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.