SELECTMEN'S MEETING MINUTES

Woolwich Town Office - Monday, August 16, 1999

ATTENDANCE: David King, Dale Chadbourne, Rita Sturtevant and Rick Snell
Absent: Crispin Connery

PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES: Rick made the motion to accept the minutes. Rita requested to change minutes to include Crispin's question to the Fire Chief, Wayne Saunders why the chief did not accept the offer of Randy Kaplan and another fireman to install the replacement engine into the brush truck for free. Wayne's reply was that he didn't want to have to pay to correct work done by others and that he also wanted a guarantee for work done in a shop. Motion was seconded and passed unanimously as amended.

ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT: Jack said that there have been complaints of speeding at the intersection of the Old Stage and Mountain Roads. He said that there was not much more that could be done that hadn't already been done. Jack also said that he had put in a culvert near Doak's house in a joint effort with Mr. Doak.

FIRE CHIEFS REPORT: Chief Wayne Saunders reported that there had been seven calls since the last meeting. They consisted of a car fire that turned out to be a flat tire, two smoke checks, two car accidents, one standby and one false alarm. Wayne said that there have been 94 calls so far this year. last year the same number of calls occurred on 9/8/98.
Burning Permits: Gloria Kenney needed to be sworn in so that she could issue burning permits.
Brush Truck: It was noted that McLean will charge $500.00 to install the engine in the brush truck, and that the problem at the present is who will rebuild the engine. Dave and Wayne will confer on Tuesday, 8/17, to discuss the issue.
New Locks: Due to the high cost of replacing two locks in the fire station, Dave asked if we could put an expensive keyless locking device on the front door and go with a good quality key lock on the back door. Wayne said that he didn't want to have to pay for broken windows in back when the firemen, having forgotten their key, needed to get in. After a short discussion, it was noted by Dave that the front door, using a password system and not a key, should be the door that is used to gain entrance to the fire department. Dale made a motion to accept Dave's suggestion. Rita seconded, motion passed unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS: Two proposals were offered regarding a maintenance policy for the new generator. One proposal was for once a year maintenance or twice a year maintenance. Dale made a motion to accept the twice a year agreement, seconded by Rick, motion passed.
NSF Checks: Deputy Tax Collector, Joan Kaplan, reported a steep rise in bounced checks since the beginning of the year, and requested that the NSF fee charged by the town be increased from $15.00 to $20.00. Dale suggested that due to the increase and serious nature of customers writing bad checks that the town raise the fee to $25.00 and made a motion to that effect. Rita seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Pine Tree Waste: Numerous complaints from Woolwich citizens and town officials about recylables, i.e.: newspapers, cardboard, plastic bottles blown out of overflowing recyclable containers were discussed. It was stated by the office staff the Pine Tree was very slow in responding to requests for them to come over to Woolwich in empty the containers. Usually it took 3-4 days and 3-5 calls before any action would be taken. Pine Tree has agreed to credit the town $110.00 each time the containers are not emptied within 24 hours of notification by the town office. It was also suggested that the contract be changed to add an (s) to the word containers, add "clear glass" and "tin cans." Rick then made a motion to accept the contract with those changes. Rita seconded, motion passed unanimously.
School Union: The bill for the study done for the school union was over the amount agreed to by $5000.00. Rick made a motion to approve spending the original amount of $30,000 and let the school union pick up the excess $5,000.00. Rita seconded, motion passed unanimously.
Y2K: Rick told the board that he expects to have a letter from Burgess Computers that the town computers supplied by them are Y2K compliant.

OTHER BUSINESS:
Jane Miller read a statement as to the reason why she had not paid her taxes for the past three years on her Montsweag property. She was accompanied by her sons. Her statement described in detail that she had had several personal crises in her life during the past several years. She acknowledged that she had not responded to legal notices during that time telling her that her property was in danger of being foreclosed on by the Town. The Town did foreclose last year and the property was put out for bid. There were no bidders. This year, due to a number of inquiries and interest in the property, it was decided to put the property out for bid again. Notices went to the newspapers requesting sealed bids. Ms Miller's sons offered to pay the back taxes, but Dave explained that though the town officials were sympathetic to their problems, the legal process could not be interrupted at this point. He noted that they could bid on the property the same as any other interested person. If the property does not sell this time the selectmen said that they could revisit this issue again.
Property Markers: Wayne Leeman told the selectmen that his property markers had been moved. Dave mentioned that the town had no jurisdiction regarding boundaries and suggested that Wayne talk to a surveyor and/or lawyer. Dave also mentioned that he might first talk to a line/fence viewer and that Vance Baker might help him. It was suggested to ask Lloyd Coombs who was the last fence viewer known to the town and when. 

CEO REPORT: Bill wasn't there in time for his oral report, but had left a written report on Lloyd's chair.

Motion was made and seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 7:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan A. Kaplan

Deputy Town Clerk

Approved: David A. King, Sr.

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