Berwick Select Board names interim manager, fills appeals board seats

[0:00] Town Clerk: Okay, good. Are you excited to move up there? I am. Yeah. Yeah. [0:13] Select Board member: Do they get just as much snow out there as we do? I think we're on it. [0:19] Chair / Presiding Officer: Good evening and welcome to the October 6, 2026 Select Board Meeting. We have four members present. Mike may be joining us later on Zoom. Town Manager, Town Clerk, and members of the public. Please stand for the pledge. [0:32] Brian Rice (public commenter/applicant): I [0:36] Speaker E (unidentified): pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:57] Chair / Presiding Officer: First on the agenda is the approval of the September 15th meeting minutes. [1:10] Select Board member: I make a motion that we approve the meeting minutes as written. Second. [1:15] Chair / Presiding Officer: I have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Next I have the approval of the September 21st meeting minutes. [1:39] Select Board member: I'll make a motion that we approve the September 21st, 2026 meeting minutes as well. Second. I have [1:46] Chair / Presiding Officer: a motion to second. Any discussion? All right, all those in favor. And finally I have approval of the September 29th meeting minutes. I [2:02] Select Board member: make a motion that we approve the September 29, 2026 meeting [2:06] Chair / Presiding Officer: mittens as written second i have a motion in the second any discussion all those in favor we have first public comment does anyone wish to make a public comment [Speaker F (unidentified): Good] evening. [2:28] Carolyn Holt (public commenter): My name is Carolyn Holt. I'm the owner at 67 Lovebrook Road in Berwick. I just wanted to raise some concerns about the condition of our road. Arthur was gracious enough to come out and meet us as a group a couple weeks ago, and a couple things were addressed that we appreciate. I just want to make sure that those things are going to happen. We had discussed that road maintenance would be extended up to 40 Lovebrook Road, as they were basically ordered by the town to have an engineer to bring it up to standard to get to their home, so Arthur had said that he would do maintenance and plowing up to number 40 Lovebrook Road. So I wanted to make sure I was here while he was here before he left to make sure that happens for our neighbors. Also you guys have the road graded three times a year. Unfortunately that's not enough. We haven't had any material added in a very long time. There is no drainage when you guys have the contractors come ingrained within a week, sometimes less, a little bit more if it Rains it immediately washboards the road is flagged, it's concave in some areas, and with the dirt road you need to have a proper crown so the water has somewhere to shed off to. We don't have that anymore due to years of lack of attention. By December of last winter the road was in atrocious shape, and I know there's not a lot you can do when the ground is frozen. However, I am begging you guys to do something to the road before winter hits. We had a speed study done, it shows there's 20 over 2 200 cars that travel that little road, that was a 26 day period. There's a number of school buses that go up and down the road every day. We're beyond just grading at this point. We're all very frustrated. We don't demand a lot, we don't ask a lot. We've been communicating with Arthur as much as possible, but we do feel like it's falling on deaf ears a little bit. We're begging for material, we're begging for a contractor to come out, they can put some sort of shape onto the road so the water's not just sitting there. A couple of little hills on the road, you can see the water runoff down the travel lanes that you guys know that's not working. Also we understand that a portion of Love Brook Road has been discontinued for a number of years. However, if you guys keep giving out building permits, we would really hope that there's not too much farther beyond number 40 to get to Guinea Road, that we could make that a through way. One of the biggest things is mail delivery, if the road went all the way through all of the owners on Lovebrook Road would be able to get mail delivered to their house instead of having mailboxes on Old Route 4. So there's a little convenience factor in there as well. One more thing is we do appreciate there's a grading schedule with contractor. However, in between the grading public works does need to come out and fill potholes. It has to be done, like just grading three times a year is not even the bare minimum. I work in a town that has over 15 dark roads and I am so disappointed with how Berwick has handled our situation. So thank you for listening, I appreciate your time. All [6:10] Chair / Presiding Officer: right, thank you. Is there any other public comment? All right, I'm going to close the first session. We have no public hearings, no reports of committees, and no department reports. We have two appointments this evening. First is the board of appeals Arthur do you have any information on that? The thought is to this there's one seat open and one alternate open. Okay and the in your folders or your files is the order that James was looking to do for the appointment and the alternate. Okay do we have either that's Brian do you want to would you like to come up and speak? Good evening. [7:19] Brian Rice (public commenter/applicant): My name is Brian Rice. I've been a resident of the town of our work at 321 Ridland since November of 2019 but I grew up in the Berwick area. I'm employed currently at the shipyard and just see this as an opportunity to kind of get involved in into the town. I had a conversation with the appeals board chair Mr. Ingles something I'm I'm pretty interested in and anything you guys want to know about me particularly no I believe this is the second time you've I came from before I did come for the,... Planning what? The planning board, yes. [8:00] Chair / Presiding Officer: The alternate position, right? [8:02] Brian Rice (public commenter/applicant): Yeah, the alternate position for the planning board. And then I had a subsequent conversation about the appeals board with Mr. Ingalls and found I was still interested in participating in this. [8:12] Select Board member: Okay. And how long is this term for? Three years. Three years. So you're aware it's a three-year term? Absolutely, yes. Okay. [8:19] Chair / Presiding Officer: All right. And you're fine with the time commitments and all of that? Yeah, absolutely. All right again this is for one regular member and one ultimate correct thank you [Speaker E (unidentified): and then Ernie] what is currently on there now I believe Ernie is currently on there his term is up his turn yep [9:00] Speaker E (unidentified): Okay but there's not a second yeah right in the middle here there's a if you look down a little ways it says applicant right here kind of yep for the second one so [9:19] Select Board member: on the second tell me where it says that go to the next page oh okay thank you yep I didn't see any of this let me tell you so [9:47] Chair / Presiding Officer: I'm sorry I was gonna ask you want a motion or yes I'll make a motion that we appoint Brian Rice to the regular position on the Board of Appeals [10:02] Select Board member: and Ernie Wood to the alternate position. Can we do that together or do they have to be separate? [10:08] Chair / Presiding Officer: I would do them separately. Okay. Yeah. Alright, I make a motion that we appoint Brian Rice to the regular member of the Board of Appeals. For a three-year term? For a three-year term. [10:20] Select Board member: I'll second the motion any [10:24] Chair / Presiding Officer: discussion all those in favor make a motion to appoint Ernie Woods as an alternate member to the Board of Appeals for a three-year term I'll second that motion any discussion all those in favor next we have the appointment of an interim town manager good [11:13] Speaker F (unidentified): Night thank you thank [11:14] Speaker E (unidentified): much thank you comments [11:21] Select Board member: and there stands one alone you're used to it aren't you okay well if we have no comments I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion that we appoint point Tim Town is the interim town manager effective October 10th 2026. [Chair / Presiding Officer: no second and] if you want to come up for a second I know you did but the email went to Mike and I so just did [12:05] Speaker J (unidentified): you have any questions or edits or anything I did not cat can lock one over his as well no issues whatsoever it's pretty straightforward so all right I signed it and sent it to Mike I [12:15] Select Board member: i believe he has it at this point yeah any questions that you have for the board no happy to help well we appreciate it thank you very much and it is the desire of the board to you know as you're filling in as a interim to an interim is that 's our goal [12:34] Speaker F (unidentified): yeah so we appreciate that so [12:42] Select Board member: we have a motion in a second do you have a second [12:45] Chair / Presiding Officer: yes any discussion we have no unfinished business now we have the town managers report as you as you all know this is my last meeting with you guys I want to thank you all for your support and encouragement during this my tenure here I just I wanted to go if it's okay with the board go over a few things that we were able to accomplish as staff and a board we were able to complete several of the capital improvement plans for the facilities that have been outstanding for a long time like completing the waterproofing of the municipal facility addressing the needs and repair of the town manager's office continued efforts convert the front entrance into fully accessible ada compliance and as you may have noticed the handicap spot is out there it's just going to be painted and signed yes we planned and had 10 egress windows installed as per safety based on chief towns safety report that he did last year we move forward with the front with the replacement of the front entrance steps and they look absolutely fabulous and the mason has promised that the fence and the railings will be up and ready for election we coordinated the rehabilitation work for the women's room which will be starting after the election we didn't want to start it before the election just so that it was available for the election handled the municipal budget with little or no increase while maintaining services and infrastructure needs successfully negotiated three contracts with the union revised many outdated policies new ones to enhance operations ensure consistency promote accuracy Across departments, I think we've increased the transparency through the implementation of town hall, what I call quarterly town hall meetings, focus on improving communication between town hall and resident staff to ensure greater awareness and municipal projects and service. And I will met with neighborhoods when there's been issues going on in the neighborhoods, met with the neighbors to actually keep them updated on the issues and go over what was happening, work with staff and engineers and stakeholders to move the highway garage expansion project forward. That should be hopefully going out to bid for the moving of the water line soon. I know Jody was working with the engineer to get the bid documents together. We improve the operation procedures for the public lifts and by establishing communication solutions will no longer require two staff members to be present during the operations. All that stuff has been ordered, we're just waiting for it to get here and be delivered and I think one of the one of the toughest things we did is work through a very challenging period for the town clerks office when we had a town clerk pass away very unexpectedly. We were able to operate and not miss a beat down there and again I just want to reflect and thank for the collaborative effort of all the staff, elected officials, community members and residents during my tenure here and I appreciate everything that everybody's done. [16:08] Select Board member: Yeah a couple other things I [16:12] Speaker J (unidentified): was just gonna I was just gonna ask him a quick question. Okay go [16:17] Chair / Presiding Officer: ahead. The radios for the lift that's gonna be all set by November. It should be, we're waiting they're waiting for it to come in there. We followed up with them, it's been ordered and they're just waiting for it to be delivered there. As soon as it gets delivered they're going to bump that up to the top of priority for programming but we're at their mercy as far as the programming [16:38] Speaker F (unidentified): and stuff because that doesn't get here in time can we still use the lift with someone pressing [16:42] Chair / Presiding Officer: the top and bottom? Okay yep okay yes [16:51] Select Board member: Okay, so I just wanted to comment on this, especially the AEA spot out there, that handicap spot. I really do appreciate that. I know it's been a long time coming, and I for a long time have always thought we needed did something there, especially with that the on everything onto the sidewalk, yeah. So I appreciate that, but just want to let you know your tenure here, I know what's not overly long, but obviously we got some things accomplished. Appreciate your dedication to the town and wish you well in your new endeavor out there out west. Hopefully they don't get as much snow as we did. Thank you, I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you, I wish you well. Thank [17:35] Speaker F (unidentified): you, appreciate it, thank you. We have [17:42] Chair / Presiding Officer: no select board communications. One other thing, just as a [17:46] Select Board member: question in reference to that, just to confirm you have are either going to meet or are gonna [17:53] Chair / Presiding Officer: meet with Tim before, you have been meeting the last couple of times plus I did, I sent it to you guys the little manager hand off, and I know that we're planning on meeting again on Thursday. [18:03] Select Board member: Perfect, okay, I just have one other small thing that I just thought of as well. [18:07] Chair / Presiding Officer: Halflinger, where are we at with Halflinger? It's in the and I know James is following up with the lawyers in the lawyers hands based on the last executive session we had with filing the contempt. [18:18] Speaker E (unidentified): Okay, so thank you, we [18:25] Chair / Presiding Officer: have no select board communications and approval of the accounts payable and warrants. I have payroll warrant number 28 dated September 24, 2026 in the amount of $104,716.92. I have payroll warrant number 29 dated October 1st, 2026, in the amount of $103,530.63. I have accounts payable warrant number 30, dated September 30th, 2026, in the amount of $136,305.37. 37 cents, I have accounts payable warrant number 31 dated October 6th, 2026 in the amount of 1 million eight hundred ninety six thousand nine hundred and nine dollars and 37 cents, must be the school, that's the school. I have accounts payable warrant number 32 dated October 6th, 2026 in the amount of and I have payroll warrant 33 dated October 8th, 2026 in the amount of $103,615.61 and make a motion that we pay our bills. Second the motion. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? New business. First up on new business is the approval of town manager recruiting and hiring and authorization of expenditure. This will be for hiring both, recruiting and hiring both the long-term, interim, and permanent town manager. Questions, concerns, discussions? [20:51] Select Board member: I'll make a motion that we, where are the funds coming from? [20:56] Chair / Presiding Officer: I think they're going to start coming out of our fund and then the select contingency. [21:05] Select Board member: And then come out of that. All right, so I make a motion that we approve utilizing the funds from the select board contingency fund and then the salary baseline for the town manager to hire a recruiting firm for both the long-term interim position and the eventual town manager. For how much? For up to ten thousand [21:33] Chair / Presiding Officer: dollars. I'm sorry, I'll second that. All right, I have a motion and a second. Do I have any discussion? Is that mine? [21:53] Speaker I (unidentified): I don't know if that's mine. [22:00] Chair / Presiding Officer: No, I think I'm pretty clear. All those in favor. Next up we have a request to close customer service on Election Day, November 3rd, 2026. Do you want to speak to that at all? Sure. [22:24] Town Clerk: We're expecting a very large turnout for the governor's election. We're expecting over 4,000 people. The staff that I have downstairs, my, the permanent staff, those are my key voter registration people. That's a very complex process that involves civil rights to get it right, so I would like to utilize them upstairs and have all hands on deck for the election. [22:55] Select Board member: Yeah, I don't have any problem. I was just going to ask though, do you have enough staff? Are you still looking for volunteers? [23:02] Town Clerk: Years, I'm still working on the list. I've had a lot of people give their name and I have another one to call back. Thank you, Lisa, but I definitely can use more. I like to have some spares and floats to cover breaks and things like that, so if you know of people, just have them email me. And I've been meeting with everybody individually and I'm starting to schedule the trainings. Oh great, so anybody interested to email me. Yes, absolutely, thank you. I'm [23:34] Chair / Presiding Officer: speaking with Lisa of Ragas. She was concerned about paying bills if you skip that meeting, so that's the next item. They're aware, but I also let them know. Right, yep, yeah, okay, I will, I'll [23:50] Select Board member: make a motion that we close the customer server, or do we already have a motion? We have in discussion, we are in discussion. Okay, I'll make a motion that we close the customer service booth, our debt in the town hall, on November 3rd, the date of election, and if we could, well, I'll make the motion, then I'll make my comment. Second. I have motion, second, and my comment is that I guess it would be, you is that we reach out and make sure that Jeremy gets it posted everywhere that will be closed for business. That day we could do that, please, for customer service. The rest of the office will be open. Yes, the rest of the office, but just for people like registering their car, things like that, just so they know that it's close. Yeah, I [24:37] Chair / Presiding Officer: have a motion, a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor. Next we have a request for cancellation of the November 3rd Select Board meeting. I have some concerns about that. We have not done that in the past. We've always moved it [25:01] Speaker F (unidentified): Yeah, right, and we're [25:05] Select Board member: going to have some other business as well with the intern stuff. Yeah, so I would just, so we could make a motion to cancel the November 3rd meeting and just, and then just schedule a special meeting on November 2nd. [25:22] Chair / Presiding Officer: Yeah. On Monday, November 2nd. Yeah. Yeah. That's the Monday before the election. Can I make a suggestion? Yeah. That you do the Thursday after the election, because Robin's going to be busy that Monday getting everything ready for the election. Yeah, Thursday's probably going to be a Planning Board meeting, right? [25:36] Town Clerk: So they can just, it might be video. [25:38] Select Board member: No, they don't have Planning Board the same week, we have Slack Board, so if we just move it from Tuesday to Thursday, right, they do, they have the same day, they have the same week. Oh, it's the same [25:48] Speaker E (unidentified): week. Oh, if they do it Monday, it's just the video, it's just, okay, so we can do it Monday and have a video. That's what Robin is saying, have the meeting and video, I'll do the minutes from the video. Oh, [26:01] Chair / Presiding Officer: oh, okay, all right, so you would be prepping all that stuff then. Okay, all right, but you do [26:06] Town Clerk: whatever date works for you all. [26:09] Chair / Presiding Officer: Right, I make a motion that we cancel the November 3rd 2026 Select Board meeting and move it to November 2nd. I'll second that. I have a motion in a second. Any discussion? All those in favor. Does [26:28] Speaker F (unidentified): that get any everything into us? I mean, we'll have to get our packets what day earlier or posted, it has to be the meeting has to be posted a day sooner [26:37] Town Clerk: like that. I think I think that Thursday before meets all your requirements. Okay, so if it's still meeting the Thursday gives you still three full days public and the warrants, will the warrants be ready? That's up to finance, if she knows [26:50] Chair / Presiding Officer: that's when the meeting is, she'll have them ready for you. Yeah, we've done [26:54] Select Board member: it before. Yeah, automobile [27:01] Chair / Presiding Officer: graveyard renewal applications. Southern New Hampshire Hydroelectric. Arthur, what do you know about this? James is recommending the approval. Their fence is a little short, but they also have a lot of vegetation, and it's well screened from the road, and everything meets is copricetic as far as the yard and stuff goes, and that's [27:27] Speaker E (unidentified): not the one right on the street, right? Is [27:30] Chair / Presiding Officer: that the one right now? It's on School Street, so yeah. No, that's not the heavy equipment one. Oh, no, that one. It's further down School Street. [27:37] Select Board member: That's the house with all the windows. Yes. [27:39] Town Clerk: Behind that. Okay. Very low usage. Yeah. [27:45] Chair / Presiding Officer: It's extremely low usage. [27:47] Select Board member: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay. That's why we don't know. Yeah. And we've had no generic question, I know, but we've had no police interaction or any complaints or anything like that? No. Okay. Okay. I make a motion that we approve the renewal application for Southern New Hampshire Hydraulic Automobile Graveyard renewal. [28:14] Chair / Presiding Officer: I'll second that. I have a motion to second. Do we have any discussion? Alright. All those in favor? Next is the Burwick Town Facilities Use Policy. I have one quick comment on it. In the first, the first paragraph under Administration, the second sentence, the Select Board reserves the right to make exceptions to this policy on a case-by-case basis when necessary. Necessary is misspelled. [29:06] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah, when necessary at the end of it is misspelled, too. Right, that's the one I was talking about. [29:15] Chair / Presiding Officer: And then I did have some comments. I'm not necessarily sure we need to address them right now. but some of the stuff for example when we talk about the space we still risk the conference room do we even have a conference room anymore what section are you in this i am on the second page yep when you have a whole bunch of the tabs down when we get into it looks like definitions where it says space includes the auditorium floor auditorium lobby and bathrooms the agreement does not include the downstairs lobby except for the american legion conference room select boards meeting room or office space. Do we even have a conference room anymore? We have a small one upstairs, but we're also, and we can take that out now that we broke up, because we're more so thinking this diverges room, but we could, so we can get rid of the word conference room and just leave it as selectmen's meetings, flatboards meeting room. Okay. Yeah, or office space will cover. Right too, and then on the next page it just says right at the top closed as needed. If you look at the old copy, I think we just missed. Yeah, we're missing something. I think it just needs to be deleted. Well no, it was part of windows can be opened and their available screens currents can be opened closed as needed. So that first one is just missing on it. Got it, the reason this is coming back to the board is because now that we're actually after the board approved and now that we're actually applying it, we're getting some pushback because in years past it wasn't applied. So we want to get everything worked out or eliminate some of the gray areas and look at making sure we apply it correctly. Ultimately it's the board's decision. So yeah, and then when I went through this I just I had a couple of questions regarding the fee schedule. One was you know number one is non-profit individual groups non-Burwick affiliation, you know that describes the prices, and then underneath that it says Burwick nonprofits will not be charged for use of the building other than the required security deposit. I kind of feel like that should be maybe under a separate tab if we're you know if we're highlighting the non-Burwick groups, you know we kind of bury that for Borough of Nonprofits. There's no charge. And then, two, under the profit organizations can't use the space without town manager approval. We have a non-resident 350 for a three-hour block of time, but is there a cost for any resident profit organizations? I mean, if a business or something wanted to come in and try to use it for something? That would be up to the board to decide. Side we've never I don't believe that we've had one in the past, but ultimately the board can and that's what just as I was going through this was some stuff that so you're saying adding a resident non-profit adding a resident profit just because it says non-resident. So it's just if somebody were to read this I would think they'd say okay well I'm a resident what do I fall under and when [32:58] Select Board member: I see that it's like maybe the owners of you know the printing companies they want to have like a Christmas party here because they have no space in their business shower or something [33:08] Chair / Presiding Officer: Like that well but I would think that and that was my last one what about individuals residents stuff like that I know we had a do we have a wedding shower or baby shower baby shower yeah last year something like that there's the way this reads there's no provision in there for any of them I mean that's just kind of what I was thinking as I was reading through [33:32] Select Board member: Well, I think I propose for the resident profit organization, we could do something like, you know, give them a discount or something like 250. So if they wanted to use it, you know, but [33:47] Chair / Presiding Officer: I mean, that stuff, I kind of kind of feel like we can address it a little later on, once we get the liability and that stuff hammered out first. [33:59] Select Board member: And then you're talking about a resident personal use, right? Yeah. Okay. [34:10] Chair / Presiding Officer: But the corrections, you know, missing that little chunk and everything. Yep. That stuff I'd like to see corrected. Push this off to the next meeting or just vote on it pending those corrections? [34:32] Select Board member: Well, I think if we're going to do it pending those corrections, then we would need to come up with a... [34:36] Chair / Presiding Officer: Work out those corrections. [34:37] Speaker J (unidentified): We would have to work that out. Okay. [34:39] Select Board member: So my suggestion was $250 for the resident profit organization. organization and then the resident personal does anybody have a suggestion for that one yeah say I want to use it for a baby shower time yeah 150 175 what's the cleaning fee yeah [35:00] Chair / Presiding Officer: we don't it would be I'd say it's around 150 to have the cleaning company go in there and clean it extra we've never really run into that issue with a with an organization they've usually taken [35:11] Speaker J (unidentified): can kind of clean it up but it's a place to start if you want to feed well and that could also [35:17] Chair / Presiding Officer: be covered in the security deposit yeah you know if it's not left as found right then you and we have to call it and we have to call a cleaning we're going to use part of the security [35:27] Select Board member: deposit yeah should [35:33] Speaker F (unidentified): that be noted that we would or personal residents no [35:39] Chair / Presiding Officer: security deposit so I would require a security deposit of a personal residence if you didn't want to charge that if you want to do like nonprofit not charging them a usage fee but I would still require a security deposit security deposit of what 250 I believe is what's yes yeah and then 104 with the non-profits there's no fee for the American Legion scouting organization school activities any town sponsored events security deposit for those listed [36:20] Select Board member: above will be $100 so that's the case then the resident personal I definitely [36:27] Town Clerk: Think should be 150. So does this mean my understanding is currently we're [36:32] Speaker E (unidentified): charging 100 to the scouts and the legion as a security deposit. Okay yes and any town sponsored [36:40] Chair / Presiding Officer: events or committee meetings committee meetings would take over here and you guys have the policy that you approved this past year for any town committee meetings to use for the use of this room right. Okay that was the I think it was the Burgess room policy you guys approved over the summer. Yeah so [37:02] Select Board member: I don't mind if those things are added and the correction is made with the spelling then I don't we can approve it so we don't keep continuing to push it out. Can you [37:13] Town Clerk: clarify your decision on the personal resident person I put resident profit organization 250 [37:19] Select Board member: and resident personal 150. [37:22] Chair / Presiding Officer: Security deposit or fee rental fee rental fee okay thank you [37:36] Town Clerk: and this will come back for a second reading anyway next time okay no I wanted to see the changes and it was to apologize for the typo and the drop sentence it was a PDF and it was converted to Word and there was a bunch of Russian in it so as taking that out I might have gotten a little too far but I promise you a clean copy with your changes. Yes thank you yeah we can read it [38:00] Select Board member: over again yeah okay we'll [38:04] Chair / Presiding Officer: look at that again next time yep all right Berwick EMS plan and select board resolution this is based on a law that came into effect the end of last year beginning of this year where we have to post our EMS plan online with our ordinances so I drafted this the board the chief has reviewed it and approved it and this will get us in compliance with the new hour with the new state statute that requires us to post them. It's one of those walls that I learned about at the conference that people up in Augusta decided that they we need to post. Yeah this is this would be your first reading so you wouldn't do anything with it until the next right meeting but I just wanted to get it out there for you guys to do so the town can be compliant with the state statute and [39:16] Speaker E (unidentified): you said the fire you said that the fire chief went over this [39:19] Chair / Presiding Officer: yes you did so [39:23] Select Board member: we can't we're not voting on it tonight we're just okay concerns comments this [39:41] Chair / Presiding Officer: format is this a standard format per that there is no there is no particular format as long as you cover everything that the law requires which this does and basically what the law says you have to have who your primary is and your secondary yeah and secondary is going to be whatever mutual mutually yes she's Concerns, but again, I just wanted to get it out in front of you guys before I left. So it is recommended that you guys table this. There are some outstanding tax issues that need to be resolved now before you guys approve it. Okay. [41:18] Select Board member: I make a motion that we table the cannabis license application for a tri-can or four. [41:24] Chair / Presiding Officer: Second? I have a motion to second. Any further discussion? [41:28] Speaker F (unidentified): Can we table it for taxes? [41:31] Select Board member: Yeah, we can table it for any reason. It just means we review it at the end of the next meeting. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor? Okay. [41:50] Chair / Presiding Officer: And the next one is we have adult use cultivation and manufacturing facility and medical marijuana production facility renewal echo essence LLC no issues with this it's recommended that the board approve they [42:08] Select Board member: haven't had any complaints anything of that nature no Cyrus [42:20] Chair / Presiding Officer: I just received a text from Mike that he's not going to make it at all time okay I make a motion that we approve, or we renew, the license for Echo Essence LLC at 569 Portland Street, Suite 3. Second that. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? No. All those in favor? I have a waiver request of the town hall auditorium fees. This is the baton twirlers, I believe. They're looking to have the $50 fee waived. it is a not non is this isn't a non-profit one the other one is right [43:23] Town Clerk: it's a resident right yeah it's just a resident the way it's worded so in the [43:33] Chair / Presiding Officer: new policy they'll be charged $150 $50 per occasion I believe because it's a non it's just is it first I'd have to look at the new policy they've been [43:46] Speaker E (unidentified): doing this here for six years six years and i'm assuming that this assumption so they have two children doing their practice assuming they want the high ceilings yeah and she said it right in [43:57] Chair / Presiding Officer: there that they need a significant ceiling height and ample open floor space it's just it's a board fee so the board has to ultimately waive the fee yep okay they've been doing it for [44:07] Select Board member: six years have we had any issues with them at all no okay and so they're not really utilizing anything they keep everything clean yeah it's just two children and they have i believe [44:23] Chair / Presiding Officer: twice performed at lawn chairs oh really yes they're the baton twirlers at lawn chairs oh [44:31] Select Board member: so well i think since they've already been established for six years we've never had an issue and now suddenly we're putting this policy in place i don't have a problem creating making a motion for a waiver at least for the 2026 2027. You can revisit it after that, but I think we just putting this policy and they're just getting ready to start practicing for that, and they've been doing it for six years, we've had no issues. Guess I can make it as a motion. Make a motion that we waive the fee for 2026 and 2027 for the, I'm gonna say the Emerson is Lovell levies to twirl as long as it's you [45:23] Speaker F (unidentified): know within the schedule. Second. So this would be until July 1st next year, it would be till the end of 2027. Okay, so they would come back to us January 1st 2028. Yeah, okay, I guess my only [45:38] Chair / Presiding Officer: question is insurance, Robin. [45:44] Town Clerk: What do you know about there? I will double check it and let everybody know. I do feel like she provided something from the association. The question then became so there's an application insurance, and then the question was the fees. I will verify that for you. Okay, do you want me to, do you want to wait till the next one or do you want to prove it on the condition of the liability policy? Yes, on the conditional liability insurance. Thank you. [46:29] Speaker F (unidentified): You probably have that, they've been here for six years, they've got it pretty well figured out, but [46:35] Chair / Presiding Officer: to be sure. Yeah, all right, I have a motion to second, any further discussion, all in favor, approval of the public works six wheeler. Jody is not here, he's on vacation, but the money, this is based on a warrant article, several warrant articles that have been building up over time, so the money is in the warrant, is in the CIP for vehicle replacement or equipment repair replacement. So he's looking to buy a new six-wheeler for the department. It'll be a non-CDL six-wheeler, but it will be a 10-wheeler, it just makes it more versatile for people to use, it's a non-CDL [47:22] Speaker F (unidentified): element, it's not required, it's not big enough, but it's the 10 wheel. Yes, so it's a 10 wheeler, [47:31] Speaker J (unidentified): not a non-cdl correct it's a six-wheeler is it a see well that's a six yes i'm sorry it's a [47:37] Speaker F (unidentified): six-wheeler right non-cdl okay and what would that 's not the full size that our other [47:45] Chair / Presiding Officer: trucks are, it is, it's what it is, and correct me if I'm wrong here Cyrus, but I believe it's the weight of the chassis that determines whether it's a CDL or non-CDL. I think so, I think so, the chassis is lighter, but it will still haul as much material as a CDL six-wheeler would. Now does that cost include, I'm assuming it's going to have a plow on it and everything? Yes, that includes all [48:07] Speaker I (unidentified): of the plow and boxes and all that stuff that they need. Yep, is it less expensive because it's CDL [48:15] Chair / Presiding Officer: non-cdl i don't think so why are we getting it non-cdl it makes it more versatile so if you if you hire somebody that doesn't have a cdl or is going for this cdl they can then use that six wheel at a assist with work and things where if you if it's a cdl they have to have that CDL in order to drive it. I mean, it is good to do smaller things like the little parking lots [48:39] Speaker E (unidentified): and stuff like that. How many of those do we already have, the smaller trucks? Do we know? I [48:44] Chair / Presiding Officer: think we have two we have the one that jody drives and the one that 's a pickup though isn't it that's a pickup but i believe that's got a problem on it does yeah and so does it but it's not a [48:52] Speaker I (unidentified): CDL. What, Josh, what Jody drives is not? No, just a regular. Is this replacing a dump truck? [48:59] Chair / Presiding Officer: No, he's adding it to his fleet, additional. Right. Yeah, I think he brought this up before. Yeah, I [49:09] Speaker F (unidentified): guess I just assumed every person we hired CDL. No. Yeah, I don't assume. I would, I would think they [49:15] Select Board member: would be, but no, that's not the case. And the pro, and I'm, I'm okay with this because I know a lot of organizations, including the school, they, what they do is they hire you and then they put you through the CDL school, and then what happens is these people leave. Yeah, so you know, try somebody out without the CDL, you can at least get some work out of them, you know. How much does that, I don't have this [49:41] Chair / Presiding Officer: you don't have that? Oh, it's stuck to this one. All right, so that'll leave about 120 000, yes, in the vehicle funds. Yeah, and does Jody have any other anticipated vehicle purchases coming up? Not at this particular moment. Obviously next year he'll come back and ask for additional funds to replenish some of that, but yes, he's not looking at anything else this year. Yeah. [50:07] Speaker E (unidentified): So, I noticed, how many employees do we have, and how many, is this a new truck we're going to be hiring a new employee? No. So it's just an extra truck? [50:16] Chair / Presiding Officer: I don't know that I would call it an extra truck. We don't have enough trucks for all the employees to drive. [50:21] Select Board member: As it is, yeah. What [50:28] Chair / Presiding Officer: do we have? We have three big trucks, three 10-wheelers. Yep. Two pickup trucks, a dump truck. And that's, as far as trucks go, I believe that's it. And then we have, obviously, the excavator and the... [50:41] Speaker E (unidentified): And the loader. How many employees? [50:43] Chair / Presiding Officer: But somebody's going to be running the loader to fill the salt and all that stuff, right? No, they all, when they go back, they fill it up themselves. They fill it themselves. [50:50] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah. How many employees are there that drive trucks? [50:58] Chair / Presiding Officer: I believe, counting Jody, and I'd have to look at a list, but I think there's nine, counting Jody and Jay. Jody plows, right? And that's part of the reason he's got his truck? Mm-hmm. And this would also allow him to get into the 10-wheeler if needed to. Well, this isn't a 10-wheeler, I'm sorry, six-wheeler. I don't know why that's on the brain. I [51:34] Select Board member: don't particularly have any issues. I don't, I don't see [51:37] Chair / Presiding Officer: this i mean i 'm assuming he knows we need to keep the equipment what his equipment is and we [51:41] Speaker E (unidentified): need to keep it up to date. That's my thing, up to date. If we're just, are we buying, is one not going to be in service anymore? We're not replacing, what, we're just, we're buying another one. So is the other one going to need new, more work, or it's ongoing? Yeah, I mean, it's not that we're replacing one we already have, we're just, we're buying another one. We're buying another one. [52:05] Chair / Presiding Officer: But I mean, that's what we do with the 10-wheelers anyway, the big ones, right? We're buying them every few years because the older ones are rotting out and not safe. So we're adding this, but I do believe we already have an older six-wheel dump truck. We do. That probably in two to three [52:29] Speaker E (unidentified): years won't be drivable. Yep. All right. I'm remembering, I don't remember who came, or I remember there was a gentleman that came and he was saying that the salt in the back of the one of the trucks had kind of rotted, brought it or something. I wonder if this would help with that. Do you guys remember that? There's something about the salt in the background. I mean, even the stainless steel, right? But I'm just saying, are we replacing one that can have the salt? He must know what he's saying. They all have the ability for salt. [53:00] Chair / Presiding Officer: They do wash them after the storms to try to get as much out of it as they can, but unfortunately the way some of them are constructed, the salt gets in between the panels of the body and stuff [53:12] Select Board member: that you just can't get at it. That's not some kind of, oh, okay. There's more people you can get on the road in a storm, the better, the better people are going to be able to clean. Yeah. Do we have a motion? We do not. Yeah, I'll make a motion that we prove expending 270,000 out of the vehicle equipment fund for the purchase of the six-wheel dump truck. [53:38] Chair / Presiding Officer: I'll second that. I have motion to second. Any further discussion? No. All those in favor? We have. We have no quick-claim deeds or abatements. Second, public comment. Does anybody wish to make a public comment? Nobody to make a public comment. Other business and non-agenda items. Anybody have anything? [54:13] Speaker F (unidentified): On the warrant, who is M-O-D-U-G-O-L-L-C, storage container? [54:21] Chair / Presiding Officer: That is one of the containers that Jody has down at Highway way to put some stuff put equipment and stuff until we get the garage and roof built so we're [54:28] Speaker F (unidentified): renting it yes okay second question town of lineman rental pine park rental what are we paying it's a recreation thing what are we paying them i [54:42] Chair / Presiding Officer: don't know what that is i can find out for you [54:45] Speaker F (unidentified): though well maybe it's something they did together yeah or something like that okay that was it i [54:50] Speaker E (unidentified): had one more off that as well a few weeks ago i had asked about it sometimes looked like it was classified wrong and you were going to look into it refresh my memory on that one it was in the code it was a code employee and it was yeah I will find [55:08] Speaker F (unidentified): that out okay all right [55:17] Chair / Presiding Officer: somebody have anything else today is Karen Sharon Kelly's last day as the library director yeah so everybody knows she was what ten years? Ten years. Still a lot for the library, so Sharon, probably not watching, but thank you. Thank you. They had a very nice open house for it down there today. [55:37] Speaker J (unidentified): I wasn't going to make it. We [55:45] Chair / Presiding Officer: will be having an executive session. We're not going to be making any decisions coming out of the executive session, so we'll adjourn after. Page is on Zoom already. Alright, perfect. Okay. [56:02] Select Board member: Do you want to do it, or do you want me to make a motion? We're going to do an executive session under one MRS 4056 e for legal matters second of motion second any additional comment yes I was gonna say the same thing