It's a pretty good looking meal. >> Big world. All right. >> So, I don't think I connected with >> Nice. >> Like I said, feel free to jump right in. >> We have hard to eat and >> be used. Yeah, I used to be the count on Leo to >> fill some time >> in far enough away when you're talking so still on camera so it's hard to >> Yeah, I know. >> I'll try to lean. >> Take it away, John. Yeah. Thanks. Follow the camera to follow you. Pan left. Pan left. >> And now I still don't have >> the email on my phone yet, so I'm feeling a little >> Yeah, I never have had it >> change for you. >> Yeah, I'll get it. Everybody ready? Good afternoon and welcome to the Monday, March 23rd meeting of the Oro Town Council. The roll call shows that we have councelor Lway, council Hardison, councelor Marks, Council Demerit, councelor Powers, council Baker, councelor Quinn, and Mitch Stone, assistant town manager is sitting in for uh Clint Dashin who's traveling back and he's run into um all the confusion that is with the with the airports. So um Godspeed Clint and family, we welcome looking forward to having you back in Oro. Um and with that, we'll do first agenda review. And this is an opportunity items a under agenda review of the items that have been referred to our various committees for work. We keep this here for uh as a reminder to the council and the public of the the items that are being worked on at that level. um we don't have any tabled items and this is also an opportunity for us to add or move anything on the agenda um that we typically would do by unanimous agreement if there's anything that any council would like to ask about or add to tonight's agenda. Any questions? Perhaps a charter change saying the uh town manager can't leave the country on vacation or the the contiguous 48 on vacation. >> No, no one no one's with me on that one. All right. So, we'll move on to u I'll take a motion to approve the minutes for March 9th, 2026. Could I have a motion? >> So, moved. >> Any discussion, corrections? >> Yep. All those in favor? I'll abstain since I wasn't here. >> Okay. Six to zero with one abstension. And next up, we have public comments. This is an opportunity for u members of the audience here in the building or those online with us to uh share anything any thoughts on anything that's not on the council's agenda this evening. We always endeavor to provide people a chance to talk with us on agenda items as they come up. So, anybody online, Cody? And I don't see anybody jumping out of the seats. Okay, don't zoom out. Um all right, we'll move on to we also have public comment period at the end of the meeting. Um as well presentation discussion items. We're going to do first a presentation on FY2027 big picture budget for of version 1.2. We had a good conversation our last meeting and this is another look at it. Mitch, do you and staff have things you want to walk us through? >> Sure. So um once again, Clint was very disappointed that he couldn't be here today. Um uh and that wasn't just because of the nightmare of travel issues he was having. Um but I I think that one of the things he really was excited about was talking about the the budget and the budget process. And we have changed what we've done in the past and you're starting to see the new iteration of that in that you're seeing budgets in the past. I think by the time council saw a budget, it was the recommended budget by the manager and and he's hoping that you guys are now starting to see the iterations that actually these budgets go through before they even get to that um point where it's it's the manager's recommended budget. So, what you see before you today is uh I think he named it 1.2. Um and it is 1.0 is kind of here are all the numbers. Um we've looked at it a little bit. um department heads have really worked through it and and looked at it and it's kind of that first kind of swing at at things. Um 1.2 you won't see drastic changes but what you will probably see uh some changes. I think you're going to see a little bit of uh revenue change. Um and that's kind of fine-tuning the revenue and working through um places that we think um either need to go up or down. Um and the other place that we did some did some work was around wages and trying to get those kind of ni nailed down. Um obviously still uh negotiations with unions so those are not finalized but some of the other stuff the non-UN stuff are closer to that place um at this point. So you'll see those adjustments there. Um, one of the big things that I wanted to point out is that um, one of the bigger changes in the revenue was around um, and I'm sure Chris will maybe like this, uh, but, uh, we we looked at how administrative fees um, from WPCF were kind of charged to WPCF from us and I think they had kind of been doing it on a flat rate and and looked at a little different way in which we um, kind of formula created a formula that took into account the percentage of the uh WPCF's budget of the overall town budget and then use that percentage to then look at kind of key places where that administrative administration happens for WCF. So they were able to look at that which increased that revenue a little bit um and it seems to be more accurate and and looks like a good way to look at this moving forward because as as the budgets adjust it will it will fluctuate that um uh that uh percentage to to be a little bit more accurate each year. So that is one place that um was was a uh pretty big change. Um, the other thing is I think what the goal is for tonight is really kind of honing in on what council's if there are council expectations that that staff should be taking into consideration when really looking at what that manager recommended budget is. Um there was some conversation out of the first one uh around um you know operating expenses and percentages but I think really the goal for us and what I'd love to be able to bring back to Clint is kind of if you guys have other things now seeing this the other addition to this that's a little different is the all of the department um budgets were in there as well. I know there was a little bit of a mishap with that. We did get that corrected. Um, and then I know, um, Zach worked on one of the cost center, um, ones that I believe, um, councelor Marks was looking for a little bit more information and and clear that up. So hopefully this information will allow you guys the opportunity to um, kind of see where things are right now and if um, and and maybe some help with what the expectations are and how we can look at this budget moving forward. >> Okay. Does anyone have any clarifying questions, meeting questions in terms of we've had discussions and kind of a little bit of direction setting at our last meeting, right? When we talked about was it 7% as opposed to nine. Anything? We also talked about I think bringing us back um we were looking at an initial I know it wasn't really a recommended budget but whatever the one version is called um that was close to a 2 mill increase and we had also asked to bring us back what would 1.5 mil increase look like or a 1 mil increase those are the two things I jotted down at the end of last time. >> Okay. Anyone have any more thoughts on suggestions or directions? feels like you still got your work cut out for you and >> you're not there yet but >> um and you may not get there you know those are you know the scenarios that you bring back to us and we'll have to consider what you have >> yep so just so just so I can be clear and I think it was clear in here but just to bring it up again the 7% was was directly related to the expense budget was that correct >> okay >> okay >> and we just got I mean I don't know I haven't watched that meeting again but we came to that by sort of saying, you know, four or five might be more on average and we're at nine and a half now. Somewhere in the middle, we said, okay, seven's in the middle. Certainly, if you can go lower, do it. But that's what we asked. >> Okay, everybody else said on the budget piece. Okay, next up is in our presentation discussion items is the fire department non-transport fee. So, so I'll start out and then turn it over to Tom. But I I know that the question came up around um uh non-transport fees and if that was a place that we could add things and I think the preliminary discussion was that we had no mechanism. Um obviously there's a memo here from Chief Higgins and the fee schedule is there that we do have mechanisms for charging this and um at least a quick look at uh the data shows that we have collected some for some of these um what we'd consider non-transport. Um so just wanted you guys to have that and I will have Chief Higgins add anything he'd like to to that. >> Well, good evening everybody. Yeah, since there had been some questions around uh lift assist and non-transports, we had uh started putting together a ordinance when we realized that there really is a mechanism already in place under our fee schedule. So, we we stopped that and then uh uh we took a quick look at some of the data and found that there had been uh to date this year there had been 83 non-transports which 34 had been uh been built. So pleased to see I would have thought the numbers would have been bigger in a in the in a bad way, but uh it seems like we're collecting more than what we thought we might be. It was certainly was surprise to me. So I was glad to see that. So, uh, we kind of toned it back and, uh, we wanted to make sure that you understood that we are looking at this analyzing it and that, uh, what I'd like to do is come back in a few weeks with you and and, uh, maybe look at some data a little closer. Okay. I'd be happy if there's anything that you're specifically you're looking at or if you just want some for a general update or anything, we'll be happy to do that. So, >> do we have any questions? Okay, just a second. Anybody else? Okay, Council Marks. >> Um, thanks. This isn't something that I had really ever thought about before and I don't know that much about. And um I was curious when we're looking at the fee schedule. Um I see that it says um the no transport fee and it then it says this includes lift assist and fall responses to skilled care and staffed residential facilities. Um I guess the word includes I was just curious are we also talking about billing every citizen who calls and says I need help with something where they end up not needing to be transported or is this I'm not sure how this language is being applied right now. Are we only billing skilled facilities? Are we billing individuals? Are we talking about how we're going to do that? Whether it's going to be both or just one or the other or where are we at on that? >> To the best of my knowledge at this point in time, we're only uh billing facilities and only one facility because they have a organized policy of their own that they do no lift assist. So, they're responsible for those folks and they don't have that. So, if they call us, uh we're doing that. My administrative assistant tracks that, bills it, and uh monitors for the money to come in. So, she does a great job with that. And that's what that's talking about in the memo right here, the numbers that are here based on. >> So, those 83 were all from a skilled facility that needed >> uh No, all of them were calls that came uh but only what uh 34 were build to the facilities. the other 59 or whatever it would be um likely weren't built anywhere. They were for people that um you know this places will get calls for people several times maybe in a week, maybe in two weeks. Sometimes uh those calls will come in often enough but only with one crew so it doesn't hit the radar for our management team and and uh that we might have a problem. when we do discover there's a problem that someone's calling too much or be and it could be because um they they really need the help that they need to be helped off on the floor but it might be that they're trying to get something in place and I personally have experienced that and my own my own family members of it taking a while to get it in place. So, so there are some that will exceed uh later in the fee schedule. We'll exceed the the three times in a year, but uh it allows me the opportunity to address that and uh we're not looking to um mle people over with expenses. Not at all. I'm not in a way. I'm >> Me either. I mean, I feel like that's my concern was I don't want to be billing folks who are struggling to try to figure out how to meet a need at that moment. And did you just It's hard for me to hear you. Did you just say something about more than three times or I didn't hear what you said? >> Yes. If you look in the fee schedule that that is with the memo, um it shows down like five or six from the bottom lift assist um of three or more in the year and then talk about how much it would be, but it's subject to the fire chief's review. >> I see that. Yeah. Thank you. >> And Deputy Chief Hire has helped us on a number of these where we've had people that have called several times. most of the time they're looking for help and we're looking to get them the help they need. So >> great, that's what I wanted to know. Thank you. >> Yeah, Sarah, I think ultimately to answer your question, I think we're looking for some guidance on where what direction you'd like to go because I think this was hatched out of a question from council about um uh this type of thing. Um and just to clarify, the 83 are non-transports. Those calls were all just non-transports. that weren't necessarily to or from any place in particular. Um the ones that were build were specific to the skilled facility. >> And so I guess that also clarifies for me the reason the other ones weren't build is because we're not billing folks who aren't at a skilled facility. And I think that's great. Personally, I'm sure other counselors might have different opinions, but I just wasn't sure if we weren't billing them because we had missed them somehow, but we haven't build them because they don't fall in the category and in which we are billing. There's just a myriad of reasons why it might be because somebody saw you fall on the sidewalk. So they they're good Samaritan and they call you come and we do the paperwork. That's a no transport. So it's not anything we're going to bill anybody on something like that. So So there's just a whole bunch of different things can look at. So we'll go back. We'll look at some more of the data and see if we can find anything. I think like what I put in there something about missed opportunities and uh we'll see if we we are or find out whether we're doing things right or wrong and and uh we certainly want to do the right by the citizens. >> So when did Andrew did you have something? John, go ahead. >> No, go. >> Um I was just going to ask because I think when I initially read this me uh memo I misinterpreted billing. We're talking about like sending an invoice to a skilled facility and not billing in through insurance or something like that. Is that part of this equation? Is is the administration of like working through insurance for these kind of calls is that something that is >> we prohibitive or >> we build a facility. I don't know what they do. I think different facilities in my experience other places do different things. Some pass it on, depends on what their organizations like, pass it on to the client that's there. Some may I don't know if there's opportunity for bill and insurance company, but I think they do different things. Some of them may just absorb it. Yeah. So, >> but in terms of like an individual in the community who has good in I don't know I I guess I don't know if that's like a covered service in terms of interventions that are offered but like is is that part of the conversation? I I thought we had talked about insurance previously. >> There's there's a lot >> conversation. Yeah, there's a lot of conversations at the legislature about um treat non-transport and community parame medicine and where it all falls. And there's going to be there will be legislation potentially passed this year that could expand um treat no transport services. So, it's it's something that I think the department's going to want to look through is as part of its work with the MS, the bureau, the main bureau of EMS and things like that. But there could be more opportunities for when people refuse transport. you show up and um you respond to a call and someone refuses a call, refuses transportation somewhere, there still could be opportunities to bill that person's insurance company for for the services you provide at that location. >> I think in my experience, I want to go on, but there's there are opportunities at times that um you need to be able to assess a value to what we're doing and what our fee structure here is does assess a value. I was part of something with somebody that called 127 times and uh everything from wanting to light switches shut off because this was a young person had a debilitating disease. They were not ready to go to a nursing home and they fought it right to the very end. But uh we did the right thing in the end and I heard that she's doing very well. So that's that's good. >> Okay. Did anybody else did you Andrea? Um I I'm the one of the I've ro raised the question about um non-transport fees and I def I like seeing subject to review by the fire chief because I don't definitely don't want these fees um it you being used as a weaponized against the community because taxes are what they are but um like you just said the example you said the excessive calls that's that's my concern. is the excessive calls. And I appreciate knowing that you're doing for residents what Chief Merryill's team is doing for the unhoused in that if you see that they need services, you're finding a way to help them. >> Yeah, absolutely. I feel the same way. >> Okay. Anything else on this one? >> So c can I just clarify from a follow-up perspective? Is council happy with the direction we're going in and good at looking at us to continue down this path with charging these services, making sure that we're doing it correctly, or we are are you looking for something additional? >> Yeah, doesn't feel like any of us are eager to charge people more for emergency services, but at the same time, I think it does make a lot of sense to use these visits as an opportunity to help get people the help they need. Um, you know, if you have more than 100 visits, I mean, that's that's those there's more conversations to be had there about just what a burden it is for the town. So, feels like you're on the right track, but I don't I'm not anticipating any ordinance change or anything like that that we're going to want to anybody anybody want to vote on that one. >> So, >> no. what you brought up at the state legislature level, Dan, if that changes, that gives um local um fire departments or ambulance services the potential to bill people's insurance. That's right. Not them them their insurance for services offered. That would be interesting if that happened, but it's not there now. That's what I think. >> So, that's an expanding potentially they're building out the infrastructure for that kind of community parame medicine work and those things. So, >> perfect. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, okay. Next up is a discussion about 360deree survey consultant discussion. Sarah, is this something you have or is it Mitch? Do you have something from >> you have something Clint sent or do you want me to start? I don't know. >> So, he he told me that you were you were in a good place and I would just add if I needed to. >> Okay, sounds good. So, um, this is something that's on, um, the nominations, evaluations, and council policy committee's ongoing charge each year to take a look at the 360 evaluation process and make a recommendation back to council. Um, we talked about this at our last um, Nikkeep committee meeting. And, uh, we had been talking about it a bit prior to that as well. Out of last meeting came a recommendation. Um, we would like to recommend to council that we consider using uh Lori, and I'm always say Lor's last name wrong. Is it Ber or Buchard with a D? There we go. Lori Buchard um as the consultant to uh help us run the surveys this year. Um Lori has been doing the work for us on the personnel um policy handbook and working closely with Clint on that and lots of other personnel matters and has done a really terrific job. Um Clint's been really happy with the work. I think council has been really happy with the work and um she had stated this was something she could do. Clint had talked with all of his senior staff. Mitch could say more about that, but my understanding is with all senior staff to make sure that staff felt comfortable with that. And the answer we got back at our kept meeting was yes. Definitively folks did. Um so our recommendation would be that um costwise I believe last year we spent a $2,000 flat fee um with GFA. Um and the cost this year would be an hourly rate with Lori, the same that we pay her for her other work. Um with a cap of no more than uh 15 hours. Clint said to develop it and with us um and administer and um so I think if it hit the 15 hours it would be higher than the GFA fee. It would hit 3,000 instead of 2,000. Clint thinks quite likely that it will come in at or lower than the 2,000 potentially. Um but given the quality of work that we've seen from Lori, um we were all feeling like this would be what we would recommend as the way to go forward. So recommend for Lori. >> That's it. >> And we have that later in our meeting, right? >> But if people have questions, >> any questions about that? And again, we've got an action item on this 2653 for those looking ahead in tonight's agenda. All right. Um, that's the end of the uh presentation discussions. We're a little ahead of schedule, but you know, that probably won't last for long. Um we are going to open a public hearing um to consider amendments to the town of Orono code of ordinance chapter 34 traffic and vehicles. We had a presentation from Shelley Crosby at our last meeting about this. There's a background memo from her. This comes out of the um ordinance committee. Is there anyone here like to be heard on this public hearing? Seeing none hearing none online. I'm seeing Cody's just give me the Yeah. No, I've got the signal from Cody that no nobody in our audience would like to be heard. Um so we will close the public hearing and just for um our information and public's information, this will come forward again for it'll be in two weeks or four weeks. Four weeks for council action on this process. Okay. where we'll have a discussion. All right. Next up is acknowledgement by council members. We'll start John on your side of the table and move to the left side of the table and I'll go last. Um I don't have anything at the moment. >> Uh preemptive uh acknowledgement to Zach and everybody else who is just finishing up one audit, starting another one, and putting together our budget packet for this year. A lot of hours and a lot of work. >> I have nothing. Okay, Council Marks. >> Um, yeah, I just I was looking at the Orno observer when it came out this time and of course always that leads me to a thank you to Cody, but also really I was just struck again um by the really incredible variety and array of programs offered by our parks and wreck and library and how lucky we are to have those in our town. Thank you, >> Council Art. >> None tonight. council are way >> none of this. I would just like to thank um the the town and um the university and the community for the the professionalism and I guess care and grace in which it handled the search for Chance Lower. Um it was very difficult news to hear last week um that Chance had been located but um and I know a lot of people spent a lot of time um trying to find Chance uh when he first went missing and you know we hope it gives the the family and the community some some closure. It's very difficult news, but um appreciated the way that everyone came together to try and find somebody who was um had gone missing. And um it's very sad news, but thank you for for the work that everybody did. Um action items number eight on our agenda. Uh, action item 2650 is an order setting the date of April 13th, 2026 at 5:00 PM for a public hearing to consider amendments to the town of Oralo Code of Ordinances, Chapter 20, Law Enforcement, Article 3, Disorderly Property. Can we have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Moved and seconded. Excuse me. So, this comes up from the good neighbor committee and I don't know um Dan if you want to come up and give us maybe any additional updates you have on but um the good neighbor committee was formed by the council and if you follow the memo um that's included in tonight's packet. You can go back and see all of the the background information, the participants, who's there, who how we've been meeting. Um but the man of the hour and uh is Chief Merryill and they've been doing a fantastic job implementing the the disorderly property ordinances um kind of as intended and that's what we learned at our last meeting but uh Chief Merryill was prepared to give us a little more update to keep us as timely as possible. >> Yep. So thank you for that Dan Merrell Police Chief. Um so as I'd emailed out um later this or at the end of last week um I am happy to report that the numbers that we provided in the good neighborhood committee um when we met a couple weeks ago are still virtually the same. I haven't had any violations of the ordinance since early February. Um and so we haven't had anything since. And I checked again this morning. Actually I checked this afternoon before I came to the meeting. Um, I believe we'd only had one noise complaint since the meeting a couple weeks ago and I didn't have any this weekend. So, that means that we still stand at one noise complaint in the last three weeks. So, that's uh at a very high level where we stand. And you know, when you look at the spreadsheet, I think one of the things that we talked about the most at the committee that the council's expressed their pleasure with was um the difference I guess that's shown to people and the tolerance, the discretion if you would that the officers are using um when they're choosing to enforce these ordinances and the systems that are kind of in place to where you know the town manager and myself look at these also and we review them before we issue any fines. So there aren't just there isn't just a single layer of enforcement. There's a bunch of layers mixed in and then we um enforce them as we expect the council thinks we want to. And the as far as the fines and the fees go, you know, completely supportive of whatever the town wants to do for modifying and updating the fee schedule. Um we we said we talked about this a lot in the meeting that we had last time. we're trying something new and there's probably going to be need to be changes made along the way as we learn and grow and I think this is where we're at with that. So with that that's where we're at. >> Okay. Uh so in total we've I don't know if anyone has any questions for for Dan but just you go through the data that he's provided to us and we have had 62 resident reports from oro residents prompting some kind of police response aligned with disorderly event disorderly activity um ordinance. 19 of those resulted in an investigation of some kind. 10 warnings, eight resident fines, all of them after 10 p.m. resulting in at least a $600 fine because we had the doubling after 10. Um, one landlord fine for a second violation. And we do not enforce um the disorderly activity ordinance in the university zone. So, we used that information um to kind of assess where we were and and take some recommendations from the students um who joined the good neighbor committee and came back with come back with a set of recommendations for the ordinance improvements that have been vetted by our town attorney and they're in today's agenda. both I think a red line the red line edits are in the agenda um for our review and if we act tonight we'll have a public hearing April 13th and we'll be looking to um take action in early May. So I don't know John or Rob if you have anything else to any thoughts from the committee meeting. Um I was just going to reflect um agreement that I think the numbers that we have the you know a third of those calls resulting in investigations and only half of those being warnings and um just a handful resulting in fines I think is indicative of that process that it is at least you know I think there's wording where it could potentially be stricter enforcement in there if if necessary but I think the way it is uh being implemented now is really shown in those numbers and And I think those will be really valuable to continue to look at in the future. And that was some feedback that I had heard from students um following our meeting as well. Just wanting to wanting us to continue to be aware of those numbers and hoping to continue to see that it is a um a conversational process and a educational process um and not just punitive. >> Yeah. And I think that's why it's so important that students have been willing to be involved in helping us both review the numbers and also consider improvements because we need buyin from the entire community to help spread awareness to help um help achieve improvement and when necessary um as a as a last resort to have um some teeth that we could um you know repercussions if uh to make sure that people do pay attention to our the behavioral expectations we have in I don't know. Um, so the one piece that the one piece that came up that was suggested as as a potential change was a um an annual cap of total violations and the the breath of the committee thought you got to be able to continue to have consequences if there's a someone that's persistently being a problem in a neighborhood. And and that's what this this report does. and um the structure the violation structure and you know egg on my face for thinking that 10 p.m. meant something in college town in terms of you know I think we still want to every investigation was after 10 p.m. which you know boggles my mind but um it is every violation was after 10 p.m. I'm long long asleep by that point, but the um the the work to I think there still needs to be an awareness and we'll work with Cody. Paying attention, Cody? I got you. Um hanging on every word, right? Um we'll work with Cody and the team to make sure people understand that, you know, 10 o'clock is still, you know, more vigilance around these things at at 10 o'clock at night and it's time to kind of turn it down and maybe take it inside. So, anybody else have any questions in terms of what's next or Council Marks? >> Um, yeah. I just I I think I just want to recap for myself to be sure that I caught where all the the significant changes are. And I also just want to say thank you. I think this committee's done really incredible work. And I think our staff have done really great work. And I'm really glad to see that the collaborative effort and the follow-through on the commitment, which was to try it out and see what worked and what needed to be tweaked and then come back and tweak. Um, the things I noted as I was reading through the report as the changes were what you mentioned about having a maximum fee that you could be charged for an event other than the sort of endless doubling that would double forever. Y >> So those maximums are now 1,200 if it's an event with under 20 people and 1,500 for events with over 20 people. >> Yep. If you get to your fourth or beyond violation, it's $1,200 or $1,500. And then the other significant change I saw was that and I think you were hinting to this about the 10 p.m. um basically just sort of eliminating that fines double after 10 p.m. because in reality they're all mostly after 10 p.m. to begin with. So um the doubling after 10 p.m. went away. Correct. >> Right. >> Okay. And then the other thing was I think what you mentioned was this sort of rebate program where if someone pays and then they actually behave well for the next year they can ask to get their fee back from the town at the end of a year. Did I understand that correctly? >> That's right. >> And those are the three big changes. Is that right? Did I miss anything? >> I think those are the three big that's how I would I think the and I really like the rebate one. So you know good behavior pays. You know improvement pays. Um, and I think that came from staff originally. So, really appreciated that suggestion. And, uh, there's an interest in willingness to do it retroactively to the start because we've had, you know, a lot of people that have been have had an opportunity. We've had an opportunity to engage with people through the ordinance and there's been good learning and good results and, you know, why not? This isn't about raising money. This is about spreading awareness. So, yeah. Sure. >> Thanks. That was helpful to me just to be sure I hadn't missed something. And then um my other question I did have was I did notice that there were a fair number of people who just never paid their fine when they were issued one. So I was curious what is the procedure around that if folks don't pay a fine or an o for anything not necessarily just this what is the procedure for that? >> So that is something that I don't maybe we haven't talked about it here but we've talked about at the committee level and I know Clint's talked about it with um Dan and John. That is one of those we're figuring out what that looks like going forward. um discussion was had about utilizing collections like we would for parking fees and such and that way we can try and um get people to pay their fines that way. Um, so currently we would if we haven't seen a fine, there's a date, a due date, right? Because it's a bill on the bill. If we don't get payment by then, then we can send a second notice. If we don't get it after the second notice, then that's when we would talk about moving progressing towards the collections route. And I know that we probably are at that on a few. And to be completely honest, we just haven't had time to figure that path forward out yet. >> Yeah. And also now I would say giving difference to if we're going to do a rebate program. Maybe we're not going to pursue those >> as hard as we did initially. Um unpaid one so far. >> Well, I think you got to pay it. You got to pay it if you're going to get the rebate, right? And yeah, time I think we talk about timely payment in the um so that'll be you know we'll talk about that at the public hearing and clinch back but I think it'll be um you know timely payment of the disorderly DA1 disorderly activity you know you got some bureaucracy going you start the acronyms right and you start the DA1 um timely payment and then you eligible for a rebate at the end of the year. So, >> I love the eligible for a rebate if paid timely, but I also do think that folks should be held accountable if they just ignore and don't pay. So, I hope that we do have a process in place for that too, I guess, is all I'm saying. >> So, just it's very not unlike any code violation where you have a code violation and and there's a monetary value with that. We have a process in place that's very similar to what Dan's already talked about. So, I don't think it would be ha uh hard to apply that here as well. So, >> thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? All right. Any comments from the public? Okay. I guess we'll move to the um move to the vote. All those in We got a motion in second already. All those in favor of setting the public hearing for April 13, 2026 on order 2650. That's unanimous. Okay. Thanks, Dan. Um, order 2651, order authorizing the town manager to reallocate the 75,000 designated fire department defibrillators to be used for purchasing $67,500 of turnout gear. >> Hello, Chief Higgins. >> Second. >> Do I need a motion? Sorry. >> So moved. >> I got Yep, that was my fault. Got a move from Andrea. And we have a second. Excellent. Sorry, I got I mess it I mess it up sometimes. Go ahead. Sorry. >> It looked like it was a little bit on. Um, our gear frankly is in terrible shape and um, we dropped some money from the budget when we were preparing last year in hopes that we would um, be an awardee of of an assistance for firefighter grant, a regional grant for a bunch of fire departments in the area. Unfortunately, we did not receive the grant. So, uh, since then, uh, had a discussion, been going through the gear and found that truthfully it's in worse shape than what I thought it was. Um, and so therefore, I came back to the manager to talk to him about it and, uh, he challenged me to look around and and see where I might be able to find funding for it. I came back to him uh suggesting that we use the defibrillator money uh frankly because um it's not a the amount that's there the $75,000 is only onethird of the amount we have three defibrillators so we'll need to look at uh that process in the future um that and the the staff they're getting ready to come out with new stuff and and they were concerned about first generation on anything and would and hours are in good shape and are in uh under warranties or we have uh um um what do I want to call it? Oh, the service contracts. There we go. We have service contracts on them and keep them in good shape. So, um so therefore, I'm here tonight asking about $67,500 to buy 15 sets of turnout gear for our people. And that would just be a reallocation of funds. There's no additional funds asking. >> Okay. Any clarifying questions? Any comments from the public? Any discussion? Good. Great. All those in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you for bringing it forward. >> Thank you everybody. This very good thing for our five. I just appreciate it. >> Yeah, definitely. Um appreciate those who've led the conversation on this. So, thank you. Um, I'll take a motion on order 2652, an order directing the town manager to review the results of the corridor and stop survey prevent present findings at the next community development committee meeting um on project recommendations and initial timelines. I have a motion. >> So moved, seconded. >> Moved and seconded. Matt, you want to walk us through this or >> Yeah. So, um, sort of like we develop or the town staff has developed, um, kind of a plan to, um, going into the future on how we're going to deal with our facilities and with all of our equipment. We're also developing a plan to deal with, um, like uh, community concerns about um, about traffic safety, pedestrian safety, a whole raft of of things that have to do with commuting. And as part of that, we um we have gotten a survey um back and we've scored it and we've scored it with priorities, but we're at the point now where we need more expertise on on how we will um start making um basically a five-year plan. What kind of projects, what what will it involve? And so this is um we have turned over um that list to the staff who has more expertise as to um how involved some of this stuff will be and they'll come back with their recommendations um with a priority on the first nine. But they have to take into account the whole list because um that will that that may have some um timing issues depending on um where those things fall, how easy, how difficult. Um a whole raft of of um of moving parts that um they have expertise that we don't have as a as as a committee. >> Okay. Anyone have any questions for Matt or Mitch? do you have anything to add or >> uh the only thing that I would um maybe add to that is that I know that this says um that would be the next community development meeting is maybe if there was a little flexibility in that understanding that we will try our best to get everything back there we will come with something at that meeting but it may need more questions but I also know that um some of this is around trying to get maybe some numbers for this year's budget so trying to figure that out and that I mean we're are We're tight in that timeline. I think it can be done, but I just just want to uh want to make sure that we have enough time to do it right and get you guys the answers that you're looking for. That's all. >> And council bigger. >> So, um, good job compiling these. Column one, if I understand, that's the highest. Those are the priorities. So, 62, 56, 55, that's priorities. Okay. Yep. >> All right. Um and then as it relates, these are all good ideas. I I would put the caveat on here though that um we decided to essentially kind of punt on capital projects for this year with the intention of putting the money into police station and library and others. So, I just I want to be cognizant of some of these costs and and keep that in mind that um I'd want to know the costs of of all of this. >> Yeah. Not only Yeah. um getting some broad range ideas of what the costs are. But some of the some some of the um like uh ways of addressing some of these issues may be as simple as like we need to you know repaint or or um move a crosswalk painting which could be done with the in the normal um cycle of funding that we have and wouldn't necessarily need additional funding. And so this is why we're turning it over to them is to get that also. And of course any um anything that is going to cost a lot of money um I mean we'll be bringing this back to the council but we're going to need to um to to to make this a plan going into the future and that's the whole point of of getting these costs. I understand. Thanks Jacob. Jacob, I just I would also just add that part of what um staff will do is also look at ongoing projects and where some of these things might already be um being addressed in other projects that are already happening just to understand the timelines and what those are. >> Marks, >> thanks. And um I had the same question as Jacob. I assumed that's what that column meant, but it was really helpful to know that that is the rating. Um, and I guess I'm sure you all know this and you may have told us before, but that rating came from how often people asked for it or how did that rating occur? >> John, you want to walk John? John, >> some basics. I don't need every detail. >> Okay. Um, so what we did just to we we took the initial um results from the survey and uh created a scoring rubric uh which the three of us uh went through um to as objectively as possible. Um, and it focused on uh potential risk. Um, whether or not it's already part of another project, uh, how clear the problem was in our opinion, uh, uh, how clear a potential solution might be. Um, I believe that was our five criteria and they they were weighted for uh, what we viewed as being higher priorities like life and safety. um number of people at influence or impacted in the community was another one of the categories. Um and that's where those numbers came from was the our as objective as we could be um rubric. >> That makes really good sense. Thanks. I'm really grateful for this. I can say that I think you know one of the metrics of a government that's functioning is when people are bringing ideas forward about things that feel unsafe, physically unsafe in their community that there is a response to that and a timely response, an organized response. And I've loved the work that the community development committee is doing to help us as a council do that and be sure that we are responding back. Um I appreciated Mitch's comment too. My was my only concern when I read the order was just I'm aware that there is probably some urgency to try to do it to help inform the budget that we're building. And I'm also aware it's budget season for staff which is crazy time. So um it sounds like staff is feeling like they can bring something back in this timeline from what I heard from Mitch. Um, and that was really my only concern. So, thanks. >> We heard that in our community development meeting as well. So, it was kind of negotiated in terms of what's the right Mitch, you know, this is what we Mitch, what should we do next? And it was so that's how it came together. We also anticipate getting a uh some kind of update from staff at our next community development meeting about the um the speed on Main Street and um the order council passed an order um looking for action there and also the project down here on Oak Street um and Main Street at the bottom of the hill. Okay, anything else on this? We didn't have any public comment and All right. All those in favor of order 2652. That's unanimous. Okay. Next up is order 2653. An order authorizing the town manager to enter into an agreement with Lori Bousard of El Bushard Associates LLC to coordinate the 360deree town manager and town council survey this year as recommended by the nominations, evaluations, and council policies committee. >> So moved. Seconded. >> Okay, it's moved. and seconded. And we already had a presentation item on this. Is there anything else that anybody would like to share? This seems like it's going to be a lot smoother than our last attempt last year to get this going. So, that's good. Um, any public comment? Any discussion? All those in favor? Excellent. That's unanimous. And that concludes our action items. Now, we'll turn to council committee reports. Community development committee. >> You just heard um the report, so I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Finance and Operations Committee. >> Yes, we had the audit presentation um today and so the intention will be to bring the audit for the full council to review um within the next uh couple of council meetings. Um and then there was some discussion today. So, uh, the committee has been charged with, um, exploring the request from the local Cubcot troop to buy the, uh, old, um, schoolhouse building, uh, down on North Main. That has stalled. Um, the, uh, sponsor um, KCI has uh, decided that they don't want to essentially guarantee uh, that building. the troop is looking for other options. Um, but it could be a while before they come back to us with another request. So, um, Sarah's suggestion was to bring this up to the committee if you or up to the full council. If you want to continue to keep this item on our committee's charge, that's fine. or if you want to have it settled and we'll put it back on when and if there is an action to take, we can do that too. I need some guidance. Okay. Um let's talk about guidance. So there so there's no so that this path is close to us in terms of disposing of the building. I assume the Boy Scouts want to continue to use the building as they've been using it. >> They're rarely using it now because of the state that it's in. So, um, they can't use it in the winter. Um, so kind of the one path is they'll continue to behave as is. The other path is for them to come up with another option, whether, you know, get a sponsor organization to lease the building from us, to buy it from us, what have you. That'll all be brought back to council. But the current uh committee item that we've been charged with is selling it to the scouts through the council. That is no longer going to happen. >> Do we I I feel like um you know, we had an interest. It seemed like a slam dunk opportunity when you had a user that was using it and every it was going to be consistent and um so darn it. Um, >> yeah, it's kind of >> but in fairness, the council rightly so doesn't want to take on the liability of that building is >> right. Right. So, it's kind of like what do we do? I I think I think we still have an intention of trying to dispose of the building and not maintaining it because it's not really but >> so I would make a suggestion that due to the timing of this conversation and what staff has the ability to take on right now, right? >> Um there is a little bit of time available to see if the Boy Scouts come up with a different plan, but also uh staff may be starting to look at this come summertime of a new direction. Okay. Yeah, we'll let it sit. >> Yeah, that was exactly what I was going to say, Mitch, was that I think as a council, maybe we should put this on our list of things to come back to in the summer when we're through budget season. Um, and I would say from my memory of the last conversation, we were interested in disposing of the building to the Boy Scouts, but I would not say in general there was consensus that we were interested in disposing of it. I think it was in a to a specific use. Some folks are very interested, I think, in disposing of the building and getting it off of, you know, town. And I'm not sure that others are. I know I'm not necessarily. It's one of the very few actual historic buildings in our town, and I think we need a bigger conversation if we're going to just decide it's going out to bid in general. I want to talk to the historical society, a lot of other things. So, I would like it to come back to be a full council discussion sometime in the summer would be my preference. So, just slap a for sale sign on it and comfortable. >> Not like the public works building where we try, you know, we tried that and didn't, you know, >> what Sarah said. That that makes a lot of sense to me. That seems prudent. >> I'm sorry, Rob. >> That seems prudent. I agree with Sarah. >> Yeah. Okay, then. Yeah. And so, that's good on finance. Okay. Um, nominations, evaluations, and council. Oh, wait a minute. I'm I'm on the wrong page. Is that how they go? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Nick Nikap. Yep. >> Um I think there's a couple different things on my report. I might have them in the wrong order. I think the first was just an update on the policy and procedures manual in general. Um to let council know that we have worked very hard. It is very close to being ready to bring to you, but we are waiting for the town attorney's feedback on a list of questions that we sent to the attorney. So until that happens, um we can't really bring it back to you. Um we were hopeful that that would have happened before our March meeting, but it didn't. So I think Clint will continue to push and ask the attorney to get it to us as soon as possible. So hopefully might be possible to bring to you in April, but also aware of the budget timeline. And I think we're going to leave that decision up to Clint for whether, you know, it it fits into our agendas in April or it needs to hold a little bit longer. but we haven't forgotten it and we haven't just wanted you to know we are working actually very hard. Um it's just now we're at sort of a hiatus waiting. Um the part that we did send to you attached to this committee report was about the town council year um calendar. Uh it's kind of a template for what the town council year looks like. Um, and I think that was a really significant and important part of the project also in the belief that if well Dan said this quite clearly that as a council chair he wants a template that he can look at to be like this month what do I have to be tracking to make sure we're doing what we need to do to stay on track as a council. We tried to build it so it would be useful not just for council chair council leadership but also committee chairs. It flags certain things that committees need to do by certain months of the year um in order to make the presentations that council is expecting from them at certain times of the year. Also um for staff, especially Amanda, our amazing parliamentarian there. Um there's a lot of moving pieces that connect back and forth obviously between what council is doing and staff all the time. So we attempted to get all those things in there. It incorporated all the recommendations from the report of 2024 on council meeting structure and schedule. Another goal was to not have to look at that report anymore and to get everything into one place in this policy and procedures manual. Um the term town council year is something that we came up with because it's not the same as the fiscal year which is July to July. It's not the same as the calendar year which is January to January. The town council year runs from election to election. So this calendar you'll see starts in November after the election and runs till the next November. Um the hope is that also if you were a new counselor coming on you would be able to look at this and say oh okay here's what I can expect to be coming my way at different times of the year. Um I can highlight for folks if you want anything new that's been added that might be different since you know the last 2024 report but also I could just answer questions if anybody has them from council. But we wanted you guys to get a preview of this, especially in case there's something you think is missing or needs to be added before we bring you back. It'll be in the policy and procedures manual. It's an appendix in the manual. >> I have a couple questions. Anybody have any for me? Um, so really good work. I think this will be this is in the binder, right? So, it's kind of a I I foresee some sort of kind of easier to use two-pager type thing of um and then you know see February for all the details, but I do think as I was reading this again today. Um it's got uh it's got everything and kind of sequence it. I'm a little worried we'll never have anybody run for the council again when they see what the calendar is, but it's actually pretty orderly in terms of once you once you get past the organizational stuff. It is pretty orderly and we have a very good staff to help us implement it. So, um I did want to ask what do you think about we've done the employee handbook is something we're going to do on an annual basis. We're now going to do um we called the public hearing. We had a public hearing tonight on a new approach to parking. Um, and that'll be an annual event where we update the schedule of parking. Do you think those things need to be in here as well? >> Yeah, I looked at that ordinance about parking and thought, "Oh, maybe we should add this in if we're planning to do this every September." I will also say I reached out to councelor Lairway who chairs our ordinance review committee because as I was looking at it coming into the meeting, it occurred to me also that we, you know, the ordinance review committee has a calendar each year of what ordinances they're expecting to get to each quarter, each month. And I think it would be nice to have that. At the same time, the other committees like finance are bringing forth the budget calendar. It'd be nice to have all those things happen um at an organized time of the year. So um I see that too. We can certainly add I agree with you on there's a lot of detail here. So honestly, it's like the reboot if all of us were gone tomorrow, right? Like how would we reboot and start? But I hope that the boldface highlights for every month at the top kind of give an overview for a counselor about this is the main focus going on this month um was kind of the intention. Does that answer that question, Dan? Yes, I think it's probably smart to put the September parking >> um in there if we intend as a council to do that every year. I don't know. Have we passed that yet or is that coming up? >> No, it' be we had we on the public hearing but we'll do it. We do the handbook every year now. So we, you know, make updates on an annual basis and I don't know if it's as much a part of the manager's work plan, >> but some of these things are, >> you know, we're going to do the parking thing every year, right? So we'll have to approve it and >> and the personnel policy handbook every year >> book every year >> and the ordinance review is one I caught. So the other thing I will say is that, you know, the intention is that >> this will be looked at every year. it's in the calendar that the nominations evaluations committee needs to look at this once a year starting in the summer and bring any changes needed back to council in September so that hopefully it stays up to date. Um because obviously it's only as good as we keep it up to date. It's accurate now to what we're doing now as best as we were able to make it. And I do have one question for council when people are done with their own questions. Go ahead. >> Anybody have any other >> uh not a question just um in referencing what Sarah just raised about ordinance review committee? can talk about that at our meeting this Thursday about um what exactly that might look like because we do have an ongoing calendar that >> tells roughly when everything is planned to be looked at and of course it's more than a yearly >> schedule. Um so we can talk maybe about what format in in what format would it would make the most sense for us to alert council to what we're planning to be looking at in the following year. Um, and >> yeah, >> I guess we can update from there, but we'll >> Yeah, 100% I'd want to hear from ordinance review committee. I just think it's probably important enough that council should at least once a year be sure we've gotten something from ordinance review because otherwise it's it's a pretty important transparent thing for the public to know what ordinances in what order are expected to get looked at. And it also holds council accountable that when we bump stuff to the top of the queue, what that means is we're pushing other things further down. And we tend to do that a lot with ordinance review committee. So, um, yep. Great. Does anyone else have questions? >> I didn't have a specific question, I guess, but I would agree with that, uh, new on new on council, this being a really useful document. Um, and I appreciated the addition and I think that will also need to be something that's kind of regularly updated. But the addition of the um kind of like events around town, pool closing, opening, the trunk or treat, like those things that uh um we so we can kind of hold these things uh in comparison and con and with what's going on in the community as well. >> Thanks. >> Okay. >> I had one question to council. Um I don't know if it came through. It was originally a comment box question, but I don't know that it came through in what you saw. But you probably noticed that one thing we tried to do here was to be sure that in the fall there was some housekeeping for all of our boards and committees to be sure that they the standing boards of of the council but also our special committees like the good neighbor committee or the home committee it's being formed that once a year they're asked to take a look at their charge and the tasks that have been assigned to them and like Jacob did today for a finance committee come in and say hey this one's been assigned to us and we think we're done with it. can we get it off our list or you know we think it's stalled out what do you want to do next with it? Um and those are all to happen in the fall. When we wrote it we realized there's one category of committee that currently there's no actual report back to the council mechanism at all which is the committees that are not town committees and boards the ones that we appoint liaison to that the town doesn't run ourselves. So for example OEDC falls in that category the Oro historical society falls in that category. I think the orno visi water board I have the title wrong but um and those we currently have no mechanism as a council to ever get any report back from those liaison and I guess I just have a question for council like does it feel important and if so would we like that to be just a short written paragraph like we're asking from the um special committees to do in the fall or would we prefer that it's just something added to every council agenda that if there's a report from one of these liaison there's a time for them to speak up and make it or I we were just curious as a committee because it's not something that council has any procedures around now currently we just I don't think we hear back from those people at all so >> feedback >> I I would just say historically what has happened with those boards in particular is if there is something of interest or feels that why that feels like it needs to come back um most of the time those liaison or those people that are representing will let us know and we'll get it on an agenda so it can be shared. Um less informal than that and I don't know if you need to formalize it more than that but that's historically what's happened with a lot of those boards. Um so just >> okay >> I'm curious how council feels. I I don't mind the informal, but I think I'd prefer that it was on the agenda that if there is a report from any liaison that there's a time that we ask because I don't know, I think it can be hard sometimes for a council rep when you come on and you're new at that anyway to advocate hard enough to say, "Hey, I need to get on the agenda to say something about the historical society or about." But that might just be my take. Maybe everyone else feels like it's not needed. >> I I like the idea of on the agenda in the same spot that we're having these updates right now. maybe listing um if there are any updates from the following liaison and we list all of them so that people are reminded hey you're this liaison uh do you have a report if not it's fine but just I think I like the idea of having it explicitly listed on the on the agenda just as a reminder >> so you see it as being like E then after council chair report some somewhere on this list of F bullets there would also be a liazison >> maybe before council chair I Okay. >> How do other people feel about that? >> Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, >> I don't predict it's going to be very common or take a lot of time. >> Sometimes there's a lot to say and a lot of times there's not a lot to say, but it would be useful to have that reminder. >> Okay. All right. Anything else? Do you have >> I think that was my only question. I also just want to highlight for council that you might notice that one thing that's highlighted throughout here is um that council should pay attention to where we are in the year. there's some really great times for us to launch new initiatives and those are called out. Um so January into the beginning of February, you know, and working with Clint, those are a good time. And then after that, we're kind of in this 90-day budget window when it's not the best time. And then it calls it out again for us starting in May that we need to really get serious about looking back at initiatives we started in January, goals we set in December. Um so I think that's important that it calls that out for us as a council and um just wanted to bring that attention to you guys. It's interesting and I mean this nice thing about this document and maybe it's not nice. It's it's frustrating that you think about how short you really have to a time you have to do kind of new initiatives and you know because we we're giving up there's a couple months in the start of the year we're setting goals. we're going to, you know, and and here's kind of there's got to be a balance between how much process we have and how much time we spend working on the priorities of the community. And the I think the process when good process keeps the trains running and keeps the routine kind of understood and manageable so you don't get sideways and you don't get you don't lose track of things that you need to be doing to be good stewards of, you know, the the process. That's a good thing. If process ends up being the point where you don't have time to work on the priorities of the community because now you'll have we've got if we get this has to be the calendar is is as I read the calendar and all the different pieces to it and what what I expect will be in the policies and procedures manual there's a lot of work that needs to be done efficiently and in a timely way so it doesn't get in the way of the stuff that all of us perhaps with the exception of council marks you know the pol you've you've a lot of leadership here. So, we got to find that right balance. Um, and I think we will, but it's got to be we're going to have to lean on Amanda and Clint a lot to help us with it. Um, but that's got to be, as I look at it, in the end, we we'll lose a couple months at the the end of the year reports and the 360 surveys and then the assigning new committees and the retreats and the goal setting and then, oh my gosh, it's budget season and what about that stuff I I ran for council to do. Um, so we've got to make sure that the the ongoing work from year to year and in in the monthly calendars gets done in a way that doesn't um impede upon our other work. >> I think Dan that that's really well said because I think the goal of the calendar was to actually make that more efficient so that we know exactly what we need to do. It's easy to do it. a lot of it can just show up on a consent agenda >> and those things can move forward and allow us as much time as possible to focus on what the council goals are and really moving those forward, the community goals that have hopefully reflected in the council goals. So, um 100% the detail is here in a hope to make things move efficiently and clearly and also so that counselors who are trying to move something forward can plan ahead themselves about here's your windows, don't miss them, right? because I didn't know as a counselor when I first came on. You don't miss you miss this window at the beginning of January and then you kind of can't really do much um during this window of budget season. So I hopefully the goal is to make it more visible to counselors where you need to move quickly and be ready to go to most effectively utilize the time. But this is a guideline and council can always move anything forward whenever it wants to. >> Yeah. Okay. Good. Anything else on that one? All right. Do you have appointments updates too or >> Oh, sorry. Sorry, I forgot I had a third one. Um, yes, we're working on appointments. We began talking about applications. We had a good number of applications that came in for the open positions. We ended up deciding to um meet one more time in April on the issue because we needed some recommendations back from some of our boards that typically make recommendations like the tree board and the library board of trustees. They typically look at the applications also and give recommendations to us. Um, and also we're aware that the home committee is being appointed by this council next Monday if all goes well. Um, and a lot of the applicants overlap. Um and our intention has been on the nominations evaluations council policy committee for uh the last year to try to be sure that when we have lots of folks in the community that are interested in serving that we spread out those appointments as much as possible and don't appoint the same person to three or four committees but keep that to one or two per person. So we're going to come back to you in April with a slate. That's the plan. >> Okay. Thanks. Ordinance review committee. >> Yeah. So we're going to be meeting uh this Thursday. Um, we were originally going to meet this past week, but staff, uh, asked for us to push back a week. So, uh, we're going to be, um, talking about upcoming priorities, including chapter 12 cemeteries, chapter 36 utilities, chapter 22 library, chapter 29 public health and safety, business licensing. So, those are sort of uh, looking ahead to see sort of what is on the the docket. A lot of this work is still obviously being driven by really what uh Shelly is able to do in collaboration with the rest of staff. So u we'll find out more and we'll update council about what's next on the agenda. >> Okay. Thanks Rob. Um DEIB. Yeah, I was uh unable to attend the last meeting. Um so I won't get way out over my skis, but um the committee um has um recommended two people to work with Clint um considering the Mquo Museum consultant interpretive plan. And also um we live in a community that has a mosque. We're one of eight in I think eight mosques here in Maine. And if people are interested in um learning more about our Muslim neighbors, there is a book club that will be happening by one of the um members of the DEIB committee and um that will be over April and um so April 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th and you can find out more about it with flyers both I think um on the town site and also at the library. So, please join us um and learn more about um the people living around us. Thanks. >> Good. Thanks, Matt. Um I don't have anything in the council chair update. I did I don't know. John, do you have anything on the home committee that you want to share or how we doing? >> Um >> not anything that uh wasn't already mentioned. Okay. Um just that, you know, I think it's still open until Wednesday and would encourage people to uh apply if they have some interest in it. >> Okay. >> Um I've heard had some good conversations with folks that are pretty excited about um that work. So hopefully we get a lot of strong application applications. >> Okay, good. I'll turn to the town manager report. Um the county tax bill is that >> uh so I was glad to see there's no time limit on me today. So I take as much time as I need. So, there are a couple other things, but one is um we added the county tax bill, which we received um as it was noted in the budget, it is it up it is up by about $230,000 this year. Um but Clint wanted you guys to have that and see it. Um so, just to be aware. Couple other things. Um officer, uh Dan Patterson is going to be involved in the 24-hour super plunge this weekend. And I think there's Oh, this last weekend. He just just did it. My apology. My apology. Just did it. And And And Dan, do did you want to come up and say something really quick since you asked me to mention it? >> Yeah. Also, I told you I'd take you off the hook. So, here we go. So, yes, I can speak actually to it. I was there with him this weekend. It was a good time as always having done it last year. I knew what he was going through this weekend. So happy to report just interesting to the council. He raised $5,15 himself. Um altogether him and 10 other plungers. So there was 11 people total raised $50,000 for Special Olympics Maine for that one event. So that was a huge huge success. Um it started out good sunny and then it ended on the last six like this sleep and freezing rain and they all felt it and it was bad. and I did the last one with them in honor of doing it last year and to see what it was like in the rain again and it was equally terrible. So, just wanted to uh plug that for him. You're going to stay here for the other one too. >> So, the second one that Mitch is going to report on, uh just an interesting fact to the council, too. One of our officers just got back from Florida this past week. Um Dan Tus achieved drug recognition expert certification through the main criminal justice academy. Long story short, that means that he's one of 107 officers in the state that is trained specifically to detect impaired drivers that are not impaired by alcohol. So, anything else that you might get arrested for that's not alcohol, if you were to get arrested, um there's a special an officer is specially trained. It's two weeks in the class and then a week down in Jacksonville, Florida doing examinations on people, live test candidates. Um, and then it requires testing throughout and it's extremely hard and he passed with flying colors. I was in I was in conversations with the uh coordinator of the program today and he said he did an excellent job. So, just want council to know that that we have somebody in house. We've had them in the past. They're super helpful to the region, too. So, I don't know what the number is up here in Ponkcot County, but I know that there's 107 and a bulk majority of that is uh south of Bangor because they're some to some degree population based, too. So, um real good thing that one of our officers was able to get this weekend. So, there's that. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Um also just uh wanted to make you aware we've had a few resignations in the last um couple of weeks here. um nothing out of the ordinary, people moving on to better things for themselves and um certainly we're still in the process but uh are looking to recruit new people. So um just wanted you to be aware of that. Um two more things. The second last thing was I just wanted to shout out to public works. I personally on my way in to work I come from another community and was driving and noticed that you know there was snow on the ground this morning and the on the roads as I was driving in and I was thinking h it's a late spring you know storm these are not easy and giving them the benefit of the doubt and I hit the town line no snow fall I mean the there wasn't anything on the roads and so it just it it says a lot about our public works team and and how they take pride in and they take care of our roads here. Um and and certainly I'm sure a late uh March Sunday they didn't want to be out plowing, but they do a really good job and just wanted to give them that um shout out. Um and the last thing is is is to all of our staff. Uh you know, anytime that um the town manager's out, uh it makes it a little bit more difficult because we're down somebody and and our staff really pulls together and and works together to make sure that everything is smooth and certainly makes my life easier when it's that way. So, I really appreciate everybody uh in terms of that. So, >> I will acknowledge that the town manager reports a little less focused than it typically is, but that's a little joke about this YouTube stream. And Cody looks like he's trying to fix it. So, >> I think maybe I broke the camera. >> Get public works on it. They'll get it cleaned up. All right. Thank you very much, Mitch. And thank you to everybody who uh fills in. Clint's not here. I will note that looks like we're on track to be in an early adjournment for tonight with Clint not being here. I don't know what that means, but >> yeah. Um, we do not have any u public petitions. Uh, future agenda items. I had one that I had to put on the agenda. Does anybody have anyone before I bring up mine? Mine was an email from um former counselor Kenny who noted um to I think Clint and I and maybe I think a couple of others may have been a Sarah and Jacob that um the state has a uh popular vote for any kind of borrowing and Oro does not. Um I think that's something that um so he raised the question about whether we should change the charter. Um and I told you I told him I would bring it up but I also wanted to point out that um Oro has um you know we are moving towards bonding for project you know capital projects in the town um namely the library um and I would share and our charter does not require u that voters approve a bond question um at the ballot box. I did share with Leo that um the council has the authority to put anything it wants to out to a popular vote if we feel like there's a topic that um rises to that level. We want the people to decide it and there is also a very uh a fairly low bar for people to overturn a council action. So for instance, if someone doesn't want Lori Buchard to do the 360 I don't maybe this one doesn't qual no doesn't apply. It's not an ordinance. It's not an ordinance, but if we spend money or pass an ordinance and people, residents in the town of Orono have a view that that wasn't the right approach, they five people can get together, get petitions, and then start a petition process to over, you know, ask the voters to potentially overturn um you have to get a certain number of signatures on it um to get on the ballot, but it could stay and and potentially overturn a council action. So, I'm not interested in pursuing it. Um, I know we can charter changes revol involve either a charter commission or as was the case when we changed the voter um we got an opinion legal opinion three years ago and we changed the municipal elections from March to November. Um, we got an opinion that we didn't need a charter commission for that kind of change. But I told Leo I'd bring it up. You know, your voice matters. Sometimes if if there's energy and interest in the council and people want to bring it forward as a future agenda item and start the conversation, people can do that. But I I'm perfectly happy to say we brought it up and so do you have something? >> Yeah. Are we go ahead and discussion? Yeah, I I agree with you. >> Some of the most casual hand ra. It's like literally like an eyebrow raise. I'm trying to like read people's No, you don't. Excuse me. Excuse me. Choose me. Excuse me. >> It happens. I get a little kind of a subtle lean towards the mic and I read that as Bill Jacob's got something. So, go ahead. >> Oh, I was just going to say that I agree with you, but now I don't anymore. >> Yeah, speak up. >> No. Anyway, I I agree with you and I think of this from time to time uh when we have future agenda items brought up. I I understand that um the your voice matters promise matters but also in the need of balancing of efficiency and staff resources and and time. I'm happy to discuss anything any member of the public wants to if there are several members of the public that want to discuss it. And and this is not specifically aimed just at this agenda item. If more people want to discuss this, then yes, let's have this discussion. If it's a singular person bringing it up, I I I want to balance the efficiency of of everybody's time and and resources. So it's not specifically this. I I think of, you know, that is other times when we have this, you know, future items discussion. So I I agree with you, Dan. If more people want to discuss it, let's do it, but I'm not inclined to do it. >> Anyone else? Council Marks. >> Yeah, I just I agree with what you've both said already. Um I think the process is working right now in that there's only a couple ways to get something on an agenda. It's either that the town manager and staff bring it or that an individual counselor decides that it's important enough that any counselor can put something on an agenda whether, you know, the whole council agrees or not. But the most typical way we get things there is the council itself says it's important to us as a council. So that's what we're getting a read on I think right now. And the other thing I just wanted to say is um just if anyone in the public is listening or cares, it is section 1.1.10 of the charter which tells you how you can overturn decisions. Um and as Dan pointed out, it takes very few people to start that process, just five. It takes quite a few signatures to actually get a charter vote to happen. um I think it's 10% of the people who voted in the last gubanatorial election. So, you know, that's certainly in the hundreds, but totally obtainable and it does apply only to orders or resolves that are appropriating 500,000 or more for a single capital improvement or a bond. Um so anyway, um it does directly address bonds, but not Louis B, not Lorie Buchard's $3,000 contract, just so we're clear. Okay. Thanks. But you can hold me accountable for voting for that contract this fall if you choose to when we'll have an election. So, >> all right. Um, with that, we did get um an email from a constituent that came in this I think it came in last week about um asking for an ALS um awareness month proclamation for May. So, I'll pass that around. And I'll work with Clinton Amanda about potentially bringing that forward as a um follow back up with a constituent and um potentially bring that forward through our proclamation process. Okay. Um next up is public comment. Anybody have anything for public comment? No. Okay. Um and we're going to move into executive session. We do not anticipate formal action after the executive session. Right. So with that, I take a motion to move into executive session pursuant to one MRSA section 456A regarding a personnel matter. >> Dan, I'm making a motion. I'm making a motion. I'm making a motion. >> Second. >> I already moved. So, >> did you get me? >> I got you. I got you. All right. All in favor? >> Thank you. And um