Town of Brooklin
Select Board Meetings
Minutes for 6/9-6/23-6/30
APPROVED MINUTES JUNE 9, 2009
(Approved on June 16, 2009)
Present: Gray, Grant and Freethey
Peggy Hopkins, Brooklin Eats
MINUTES were read for meetings held on May 26th and June 2nd. Voted to accept with minor changes 3-0.
The select board voted to approve the mill rate for the commitment of taxes for the year starting July 1, 2009. The new tax rate will be .00715 compared to .0069 for last year. Voted 3-0 for the new rate.
A supplemental assessment bill was issued for property on Map 18, Lot 24 in the amount of $1,620.81. The select board voted 3-0 to accept this supplemental assessment.
Peggy Hopkins visited the office to talk about this year’s event, BROOKLIN EATS, to be held on Sunday, August 30th at the Village Green. This event is sponsored by the Brooklin Friends and Neighbors committee. There will be lots of signs up this year for parking vehicles and walking to the Green. The porta potty needs to be moved from Naskeag to the Green for this one day. Jerry will see that this is done.
The board discussed the possibility of purchasing the “Budgetary and Payroll Programs” . Tammy and Gigi also have been trained to use the Cash Receipting Program where entries are made once and they are done. This program could be a tremendous time savers for the select board. It was voted 3-0 to purchase the Budgetary and P/R programs from Trio for approximately $6,000 for the new year starting July 1, 2009 which includes the training time and maintenance fee for one year.
Richard Freethey had obtained a list for the length of time required to save town office papers. The time varies depending on the type of information for the paper work. He also did a first draft for a “Use Policy for the Town Vault”.
Meeting adjourned at 6 PM
Warrant: $56,034.30
Receipts: $14,998.64
APPROVED MINUTES -- JUNE 23, 2009
(Approved on June 30, 2009)
Present: Gray, Grant and Freethey
Neil Allen, Road Commissioner
Steve White from Brooklin Boatyard
Minutes were read and approved from the meeting of June 16th, 2009.
Voted 3-0 to accept.
J. Gray said there was an estimate of $22,714.00 to repair the fire truck.
Neil Allen was here to discuss wages for the up coming year. Neil wants his wages to stay the same as last year and also the wages for his equipment. The helper’s wages would go from $13 per hour to $13.50. Yellow lines on the roads will be painted in the very near future.
The board voted 3-0 to sign the contract with Lane Construction for road work on Flye Point this summer.
Steve White had a meeting with the Board at 4:30 PM to review where we are at and what to do to move forward. Step #1 is to get all the property owners to sign a release deed of any interest in the town road. Some have signed a release deed and the town lawyer is working on the other owners that need to sign.
Meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM
Warrant: $62,071.50
Receipts: $ 11,682.24
Approved Minutes -------June 30, 2009
(approved on July 7, 2009)
Present: Gray, Grant and Freethey
Minutes were read and approved from the meeting on June 23rd. Voted to accept as read.
Rob Clapp delivered the insurance check in the amount of $23,214.37 for the fire dept. rescue truck damage. He also handed a check to the town for towing of the damaged truck that was $1000.00. It was decided by the board and Sam Friend, fire chief, to add rental coverage on the new rescue truck and this would cost about $100 a year. Sam stated there was more damage to the truck then he first thought.
Rich Freethey will draft a letter to state officials expressing our concern for the condition of the state roads. The condition of the roads is putting our safety/rescue vehicles at risk.
John Carroll from the Maine Revenue Service was in the office today doing the annual state valuation using real estate sales analysis. It’s possible our state valuation may go down after the valuation report is reviewed. The town does need to bind one copy of the commitment book so no pages can be removed, per state requirements.
Jerry has replaced the missing treads on the town office steps. Also is adding some treads to the handicap ramp entrance.
The board voted 3-0 to approve the wall divider in the back room occupied by the BKS. Nelson Smith is doing the wall divider and this project is partially done.
A resident had a concern about maintaining the Old County Road and enabling the water to run off better than it has been. The board will look into this.
A meeting was held at 5:30 PM with the town office reorganization committee and the tax collector, town clerk, treasurer and select board members. This committee highly recommended the town to purchase the Trio program for budgetary purposes and the select board was happy to respond that the program has already been ordered. It should be installed by the end of July for the new year starting July 1, 2009.
Other recommendations:
- Regular staff meetings to rotate who is in charge of these meetings. Meet once a week, once a month, - to be decided.
- Treasurer needs a deputy – to be decided
- Gigi Hardy is deputy for Sharon Freethey for Tax Collector
- Select Board to rotate job responsibilities every 3-4 months. So each person can learn the full job of the board.
- Treasurer, who writes the checks, should not do the bank reconciliation
- Establish a list of reports that need to be prepared on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
- Communication and mutual respect appears to be an issue and needs to be worked out. Recommended the responsibilities of each elected officials be discussed along with the amount of time required for these responsibilities.
This reorganization committee did a wonderful first step. They certainly pointed out ways to make the office work smoother, to communicate more with one another, to have back-up people trained for each job, and for interaction on how/when to respond to the needs of other elected officials. This committee is taking the “summer off” and giving the town officials 3 months or so to try out the new budgetary program and to see the amount of time that might be saved using the new program. A fall meeting will be scheduled.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 PM
Warrant #52: $9,042.34
Receipts: $37,759.91