TOWN OF EAST MILLINOCKET
SELECTMEN’S MEETING MINUTES
MONDAY OCTOBER 06, 2008
4:05 P.M. 

 

PRESENT.  Selectmen-Chairman Mark Scally, James Federico, Mark Marston, Gary MacLeod, Administrative Assistant Shirley Tapley, Attorney Lee Bragg,  Recreation Director Frank Clukey, Jody Nelson, The Lincoln News  Shelley Farrington-recorded meeting, The Katahdin Times David White. 

1.      EXECUTIVE SESSION.  Motion made and seconded to hold an executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) (E) with Attorney Lee Bragg to  discuss the Great Lakes Hydro America 2007 Property Tax Abatement Appeal.  Carried 4-0.       IN:   4:05  P.M       OUT: 4:43  P.M. 

         Decision.  Motion made and seconded to authorize and hire Attorney Lee Bragg of Bernstein and Shur to represent the Town for the Great Lakes Hydro         America Abatement appeal process.  Carried 4-0.       

         Discussion of how to pay for the law firm attorney fees was discussed. The Selectmen decided to pay the attorney fees and Assessor Bill VanTuinen fees from the Special          Projects account line which has $10,000 at this time.  The Selectmen said that Lee Bragg said the appeal process could take one to two years total and that more funds will          be needed to be raised at the next annual town meeting for the abatement process.        

2.      WARMING CENTERS.  The Selectmen met with Recreation Director Frank Clukey to discuss warming centers for this winter since Clukey currently holds a Senior Citizens weekly afternoon gathering. Clukey said there are no State of Maine grants for warming centers but that United Way does have a grant process and that the applications are to be submitted from September 1 through November 1, 2008. Clukey said he will look into the grant further and can discuss a joint process with the other area towns at the Joint Board Meeting.  Clukey said it is a matching grant and that he will get an itemized list of potential In-Kind match services for the next meeting. Mark Scally said S.Tapley has spoken with Chief Cramp and Chief Brown and that in the event of an emergency that the East Millinocket Public Safety Building can house residents overnight since there are cots there. This is only to be used for emergencies and not to be used as a shelter due to liability reasons. 

        Frank Clukey presented the Board with a summary of the summer recreation program. Clukey said despite the rainy weather that the numbers were very good. Selectman Gary MacLeod said that his son participated in the summer baseball program and that it was excellent. 

         Frank Clukey said the computers for the recreation department are very old and that his computer had been hit by a low voltage problem this past year. An insurance claim netted the department $940 for a new computer.  Clukey said he would like to replace two computers in the office that are used by all three towns. Clukey said he had a quote for the computers, with printers and software the cost would be no more than $1,500.  Clukey said he is asking the Selectmen to approve no more than $1,500 from the contract service $4,000 in the equipment replacement/repair reserve account.  M. Scally said this account is also to build up for the replacement of a new Town Recreation truck in the future.   Selectman Jim Federico said he felt the cost was a lot and asked for some specs for the computers. After reviewing the specs Federico said he was fine with the cost     since the computers were good quality and will meet the needs of the Department. Clukey said the computers are used for registrations, flyers, contracts, and grants and that the old computers will be used for pool registrations.

         Motion made and seconded to approve no more than $1,500 from the Recreation equipment replacement/repair reserve account for the needed         computers for the Recreation Department.  Carried 4-0. 

3.      WARRANTS. Motion made and seconded to approve and sign the warrants through October 6, 2008 for payment.  Carried 4-0. 

4.      SELECTMEN’S MEETING MINUTES.  Motion made and seconded to approve the Selectmen’s meeting minutes of September 22, 2008 as written.         Carried 4-0. 

5.      AMBULANCE ADJUSTMENTS and AMBULANCE UNCOLLECTIBLE. Motion made and seconded to approve and sign the Ambulance Adjustments         in the amount of $3,614.10 and the ambulance uncollectible in the amount of $218.00.  Carried 4-0.   

6.     COMMITTEE REPORTS.  Selectman Mark Marston reported that the AOS meetings for the school restructure have been extended an hour and will now meet from 6:30 to 9:30 P.M.  Marston said there is a lot of work to be done to meet the deadlines and the referendum date of January 2009.  Marston said there is a finance meeting this Friday and they hope to have the numbers so that decisions can be made to move forward.  Concerns include who receives the State subsidy and how the State subsidy checks are processed. Marston said he attended a Northwood Coalition meeting this past week and that this group is looking out for the land use of this area. 

7.     CITIZEN’S COMMENTS.  Chairman Mark Scally asked where Danny Violette was since he was listed on the Agenda.  S. Tapley said she did not know why he             was not here. 

8.      EXECUTIVE SESSION.   Pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) (C) motion made and seconded to go into executive session with Bruce McLean to discuss             potential new business.  Carried 4-0.      IN:  5:25 P.M.    OUT:  5:53 P.M.

  Decision.  Chairman Mark Scally said there is no action taken as a result of executive session.  Discussion took place about a potential business and how to use the town’s economic funds in helping a potential new business locate in town. 

9.      OTHER.  Tapley said Jared True of ELCO Electric asked if he should continue quoting the Geo Thermal system for the Municipal Building since the quote is coming in at the $250,000-$300,000 range. Do Selectmen wish to pursue this energy source?  M. Scally said that it would take about 25 years to recoup this type of cost and that the oil boiler would still need to be maintained and would burn approximately 2000 gallons a year as a back up system.  Scally said the building would need the vertical loop style due to space issues and that it is expensive.  Scally said it would behoove us to put in more insulation and install the programmable thermostats to help keep energy cost down. Selectman Jim     Federico said he felt Geo Thermal was still a good alternative to explore due to oil cost continuing to rise each year. Federico said he would like to continue with at least exploring the concept and to look at researching and finding grants that may be out there to help with the funding this type of project.                                 

10.   ADJOURNMENT.  6:04 P.M.