Oxford Select Board Advances Cannabis License Cap, Hears Tax Concerns

[0:00] Select Board Chair: Yeah, at some point, but I don't know when everybody public hearing number 1, general assistance, public [0:26] Select Board member: hearing number 1, public hearing number 2. 2026 amendments to the cannabis facility licensing ordinance from the town of Las Vegas, driving implementation cap on licenses questions comments from the phone. Can you read the audience as it's written or how it's being proposed? Sure. So How about the amendment, not the entire? No, that's fine, the amendment's good. All right, no more than 14 cannabis facility licenses may be issued at any one time, and this is under the section six public hearing granting license term or dual limit on licenses. So no more than 14 cannabis facility licenses may be issued at one time. When and if the limit is met, the town clerk will not accept any applications for new cannabis facility licenses unless and until one, a license is revoked under section 10 of this ordinance and all periods of appeal for challenging such revocation have expired, in which case new cannabis facility license applications will be accepted and proposed in the order in which they were received, beginning on the first business day of the following expiration of the applicable period as determined and advertised by the town clerk, or two, the town clerk does not receive any application to renew an existing cannabis facility license within the time frame appointed by paragraph e of this section, in which case new cannabis license and applications will be accepted and processed in the order in which they are received, beginning on the 59th calendar day or next business day if said calendar day is a weekend or holiday prior to the expiration of the existing license as determined and advertised by the town clerk. All new cannabis facility license licenses received under this section will be forwarded to the board of selecting for action in the order in which the town clerk deems them to be complete. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if more than 14 cannabis facility licenses have been issued and are active on the effective date of this paragraph, all such licenses may continue to be renewed consistent with this ordinance until such time as the licensee fails to timely apply for renewal of said license or said license is otherwise revoked by vote of the board of selectmen and all the periods of appeal for challenging such revocation have expired. There is also an Amendment to section 14, transfer of license, as set forth below, removal of own old language. The new language is a cannabis facility license may be transferred to a new location or a new licensee upon renewed review and approval by the Board of Selectmen. A proposed transfer shall be reviewed consistent with the procedure for a license renewal, provided that successful amendment to the cannabis facility license shall not extend the life of the license. Under no circumstances shall an attempt to transfer a license to a new location for licensee, even this if unsuccessful, have the effect of causing an otherwise active cannabis facility license to lapse or expire prior to the end of its term. Second question, where did you come up with the number 14? Is that based on the number of places that now exist? No, we have more than that currently. The board chose 14 and majority of the board passed, so with, is it possible to go to a town vote to even limit that number to a lower amount till say like 10, and that when they close the ones that exist that they not, that we get down to that number 10. Because I think, I mean I mean as possible, it's a new ordinance change and we're beyond that timeline to go lower than the 14 that we set. Okay, maybe was there a public discussion about that before? Maybe I missed it, for the number 14. I mean, was there a public discussion about that number? Yeah, it's a couple of meetings we came up with. I think one of the reasons we settled the 14 is I think we would have liked to go into the lower number, but in the past this has been voted on in past to have more. I think it was, you run the risk of if you go too low and people just feel like, well, that's a big swing and not going for it, so we thought maybe we'd start at 14. See how that goes and you know potentially because there seems to be a lot of people interested in reducing the number, then maybe try that again. I just thought it might be too big of a swing to go from where do we have now, 18, 16, to 10, or even kind of half, eight or something, so I think that was kind of our feeling on that. Well, I do appreciate the board considering changing the rules because I think a lot of people that voted for that didn't understand what they were voting for or except as you all know, so I so I first want to say thank you for listening to the public about our concerns about the number of marijuana places, but I think at some point it would be nice to see the number load, but thank you, I appreciate you working hard on that. Another [6:15] Public commenter: Public comment. Yeah, I'd just like to thank the board for coming up with this ordinance. Lynn and I went to talk to Ernie a few months back about this, because this was a concern of ours, and we know, and I mentioned about Turner reducing their number two and everything else, and you guys said you do it. And of course I was hoping that the number would be lower, but I got to thank you for what you have done. I really, you did a good job. Maybe I've been contentious at times, but I really appreciate it. Linda and I both appreciate what you have done in this case. [6:49] Select Board member: And again, it's, it's not up to us to set this, we proposed this number, but the people that come out to vote are going to set this thing up. Or not they have a public comment seeing that or anything from the board. I'm going to close public hearing number two and all the selectmen I have one. [8:00] Public commenter: I live just off of Jam Hill Drive and Ernie knows what that curb is like down there, and lately it's been pretty dangerous down there when a car's whizzing around that corner. And I was wondering if the town could look into that and do something about, maybe you put a sign up that there's a side road coming out right up the curb itself, and it kind of slowed down. I don't know if it's doing any good or not, [8:22] Select Board member: but at least you can give it a try. [8:25] Public commenter: Because when I first moved over here, at that curb, a motorcycle that was killed was speeding. And he left the body there for three hours before the coroner was able to get to it. That's when I first moved there. 's been no fertility fatalities since then. There's been a couple accidents, but it is getting impossible at that curve right there, because you have to look both ways also bangs, I mean, because they're roaring down that hill, especially in the winter when it gets slippery, they can't stop very well if there's any ice or anything right there. You go change the mailboxes possibly into a trailer. I just wanted the town could look into that and see if there's anything that could be done to try to slow people down or do something to modify that [9:07] Select Board member: curve somewhat. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I'll talk to Jim the foreman actually the recent accidents if you will along the way, have they been pretty much due to speed, what would you say? Because the other, the other concern that I have is there's a lot of four wheelers that go along that area too moving on business items 5.1 employee recognition Issue so we have Sergeant Jeremy Dameron from the State Fire Marshal's Office here. Come forward and bring your entourage. [10:38] Joel Davis, Deputy Chief, State Fire Marshal's Office: I'm Joel Davis, I'm the deputy chief of the State Fire Marshal's Office, and this is, this is a little late in coming. This is from last November, we had a fire in, actually it was nowhere in Paris, and while my guys were investigating one fire, they looked over and saw fire at another building, and luckily Chief Waxman was there, Wax Armstrong was there to help them, realizing there was people still in that burning building, and they had to stop what they were doing and trying to gather up with the good for equipment to rescue the people. I just read this recognition, life-saving award presented to Auction Fire Chief Ashley Wax Armstrong, in recognition of extraordinary courage, decisive action, and selfless commitment to saving human life. On November 28th, 2025, while responding to an unrelated fire investigation in South Paris, Main in Maine, Chief Wax Armstrong encountered a rapidly developing structure fire at 27 Alpine Street. Recognizing that the occupants were trapped on the second floor, Chief Wax Armstrong immediately led and joined the rescue effort. Under dangerous fire and smoke conditions, he used available ladders to reach the second floor window and personally rescued an infant while assisting in the rescue of an elderly woman and two additional occupants. Her courage and decisive actions and disregard for her own safety were instrumental in this successful rescue of four individuals and the prevention of loss of life, and for your extraordinary courage and selfless service, unwavering commitment to protecting human life, the Main State Fire Marshal's Office proudly presents you with this life-saving award. [15:48] Select Board member: Second the discussion, but this, they don't currently do this, right, is this new? [15:54] Public commenter: No it isn't, we plan to do it the last Saturday of every month, but we didn't want to do it in Halloween this month, so just put the application in for the 24. A [16:09] Select Board member: little paper four except 100 Oxford Warm account generally likes to be anonymous, I didn't see that on here. But I don't think that she generally, she's not the one that usually is anonymous. Oh okay. And I can't think of her husband's name, Bernard Ocean. [16:44] Select Board Chair: Second, all those in favor, five. [16:50] Select Board member: Five, seven Village. Lane update, town manager or enforcement or whoever's Shane was just going to give a brief update so [17:01] Select Board Chair: As the clock is still ticking on the property maintenance violation issues regarding the condition of the property, 10-day notice that expires on Monday, it's from Monday. And in anticipation of nothing being done to correcting the issues of the septic system, I'm scheduled to go there Tuesday morning with Dire Second beginning to die testing and diagnostic. I [17:37] Select Board member: assume that will test, you'll get an estimate on to correct the problem, and then [17:42] Select Board Chair: the town would direct the problem, yes. So I went with Dire because they do everything from testing to design and install. So they're going to come in with cameras and they're going to test everything, find out exactly what's wrong with it, troubleshoot it, and then we'll go from there. Yes. [18:01] Select Board member: Five six abatement number one, Levi Reed, account RE3256, in the amount of 84 hours. Any discussion? Apologies. [18:27] Code Enforcement Officer: I have a motion to approve on one and two, and I recommend denying three. [18:38] Select Board Chair: Any other discussion? All those in favor? Five seven abatement number two, Artist Nightly, account RE963, amount of 33.60. [18:49] Select Board member: 60 cents. Motion to second. Discussion. [18:56] Select Board Chair: All those in favor? Vote. 5-8, abatement 03, Matthew McCollister, count R-E-1-3-5. Motion to second to deny. All those in favor? Or discussion, I'm sorry. Discussion. [19:27] Code Enforcement Officer: Yeah, where is it? Can we? You want me to explain? Yeah, you can just. So in your paperwork, Ms. McCollister or had purchased this home in 2024 with the intent of remodeling and then either living or flipping it. She reached out to us and June, myself and the code enforcement officer went out there. She is in the middle of remodeling the home, it is in kind of dilapidated situation. The problem is that I couldn't ascertain what condition that home was in as of April 1st, so the state law requires that homes are assessed as of April 1st of that tax year, and where we weren't there until July, I wouldn't know where to start how to assess the home, what was still there, what she's already remodeled, what's been removed. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to know. [20:33] Select Board member: Basically she just didn't meet the deadline if she'd come before exactly. [20:40] Code Enforcement Officer: She purchased in 2024, so she'd come forth last year, the [20:47] Select Board member: homeowner didn't come forth until well after April 1st. Yes, it was in [20:51] Code Enforcement Officer: June. Any [20:54] Select Board Chair: other discussion? All those in favor of the denial? So and right into department head. Good. [21:09] Code Enforcement Officer: Evening so currently the assessing department we are i'm working on processing abatement applications and property transfers that happened after April 1st of 2026. Some things coming up forward for the next tax year the legislature has amended some property tax assistance programs for 2027. People have heard about that they were concerned and thought it was going to be this year where the legislature had passed it but they enacted it to start on 2027. So you'll see a difference homestead veterans and blind persons exemptions will be consolidated into one statutory provision for tax years beginning on or after April 1st 2027. The law removes the requirement for veterans to have served in a federally recognized war period create the tiered exemption based on disability rating and expands the exemption of veterans under the age of 62. My home said in blind person's exemptions will stay the same but not be treated as separate statute. Main revenue services is still working on the guidance of working papers for the consolidated exemption so i'll have that up on the website as soon as they have the new applications and guidance out. Part of some of those exemptions we've received questions why individuals homestead or veterans exemptions aren't at the full value that the state allows and that's tied to our certified ratio so your certified ratio is a measure of how our assessed property values compare to fair market values. The state requires our ratio to be between 70 to 110 percent to ensure fairness across the state. If a municipality falls below 70 percent the law mandates this municipality take corrective action feedback and compliance. That exemption is always offset by the difference in what our certified ratio is from 100 for fy 2627 our tax bills represent a ratio that was 87 that represents equalized values as of April 1st, 2024. We are allowed to add 10% to our ratio, which we did. And so our ratio that was used in these tax bills was at 96%. Our preliminary 2027 state valuation report, which we just received, estimates our average will be at 78%. So this represents equalized values as of April 1st through 2025 and that will apply to our FY27-28 tax year. What we're noticing the biggest differences in our assessment is our waterfront and pockets of some residential areas that we have the biggest discrepancies with. So I do have for you folks, this is as a guide and statement on state valuations and how that is figured, knowing that we're going to, that they're already expecting that we'll be down to 70 percent. The town manager has requested that neighborhood revaluations begin and advanced that I sit down with them to create a schedule for the next several months. We also will be revisiting our cost tables that are used in our assessments to ensure that they're reflective of current market values. We do have the opportunity to appeal our proposed that preliminary valuation. We have until November 15th of 2026 if we feel that we have grounds for review of that value. So values are figured sales ratio study that uses data from property sales, which are comes from the deeds and transfer tax filings. Our municipal evaluation return, which is a report of our assessed values, market values, and our certified rate ratio. That's all I've got for you. [25:41] Select Board member: Along the business we did to rebuild previous. Yes, we are [25:52] Code Enforcement Officer: that's why we need to relook at one our, what our tables are to see if we're that far off from market values. I think we fell off the table, it I think we fell off and in comparison, so doing our valuation report today started working on that and looking at our assessed values compared to what the homes sold for, there is quite a discrepancy there that we are, we are under assessed on quite a few areas. That's [26:27] Select Board member: a nine, 9% drop in this next year from the state, 87% to 78% in one year. And we can still add 10% to that or not again? [26:42] Code Enforcement Officer: No, every year we can add a max of 10%. The problem is that we don't want to keep having that downtrend, because then we would be mandated by the state to have a revaluation if we get below seventy percent. Another [26:59] Select Board member: hundred percent, which is why we it just seems like it's been a long ago since we're gonna rebuild, we just I guess the only note I would make is that the real estate market has been crazy, we all recognize that, and that has contributed to this. Well hopefully we can get some good people into the legislature. Definitely, if we start doing these re-evaluations in these pockets, what 's the timeline that we're looking at before we get through the whole town, if you will, is this like a four to five year [27:43] Code Enforcement Officer: Thing where we kind of pick a couple pockets each year. The goal would be that wherever, for me again, you know, town manager and I need to sit down and discuss that. But the goal would be that if I started with the neighborhood year one, by the time we are at year 10, I am back to that same neighborhood to go through again. Only time's going to be able to, you know, tell if that's too long of a time to that, and we just keep being out of whack. You know, the issue is that people are hurting, you know, with the property taxes, and so wanting to be able to get the most of your exemption that the state allows. That's where we want to be, and right now, you know, even to the 10 people still, you know, took a cut in their exemptions. I've had two people, we've had folks ask, I put it up on the website to try to get a little bit of an explanation of it. I need your numbers. Well, again, it's easy to blame if everybody [28:51] Select Board member: follows social media. You can, you can blame your tax assessor, you can run your select board, you can blame anybody you want, but the state drives, the state of Maine drives us to have to reassess property or they penalize you. Anything else from the board, major updates so on the 15th of this month, I know what month it is this time, so the 15th of this month we have our workshop with the TLEA, 5 p.m. So this prior to the meeting, also wanted to let the board know we had our first comprehensive plan committee meeting last night, and that was more of just an organizational meeting. It went well, figuring things out. Caldi Jackson's gonna be the chair of the committee, so this first, this first go was more about getting, you know, the officers in place and learning why we're there and how, just getting a game plan together. So the next meeting we're going to get into the meat and potatoes of things more so. Agendas will be posted, all that kind of stuff, so if you can see this stuff on the website, there is a comprehensive plan committee tab you can click on, and that's, we're going to just be skewing all the stuff up there as we go along. Those meetings are going to be held Sunday every month, so they only wanted to set one meeting at a time right now, so but it'll be once a month, I believe. Do you remember, Audrey, what we set for the date? I didn't write it down on my notes here. It was November 20. Can't be the 21st. I think it was the 20, 25th. Was it, Lois? No, the last day it did, October, not November, October. Okay, here we go again. Yeah, 21st, Lois is correct, so October 21st we'll [31:02] Public commenter: get that posted. So much. [31:04] Select Board member: Thank you, so we'll get that posted also. We're currently hiring for recreation director, transfer station attendant, and also looking for anybody who's interested in being a seasonal public works equipment operator, ie snowplow driver. So if you know anybody, send them our way. Also, a while back we discussed the idea of a referendum town meeting for 2027. I'm just dropping that little nugget tonight because we are quickly approaching when the deadline is for us to make that decision. So when we get to our first meeting in November, I'm going to be asking you guys to make that decision. So I'm just reminding you that this is a little bit of my thoughts on that. You guys have questions about it or want to have further discussion about it, you can also put it on the agenda for the next meeting if you want to talk about it more. So any thoughts on that or you just want me to bring it back out? Personally I think that's probably a good idea, a little bit of a timeline, what the process is if we go that route, public hearings just and overall this is what happens if we do this. Okay, so the next, the next meeting this month do you want to have like that kind of a rundown if you will? All good, another time, yes or a clerk [32:39] Joel Davis, Deputy Chief, State Fire Marshal's Office: update? That'd be a good clerk update. This is Hannah King, she is our new assistant clerk, she [32:44] Select Board member: started last Monday, she is doing a great job. Anything else? That's all I have, sir, thank you. Are we [33:02] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: going to be sending that like a questionnaire or something in reference to the [33:05] Select Board member: comp plan to get? Yeah so Erica from AFG, she said that's a pretty common, she's gonna consult herself on us. So once we get into that next meeting and start getting what chapters we're going to address next, she, yeah, she's going to help us put together like a survey to put out. We kind of tossed around some ideas, mailers really aren't that great, but we're thinking just posting things, putting it on the website and stuff, but we'll talk more about that. Do you have any ideas on, I personally would probably like to see some costs to that, but pay attention to otherwise, I mean, the board wants to send out mailers and we'll send away. [34:31] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: Okay, well I had something different, I mean it doesn't matter if it's late, it's late. Well I didn't get here in time. My computer didn't like me. [34:44] Select Board member: It's short. I'll give you two minutes. You got it. Do you want coffee, sir? [34:50] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: You can admit to that. I'll load you up. I like it. I'll just, it's a good feeling. Can you give us your name? My name is Nelson Foldy. I live over in Republican Avenue. I'm a citizen of this town. Very much like it. Well, thank you for letting me speak. You, this evening, as I've come simply to compliment you on your expanded vision of what you do with people in the town. I think it's approaches to benefit our people in the town. You might have a couple of extra things you could consider, but I'm referring in fact that you are giving your approval to the fire department fire station to use its own fire department utility vehicle and use its own fire department of personnel to collect cans and bottles on time. They've done it and I being a member of two different non-profits that also collect cans and bottles and I wanted to know where to sign up because I can't always get the. I'm not exactly sure who gave the nod and the okay on it, but I thought I would bring it to your attention, but approval you know is not really important at this time. I think it's great you have no problem with this service and the bottom hand is collected with proceeds from private nonprofit registries registered in the state of Maine. It's kind of neat. I'm also pleased that the insurance company is perfectly fine with this because this is being done while [36:22] Select Board member: while they're on pain time. [36:27] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: So I think what I have here is a couple of suggestions that you might consider expanding. The first one is that when the fire department does these activities, you should probably have more publicizing. So other nonprofits could get in on it, individuals. [36:51] Select Board member: I'm gonna cut you off now, sir. I did tell you I'd give you two minutes. And you guys so if you'd like to leave a copy I would love to tell manager yeah you can do so [37:01] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: Well that's what Mike came to say thank you very much time warrants [37:18] Select Board member: Can we get your other documents I think they do that all the time, to see if you're watching. I did. [40:19] Code Enforcement Officer: Just making sure you guys are paying attention, you know. [40:32] Select Board member: I did sign on that. Motion [40:38] Nelson Foldy, public commenter: to sign on forms 31 through 33.