Madison board backs Ward Hill speed tables, adopts GA maximums

[0:06] Chair (Select Board Chair): Don, are you good? We're good, boys. Okay, call this meeting to order. Please join me in saluting the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, [0:23] Speaker B (unidentified): indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:31] Chair (Select Board Chair): Welcome everybody to tonight's select board meeting. Let the roll call show all five select board members are present. Move it on to C, Consent Agenda, AP Warrants number 709142026. [0:45] Speaker B (unidentified): Your wishes? I make a motion to pay. [0:48] Chair (Select Board Chair): Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor? Motion passes 5-0. Payroll registers number 3809172026 and number 3609, is that correct? [1:05] Speaker C (unidentified): Which one? Is it 38 and 36? Nope, that should be 39. [1:09] Chair (Select Board Chair): Okay, let's make a change. Okay, again, payroll rush is number 3809 1720 26 and number 3909 2420 26. Motion to approve. Second. Motion, the second. All those in favor? Motion passes 5-0. Acceptance of the minutes of the select board meeting on September 14th, 2026. Motion to approve. Second. Motion, the second. All those in favor? Motion passes 5-0. He old business appears to be numb. Okay, just an [1:53] Speaker D (unidentified): update from last meeting from the main DOT against Mr. DePizia's request for widening the intersection of Ward Hill and 148. I did speak to them and they did not recall discussing them, discussing that, but there was a possibility that he was going to check back on his notes because he does remember that being brought up, but he didn't, you know, have the exact, you know, figures or whatever he was going to do. So I did reach out to them and that was my response. And the other thing to an old business is the Main Street projects going well. They should have the road opening within the next week and a half after they get the paving done. Actually, it looks like it's been pretty [2:40] Speaker B (unidentified): small. Yeah, I haven't had any problems, Mr. Chairman, on that intersection. Jeff, at one time at that meeting or shortly after the meeting, didn't we talk about or talk about speed tables? You was going to get some plastic ones. We I did try on [2:58] Speaker D (unidentified): that. Yeah, and the DOT had offered them, but they were, they were currently being used somewhere, and then Skelly and the public works director and Skelly had offered theirs, but they are very high maintenance. They're very hard to put in. They're quite a, quite a maintenance, you know, an issue. You know, we could pave, we could pave some speed tables in that, you know, might be a little bit more, you know, work a little bit better because what happens is when you travel over those, they get peeled up and Especially in the plow in the wintertime, where it's so late in the season, and I guess by putting those in, you put them in sections and you have to drill holes down into the pavement about a foot deep and just [3:42] Speaker B (unidentified): Like the plastic speed bumps. Yes, they're rubber. Correct. Yeah, okay. Can you get a price from somebody to install some speed bumps? I'd much rather do something like this before we know what's coming, the four-way intersections coming. If we don't get this, I thought the lights was going to help, and obviously we've already had two accidents out there. It's coming sooner than later if we don't try speed bumps to try to stop these accidents, and I would like to, I would like to see if the board would Support seeing what the cost would be for somebody to pave in [4:20] Speaker D (unidentified): Some speed bumps. Yeah, well, yeah, I can, I can do that. There are certain types and there's certain, the drawings that you have to go by, the D.O.T. There's speed humps, there's speed tables, there's speed platforms, there's all kinds of different, and they're all, they're all tapered different for the speed of the road, but I do have on file to the garage the ones that do need to go in there, and if you would like me to move forward and get some prices for this winter, I will. That's up to you guys if that's What you [4:53] Speaker B (unidentified): Want to do. We'll probably run into running out of time on pavement wise if we got to act sooner than later, I assume. Well, yeah, they're not that much of a big [5:01] Speaker D (unidentified): Project. It shouldn't take more than half a day to put them in. The question would be, do you want to, what's your wishes, to do both intersections or you just want to do the Ward Hill [5:10] Speaker B (unidentified): Side? What are we seeing the most problems, Ward Hillside? Yeah, I mean, I don't want to make, I don't want to be a pain for the highway, but I think that we better do something before it turns into a four-way stop. I think personally, I don't know how the board feels, but I know that was talked [5:30] Chair (Select Board Chair): Talked about originally. I know, I think Jimmy had reached out to me at one point and said if we ever got to that point to reach out to him, if we [5:38] Speaker D (unidentified): Needed something put in. Yeah, correct. Him and I had spoken about it a couple times also. And then we were going to put temporary ones in there to see how it would go over with the public. But those, there's a good set of them, if you guys are ever down in Waterville, down to Colby College. Those are what they call speed tables. They're, they're not as aggressive as a speed hump, they're more of a casual for 25 to 35 mile an hour [6:05] Speaker B (unidentified): You know, traffic, but how would, how would that be to plow over those instead of speed bumps? [6:12] Speaker D (unidentified): They would be a lot easier to plow over because they're more gradual, they're not as much, obviously you're still gonna have to slow down and take your time, it's gonna take an extra couple seconds, but I mean if that's what it's gonna take then that's what it's gonna take, but you know you have to do the whole road, you just can't do one half of it, so we'll have to go from edge of [6:31] Chair (Select Board Chair): pavement to edge of pavement. I kind of agree with Chris, that's my personal opinion, I think if we're going to stave off the four-way stop intersection we've got to do something. Okay, so [6:42] Speaker E (unidentified): do you think we should go like you said both sides of the road, Ward Hill and whole county? [6:48] Speaker B (unidentified): I, if the whole county's, if the whole county's not a problem, I don't want to, may be worse for the highway to have to maintain it, but I think the Ward Hill definitely. Well, [7:00] Speaker D (unidentified): with the Old County Road you have that corner, so you're, when you're driving into that you're paying attention and watching where you're going because you got to make that, you got to make that curve, then you're looking up and seeing, I guess from what I'm understanding is the accidents that have happened there from people coming out, it's poor judgment of the oncoming vehicles that are coming down over the hill. And these people, vehicles are pulling out in front of the vehicles, going 60 miles an hour, is what the problem from my understanding is. [7:32] Speaker B (unidentified): So there is some accidents, probably Donnie can answer this too. So there is some accidents come from Old County turning right to come into town? [7:40] Speaker F (unidentified): Not many. Not many? I got an opinion on this. I think a lot of the accidents happen on Ward Hill versus the other road. Jeff's right on what he's saying. But also, I feel coming off the Old County Road, you got a lot more local traffic. Coming Ward Hill, the government tells you to go that way now when you're going north. Is there any way that we could work with, there's nothing we could do to get this changed like it used to be? I think a lot of it is people are traveling north. [8:07] Speaker E (unidentified): And they're going that way, yeah. And they're going that way. [8:10] Speaker F (unidentified): I think a lot of them is out-of-state cars. The last one was a somebody from down south who's been going to Country Whitewater after every year has 20 years, but this is the first year he's taking what he'll, you know, that's not an excuse for not stopping, you know, somebody new. [8:28] Chair (Select Board Chair): In the area, I mean, we could try to reach out to these map companies. I just don't know how success, I don't know nothing we can do. They're looking for the quickest route. I think they're calculating. Oh yeah, that is okay, that's [8:40] Speaker B (unidentified): seems to be the quickest route now. Check with, check with the state, Jeff, see what if they think [8:44] Speaker D (unidentified): we should do both Old County and Ward Hill. Yeah, I can, I can check with them. So do you guys want me to move forward with this and get it done, or do you want to wait and have a discussion on this on October 12th at the next meeting, or just move forward and get it done? The price, the price on it wasn't, wasn't all that much. I'll, I'd like to see it done personally. Yeah, I think maybe we [9:09] Speaker E (unidentified): We should go maybe a temporary one and see how well that does. [9:12] Speaker B (unidentified): You're going to be in the summer months. There's going to be more maintenance for the – [9:16] Speaker D (unidentified): No, I won't put those temporary ones out now. [9:18] Speaker E (unidentified): No, the temporary one you want to test it out first a while ago. Go right to the permanent one. Go right to the permanent. [9:23] Speaker D (unidentified): And, you know, worst-case scenario – [9:25] Speaker F (unidentified): Permanent is not permanent either. [9:26] Speaker E (unidentified): Yeah, so you can always rip them off, I guess, right? [9:28] Speaker D (unidentified): You could always grind them off if it doesn't go well or whatever. But there's going to be some complaints, I will tell you that. [9:35] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, well, it's better than have to go to knock on somebody's door saying that they lost a loved one. [9:41] Speaker D (unidentified): So move forward with getting paved? Get one of them paved, Ward Hill roadside? [9:46] Chair (Select Board Chair): I'm okay with that. Can you do it? Do you have to get permission from DOT? [9:50] Speaker D (unidentified): No, that's our road, as long as we're out of the DOTs right away, which would be just about where those rumble strips are, right in between, probably just after that third light pole and just after that. [10:06] Speaker G (unidentified): Would you be putting them right on where the rumble strips are? [10:09] Speaker D (unidentified): I'd have to go out and re-look to see what would be the best place. You don't want them too close to anybody's house or like Marty had stated a while back, if somebody happens to go off the road, don't put them too close to a pole. So they hit the pole, you want them to kind of go out and off into the ditch to get them off into the ditch. So probably right around where Jim Peters' driveway way is maybe just a little bit past there's [10:39] Speaker F (unidentified): no liability for the town if somebody should hit one [10:42] Chair (Select Board Chair): and do some damage to their vehicle is it no i'm sure they'll be marked i [10:51] Speaker D (unidentified): Think, I think one would be funny, you know, you want, you want to get, you want to get their attention, so if they're looking at their phone or distracted or whatever the case may be, you're going to hit that bang and it's going to be, you know, what just happened here, then you're going to look up and maybe, and there again, you know, most of the accidents happen at night, I mean during the day because you don't see the lights, so what I'll do is I'll get a price on making the humps plus or the tables and then get them striped so they're a little more of this [11:23] Chair (Select Board Chair): Right, yeah, won't take long, they'll figure it out, you want [11:33] Speaker B (unidentified): to vote on that? [11:35] Speaker D (unidentified): Jeff or no, I can, I'll have, I can take that probably out of my capital paving, we can just incorporate, I, if I remember right, it wasn't all that much money, it was under a couple of thousand dollars, it wasn't a whole great big amount, okay. [11:52] Chair (Select Board Chair): Everybody's wishes, good, yeah, okay, thank [11:58] Speaker C (unidentified): you, communication, okay, before I, before Donnie gets mad at me, so before I talk about expenses and revenues and GA, I do have an update that I want to read to the select board and the residents after the event this weekend, so weekend water emergency, following the Madison Anson water districts do not drink order, the town shared the district's notice through its public notification channels, Madison residents donated bottled water which were made available at the town office until 11 p.m. and again the following morning from 7 30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for residents who needed water and had limited access to another source, I answered general calls and concerns when I was not assisting residents in person, once the water district lifted the order district-wide, the town shared that update, I appreciate and thank the residents who donated water and helped their neighbors, the situation raised concerns about access to drinking water and the information residents received during an emergency, I've communicated with Anson Madison Water District about providing clear information to residents in future situations and all of the concerns that arose from citizens during this particular situation, my predecessor started a town of Madison Facebook page but it has been inactive, before taking over the page I want to establish clear practices for its proper use and advertise it as an official town information source, notices shared there will match those on the town website and through text my gov so residents receive consistent information, the page Will be used to share accurate information. Private messaging and comments on posts will be turned off. Residents can continue to call or contact the town office with questions and concerns so staff can respond through the town's regular channels. So the reason I wanted to bring that up is because a lot of residents had reached out over the weekend, understandably wanting to know what's going on. So those were the actions that were taken with this situation and the actions that we're looking to take moving forward to be able to address and have better information for residents and we'll be able to use the town page for other things. So anything we put on the town website will go on the town of Madison Facebook page. So that'll be helpful when we have job postings, when we have election notices that have to come up. A lot of people use social media and we need to move in that direction as well. We can't go door-to-door anymore. So this was the proposed solution in regards to expenses and revenues from last meeting. I do not have much of an update there. Nothing regular has come up. You do have the expense and revenue reports in your packets. Last warrant was a large warrant because we had some big expenditures on top of our regular monthly expenses, including the excavator cost was in there, the cost for the trailer, and then some just regular large purchases that were previously discussed. So [15:18] Speaker B (unidentified): what's getting back to that water, the town water, have we, what was the feedback from the water district itself? So the chair [15:30] Speaker C (unidentified): of the water district had called me and reached out to see how he could get text my gov like what the town had, and then we're going to be working together to try to improve that communication for them on behalf of rate payers and for us as a town. We're going to try to get more residents opted in using that service. So we're going to try to partner. I did ask if there was a way that maybe they could advertise for people to opt in for now to the towns because if they're notifying us on time we can share a notice, especially one that's an emergent one. I [16:08] Speaker B (unidentified): Don't know if the board feels like we should invite the water district. There's also some concerns that somebody's screen charted some messages from the sanitary district over the weekend to maybe invite them to come to a meeting and this is a bigger platform than they do at their monthly meeting and see if they would be interested in, I think the communities are uneasy on if the water's safe and what we're doing at the sanitary district and answer the questions. [16:39] Speaker C (unidentified): And I have reached out to the sanitary district as well and they are open to coming to a select board meeting. So I can't ask the same from the water district. That wasn't something that I had specifically asked them to come to a select board meeting but I agree that it would help with some of the concerns that were raised over the weekend so [17:10] Speaker H (unidentified): If they sign up for their [17:16] Speaker C (unidentified): Own service then they're gonna have to have residents opt-in specifically for water district notices but for now if they want to encourage their rate payers in Madison to go on the towns they could just reach out to us and really what we would be sharing for the water district would be like an event like this weekend right now for context we have six hundred and sixty four residents on the [17:44] Speaker I (unidentified): Text notification what does that cost the text window I do not know that [17:51] Speaker C (unidentified): Number off the top of my head [Chair (Select Board Chair): Townwide] Yes I can find out that number for you [18:04] Speaker B (unidentified): You though but that's how many residents were reaching out to right now is 600 [18:07] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes and that number does increase every time somebody offset so and there's no [18:13] Speaker I (unidentified): Limit to the amount of people who can opt in but the problem is if the [18:18] Speaker B (unidentified): Water district uses it just for the Madison only Madison people are reaching that text my gov through us and they're not reaching their other customers and [18:27] Speaker C (unidentified): Anson or Emden right and my conversation was just on behalf of the Madison residents and trying to encourage more so I think it would be good if they had their own method if [18:44] Speaker F (unidentified): You thought about getting an emergency number to Poland [18:47] Speaker C (unidentified): Springs yes I have and that was something that I didn't get it but the chair of the water district Jeff Lloyd he said he's going to look into that so that we can have emergency water on hand in the event that something is to ever occur again [19:06] Speaker H (unidentified): That would be really helpful that's what I was going to do if we needed more contact might even see what we could do oh really okay that's good to know who's the emergency [19:17] Speaker B (unidentified): Person the emergency contact for is it is it Donnie are you the emergency management [19:25] Speaker I (unidentified): Emergency management person, who is that for our town? So that's our code enforcement officer. [19:31] Speaker C (unidentified): But where he is still new and hasn't really done anything with emergency management, that's why I had handled this situation. Okay. But I did communicate with him, pull out the references that he had, but to avoid him from having unnecessary overtime with me being a salary employee, I took care of it where it was over the weekend. [19:56] Speaker F (unidentified): Well, is it good, right? Very good. [20:00] Chair (Select Board Chair): Number two, general assistance update, information, presentation. [20:05] Speaker C (unidentified): Okay, so this evening this is our biggest topic of discussion and I'm going to be doing a PowerPoint presentation to try to be more transparent with the select board with the public and to address some of the questions that have come up with general assistance recently. Just to make it easier to understand, there is a lot that goes into the process, so trying to simplify it so those who have not much knowledge of it can see it from an outside view, and then after that we will be doing a public hearing for discussion on our new maximums, which I'll be mentioning the maximums in this presentation, so that would be at the time when residents can ask questions when Sean announces that were in that public hearing, and let's see if I can get it pulled up [Speaker H (unidentified): correctly. Okay.] So general assistance in Madison. So this presentation is going to go over how residents apply, how decisions are made, and what the state reimburses. So first let's talk about what does general assistance cover. So some of the things that general assistance covers is housing and heat. So it can cover rent, temporary housing, heating fuel, electricity and other utilities. Occasionally it can also cover food and basic supplies. Normally I will say for food and basic supplies, that's normally when it's an emergency for that person. So, you know, it's on the weekend. For instance, this weekend I got an emergency general assistance call and one of them was about food and they were homebound and not able to make it to the food cupboard. So that's an instance of why food is on general assistance. Luckily I was able to bridge the gap so we didn't actually have a general assistance application because I was able to connect that person with another resource. So other immediate needs. So if there is any medical, dental care, prescriptions, supplies, or burial costs, those can often happen with general assistance. I can say for Madison that's rare. The only ones that I've seen since I've been general assistance administrator or deputy has been burial costs, and that would be, you know, the family doesn't have the costs to be able to cover that. So the reason why Madison offers general assistance is because there are state statutes putting it in place that really govern the fact that towns need to offer it to their residents. So it is Title 22, Chapter 1161, which sets the statewide framework, and that includes the right to apply and the 24-hour decision. What that means for a 24-hour decision is that when a general assistance administrator gets an application and it's signed we have to make a decision within 24 hours so we're not taking in applications and unnecessarily taking longer than needed to get back to somebody who's in need so Madison's chapter 200 of the town ordinance falls in line with the state statues and goes over interviews eligibility case records notices and appeals and then this is what we'll be discussing in the public hearing, which is annual maximums. So we have a sheet that the board is going to be approving tonight with those maximums that will be starting October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027. So maximums are set every year, and that is a basis for towns to go off of, based off of population size in the county, what average costs are, and the state will give figures, and as it states here, maximums are ceilings, they're not automatic awards. So somebody could come in, apply for rent, but they could only be eligible for $400 and the maximum is 937, so the maximum is the most that we could apply for that person with that many rooms in the rental and that many people in the home, but if based on their application they're actually eligible for less than in that, because their emergency situation is saying that, oh, well, you actually have x amount of dollars in your bank account, so you can avoid this situation by using those funds. So if that gives some context on why we're talking about maximums today. One thing I did really want to share with this presentation is the steps of a GA application, because it's not as simple as somebody comes in and applies. There is a lot of conversation that goes along with it, at least in what I do with the applications. So the first thing that somebody does is they come in and they talk with the town. So this could be a phone call, coming in person, and they would be talking with me, and I would then say, okay, what is your immediate need, why are you asking for general assistance? Once they've explained that to me, then I can give them an application and a tailored document list. So that's gonna say, all right, you're getting evicted, so I need your notice of eviction, as well as your ID, your social security number, all of your bills for the last 30 days, all of your income proof for the past 30 days, and all of the income proof includes like SSDI, includes anything made under the table, it includes, you know, pay stubs from a job, and for documentation of spending, that also includes like cash at Venmo, Facebook pay, regular bank statements, and if we see on their bank statements that they pulled out cash, well, how did you spend that cash? If you don't have a receipt, a receipt, that's misspent income. So once they have that list, they can then schedule an appointment to come in, and that's when we'll review the form, the income resources, and supporting records. So during that, I'll be asking a lot of questions, because halfway through I might realize, well, there's a resource out there that can actually bridge this gap for you. So by the end of the application, I can direct them to another resource if they have something that they can do before officially applying for general assistance. I can't turn somebody away or deter them from that application, but I can redirect. When I get to the point of making a written decision, I have 24 hours to make that decision. For difficult cases lately, I've been calling the general assistance hotline and saying, I have no idea what to do with this situation, something's not lining up, I need guidance. Some cases are more difficult than others. If it's a homeless situation, those are, I call on every single one, just to make sure that I am doing the right thing. And then the person, when they have received their notice of eligibility or their notice of ineligibility, which is what's provided to them after the general assistance application is complete, it also explains to them the either their reasons for denial and their appeal rights, or what they were awarded, for what the amount out was, and what they need to do to apply again, and when they can apply again. So when somebody makes An application, say today, well, they can't apply again until October 28th. So it's not like they can come and apply every single week either. And before they come in and apply, they have to then bring in that same tailored list and then their homework. So this is more information on the first conversation with a resident, which is listen to the need. And another thing is, determine how urgent it is. You know, if somebody is, it's the middle of winter and somebody doesn't have heat, that's an emergency. I need to take that application that same day. You know, if they're facing eviction and their notice is 14 days out, will they have time to gather their documentation? Discussing other resources. So other resources that I may suggest are SNAP, WIC. If it's not the winter months yet, apply to get a heating voucher. Housing resources or community support. So community support would be somebody who can help with food, something like that, if that's the reason that they're applying for general assistance. And then also explaining the appointment to them and mentioning to them that missing records do not remove their right to apply, but it does affect their eligibility. So if they don't show up with everything, that does affect, you know, whether they're eligible or not. So this is more detail on what they need to bring, which is valid ID, social security numbers, dates of birth of those in the household, proof of residency, and this goes on more about what I had just mentioned about income and accounts, and then copies of household bills and receipts showing how the income is spent, bringing a lease, an eviction notice if applicable. So what if somebody doesn't have access to a printer because everything's electronic? Well, there's options for that. There's no excuses to not have everything at the time of their appointment. So if somebody cannot print their statements, they don't get them in the mail, they email their bank statements, bills, pay stubs directly to the administrator before the appointment. So normally what I do is I gather their email address and then I send them that tailored list so that's right to their email and there's no excuse that they didn't Have my email prior to the appointment, and if I don't get that email, then they need to reschedule, or we can do the appointment that same day, but it's going to affect their eligibility if they didn't provide what they needed. So I'll look at the application, you can't really see it very well, but that's the front page. So that just shows the amount of detail asked for on the first page, which is records of household members, addresses, date of birth, identification information. One thing that is that the public may not know is we also ask have they applied at another municipality, and if they put yes, we call up that other municipality and say what homework did you set for this applicant. And at the appointment we review the form together. Normally I have them try to fill out as much of the application as possible and hand it to me signed before the appointment starts, so that way if I need to call somebody I can on their behalf to get more information, but also so their appointments shortened a little bit because they know what they need to provide. So this elaborates a little bit more on if eligible and if ineligible. So I think I had already covered that, so we'll move along from there. So this touches on the homework work that somebody would have to do to apply again. It's not necessarily restrictions from applying again because we're not deterring people and saying you cannot apply again. We're just saying if you are to apply again, we need to see that you've helped yourself. So you know, if they just recently lost their job, okay, you need to do four work searches where we know you've applied, where we can call up that person and confirm that you've applied. So that's what work searches are. Sometimes this medical information that comes into play when it's an older adult who's trying to get on Social Security, maybe they physically can't work anymore, well we need a doctor's note to confirm that they're still working towards that SSDI, and there is forms that we can send in on their behalf as well. And then other benefits we may say that okay, you know, if you came in you needed food assistance, we need to see that you applied for SNAP, WIC. If it's housing assistance, we need to see that they have an active subsidized housing application on file. So those are just some examples. So this says more on if there is an emergency. So like I said, we have to assess whether it is an emergency or not. And then everybody has the right to apply. So anyone can apply for general assistance. It's just a matter of are you eligible or not in what type of situation are you in, and then every applicant has a right to challenge a denial, reduction, or delay, or any other action through a fair hearing. So we have to be careful on what we do and make sure that we are following the process as appropriately as we can, which is why whenever I have a question I reach out to the hotline to confirm that I'm doing it appropriately. So a little bit more in the maximums as we get ready to go into the public hearing aspect. So this limits a category or household calculation. The amount approved depends on documented need, income, and available resources. So these are what the select board will be voting on for maximums. So overall monthly maximum in Somerset County for one person would be this amount, two people this amount, three people this amount, four people this amount. It doesn't matter if it's children in the home or all adults, one person is one person. So that's the maximum that we can award for general assistance for that month, and then food monthly maximum, so that's listed it out here, and then we have housing maximums, so this is unheated and then heated, and then this is a limit not an award. So just because we have those limits in place does not mean that we have to award them. It all depends on eligibility. And so at the end of the month after all of the GA applications are completed, so like what I'll be gearing up to do in the coming days where we're at the end of September, is taking all of the information from the month in terms of what we awarded for general assistance and then I will be reporting that to the state in the terms of the number of applications what each application was for was it emergent was it not emergent and then calculating out the 70% this rule has been in place since July 1 2015 and then this is an example so based on $10,000 so just throwing a random number out 10,000 seat easy to work with so say we spent $10,000 on general assistance for a year, a month, whatever the period is, seven thousand dollars would be reimbursed by the state of Maine, and then three thousand dollars would be the local direct cost. One thing that I want to clarify is that the town's revenues and expenses are calculated separately. So the town budgets for a certain amount each year and the revenues coming in are recorded separately. So even if the reimbursement is subtracted out, so the local direct cost is under what we budgeted for, we're still looking at what we've budgeted for and expenses so if we go over on a warrant article we still have to go back to the taxpayers even if we made up that amount in what we were reimbursed for by the state of Maine just to provide clarification there and that is it's not just general assistance that's the way the revenues and expenses work for all of the budgets in our town and then how the town tracks is spending so I keep like a spreadsheet and every time there's a general assistance application I put in it was paid this warrant because that's another thing that the state asked for, is what month was it paid in, because you could have an application in one month but it wasn't paid until the next month. Because what they're asking for is what did you pay in general assistance? And that would be however they fell into the warrant. So that's the end of the slideshow presentation, but because of wanting to have more transparency about it, I have made a new spreadsheet for the Board of Selectmen that's separate from our TRIO reports but has the same information. So for housing in 27 we budgeted twenty thousand dollars, we have spent so far this year ten thousand nine hundred and fifty. For utilities we budgeted two thousand five hundred, we have spent one thousand one hundred and twenty. For heating fuel we budgeted six thousand, we haven't spent any. For food we've budgeted 1,300, we've spent 4,209. For medical we've budgeted 2,250, we have spent none at this time. A majority of our applications were from the month of July, not from the month of August, and we have had 14 applications that have been awarded so far this year as [39:15] Speaker I (unidentified): of today, as of today, yes. So [39:21] Speaker B (unidentified): right now we've spent 8,000, we spent twelve thousand seven to seventy seven dollars and nine cents. We got reimbursed from the state eight thousand four hundred fifty three ninety six, and out of the town's budget is three thousand six hundred and thirty [39:42] Speaker I (unidentified): twenty three dollars and thirteen cents. So I just want to provide some [39:48] Speaker C (unidentified): clarification so that's what we will be in reimbursed for, correct? And I have followed up with the state after submitting the reports that we had discussed about at last meeting, and I have not heard anything in terms of that we will not get our reimbursement back. I spoke with the woman who processes them directly, she did not indicate to me that there was any concern over getting reimbursed. So we have had our report submitted up until the end of July, up [40:17] Speaker I (unidentified): until the end of August, and how long does it take you to get the money back? [40:22] Speaker C (unidentified): From the state that can depend, that depends on them. I've seen it take a while. Okay, because I know our last one came in a couple months after it was [40:31] Speaker B (unidentified): submitted. What have we received back from last budget? We received everything [40:37] Speaker C (unidentified): from June 30th, right? No, we're still waiting on April, May in June from the state, from the state. Thank [40:48] Speaker G (unidentified): you, Mr. Chair. Yep, and the reason for that was because you submitted them a little bit late, right? Jan, yes, at [40:58] Speaker C (unidentified): the time I did not know how to submit the reports. I had touched base in April when I took over as administrator, and at that time they had recommended to come in for a training audit. After the training audit, when I was trained on how to submit the reports, I submitted them promptly and communicated with DHHS in regards to our situation in that [41:25] Speaker B (unidentified): audit process. If I may, in that audit process, was there any findings that we weren't going to get reimbursed at the 70% of all the [41:36] Speaker C (unidentified): applications that I did know, and out of all of the applications, not just you, [41:45] Speaker B (unidentified): I'm saying in the whole financial year, did we get any in the audit findings that we get any that the state wasn't going to reverse the 70%, not just under [41:56] Speaker I (unidentified): your watch, but in previous watches? No, because she was primarily looking at my [42:02] Speaker C (unidentified): work and basing Madison off of the work that I was doing, because I'm the current [42:06] Speaker I (unidentified): employee. Thank you. If [42:13] Speaker F (unidentified): I was to come in tomorrow and try to apply for a fuel [42:15] Speaker H (unidentified): assistance, how long would that take me? So if you came in, I would ask, I would [42:23] Speaker C (unidentified): ask you how you got to that situation, you know, are you currently, how long [42:27] Speaker F (unidentified): would it take you to prove somebody? I'm just, there, this one is gonna be very busy for you folks. Yeah, I'm just, you know, that's taking time out of your, yeah. [42:40] Speaker C (unidentified): Are you asking like how long the length of a regular application? Yes, if [42:44] Speaker F (unidentified): somebody's to set down, how much time does it take out of your time to do [42:48] Speaker C (unidentified): something like this? Between an hour and two hours to do one application. Okay, and [42:52] Speaker F (unidentified): I got an idea, this one that's gonna be a lot of them. Other question to Mr. Chair, [42:58] Speaker E (unidentified): you said we have six thousand for heating oil, is that correct? Yes, okay, with the price of oil going up and things like that, I wonder if that's going to be... [43:07] Speaker C (unidentified): That does not include our grant from United Way. [43:09] Speaker E (unidentified): Right, that's right, but I'm saying it's still going to be... You're looking at about $1,500 to fill up one tank. [43:19] Speaker C (unidentified): Yep, which we had not anticipated in budget season for it to go up that volume, and we didn't increase it at the time because we had the United Way grant. [43:28] Speaker B (unidentified): Right, last year there was six thousand budgeted. They spent seven thousand sixteen dollars and fourteen cents. They got reimbursed from the state four thousand nine hundred and eleven dollars and thirty cents, and out of the budget there was two thousand one hundred four dollars and eighty four cents. Yeah, it's [43:50] Speaker E (unidentified): just that the price was pretty much doubled from last winter, maybe more than [43:54] Speaker C (unidentified): doubled, and we'll address that as it comes up. Unfortunately with general assistance it is something that's very hard to budget for, but a part of doing this presentation and being transparent to the public, it's to give the public a better understanding and to give the board a better understanding of what goes into the applications, and it's very unpredictable because the warrant that we had previously, not this meeting but last meeting, there was no general assistance at all, and now this meeting in the warrant that you guys have today that has two cases of general assistance. So it depends on who comes in and applies and who's in need, but for the process that's what I'm able to explain. [44:45] Speaker G (unidentified): Good work, thank you, Shine. Yep, so just to let you all know, I took that general assistance basic course at the state of Maine has to offer, to see what Cheyenne and the other municipalities go through and fill out that paperwork, and there's a depth to it. I didn't, the state of Maine, what's taking place and what has been taking place in the state of Maine's and the rules that you have to follow is some of them are pretty strict. I guess I got a question, so up until the time that you've been making out the applications, has there ever been an area where work fair could have been applied and you didn't take that route? So [45:33] Speaker C (unidentified): that's something that Madison has not established recently when I did the DHHS audit she did provide me the information to do that we need to have enough time to really be able to structure that appropriately to be able to offer that I do think that 's a good idea and I'm happy to share that information on work fair if that's something that the board is interested so we have we have applicants for general assistance say we award and then they would work so many hours on behalf of the town of Madison to be able to pay back what they've received in general assistance. However, that still has to be confidential items like that, so it would be navigating. That's why it's not something we can tackle right now. We really need to put our heads down and figure out how could we manage it appropriately, because that is going to add more on to the general assistance administrator, which I'm fine with. I just want it to be sustainable. [46:39] Speaker G (unidentified): But the future outlook, you're hoping to pass it off to Kim, right? [46:46] Speaker C (unidentified): I've had conversations with her. At this time she feels comfortable being my deputy as she learns her role as finance officer. Moving over from Anson, Madison's a lot larger of a municipality, and she wants to make sure that she fully understands the finance aspect before taking on additional responsibilities. Sure. That's in terms of government best handling practices recommendation from the auditors. So we have our expenditures, which is what the taxpayers know that the town has in funds to pay for things, so that way if there's an overage you can see it, because if we put those revenues in that same account of expenses, you're not going to have a clear idea as a taxpayer how much we actually spent on that. So that's why they go in separate accounts, and that offsets the amount that was paid in taxes. [47:55] Chair (Select Board Chair): everybody good all right moving on to G new business annual adoption of general assistant new maximums at the public hearing open at 718 p.m. [48:11] Speaker C (unidentified): So for the board, the easiest sheet out of everything is this one, because it takes all the individual sheets and puts it on one. So this is what I use when filling out applications, and where we're in a public hearing, I have [48:36] Chair (Select Board Chair): one I can share if somebody wants it. No, I wasn't sure how many people were coming. [Speaker F (unidentified): Any] discussion? Anybody want to talk? I only get, I got [49:28] Speaker B (unidentified): two questions. One, the $8,000 grant, can that go into the line of the general assistance so that 8,000, if you can get 70% back from the state, it goes a little bit further, or is it straight up $8,000 from Bob's cash fuel, whoever, CM Brown, whoever it is that gives them the fuel, out of that $8,000 it comes right out of [49:55] Speaker C (unidentified): There but no reimbursement. It's not going to be reimbursement on the on the grant, and that does have to be kept separate. So anytime the town receives a grant, all of that separate, we don't mix that with what the town raises in taxation. So to answer your question, no we can't. But what we will do is when I start getting applicants coming in for heating assistance, I will spend out that grant before touching anything that was raised in the budget for anybody who is [50:29] Speaker B (unidentified): eligible. But if they're already eligible, why couldn't what, why can't you get to 70% back if that's a grant and you put it in that line for a heating oil? [50:39] Speaker I (unidentified): Because then we're can't put a grand into the budget can do it, you know, all [50:45] Speaker C (unidentified): of that reporting is separate, and then we're getting more back from the state. Yeah, because we applied from for those funds specifically to offset our budget. So then if we take those funds and we report them that we use them out of our budget, because that's what those forms are is what did the town pay, not what did the town pay out of a grant. So that really would not be the best [51:10] Speaker B (unidentified): practice. But they would have to apply for it just like general system. So but it's going to come out of the grant first. Yes, okay. But that's the only way [51:18] Speaker I (unidentified): to get it from the grant would be they have to get approved. Yes, they won't get it otherwise. Okay. [51:27] Speaker B (unidentified): And the second question is you're the administrator. Yes, you're going out, Kim's backing me out, she's [51:34] Speaker C (unidentified): back, she's the only one that can back you up, she's the only one that's had any training. Okay, and for the two days that I'm going to be completely unavailable, I really don't think it's going to be that big of an issue. A majority of what we get in is calls and scheduling for appointments, so I'll be able to coordinate with her in the week following remotely over the phone. And just to give the public an instance of the volume of GA that we do get in, so today I had four general assistants calls, which that's the first part of the application, reaching out to the town office, making an inquiry. There was no follow-up there, and then I had one application and it was a denial. So that's what you're not seeing, that's being factored into here. So I've started a spreadsheet and I'll start reporting that with what we're actually spending, so there's a comparison of what are the inquiries versus what are we actually awarding. [52:38] Speaker G (unidentified): So I know the increases are pretty minimal when they do increase it, but do we have a comparison from last year's increases to this year's? Probably only just a few dollars. [53:06] Speaker C (unidentified): That wasn't one of, I didn't think to bring that, John, I'm sorry. I can say that- Was overall maximum for [53:15] Speaker G (unidentified): one 998, is that ringing a bell at all for last year? An increase of 1117, for some reason I got 998 for one. [53:25] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes, and you are correct with that. something for the first one I'm [53:37] Chair (Select Board Chair): sure that's on a cost of living index too yeah trying to give an example [53:56] Speaker G (unidentified): okay [54:09] Speaker C (unidentified): so an example would be for the board where I know this one off the top of my head so 296 was last year's food maximum for one person I know this because we automatically put it in as to what the maximum is for almost every application that comes in because everybody has to buy food whether they have utilities or rent that can vary whether they own but that one I put in regularly so that went from 296 to 306 so that if that gives you an idea of the range on which the maximums [54:42] Speaker G (unidentified): increase these numbers are state recommendations and in municipality come [54:49] Speaker C (unidentified): come up with that whole numbers correct no we have to advise by what the state sets for the maximums because they're basing it population cost of living [55:03] Speaker G (unidentified): population by county and so this is pretty much all theatrics that we're doing right now just to follow their rule yeah the biggest thing is to [55:14] Speaker C (unidentified): allow residents to ask the questions it gives them a forum to ask questions about general assistance about the maximums about the process and then it's also making sure that the board is complying with what's being set by the state and getting a signature on it and doing it publicly go [55:36] Chair (Select Board Chair): ahead so we can ask questions yep we can yep it's open so [55:40] Speaker J (unidentified): i apologize that thank you why would we medical so [56:12] Speaker C (unidentified): that would be based on the situation so say you had somebody who just lost their job they're waiting on unemployment and along with the lost a job their insurance lapsed but they have a medication that they need in order to stay alive so that would be when the town would step in for that month until they're able to get on unemployment and cover that cost on their own i've [56:37] Speaker J (unidentified): got like four questions okay go for it if we get into a situation where there's more homeless, we require that... [57:02] Speaker C (unidentified): That's when I call the hotline. Okay. [57:05] Speaker J (unidentified): And I... And also for them to prove that they are... [57:14] Speaker C (unidentified): And so that is where homeless, where it becomes difficult, because they technically do not need to provide residency. If they are saying that they are homeless, they can only apply in Madison if they are physically in Madison. So if I get a call from somebody saying, I'm homeless, you know, I found a rental in Madison, I can say, well you may be homeless but you're not homeless and I can verify that you're here in front of me either you have to be in Madison in order to get awarded so wherever town that they're at that's where they're going to go to no [Speaker E (unidentified): and] that's the state rules so that's just what we have to abide by to answer some of your other questions with homeless so we can call general assistance hotline and they can tell us you know when they received you know any state benefits and another thing is we do ask you know have you ever applied for general assistance before normally with a homeless application they most likely have you know unless they just became recently homeless and I would call the previous administrator and I would say okay you know once I have a signed application that authorizes me to do so and I would say okay what were the homework that you put for this person what did they have to do up to apply again because what they set then applies in Madison so I need to see documentation of whatever they set from that application period so I another thing with general assistance is the town can only apply if the person has a place to go unfortunately for people who are suffering from homelessness if they don't have a place to go and they apply the town can't just award funds because somebody's in that situation they have to take the steps to find somewhere that will take them and do a lot of the homework before they get to the point of doing an application as well if that provides any reassurance to the [Speaker J (unidentified): the situation no] their administrator made that decision and they also so say they applied in Anson that administrators also going to set that 30 days before they can apply again and that still holds in Madison so that way somebody is not double dipping [1:00:44] Speaker J (unidentified): no okay so I'm going to give it a real life example but not I dealt with she did apply she did she was eligible for that but she didn't need the stab and she saved that up to several thousand is there any way of right saying so you like although there's a lot of things you check in their bank statements and everything is there any way to know if they are just saving there is right so if somebody says that they have snap [1:02:02] Speaker C (unidentified): benefits but then I look at their bank statements and they have receipts to Hannaford and Walmart and they say it's for food, then I'm gonna ask, well, why isn't that going on your SNAP card? Because then you're putting yourself in this unnecessary situation making you ineligible because you refuse to use a resource that was provided for you. And in that case they would be ineligible because they created the situation for themselves. [1:02:27] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay. And on the flip side, she should have. The date could, or is that 1,000, whatever that amount, is that just for? [1:03:01] Speaker C (unidentified): So the overall maximum is the maximum in which one person can be awarded general assistance per month, or depending on their household size. So that factors in and like we had one instance where somebody was really an emergency situation and it was a utility and food and it was the timing of the application so they were able to get awarded for two separate things that were a necessity but they still fell under that overall maximum amount but that overall maximum amount is it's a ceiling but it's not the requirement [Chair (Select Board Chair): Anybody else whistle?] yes I have seen a lot of that and that's what a lot of the module a lot of the calls are that come in and to treat that 's when we give the updated list of well in your last application I told you needed to do this and this if I don't have documentation for that 's going to affect your eligibility so while you have every right to do an application if you haven't done that, it's going to affect your eligibility if you apply, and if that person hasn't done that or shown all their documentation for the past 30 days that they're trying to improve their situation for themselves, then they're going to get a notice about ineligibility. And that's how the repeat applications normally stop. And the benefit of that is if it's somebody who's truly in a situation where they're working and trying to improve themselves, if they're not coming back in for general assistance then they're sustaining on their own or they stop because they haven't met the requirements [Speaker J (unidentified): So] You know, anybody can apply after that limit comes out. The ones that I have seen a lot of repeat on that are harder are people who are trying to apply for SSDI who physically can no longer work, and those, there really is not a lot that we can do besides, if they receive any income, make sure that they're spending it appropriately. And what does happen with that is when they get awarded SSDI, the town gets reimbursed, so that is one method of reimbursement that we didn't talk about, but that's the most common [1:06:02] Speaker E (unidentified): in for real quick yourself somebody keeps repeating is there a goal of like having them maybe on their own eventually type thing? Yes, a lot of the [1:06:16] Speaker C (unidentified): reason why an application takes so long is because it's essentially a counseling [1:06:20] Speaker E (unidentified): session. Yeah, financial types, which we know money goes here. Yes, and [1:06:28] Speaker C (unidentified): and normally what I do is I try to fully understand the person. Well, how did you get to this situation? What are you currently going through now? What can you work towards? And normally there are ways that people can get out of that situation unless it's one of those cases where it's normally an older adult on Social Security, and those are one of those unavoidable type things. They're waiting to get it, will get reimbursed, if they're being fiscally responsible, there's not much that we can do. We have to follow the process. We [1:07:05] Speaker J (unidentified): we try [1:07:33] Chair (Select Board Chair): to adjust to that best, and I know Jeff deals with it. Jeff deals with the price of diesel because we don't know, we try to do that best set in the budget. We don't know that it's gonna spike like it has right next year. Next year, if it stays high, we and I'm sure we, well, if the price is still up there, hopefully [1:07:54] Speaker C (unidentified): not. One thing that I've considered and approaching next year's budget is in this year I had never been administrator before, you know, I was, I was hoping because we never want to see residents face that, we wouldn't have this much. But what I can do is I can take a look at the number of applications, the specific to heating oil, I can see how many gallons were awarded to how many applicants, and then I can probably talk to local oil companies and see if I can get a rough figure to be able to do better budgeting and budget for that in the coming year with any estimated increase, but that's the extent of what we can do because of how unpredictable it is with applications or fuel costs. [1:08:39] Speaker J (unidentified): I didn't know if there was like, say, 2010, this is what our- [1:08:53] Speaker C (unidentified): Our retention period for GA is only three years, so we can only look past. It would be nice if we could. Yeah, it would. That would be helpful. [1:09:09] Chair (Select Board Chair): Any others? Randy? It seemed like it would be good to restate how- [1:09:22] Speaker C (unidentified): Okay, yes. So any time general assistance is awarded, it is never to the individual directly. So if they're receiving rental assistance it's directly to the landlord and a part of that is also a call to the landlord to say this is the individual situation and another thing that I have done is see if the landlord is willing to work with the individual you know maybe they can't pay the full amount of rent but they can pay a portion or they can set up a payment arrangement maybe they've been good for three years and this is the first time they've run into financial struggles and the Landlord will work with them so that's another option too but food that's a voucher to Hannaford if we have to do that and we have to collect the receipts and we also get the receipts and say okay well did you spend it on what you were supposed to because if not you owe that money back to the town so it never touches the people who are applying hands and it's meant to really be a source to get them back on their feet and work with who they're having something going on with from general Assistance applications [1:10:34] Speaker J (unidentified): They haven't used it the way they're supposed to do you really get me back I have never had that [1:10:40] Speaker C (unidentified): Situation because anybody who I've ever issued a voucher for they truly needed it they went exactly for what they needed it for so we've seen that through churches. And we write on it too. No alcohol, no tobacco, meant for food or meant for personal care items. And then occasionally we will write on like such as toiletries, something like that. It's quite the process. If somebody is in need and they've exhausted all other resources, that is when they would come in and put in an application or the very first thing that they would do is have a conversation with me to see if I can direct them to something else to fill that gap prior to applying. [1:12:19] Chair (Select Board Chair): Anybody else? We need to come out and then vote, right? Yes. Okay Everybody's comfortable. We'll come out of executive session at 742. I thought it was a public hearing public hearing. Yeah, my bad public hearing at 742 [1:12:36] Speaker B (unidentified): Make a motion that we accept the general assistance maximum reference sheet for Somerset County effective October 1st 2026 the September 30th [1:12:48] Chair (Select Board Chair): 2027 second motion in a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, motion passes 5-0. Leads us to H citizens concerns. Close yours anything in regards [1:13:15] Speaker C (unidentified): to the public spaces? Yes, I'm so what the planning board has provided their feedback to the town planner and she is in the process of drafting. We do have a public hearing tomorrow for the setback ordinance so that way it can go to the select board for their public hearing so I encourage everybody to attend that hearing. While we're on the discussion of planning board. [1:13:44] Chair (Select Board Chair): Anybody else? Randy? I have an announcement about the Winslow community covered service trailer. For the next three months we'll switch them to a first and third Wednesday of the month instead of second and fourth. Okay, so first and third Wednesday of the month. Okay. Where are they coming now Randy? They are going to Christ Community Fellowship. Anybody else? Citizens? Seeing none move on to slack board concerns. Mr Roy? None. Mr Goby? I'm all set. Okay. Mr Martins? [1:14:24] Speaker G (unidentified): Yeah I got one so if anybody was gonna write letters or speak about me my name is if it's positive or negative John Martins has an s so if it's gonna be pluralized it's apostrophe [1:14:47] Chair (Select Board Chair): and I'm all set. Motion would be in order to go into executive session. [1:14:52] Speaker B (unidentified): Make a motion or go into executive session. [1:14:55] Chair (Select Board Chair): Motion and second. All in favor, motion passes. Thank you everybody.