Wayne Select Board approves ambulance and dispatch contracts, abatement

[0:01] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Okay, we have some preliminary housekeeping that we have to do before we actually get into the agenda. Since our chair and vice chair are absent today, we have, if we have still have a quorum, our bylaws say that when that occurs, a temporary chair needs to be elected by a majority vote, an affirmative majority vote of the members. So if the two of you want me to do it, I'm happy. If one of you want to do it, you have my vote. Let's open it up for discussion and then pick a temporary chair. Is that in need of a vote or just a vote? It says we have to vote. Okay. At least that's what our bylaws say. Yeah. [0:52] Town Manager: I'm okay for you to do it. That would be great [0:54] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: If you would be willing, yeah, all in favor, oh and second of that, okay, it's it's a little past 6 30. We will convene the meeting. Hazel and Tom are absent. The other three board members are present, so we have a quorum. The town manager is also present. Let's call the meeting to order and begin with pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of America, one nation under God, individual, with liberty and justice for all. Do any board members or the town manager have any additional business not included on the public agenda that they'd like us to consider? I have not, okay Nope. Does anyone have any conflicts with tonight's business? Okay, there are none. No, let's consider approving the select board meeting minutes for the september 15th 2026 meeting. I move to approve the minutes of september 15 2026. Any discussion? All in favor, motion carries 3-0. Moving on to warrants and donations. Consider approval of payroll number 14. I'll move to approve payroll 14 in the amount of 10 366.83. Second. Any discussion? Anything unusual on this one, Shannon? There's not. All in favor, motion carries 3-0. Consider approving and authorizing an expense in the amount of 69.85 for the millbridge boy hardware from the footbridge reserve account. I guess that was to finish up the new bullies that we installed. That's correct [2:55] Select Board member: Okay, anyone want to move to approve that, to approve and authorize an expense in the amount of 69.85 from the footbridge reserve account? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, motion carries [3:13] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Is three zero. Moving on to the approval of accounts payable number 15. Is there anything [3:22] Select Board member: You want to tell us about this one, Shannon? So in this you'll see that we have the winter sand [3:27] Town Manager: Payment that is a one-time payment and that clears out that budget line out of roads so that will be delivered in this upcoming month. We'll also be seeing winter sand probably on the next invoice as that has also been scheduled for this month. Not sand, salt. Salt, excuse me. So salt to go with the sand will be on the next accounts payables. And then we have our standard RSU appropriation and we have a one-time payment for CAI Technologies of $3,000 that will close out our website and that's for our GIS move. [4:12] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: to approve accounts payable number 15 in the amount of three hundred fifty nine thousand four hundred and nineteen dollars and sixty three cents second any discussion all in favor motion carries three zero henry not to interrupt i apologize tom has just joined us by zoom oh okay are you 're a participant tom i am a participant hey henry All right. All right. So all of our votes from here out are going to be by voice because we have someone on Zoom. OK. Consider accepting donations in the amount of four thousand three hundred fifty five dollars and eight cents to supplement existing appropriation for Ladd Center programs. I'll make that motion. Second. Any discussion? OK. [5:08] Town Manager: I was going to say it's primarily daycare and then also state reimbursements. Okay. [5:12] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Henry votes yes. Lauren votes yes. Tom yes. Okay, moving on to new business. We have a public hearing on the update of the general assistance ordinance utilizing the 2026 appendices. The state law requires us to modify our GA ordinance each year to incorporate the new appendices and also requires us to have a public hearing before that happens. So at this time we will open the public hearing. Is there anyone on Zoom aside from Tom? We have two residents online. Okay, anyone wanting to comment on this? No. Hearing and seeing no comments, okay, then we will close the public hearing. Do you have our times on that one? 6 36. And now we have to have a motion to approve the updates which is item 9b. Would anybody like to make that? Move to approve the update of the general assistance ordinance utilizing the 2026 appendices. I'll second. That is there any discussion? Okay, let's vote. Henry says yes. Steve says yes. Lauren says yes. Tom says yes, motion carries 4 0. Consideration of a central main poll permit. Can you tell us? I don't even, I don't know what the town's deal is with central main poll permits. [7:03] Town Manager: Could you fill us in on this? So as far as I could find through our ordinances and policies, we just have under the road commissioner policy that the road commissioner is responsible for inspection and coordination for poll permits. permits. Central Maine Power sent our code enforcement officer a request for a new stub pole along across the street from full 19 along Walton Road and so they also included in their spaces for municipal officers to sign off. I haven't found anything else in our ordinances that regulate that or in state statutes but I have seen that other surrounding towns have approved these poll permits as well. Okay and the code enforcement officer [7:45] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: or has no problem with it correct if i will move to approve the central main poll permit adding poll 19 s stub poll your [7:59] Select Board member: turn second is there any discussion what is a stub pull [8:05] Town Manager: i think it's short it's just okay it's a shorter it's a stubby one i just wasn't funny how that [8:12] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: got named yeah okay let's vote henry says yes steve says yes lauren says yes tom says yes motion carries four zero item nine d consider approving a service contract with the town of winthrop for ambulance services i'll make the motion on this move to approve a service contract with the town of winthrop for ambulance services anything you want to tell us about this shannon [8:46] Town Manager: We had an interlocal agreement with the town of Winthrop for ambulance services last year. You'll also see in the next item as well, they also have one for dispatch services. Essentially, it's the same interlocal agreement, but they removed one statement under there pertaining to disbursement of fees, and that was at the discretion of the town of Winthrop. So, we currently have an ambulance advisory committee composed of representatives from each of the seven towns that the town of Winthrop supports, and they meet usually on a monthly basis. And between those representatives mostly town managers some select board persons and for the town of Wayne we have our aging at home coordinator and a member of our fire department that typically go. What was requested was to remove that discretion of the in the changing of any kind of fees. So as of right now, we already have a set fee that we've received an invoice for the end of October, and was part of our budgeting process. And we did receive all of that. And we submitted that with the Budget Committee meetings. They also included a capital improvements expense line for that as well. Well, and so now each of the seven towns contribute to capital expenses, such as ambulances and any other major purchases. I'm [10:08] Select Board member: not sure I understand the change. So the change was just taking out one [10:12] Town Manager: paragraph that stated that at Winthrop's discretion that they could change the fee [10:18] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: if they needed to. So are we saying they can or they, or was that taken out? That was taken out. [10:24] Town Manager: Okay. Ah, okay. So now the fee will just be set at what they've built in October. Correct. Yeah. Okay. [10:30] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Now, this is an it pick, but we're calling it a service contract because if it's in our local agreement, we don't have any authority to approve it without it being approved by town meeting. And I didn't see anything that said it was. If you look at the documents, they call it a service contract. Okay. And so I got it. I think it's a service contract. Change me too, thank you for that. I'll change that in the minutes. Any other discussion? Okay, we'll have a vote to approve the service contract for ambulance services. Henry says yes. He says yes. Lauren says yes. Thomas says yes. Item 9e, consider approving a service agreement with the town of Winthrop for dispatch services. Why don't you tell us about [11:24] Town Manager: this one? It's essentially the same contract. They did take out that same paragraph for the discretion of the Winthrop. It just does not have the capital improvements paragraph for dispatch. [11:40] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: I'll make a motion to move to approve the service agreement with the town of Winthrop for dispatch services second any discussion henry says yes steve says yes lauren says yes tom says yes motion passes 4-0 moving on to supplements and abatements you sent us a good memo on that by email do we want shannon to go over that some more or are we well why don't you summarize it for us hit the highlights it was it was a it was a it was a [12:28] Select Board member: thorough memo that explained it, and Henry can compliment you yet again. Yeah, so there was [12:35] Town Manager: A property that was owned by our resident and about, I'd say it was 100, 150 acres that was split up into five parcels, and the person who was making this request happened to be the last purchaser of the parcels. And at the time that it was purchased, the break apart of those five parcels hadn't been settled through our assessor's process on April 1st. And so instead, he adopted all of the taxes for the full 100 acres of the previous owner. And so it has since been corrected for the 2026 year. Our assessor has acknowledged that it was an error in assessment. And I did have some references to state statutes in there stating that how you are the municipal assessors for anything less, excuse me, greater than one year to five years, that you can make the approval on an abatement for our current assessors, which is RJD Appraisal. Anything less than one year, they would make that. And so you have the opportunity right now to abate their property taxes for the fiscal year 2025. And so I believe in that total amount, I believe it was 991 dollars, and that's an amount [13:57] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: they haven't paid and it's just going to be wiped off. Is that correct? So it's, we're not paying anybody any money, we're just not collecting the bill that we sent. That's good. No, I'll move to approve the abatements. We don't have, how would you describe that? It's not the, move to approve abatement number 2526-02 for David Smith for an amount of 999 dollars and 60 cents. Second. Yes. Okay, any discussion? On Henry says yes, Steve says yes, Lauren says yes, Tom says yes. Motion passes four zero. Does anybody on our, any of our zoom participants have any public comments that they would like to make? I'm [15:08] Town Manager: not hearing or seeing anything. Okay, and we have an [15:11] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: empty house today, so we will move on to the town manager report. Thank you. So I'll start with [15:19] Town Manager: my road commissioner report. The Pike Industries, who is our paving contractor as well as ditching and culverts, they have completed all ditching and culverts on the six roads that they were contracted to ditch and do culverts on. They have completed the reclaim and fine grade of both Fairbanks and Hardscrabble, and they have completed the paving on Hardscrabble. At this time they are scheduled to begin paving on Greentrue and Bessie Road. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday, they have pushed it till next Monday. As more updates come out, I will post that to our website and let the residents know through our email. [16:00] Select Board member: Hey, Shannon, I'm almost surprised that there aren't some folks in the room tonight because I know there's been some stress on the part of some businesses that have been impacted by this. MSR, for example, Johnny's Auto, formerly Johnny's Auto, some of these folks are really stressed out by what's going on and there are some questions that in least I guess with nobody in the audience it might be helpful for us to just be prepared for if you have not already fielded these phone calls where folks are saying hey is there a delay what might be going on so I'm only sharing that because I've heard it myself and we have the opportunity right now publicly in front of a lack of public to just think through and make sure that you 've got any information you need to be able to explain to folks who might feel like crap you know we're losing business here what's going on what were the expectations so I throw that out there for consideration and [17:08] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: discussion on losing business time is there is there issue that the road was projected to be closed so they closed their business for that day and then it got cancelled and so they have to [17:20] Town Manager: close another day correct yes i've been talking with mary over msr auto and she has called a couple of times and so i've got her on my list to give calls and give updates to and i've been trying not to post an exact date online because then i feel that if it gets posted or delayed that it can cause more strife with some of our residents and so i want to get a final response from the paving contractors as far as when exactly they'll be out there but that's usually when i'll send out an email update for the meantime i've just been updating our website [18:00] Select Board member: site under news as far as paving updates go yeah i don't know that msr and mary are the only ones who are impacted i thought there were at least one more but i don't have the detail on that i heard it second hand and thought i would just relay to make sure that we're doing everything we can to just update folks and help them communicate forward with their customers that might be impacted but there seemed to be a little bit of a stress level specifically with mary yeah so [18:41] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: what's the timeline on the finishing of the baby so it was originally [18:45] Town Manager: Originally scheduled to be mid-September. We're starting to look at next Monday, they said that they'd get out here. And so, I've been getting updates. They'll call me or send me a message. And so, I let them know that I would be posting about it tonight and letting the select board know that they'll be delaying it again. You let Mary and... I'll let Mary know as well. [19:13] Select Board member: So now do they reclaim one day and then pave the next? Yes, they already did the reclaims. Oh yeah. [19:19] Town Manager: They will be doing the paving. They already did the paving on Hard Scrabble. They haven't completed at all Fairbanks yet, probably. [19:28] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Should have. Well, they've done the opposite on the paving. They do one side and then one side. I mean, we don't need to close the road for their paving. No, we need to. [19:37] Select Board member: Close the road when they reclaim. Yes, and they're already done with that. Okay, so there's no need. [19:41] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: To close the road anymore. No. Okay, people should be able to get to Mary's, I think. Yeah. I don't know, is there a need for some something in the minutes that says that we apologize for delays and that we're unavoidable? But I don't know, I don't sure, just for the public's edification. Yeah, I did happen to go to Harvard's Hardscrabble Road last night and it was beautiful. [20:21] Select Board member: Everybody likes to feel like they're being listened to, so I would agree with just acknowledging that we're doing everything possible. Yes, thank you. I did receive their first. [20:37] Town Manager: Invoice today, so you'll see that on your next warrant, October 15th. Yeah, and I. [20:43] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Guess in line with that, the next pavings, is there any situation there, or we're. [20:49] Select Board member: Running into the same? There aren't any businesses, all just paving together now. [20:54] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: So okay, and there's no replay, we shouldn't have to close the roads for the paving. They're gonna do one side than the other side. Yeah, correct. Okay, so. [21:05] Town Manager: So now on to the town manager. [21:06] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: And they've done all the driveway culverts and all that stuff is all done. Yes, that is all complete. [21:11] Town Manager: Yep. Any other questions? Okay. So for the town manager's report, today was a busy day. I would sit there. I'll tell you that we have sample ballots for the November election. They have been posted at the post office. They are at the town office. And they are on our website. So if you look under news, I also sent out an email today, day just to remind residents that of where they are located and that early voting began today. So in-person absentee voting voters can come in and they can vote absentee in person. We're open Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. They can take their absentee ballot home. They may come in and request an absentee ballot for an immediate family member and they can also request a ballot be mailed to them. And so I also sent out in that email also a link for the Secretary of State's office that allows you to put in a request online and we are processing those and we have all the absentee ballots out in the mail today. So hopefully voters are receiving those here this week. A reminder that on Thursday RSU 38 is conducting their community forum. It will be at 6 o'clock and the moranica community high school cafeteria. That is scheduled to go till 7 30. i also sent out an email reminder for that and it is on our website. The next planning board meeting is scheduled for october 15th so thursday at 6 30 p.m here at the lab rec center and that's [22:44] Select Board member: all i have on the vote on the voting. I just want to throw it in and we don't have a large online audience. There's nobody sitting in the room with you guys. My wife and i came in to vote today. The process was clean, everything is great, it was simple, it was it was quick, it was straightforward, it was the way it's supposed to be. So i just want to go on the record saying shannon lynn in the office handled everything that needed to be handled. It's all set up and appropriate. I think we were in and out within a few minutes. So just sharing that in advance of the next month of voting. Yeah, everything seems to be under control and fine. I know there have been concerns and that's one of the reasons i'm stating this. No concerns from different folks about whether we're staffed, whether the process is the way it's supposed to be and everything was clean in my own opinion. Thank you tom. I do want to acknowledge [23:46] Town Manager: that you are one two of 17 voters we did have come through the office today at the same time. Our code enforcement officer and Lynn conducted second interviews for our town clerk position this morning at the same time. [23:59] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Did Annie have to wheel you in on a journey? [24:03] Select Board member: I am a model patient. I don't need any help at all. I think Mr. Spalding has a question. Yes. May I? Go ahead, Ken. Yes, sir. Actually, it's a statement. [24:17] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: I didn't hear mention that the voting can occur in person, in the office, without having to fill out an absentee ballot. Well, it is an absentee ballot. Well, without, sorry, without having to fill out the application for an absentee ballot. [24:32] Town Manager: Correct. You do not need to fill out an absentee form. [24:36] Select Board member: In the state of Maine, Ken, we follow the absentee ballot process for the most part. But as long as you are already registered voter, you do not need to fill out the absentee ballot paperwork. Right, that was my point. Yep, it's all good. Sure. [25:02] Town Manager: Well, I'll address some confusion. Last year, we had just hired our clerk and so absentee ballot, or excuse me, absentee voting started that following week. And I think for the process of our new clerk just taking down all of their information to making sure that the town was doing their due diligence to have all of the correct information put into the system. That's how she did it. We anticipated doing the same thing, but we also received help from the Secretary of State's office to make sure that we knew what the online process was. So we've been able to take people in and process it very quickly. [25:38] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: And I understand there might be a crowd in there tomorrow morning. [25:41] Town Manager: I am aware that I am aware about 20 plus people and I don't see anything else online as board [25:52] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: member reports I have nothing. Anything for me Tom? [25:59] Select Board member: Nope I'm not in the room right now because Shannon saw me earlier today and I wouldn't want to be a physical distraction to the rest of you. Hope you feel better soon. Thanks very much I'm doing well. [26:13] Temporary Chair / Select Board member: Okay motion to adjourn. Second favorite Henry says yes Steve says yes Lauren says yes Tom says yes [26:24] Select Board member: Motion carries is this a record this is record time adjourned we have adjourned my gosh