the state is currently not accepting applications.

Supt. McDonald said there has been much discussion on the referendum, but it is still unknown whether it will be necessary.

Questions -

• Mr. Wilkey asked what was the original timeline for the new Snow School? Supt. McDonald responded that last June the application was submitted. The plan was to use a site at Molly Ockett for the new school as well as the administration office. The best case would have been 5-7 years before a new school would be complete, unless the school board decides to go forward without state funding. It is possible that the state would accept the application in another year. Mr. Knapp asked when the current bonds are retiring? His ideas is that since the town is looking to acquire space for the Police Department and additional town office space perhaps they could use the existing Snow School and administration building if a new school and administration office were complete. However, since the cost of the new school and admin office would be assumed by the entire district but mostly used by Fryeburg, what if the Town bought down part of the bond for Fryeburg’s share in exchange for the existing space. Supt. McDonald suggested contacting the facility committee on the school board to talk about “what if’s”.

• Mr. Hall asked if they are currently short on room at Molly Ockett? Supt. McDonald said they are currently at the max but future years student count look less.

• Mr. Hall asked what are the problems at Snow School? Supt. McDonald talked about current safety issues with the parking lot (ie: snow removal, too congested, no room for buses and drop offs). He talked about the lack of extra space, currently using portable classrooms. Also that Snow School is an old building and right now they are only dealing with immediate safety issues.

• Mr. Wilkey asked if they had thought about having one facility to accommodate more than one town in the district (ie: if Denmark is also running out of room). There was a brief discussion on this question in terms of distance to travel when you have only one facility in a district.

Supt. McDonald recapped that the district meeting is scheduled for May 22 nd. If a referendum is required, that is scheduled for May 27 th.

Mr. Knapp thanked Supt. McDonald for everything and said the Board of Selectman will make contact with the School Board’s facility committee.

Review of DOT request for biennial request for local transportation priorities

Mr. Knapp stated that the deadline for the request is March 17 th. He suggested that the board could discuss this later at a workshop.

APPOINTMENTS

Conrad Eastman to MWVEC (Primary)

Scott Gamwell to MWVEC (Alternate)

Mr. Wilkey made a motion to appointment Conrad Eastman as primary and Scott Gamwell as alternate representatives to the Mt. Washing Valley Economic Council

PUBLIC FORUM

Paul Naughton asked about a discussion he heard of the Fryeburg Fish & Game using the town “house”? Mr. Wilkey said he talked to Jim Holt of Fryeburg Fish & Game. The board of the Fryeburg Historical Society said it could be for other uses, not exclusive for any group. The lay out currently does not work for holding elections, but could be altered to work.

OLD BUSINESS

Review and approval of intial board FY 2009 Budget Guidance - Deferred until next meeting

Review of equipment training programs and standars for departments

Mr. Knapp discussed a letter than was send to Donnie Davidson regarding damage to the transfer station requesting that he conduct a safety review and re-inforce safety procedures.

Discussion of special town meeting dates/warrant items
There was a brief discussion of what items to bring to the special town meeting. They need 7 days notice to have a special town meeting. The board also briefly discussed how much they can go over budget without a warrant. Mr. Knapp suggested that Gary Whitten provide an estimate of his projected road budget through June, as soon as possible. Ms. Cressy will provide a detailed break-down of the legal budget. Mr. Wilkey asked Ms. Cressy if everything else in the budget looked ok until June? Ms. Cressy responded that barring any major catastrophes, everything looks ok. Mr. Knapp stated there will be a special town meeting on March 6 th (prior to the regular board meeting) to discuss legal and road budgets. Mr. Knapp will email Peter Malia for assistance with the warrant for the special meeting. Mr. Wilkey suggested that maybe they should have the meeting at the Rescue building to allow for more space.

Review and discussion of Fryeburg Water District annual meeting results - Deferred until next meeting

Government Efficiency Grant - Deferred until next meeting

Update on Menotomy Road – contact with Mr. Ferris regarding plowing of the road. Review of mitigation matters with Road Commissioner.

Mr. Wilkey contact Mr. Ferris and asked that if they are coming up to contact either the town office or Mr. Wilkey at home – then Gary Whitten will be contacted to plow. Mr. Hall heard from Deb Lennon that someone had already cleared out the area. She also stated that if she has damage in the spring she will sue the town. Mr. Hall let Ms. Lennon know that the town is doing everything they can to help prevent any potential damage. Mr. Wilkey will remind Gary again to take care of this matter ASAP.

Update on hearing date for Porter road gravel pit appeal – March 6, 2008

Mr. Knapp said this appeal will take place in South Paris. Whoever is available should attend.

OTHER BUSINESS

Mr. Knapp briefly explained Bonnie Rickett’s Life Safety Code 101. Currently when doing an inspection, Ms. Rickett already looks for these, but currently can not enforce them. Mr. Wilkey asked if there should be a fee or maybe the current building permit fee should be increased to cover these items also. Mr. Knapp said they are looking at potentially making this part of the town ordinance. This will be for further town discussion and may become a warrant item.

Ms. Rickett provided the board with a cost comparison between Atlantic Internet Services and Gov office.com. There was brief discussion about the difference between the two. Mr. Knapp asked for a recommendation. Mr. Hall will review the information and let the board know by Monday.

Emerry & Garrett ground water contract
Mr. Knapp was informed that Mr. Krasker is out fund raising trying to get $10,000 to help pay for the contract. Mr. Naughton stated that Mr. Krasker is out for the “benefit” not “behalf of” the town. Mr. Knapp said the board needs to decide if this is what they want and if so then they need to pursue it in the budget. Everyone agreed it needs to be done regardless of any offset. Mr. Wilkey clarified that this is on-going and would need to establish a budget. Mr. Knapp suggested he could draft a letter to Nestle to say here is the cost of the monitoring and would it be in their best interest to help off-set the cost? Mr. Hall asked why isn’t it the responsibility of the Fryeburg Water Company? They board agreed to have Mr. Knapp draft a letter to both. Mr. Wilkey stated why not send a letter to the Fryeburg Water District also.

Mr. Hall asked Mr. Naughton about the recent purchase of Pure Mountain Springs (PMS) by Nestle and Fryeburg Water Company’s acquisition of Well #3. There was a brief discussion, however Mr. Naughton said the Fryeburg Water District was not aware of this purchase prior to the public announcement and that nothing can be finalized until after the PUC approves the sale.

Project Canopy - Tree planting grants with a 50/50 match
There is a workshop on February 13 th that someone must attend in order to apply for the grant. Mr. Wilkey reminded everyone that there is a Tree Warden and they he would notify him of the meeting.

Over-time & Vehicle Idling Policy
They will discuss this at Monday’s department meeting

Surplus Equipment Property
Names need to be updated and each name listed needs to sign in order to have access to the surplus equipment area.

Mr. Wilkey made a motion to adjourn the meeting to Executive Session at 8:15 pm. Mr. Hall seconded the motion and all were in favor.

Respectfully Submitted: Tina Westerberg

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Westons Covered Bridge (1906 postcard)

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