| Joanne Cole |
The Select Board on Monday made progress toward purchasing a new ambulance, putting paving requests before voters, setting a framework for partnering with Gray on recreation programming, and managing near- and long-term tech challenges.
With all that, an agenda item for Amvets’ bingo license came as a relief.
Bids for replacement ambulance. Five bids came in for the long-discussed replacement ambulance. Prices appeared to range from $356,158 to $414,676, and build times from 14 months to as long as two-and-a-half years out. Staff will return next week with a recommendation. In August, the board was ready to purchase a new Type 1 unit for $353,000 but split over whether to proceed without voter approval to cover the additional $103,000 needed beyond the $250,000 budgeted.
Once the vendor and price are settled this time, and assuming bid prices hold, the plan is to let voters decide at a special town meeting in late November whether to tap the town’s ARPA funds or Undesignated Fund Balance to cover the budget shortfall. The amount needed and timetable should be clearer when the board meets on October 24.
Paving and chip seal plans. Paving may also figure into any November special town meeting. The board is considering again taking two paving/chip seal funding requests to voters in a single year, one in November and another at the annual town meeting in May. If so, which roads at which meeting, and which treatment for which roads?
Public Works Director Ted Shane’s draft to-pave list has several low-traffic dead-end roads as high priorities–McKenney Drive, Waterman Drive, Bryana Way, Marshall Drive–along with Gloucester Hill Road and the paved portion of Rowe Station Road. Those roads were found to be in the worst condition town-wide, according to an analysis this summer by an engineering intern. Heavily used connectors Bald Hill Road, Morse Road and Snow Hill Road, apparently in less-dire shape, appear as lower priorities on Shane’s paving schedule.
Because of safety concerns and traffic volume, board members wanted Bald Hill Road moved up for priority attention. They also speculated that voters would be more likely to support “the big roads” at any special November meeting. Might the hard-used, heavy-load roads get less-expensive chip seal instead of traditional paving? Shane will revisit his list, re-ordering the roads and including estimates for both methods on the big roads. Meanwhile, Shane will use $28,000 of unused funds to take care of Marshall Drive now and shim-coat the hill on Jack Hall Road.
New Gloucester and Gray Parks & Rec collaboration. An updated draft Memorandum of Understanding between New Gloucester and Gray for rec programming was before the board. The departments jointly offer programs as “GNG Recreation,” and the directors and leaders of both towns have been discussing the terms of the collaboration.
At the October 17 meeting, the board focused more on the contours of the collaboration than specifics in the draft agreement. NG Parks and Recreation Director Sarah Rodriguez explained that by cooperating as they have, the departments can offer more different programs, more economically, to residents of both communities. Each town brings to the table something the other lacks, she said. For example, New Gloucester has extensive fields but limited indoor space; Gray has gym space at Newbegin but limited fields.
The programs cross-train staff and share a common website for registrations for efficiency and simplicity, Rodriguez said. Except for their respective Kids Club before-and-after-school care programs which require separate accounting, the two departments split costs and registration fee revenues 50-50. “When we’re looked at as one, it’s much more successful,” she said.
It’s a win-win, Rodriguez told the board, with each department committed to the success of the other. Pointing to similarities with local Little League teams and Scout troops that have merged, Vice Chair Paul Larrivee said, “It comes down to capacity and what you can offer” and the need to reduce overhead.
Chair Peter Bragdon and member Stephen Hathorne wondered if New Gloucester taxpayers are shouldering costs to run programs that more Gray families might participate in. It works the other way, too, Rodriguez said. She noted that without the partnership, New Gloucester would carry all costs alone.
What about field maintenance, Bragdon asked. There’s been no maintenance of the Fairgrounds except mowing, Rodriguez said. Board member Tammy Donovan agreed. “We’ve let the Fairgrounds go way longer than we should have,” said Donovan. The rec activities are a welcome use of the fields, she said, even a draw. “People go walk the Fairgrounds because they enjoy listening to the kids and watching the kids,” Donovan said. “It’s one of our best assets, if you ask me.”
For now, the board decided to continue exchanging drafts with Gray, with each town doing its own internal and legal review and ultimately aiming for an overarching framework both towns can agree on. Member Dustin Ward cited the challenge of regionality and the “growing pains” involved in working with another town. Paul Larrivee suggested that details could be left to policies and operational agreements worked out later between departments.
The board also left the door open to a possible workshop among themselves, depending on what Gray wants in their revisions to the draft MOU.
Tech and system upgrades, staff. The town’s upgrade of outdated broadcast technology in the Meetinghouse and planned upgrade of phones and other systems in town buildings have revealed additional items needing attention and expertise. For example, Interim Manager Brad Plante told the board that current internet wiring is inadequate to carry a cloud-based phone system. Similarly, additional equipment—switches, speakers, digital storage and such—turns out to be needed for the new Meetinghouse broadcast set-up.
Board members bravely waded into technical waters, coming out the other side with a plan to spend some money already set aside. More challenging were longer-range questions about ongoing technical support. Board members acknowledged the toll that planning, securing, and implementing complex, highly technical Meetinghouse upgrades in-house has taken on the volunteers on the Cable TV Committee and broadcast operator. It’s time to hire a fulltime IT/station manager, Tammy Donovan said. A first step will be looking toward neighboring towns for examples and advice.
Budget parameters. The board also set ‘budget parameters’ as guidance for the manager in preparing an operating budget for FY23-24. Noting that no parameters were used last year, Chair Peter Bragdon suggested a five percent departmental increase maximum. Challenges in setting parameters for the parameters quickly emerged: what about rising fuel and utility prices that could eat up the five percent? What about cost-of-living increases for staff?
The board appeared to settle on up to five percent increases for departments, not counting utilities, up to three percent pay increases for staff, written justification for any new position requests and “no excessive use of the Undesignated Fund Balance” to balance the budget.
Bingo! and committee seats. In other action, the board blessed Amvets’ request for a Bingo license and added a seat apiece to the Environmental Resources, Parks and Rec, and Community Fair Committees to get them back to full strength with seven members. Previously, board liaisons served as voting members, but no longer.
Watch video of the October 17 meeting at this link, and find the meeting agenda and related documents at this link.
