Hollis Select Board tables cannabis license, adopts GA maximums

[6:31] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Hollis Select Board meeting for Wednesday, October 7th, 2026. Let's all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. All right, and we'll do a roll call from the left. [7:02] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, Jack Bergala. Mike Arnois. Danny Rumian. [7:05] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): And just so you know, we have a vacation, we have a vacation and an illness keeping us at a three-person select board at this point. It's a five-person select board still, just so you know. We just have two people out. I want you also to know tonight's meeting might be a little longer than is usual. I will try to keep it as fast as possible. There's a good amount to get to, but let's start with public comment for items not on the agenda, online or otherwise. All right. Hearing none, we're going to move on. And actually, that's going to bring us to item four. But before we actually suspend the meeting and open a public hearing, is this something, Dwayne, that you wanted to kind of speak about a little bit? It might not be time to spend a meeting at this point. I [8:09] Dwayne Hanson, Code Enforcement Officer: am Dwayne Hanson the code officer for the town of Hollis so yeah today tonight I think we're supposed to be approving the license renewal for Eric Kaburski at 62 Hollis Road but it came to my attention today that according to our cannabis ordinance there 's transfer or change of location and so on number three it says no licenses under this ordinance may be assigned or transferred to another individual or license any change in ownership of the cannabis business shall require a new license I mean the cannabis business changed. Alan Carrier still owns the building, but Eric Khabersky leases the building and it's a new name, so from what I take from this, I made you guys copies if you want one, that we should maybe hold off, hold off tonight on approving it and look into this a little further, because I'm thinking he might have to go in front of the planning board for a conditional use permit, because Al had to do that, so to me it's not transferable. [9:27] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Yeah, it seems it seems prudent to err on the side of caution here. And yeah, thank you. Okay, so what we could probably do is just we could make a motion to table this pending a planning board planning board meeting, which would be technically next week I believe. If you could make that, yes. Yeah, then we could put them back on the exact on the agenda for the week after next. Yep, sounds good if everything works out from a timing standpoint for Eric, if that was for him. Sounds good to me. Okay, so if that's good with you guys, entertain a motion to table this until what's the next meeting? Sorry, it's the 28th believe. No sorry, the 21st. Motion to table. Second. Like a nap. Any discussion? All in favor to table the motion until 10 21 20 26. All right, thank you, passes. Thank you. All right, we do have another public hearing however for the general assistance ordinance. So I do need a motion to close the public hearing, open a public hearing to review and adopt the general assistance ordinance dated september 2026 and general assistance appendices a through h, which are in effect from october 2026 to september 30th 2027. So moved. Do you get a second? I get. All in favor. Motion passes. So we are now in open public hearing. With that said, let's open it up to the public and Ashley, did you have anything to kind of just go over a little bit [11:27] Speaker D (unidentified): talk a little bit about this is [11:36] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): this your first appearance as general assistants in an official? Welcome to thank you. Yes, I'm Ashley down, I'm the [11:46] General Assistance Administrator: general assistance administrator. I've been doing this since May probably, so this is my first time with the new maximums. I went over these sheet which I think you have also been provided. It tells us the maximum amount that applicants would qualify for. Everything went up, not everything went up. A portion of things went up about $100. The food went up about $8 per person. Electricity and heating fuel stayed the same as well as personal household supplies and supplements. And funeral and cremation stayed the same as well. And those were the only changes to the whole ordinance packet was just these figures. Okay. [12:27] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Any questions from the board? We received this information a while ago. Just want to make sure any public comment. That's what Ashley just mentioned. [12:47] Tom Wachowski, Hollis resident: Tom Wachowski, Hollis resident. I, full transparency, toss this into a grok real quick to come up with a nice list of things that it found wrong, and I went through the most that I could and double checked them. It's a lot of just mistypes, misquotes, incorrect citations, and cross references, conflicts with other statutes and ordinances, internal contradictions, other problems that need to be fixed. I can go through the list if you think it's worth it, but I can leave you the list and then you guys can go over it. But basically, if you adopt it tonight, it's probably not the right thing to do. You should definitely. Yeah, the general assistance ordinance that we're talking about. I just want to make sure I'm on the right page. I can read a couple of them. Okay. I won't read a couple of them then. But and then the other part, you guys already have a general assistance ordinance. So we're repealing and replacing, not adopting. Okay. They just had it as adopted. I just didn't know. That was that might have been just said adopted everywhere so that was we [14:04] Speaker G (unidentified): adopt the state ordinance so we really don't have the authority to change it as the state ordinance that we use [14:12] Tom Wachowski, Hollis resident: as our guidance like I said I'm 100 happy if that's the answer that you guys don't want to change it because it's a state thing and you're going with state I'm cool with it I just wanted to bring it to your attention if you care to run with it you can if not you 're the boss so I'll leave this, and then you guys can do with what you please. [14:36] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Any other public comment? [14:46] Speaker H (unidentified): That's right. I believe Hollis uses – there's certain towns that use Portland's numbers, if I'm not incorrect on that. So if we don't necessarily have the same maximum – you'd have the overall maximum of, like, housing. Housing is different because Hollis is I can't remember the initials but we use Portland's because our rents are high out here so we're allowed to use Portland's figures for rent and a few other things so that may be if you google it against York County the rest of York County uses yes uses the York County maximums whereas Hollis is allowed it's I want to say it's an FM something HMFA because these allowances are set by some oh yeah it's right on the top Portland HMFA so I don't know if that's what you might have seen Tom some of it or whatever but if that helps at all, do you understand what I'm saying? I see you're a little puzzled. [15:58] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): I'm following as much as I understand it, but yes. Right,. [16:01] Speaker H (unidentified): So, like, if you, the state gives, they come out with a sheet every year of the maximum that's allowed for food. That's pretty much the same, I believe, across the state, but it may not be. But housing varies so much from town to town, community to community, that in Hollis, we're allowed to adopt Portland's, HMFA is the initials, which stands for something, housing maximum something. We're allowed to adopt Portland's maximums, which are higher than what York County sees in other communities. Do you know? Yeah. Yeah, like Saco might have theirs and Biddeford, but Hollis, I think it's Hollis and Buxton are allowed to adopt the Portland ones, okay, because our rents, that's what our consistent rent. We have a landlord that has 60 units, so that landlord pretty much sets the standard out here, and so it gives, if somebody comes to apply, it gives them a better chance of getting more of their rent paid. You know, eligible for more. Yeah, not cheap, it's not cheap. And right, no, it's not, but I still see puzzled things, but that, maybe I'm not saying you're wrong, Tom, but that may be part of what he's seeing, that could be a, that would be a big discrepancy between the rest of York County and us, if that helps any. No. [17:32] Speaker B (unidentified): Thanks, Martha. Yeah. [17:34] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Too close, too close. [Speaker G (unidentified): Zoom out.] Jeez, all right, any other public comment? [17:53] Speaker H (unidentified): But I think we follow the general assistance ordinance put out from Maine Municipal Association, and we adopted that whatever year we adopted that, and that stays in effect until you change it. And granted, the laws probably change some every year. Then there's also a general assistance policy put out by the Department of Health and Human Services. So there are two different documents, and you have to try to do your best to work within both of those. And then this, what you're adopting tonight, is just the general assistance maximums. All right, so you're not changing your ordinance. If our ordinance needs review, then certainly you could put that on and review that and update it at some point, and you know, I don't know, I haven't looked at it for a while, so, but that's what you're voting is just this page of the, of the maximums. Okay, does that help? [18:55] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Yep, so appendix A through H, appendix A through A. So updates, please know that updates have been made to allowances within appendix A, overall maximums appendix B, food maximums, and appendix C is, I'm pretty much telling what Ashley just said, but I'm just going to read it out, appendix C housing maximums of the general assistant ordinance. There's also a new recovery residents housing maximum guide. There are no changes being made to the allowances within appendixes D and through H, but we have updated their effective dates and included them in for your convenience. Basically this is from the letter, so the appendix is A through H, the enclosed appendixes A through H had been revised for policies general assistance ordinance. These appendices once adopted should replace existing appendices A through H. Even if you are not updating your GA ordinance, the municipal officers must approve and adopt new appendix, appendices, appendix is yearly, so general assistance may provide protections or address requirements that would otherwise be overlooked. The MMA model as Martha was saying ordinance is intended to incorporate these changes and provide municipalities with a current framework for administering the program. And again, you can take a look at this information online if you want through the MMA Model Ordinance in the Maine Welfare Directors Association at their website, which is mainewelfaredirectors.org. So, yes. Any other public comment on this before we close the public hearing and move to vote on this? Chair would entertain a motion to close the public hearing and reconvene the select board meeting. Motion to close public hearing and reconvene select board. A second. All in favor. Aye. All right, so we are going to skip agenda item seven and move on to agenda item eight, which is to vote on the adoption of the general assistance ordinance dated September 2026. Could Dan, would you mind making that motion? Yeah, I'll make a motion we accept the general [21:13] Speaker D (unidentified): assistance maximum reference sheet that Ashley provided us. I got a second. Any discussion [21:20] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Further discussion for the board. All in favor say aye. Motion passes. All right, thank you very much everybody, Ashley, especially Mary and Martha for your, for your help there. And Tom, I think I said Ashley, I said Ashley for sure. All right, you feel recognized, I just want to make sure. Okay, all right, we're gonna be moving on to old business. So we have a short interim town manager update. So things, wheels are turning. So we basically have a search for an interim town manager. We have received a couple responses from possible candidates for, again, this is an interim town manager who will allow us the room to basically choose to search for a permanent town manager. They will, we'll be following up with these two, at least these two candidates, as what's come in today, could be more in the future, but we have some really good candidates. Both of them have great backgrounds as town managers before, so we'll be speaking with them shortly hopefully and moving on in the process there. And of course, again, the process is going to be to permanently fill this vacancy of the town manager, and we'll talk about the process for that in the very near future and what that will look like. But another thing that we have going on, I kind of spoke about, or right, maybe Roger did last meeting, we are working really closely with the MMA to get a, in also our legal counsel actually, to find in essence someone that specializes in town manager searching, the actual searching of the town mentioned, finding the right one for the town, and we are enlisting the help of those, that person as well in the, in due to, in due time and due course, and that should help us with that solution to, or that vacancy and putting someone there. Some people have asked, are we going to do another committee, town manager hiring committee, and that's certainly possible, but at the same time I want to make sure that we are leaning on the professionals that know our, know the town manager is a business of a town manager, and that's going to be the first, that's going to be the next step what we have after the interim town manager is in place, or concurrently with the search for the interim town manager, but that should be happening pretty soon. Anything else on that? 's the current status. Any questions from the public on that? Okay, we will move on to the minutes from 9 2 and 9 16. All right, so Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026, we met. The attendees were Roger Hicks, myself, Michael Harnois, Daniel, Danielle Bradbury. So it looks like Jack, you were not present. Yeah, you're absent with Jack Regala. So you want to look at this or inspect anything? I looked them over earlier. Yeah, I looked at, we look on these, we Bennett, lovely Bennett sends these in the in our email so we can take a look at them and beforehand, so everything looked right in right in order for where we need to be. So I will entertain a motion to adopt the minutes from Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026. [25:02] Speaker D (unidentified): I don't think we can do the ones when Jack wasn't here because we don't have. Good point. Right, is that what you were waiting for? [25:09] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Thank you, sorry, I forgot. Yeah, we don't have, we only have three, that's right. All right, so we will skip the third or the second and we will move on to the minutes for September 16th, 2026. Six we had myself, Jack, Dan, Danielle and Roger was absent. So again, we looked through these already. We do have the right people in place to adopt the minutes from September 16th. So I'll [25:47] Speaker D (unidentified): entertain a motion for that. Motion to accept the minutes from September 16th. Second. Any [25:54] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): any discussion? All in favor? Yes. Hi. Yes. And the motion passes. Yeehaw. So we are now going to talk about basically a couple pieces memos basically that the select board is putting out there for article three in on the town warrant September as well as the sports complex hours. So I'm going to read this one about article 3. We've talked about it before and this is about codifying the articles, codifying the ordinances. So on September 16, 2026, we held a public hearing on the November 3rd, 2026 special town meeting Warren articles. At this hearing, concerns were raised about article 3, which would adopt a new codified version of the town's ordinances. Paul Matour, a resident and former planning board chair, identified several problems with the proposed version, specifically the zoning ordinance entries. These problems include missing changes that the voters previously approved, technical and typographical errors, and differences between the current ordinance and the version prepared for codification. Based on the advice of our attorney, we were informed that the process should be paused so these issues with zoning ordinances could be corrected. The board cannot remove or change article 3 at this stage. There's no time, and election deadlines do not allow the time to issue a revised warrant. Unfortunately, for that reason, our town attorney has advised us that the best option is for voters to actually reject article 3 in a corrected version be brought forward at a future election. The select board supports the goal of making our town ordinances is easier to search and access through online codification. However, because of these errors and the concerns identified, we unanimously recommend that the voters vote no on article 3 on the november ballot. This would allow the town time to prepare and complete the accurate codified version for consideration at a future election. Respectfully, all of the members of the select board. So that is a memorandum that we're gonna be putting out there and signing and hopefully getting word out. Hopefully everyone understands the reason why. Really, if you're watching this after, it's really important that we it's not, you know, if it if it does pass, it's not the end of the world, but it's just not the right thing to do at this point. We want to try to nip this in the bud right now and get it get voters to reject it so we can do it the right way. Any questions, any comments? Okay, the second memorandum that the select board is putting out there tonight is about the policy, the hollis sports complex, the debbie j teft hollis sports complex. So due to ongoing vandalism issues at the debbie j teft hollis sports complex, the select board voted all in favor during our meetings on september, meeting on september 16th, to close the facility from dusk to dawn, with the exception of town authorized activities. Violators during closed hours will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Signage will also be installed at the facility indicating these established rules. Any questions on this? Okay. So i'll make a motion we sign both memos. Thank you. Second hand. All in favor. Aye. [29:42] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. And while jack's signing that, we'll move on to new business. So item a in new business is ems transportation plan for the town of hollis with our esteemed fire chief chris young. Evening. [30:25] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: This should be very quick. It's really a housekeeping thing. Essentially the main EMS or State of Maine EMS board has technical rule making authority for state statutes in statute 30-A MRS subsection 3 1 7 2. They are requiring all municipalities to essentially declare the EMS services that they provide within their municipality. So to make it clear, there's no change happening to our EMS services. Everything you're remaining exactly the same. And to summarize the policy that they require you get you three or the board as the municipal officers to sign simply states that, you know, the following plan is adopted and it's the Transport Emergency Medical Services when the borders of the town of Hollis Maine shall be primarily provided by the municipal fire and EMS department, Hollis Fire Rescue. The service model town halls adopts as a service model managed directly by the municipality through the main fire and EMS department, sorry, through the municipal fire and EMS department, Hollis Fire Rescue and is required to be signed by you and posted publicly both here at the town hall and wherever you post policies is online and then I have to submit this to the manumass board. Everything stays the same. We're just advising the board of the type of service that we provide inside the town halls and this policy that's that you have in front of you, it's a template that the manumass board gave us. I didn't make, I'd make that up. That's a template that they gave us to literally fill in the blanks with the with the names and select the type of service and it was just put on town letterhead. Okay, anything [32:31] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): else to that's [32:34] Speaker H (unidentified): it that's literally that's that's literally all it is. We simple stuff. Any [32:37] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): questions from the board on this [32:54] Speaker D (unidentified): Wow. There's a lot to it. That's sarcasm. Is it something new that came out of Augusta? Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. [33:12] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: Like anything that, you know, any, laws or technical rules that come down, it's usually in response to an incident that occurred. So not knowing and not being told from mania mass, what that incident that drove this to be, but now they're just requiring all municipalities to officially inform them of the type of transport EMS service that is available in their community. So some of these, like for example, the town of Cornish, theirs would be written up to state that, you know, their service is provided by a private ambulance service, Socket Rescue. Wells would be same thing, Wells EMS provides the service of their particular forum Would state that is who provides their transport service in their town, that's literally all it is. So I don't know the details of what has triggered this, but we essentially get email notification from them that says this is a, this is an update to this statute, this is what you have to do. So it was nice them to send us a template which is, which was easy to fill out, so I'll [34:29] Speaker D (unidentified): make a motion to accept that ordinance and [34:33] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: just to be clear it is a, it is a policy accepted by the, by this, by this board, so it is, it can be, and it says right at the bottom, amendments, the plan may be amended by the municipal officers as necessary, and we just have to notify them of any amendment to this. Okay, I just wanted to clear that up because ordinance has to go before the townspeople. I retract my [35:00] Speaker D (unidentified): motion and I make a motion to adopt the policy. Just kicking in [35:08] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): in a second. Any other discussion about this adoption of a policy? All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Thank you, Chris. Also just take a second, thanks, maybe you, I don't know if you want to recognize your fantastic department who came to the [35:28] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: elementary school a couple days ago, yesterday. Absolutely. Unfortunately I was not able to be there with them, I was at training for the first three days of the week this week. Unfortunately, I love going there and meeting and hanging out and visiting with the kids, but our crew went and did our fire prevention program yesterday. I met with all grade levels at Hollis Elementary School. I did get feedback from the, from the principal and one of the teachers there at the elementary school as well as from a couple of parents that the crew did an excellent job. So I'm glad to hear that. You know, again, sad I wasn't able to be there myself, but I'm glad that they, that they, you know, everything went off without a problem and it was a success. Cool. Yeah, it was [36:11] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): my daughter's first experience of that and she's still talking about it right now and how cool it is and she's coloring in her color book. So really good, really well done is what I've heard. And so just wanted to give you a chance to recognize your awesome crew. Thank you. [36:26] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: Thank you, and I'm very proud of them for that. They do a good job, as we typically do. So thank you. Excellent. Thank you, Bruce. [36:37] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Okay, so we are moving on to item B in new business, which is the heat fund application process, something a little bit has changed a little bit. So we are bringing up our esteemed GA administrator, [36:51] Speaker D (unidentified): Ashley Dow. Hello again. Hello. [36:56] General Assistance Administrator: So as the administrator, I'm also in charge of the town of Hollis Heat Fund. And I've already started receiving calls from residents a little concerned that they don't have oil in their homes. Typically funds don't start to get released before November 1st, and then I realized that there really was no formal process for that, and I just didn't really understand how residents qualify and how they get the funds. So I thought maybe we should put something together that's a little more formal. I emailed that over to Bennett today. I think she got it to you, but I did print copies. If you don't have that in front of you, got one? Do you want to see one? Please, thank. [37:39] Speaker D (unidentified): You, I got it right now. This. [37:56] General Assistance Administrator: Is a very rough draft. I'm definitely open to making any types of changes, especially with the income guidelines. I went with 80 percent of median area income because I kind of wanted to make it attainable for, you know, the everyday person, whereas the HEAP program, which is a state one through, I think it's through Maine Housing, the income guideline is really low, so it can be a little bit harder for people in our area to get approved for that. I did also want to mention that the applications for HEAP. Are open and you can do them online, so if you're a resident worried about how you're going to make ends meet this winter, I encourage you to go online and fill out the application. Maybe you can get some assistance through Main Housing, but also with the town of Hollis Heat Fund, that's for residents who may be, don't qualify for that. Any. [38:48] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Questions? I've, I've heard some nightmare numbers from people that have filled their tanks over the last couple weeks, and it's, it's really scary stuff. I mean, it's almost double. Yeah, it is. Yeah, I don't know if it's almost, maybe it's double. It's really tough. These income eligibilities are mind-blowing too, and you can be a household of that much, and you know, it's still so expensive that you need. [39:18] General Assistance Administrator: Yeah, make that right. And of course, like I said, I am definitely willing to change that. Did make it a little bit higher just because I was thinking of, you know, the teachers or other people in the area who are working full-time but still are concerned. You do have to be experiencing some sort of hardship or, you know, some type of specific situation to be eligible, so you can't have a bunch of money just sitting in your bank account. Yeah. [39:47] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Anything else from the board about this? Questions for Ashley and. [39:54] General Assistance Administrator: We can definitely come back, you know, after you've had a chance to review it, or if you want to look at anything else, and we can chat again next week, or I mean next year at your next meeting, if you do think it's something you want to do. I just kind of wanted to get it [40:05] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): done before November 1st. Yeah, absolutely, let's talk about it. Let's, let's talk about it every meeting, so we can definitely, we'll put you on the agenda for the 27th. What is it, 28? I'm not sure. Okay, sounds good. 21st. Thanks and [40:25] Speaker G (unidentified): I think the reason why we wanted to come up with a policy was because we feel very strongly that it's going to be a big demand year with the increase in prices, because the last year, probably in December, beginning of January, all of a sudden kerosene to fill like a hundred gallons increased, it doubled almost. So we feel like we don't really have a lot of funds, and we want to be able to give them to people that really need the assistance, because over the years, gradually, we've, we've helped about the same number of people. In 23, 24, we helped nine individuals, and it only cost us three thousand nine hundred and sixteen dollars. Twenty four, twenty five, we helped fifteen for seven thousand forty one dollars, and last year we helped fourteen for about eight thousand one hundred and fifty four. So every year has gone up about the same number of people, but the costs have gone up. So we're just really concerned that we have, you know, some money in the heat fund, but we certainly need to have some more donations, and I think it's on the agenda at the very end of how you can donate to the he fund. So we just felt we needed to have something a little more formal. Thank you. Thanks, Mary Martha [41:53] Speaker H (unidentified): Huff. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for me to speak now. Not, I applaud Ashley and Mary for coming up with something, because there wasn't guidelines before. I will say that originally when it started, it was a senior program, and my only concern is actually having a maximum income to it, because you don't know what people, you know, it can just be a calamity of errors, you know, medical, job loss, this and that. I also like, gee, I think originally what we did was they needed to apply for GA first to see If they were eligible for that and they needed to apply for LIHEAP and have shown proof that they've done that or got an appointment. And I know that makes extra work, particularly for seniors, but in my mind they need to take available, you know, advantage of every available assistance. I don't know, for me personally, that I put a maximum income on it. I get where you're coming from because it could be a very expensive winter with everything's going up right now, but I think people give to it with the idea that particularly the seniors are going to get help and you know i don't know how many seniors we have that have an income of 74 450 dollars but maybe we do so i just throwing that out as just a thought of discussion not a criticism at all i applaud them for putting some guidelines into it because it was pretty much you know at the discretion of the person doing it before so it does help to have guidelines and that but i definitely would say apply for lie heap and apply for general assistance first. Thanks. [43:37] Speaker G (unidentified): thanks martha one more mary hoffman i forgot to introduce myself and we do have them apply for general assistance so if they are eligible for general assistance we don't take it out of the heat fund and we also encourage them to apply for lie heap the problem most years in the last two years and Martha may be able to tell what her experience has been is that people apply for LIHEAP and then they don't get it for months and months and months so it must have been like March April timeframe when people started getting their LIHEAP money last year. So [44:19] Speaker H (unidentified): Martha, that has not changed. Mary, I mean, it's been that way for years. But sometimes if they have an existing account with an oil company, they will work with them knowing that, yeah, they've been eligible for LIHEAP for the last five years, so that money is going to come in. So sometimes not every oil company will do that because they've changed hands now over the years, but they may, you know, float them a month or two because they know that LIHEAP money is going to come in. But rather the LIHEAP money is even anywhere near able to cover what the cost of oil this year is going to be, I don't know that. So yeah, thank you, Mary. Again, I mean, do you guys [45:01] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): guys just go back and forth? No, all right, this is great. Thank you so much for all that, and thank you, Ashley. I wanted to make sure I thank you. Oh, you have something? Okay, I [45:15] General Assistance Administrator: Just have one more thing that I forgot to mention. When you're talking about general assistance, in my position I'm available 24 7, so if somebody needs me, you know, three o'clock in the morning, they're going to call that cell phone. And I was wondering if we would be able to appoint somebody as like a backup up for the days when like I'm on vacation, for instance, when I'm in Florida this winter. Be nice to have somebody who's an appointed backup who can handle that, and I would recommend Mary since she [45:41] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): did it previously is mary interested in that i'm guessing you're not volunteering her for nothing yes yeah well we can talk about that for sure let's let's wait for the whole board to be back but yeah that sounds like a logical way to go about it thanks actually all right sounds good awesome all right so moving on to item C which is the assessing workflow with John O'Donnell associates so a lot of people have been asking you know what 's what's the next step with this so basically Bennett and Tammy Thompson have recently asked John O'Donnell about the assessing business processes for our residents going forward. Bennett, Tammy, and Roger are in agreement on this process, which would basically allow O'Donnell to handle any assessing issues with Tammy being the first contact. Because there is no longer a select board assessor in the office on a daily basis, we wanted somebody that is on in the office on a daily basis, like Tammy, to be the first contact. So John recommends the following and is asking for support from the select board. So this is from John. He says, we envision a setup where the property owners can call or email our new Gloucester office on any weekday. The subject of the call or email is then handled based on the subject and action needed for the property owners to go to the town office. We envision Tammy being the first contact. Tammy would then decide what we would, what should happen next. Tammy would relay these issues to get us a response from us that she would then convey back, or Tammy could connect the property owner with us with an initial call or email with us following through with the property owner. Other things, basically, is Tammy already really actually does this a lot with Greg and I. This is again, John speaking. I think we have a good approach, but do not have a gauge on how much of Tammy's workload this is in the upcoming year. We have a little flexibility when it comes to in-person meetings. We will regularly have staff in Hollis doing re evaluation, re evaluation field work, and we can use this presence to set up meetings. I expect some need when the tax bills go out. Over time, this will diminish and the field work interruptions will cease. So that's from O'Donnell. Ben, is there anything else to add to that? Is that pretty much the gist? Okay. Okay. So we've already approved this piece of it. We just need to basically firm it up with this assessor's worksheet that we're all going to sign tonight. And I just want to make sure we have everything. There's a whole bunch of different places to sign. And I think that's all, we should, we've already passed this, so okay, so I'm just gonna sign real quick, bear with me, this is all paperwork that has been in our email as well, so it's not anything new. And while Dan signing that, I'm gonna do payroll and warrants. Look at this, I said it's gonna be a long meeting, it's 45 minutes. Payroll for the week of the 21st of September is forty three thousand three hundred fifty five dollars. Payroll last week was forty eight thousand seven hundred and thirty two. payroll this week is thirty seven thousand seven hundred and thirty eight dollars the warrant for the week of September 21st is five hundred and twenty thousand dollars and six hundred five hundred and twenty six sixty two the warrant last week was 27 oh six five zero six five in the warrant this week is one hundred and thirty eight thousand eighty one dollars we have one purchase order here the vendor name is the main window company it is a firm out of Yarmouth the department requesting this PO is Charles courier, chip courier. The description is basically the concession window replacement, the front windows needed replacing in the total purchase is not to exceed that four thousand four hundred and it, I'm not sure if I can, this got 4 400. [Speaker B (unidentified): Thank you and.] This was, I'm going to put, make it really obvious, it's a comma, and this was signed by the town manager, by the former town manager, so it is good to go. All. [Speaker G (unidentified): Right so.] That's payroll and warrants and purchase orders. Dan, you want to correspondence. [51:28] Speaker D (unidentified): And announcements sure on or about October 29th 2026 Brookfield white pine hydro LLC e WPH is intending to file a permit application with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to the provisions of the main waterway development and conservation act, MWDCA, and a water quality certification pursuant to the MWDCA and the federal Clean Water Act Section 401. As part of the application process, Brookfield must mail a copy of the notice of intent to file in a duplicate of the entire application to the municipal office where the project is located. So it would be here electronic copy of the application will be available for viewing on our website or by contacting the town clerk or Bennett Flinner office assistant a Reminder to our residents who are interested in donating to the halls heat fund we accept monetary donations at the town hall And we also have clink bags Whose proceeds fund this important service clink bags are available in the main lobby at the town hall. Thank you for your support Thank [52:51] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): you, Dan. All right. So item 11, we have an update from Phil Finnamore about the Lifelong Hollis and Kindness Committees. Thank [53:05] Phil Finnamore, Bean Street resident: you, everybody. Phil Finnamore, Bean Street. Yeah. So we had an initial meeting last Wednesday about creating a lifelong main community here in Hollis. A subset of that is the Kindness Committee as well, which is something that Mike had found in a neighboring couple of communities that we thought we could very easily roll into this program. In short, the Lifelong Maine Community is an AARP-backed organization here in Maine. We go through an application process that allows us to become an age-friendly community. It's a volunteer-based group. The benefits of becoming an age-friendly community and being back through AARP is for things like grants and infrastructure that will help with aspects of the program, such as volunteer transportation to appointments for seniors and people with disabilities in the community, things like that. so what we had somewhere between 20 and 25 people show up to the meeting i've got an email list over 30 people long and at least half of that list has committed in some capacity to being a part of the program already which is phenomenal so a couple folks in that volunteer pool have already come up with some ideas of like hey i think there's a few things we can do without officially being a community yet that aren't really going to cost us anything or need the backing of the program to accomplish. So we're going to start working, racking our brains on how to make some of those work. One is an idea that everyone at the meeting loved, which is a sort of pen pal program between Hollis Elementary and seniors in the community. We have multiple people that are working on that, and probably as we speak the PTC meeting is talking about it right now. We want to just make sure we do it the, you know, do it the right way and get proper channels and permissions for the school if they're okay with all of that before we move anything, move anything forward. But we thought that was a great idea to get some social engagement in the, in the community. The other idea that we are chasing down the logistics of right now is getting sand buckets delivered to seniors who may not be able to come to our public area to pick up sand. So, again, working on some logistics of that. I am going to reach out to Rob, our road commissioner, to just talk logistics of getting the sand. And who knows, maybe he's got an even easier avenue than some volunteers identifying people who need these and coming down and getting it and bringing it to those people. So we're going to figure out a few logistics. [55:48] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): I feel like on that one, the biggest challenge is making sure that the people that would like that assistance are identified. Yes. Or they identify themselves. And what does that look like? Correct. Is it something that we, you know, obviously we can put it on the website, but like, are those people going to be on the website? Probably not. So how do we get the word out? [56:07] Phil Finnamore, Bean Street resident: So we've already got some ideas on that. Again, our volunteer base has been very engaging. Every time we've thrown something out there to them, people are suggesting getting announcements out to the local churches. We can get flyers up around town hall. I'm going to talk to Chip and Debbie as well, because I know they have some senior based activities that they do during the week, even here. So we can get some flyers out and get some information out to those people. And hopefully the word can spread, you know, maybe even just the old fashioned way, you know, word of mouth from people just to know other people that might need these services. So, you know, we wanted to really rally the very enthusiastic volunteer base early in this process to get a few initiatives going that we don't need the full breadth of the program for while we work on getting the program going, because there is a bit of an application and like onboarding process to be a part of the age friendly community. Community. So those are things we're working on as far as the select board is concerned. Part of the application process is getting the select board and in our form of government, the town manager, when that interim and or permanent person is in place to give a letter of support. Support. I want to make it clear that what you would be supporting there, and I'm not asking for this tonight, I'm going to get more information for you before I do that, it would not be pledging any support for resources or committing to anything financial for the program. That's the whole point of becoming a part of the AARP program is to use grants and things from that. The support would just be that you are supportive of these initiatives here in town. So, we'll be coming at some point, probably in the next month or two, with more information on that and to get your support, hopefully. But just wanted to give an update, let you know that's coming, and let you know what we're already working on. Thanks, Phil. [58:07] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Yeah. Hey, Jack, would you be a pen pal with somebody over there? Over in the community? [58:15] Speaker B (unidentified): I've got a lot of pen pals. [58:17] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Jack's going to sign up to be a pen pal with somebody. Phenomenal. He's committed. [58:22] Phil Finnamore, Bean Street resident: Great. Awesome. Any questions? Thanks. [58:27] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Thanks again. All right, we are moving on to other business. Any other business from the board? Yeah, I just want to let [58:37] Speaker B (unidentified): everybody know that the do not water ban in the Town Hall not the town the Town Hall has been lifted and the water is good to drink now. Finally, I would like to just say thanks to Ralph the inspector in Augusta, Matt our water operator, and Matt from Ward Water. It's been a long journey back and forth, back and forth. I don't even know how many months, but we're good to go now. I'd [59:10] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): like to I don't know suggest you take the inaugural sip of the water over there in the no problem we'll take a video put it on the website sound good I [59:25] Speaker G (unidentified): would I would like to personally thank Jack Regala for all his work with the water. I appreciate that, Mary. I really, appreciate all the hard work because I know you worked really, hard to get that accomplished. And it was a major challenge, so thank you. [59:42] Speaker B (unidentified): It was, thank you. One other thing too, just about ready to close the door on the hardscaping. I got one more I'm waiting on estimate and she will be good to go. There's such variations in the numbers that I kind of Butch asked me if he'd like to participate in reviewing some of them, another set of eyes, so I welcomed him to that. And so hopefully tomorrow we get together and we can just polished it out and get that done. Nice. [1:00:21] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): We certainly got enough bids, enough choices. Now we just need to select the right one. Yep, financially and quality of work wise too, right. Good deal. [1:00:34] Speaker D (unidentified): Any other business from the board? There was just, as you know, last week we met some of the Jurgen Road residence. There was some questions I sent to Dwayne to send to Roger to send the legal, go up the chain of command for that. I don't know if Dwayne has any updates on that. He's gone, so I guess we're waiting on what our attorney has to say about that. I met on today actually on Zoom with Kayla Lewis who's been here a couple times moving main network, I think for network. She was contacted me about. The trails behind the sports complex because she's watched the videos and just kind of reach out to help move that along. So we're gonna kind of do like monthly meetings with her and Chip and Matt Janik who's a good resident here who's interested in it, and Nancy who wanted to help out with the grant writing part of that. So just want to let you know we'll be hearing some more on that coming up. Nothing to share now, just kind of letting you guys know it's kind of on the burner. [1:01:56] Speaker B (unidentified): Thank you Dan all. [1:01:59] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Right, I don't have anything. I had one more culture not. [1:02:03] Speaker D (unidentified): Not really our business but town business and to piggyback on Phil's senior, there's a senior trip that the parks and REC just put together for next Wednesday, I believe the 15th. Thursday but go into bus trip to castle in the clouds if anyone wants to get on that call Chip at 207-298-3992 says that they need 20 participants to make the trip happen so. So if you know anyone who wants to go on a bus trip on the 15th, call Chip. [1:02:37] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): It's a nice bus, too, I believe. All right, upcoming town committee and board meetings. Comprehensive plan committee meeting on Wednesday, October 14th at 9 a.m. There's a planning board meeting Wednesday, October 14th at 7 p.m. Conservation commission meeting on Thursday, October 15th at 5.30. The select board meeting on Wednesday for October 21st at 6 p.m. And then the Comprehensive Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 28th at 9 a.m. And the Planning Board meets again on Wednesday, October 28th at 7 a.m. And that is what we have for Uptown Committees and Board Meetings. And now we have public comment. [1:03:27] Butch Gannon, Hollis resident: Butch Gannon, Hollis resident. I spent considerable amount of time in the fire department here in Hollis. And I don't think I'm the only one that has a question. An EMS transportation plan for the town of Hollis. I'd like to know kind of what that is. If I could ask Chris to come up here and give some specifics about that. Chris, if you'd like to. I'm going to sit up here so I can hear him. [1:04:05] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: So for the purpose of what was requested from Manium S, the EMS transportation plan is simply expressing how the town provides that service and that service is provided by the halls fire and rescue department essentially that it is a municipally managed firing ems service that provides medical transport of the sick and injured from the town of hollis to the hospitals that's that's literally what they were that's that's that's all that's all they were asking for is for the town of hollis the municipal officers to make that statement [1:04:42] Butch Gannon, Hollis resident: that this is this is what we do okay and it's part of that program the billing [1:04:51] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: no they're not they had no questions whatsoever it has no impact on billing there they have no direction regarding billing that doesn't come from any MS at all okay yep okay thank you thank you Chris thank you butch I do have a [1:05:10] Speaker H (unidentified): follow-up question with that in that plan does it say like that polis has to provide like is there any out like we have two units but you could have a third call is that covered in there are we obligating ourselves that if there's a third call and we can't cover it does that come [1:05:29] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: into our liability window at all it does not it just clearly states that our primary ems transportation plan is that the town of hollis manages an ems transportation program through the fire and rescue service that's that's literally all they're looking for they that plan and i can and i certainly leave a copy of it in fact the town is required to post it on the bulletin board out here and online with their policies but the template they gave us that's literally what it says town of hollis provides ems transportation by or by municipal governed or municipal managed firing ems service within the town halls yeah oh boy oh okay [1:06:19] Speaker G (unidentified): i'll get back in the line mary hoffman from alice so my impression was that every town had to fill this out so every town had to say whether they had their own or [1:06:33] Town official presenting EMS service declaration: Whether they privately contracted, right? That's correct. Every town had to make that determination, and the examples that I gave, like, you know, the town of Bucks and the town of Standish, the town of Hollis, Limington, Waterboro, etc., everyone had to make that same statement is provided by a municipally managed fire and EMS service. And as I said, the towns of like Cornish and Wells state that this provided by a contracted private EMS service, saka be rescue or Wells EMS, which is a private entity. And I guess I can give a little more detail. People are wondering on the, on the services that we do provide, right? Hollis Fire and Rescue does provide two transporting ambulances within the town of Hollis for the sick and injured, for residents of the town halls and anyone visiting the town halls. Basically anything that happens within our town limits, we staff 24 hours a day a group of three people, so we staff one and a half of those ambulances with on-duty staff with callbacks and, call company staff coming due to fill out the rest of that second ambulance. If at any time an ambulance is not available to respond to an emergency in Hollis or the ambulances are both busy, we have mutual aid agreements both through state mutual aid agreements, County mutual aid agreements, and individual mutual aid agreements with our neighboring departments that they will come, we will can request them to come and assist and handle a call for an ambulance that we are, if we are too busy or an ambulance is down for service or whatnot, they can, they will come and they will help cover calls for us, and we provide that same assistance back to them when they have times of, you know, busy, they're busy with calls or they have ambulances that are down. We provide that service back and forth, which is the mutual part of the mutual aid. Our town is very well covered. I said we have, we have great staff that are here that come to work and staff our ambulances and respond when we have second medical calls and, we have great mutual aid partners that come and help us and we go and help them and reciprocate that. So any [1:08:49] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): more questions for Chris? Okay. [1:08:53] Speaker H (unidentified): Chris you're relieved Martha half-police resident I just have a cute am I too loud a few questions or comments about the meeting last week in that when people left that meeting I kind of got the impression that the tax rate was set for this year and that they thought looking at social media which I haven't looked at it again since then there was some misinformation out there because I felt like people left that meeting and thought the tax rate this year is $16 but next year because of the revaluation the homestead will go automatically up to a hundred percent and that our tax bills will be lower or And my question is this. I think it was said at the meeting that the revaluation is going to start in January. Do we have a completion date of it? And what is that? [1:09:54] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): We have a projected completion date. Yes,. April-ish. [1:10:00] Speaker H (unidentified): April of 2027? Wow, he must have a huge staff. Are they going house to house? That's the we're doing a full reevaluation. Okay, then the good but my other question on that's awesome If they can get that done by April 1st good for them. And then when you set your tax commitment in August of September for your 2728 tax bills, you'll have the new valuations awesome However, I'm not sure and you guys can read this yourself and I may not be correct But if you go to main revenue property tax page and read i don't believe that the i'm not sure how the sales ratios factor into that and when i whatever piece i read it looked like those lag two years behind so i'm not sure that our values come up but that next september we can take a hundred percent of the homestead you're talking about the certified ratio yes so i'm not sure how that factors in so there may be a little lag there i'm not sure let's unless anyone in this on the board right [1:11:08] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): now knows for sure i would actually it's a good question we should pose it to john and john o'donnell [1:11:15] Speaker H (unidentified): and we can get a definitive answer for you because people were talking on the page the next day and it was like fairly confident that our values would be changed and those the certified ratio would automatically go and when I was reading it I kind of went home and read up a little bit that state peace kind of lags behind a little bit [1:11:38] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): we'll get a definitive answer but we're working towards getting a certified ratio of 100% so we have 100% of the actual homestead exemption yes [1:11:46] Speaker H (unidentified): That's awesome, so but I just don't, I think we need to get that information out to taxpayers so they know that, you know, Oh, next September when we get our bills, wow, we're all going to be excited and we're going to have this and that. Nobody's going to be excited, but yes, I know, no matter what the number is. The reason I say that about that state valuation is that state valuation also factors into what you pay for schools, what your county tax assessment is, and what you get for like revenue shabbing sharing for the state, and that's the piece I read that kind of in my mind thought, oh, that lags behind a little bit, so I don't know, I could be totally completely wrong on that, but it would be a good question to [1:12:30] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): have. I think we'll get that answer for you. We'll have an answer for you, if not [1:12:33] Speaker H (unidentified): by the next meeting. Oh yeah, whenever, that's fine, but you know, it's just, and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone here at all, but it's just, you know, some people on social media are, it's not always correct, is what I'm saying, so you know, we have a joke in our house, if it's on Facebook it must be true, yeah, so yeah, so thank you, thank you for that. [1:12:58] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Yeah, there was another comment too that somebody made on Facebook about, they thought, and it wasn't a comment, and I think it was just their error, that the re-evaluation was like happening now and it was going to be, aren't we supposed to, why is it 16, why are you sitting, this should have been done, I thought it was already over, and that's just a, you know, obviously that reevaluation hasn't started, it's about to start, and it's just because we voted on it didn't make it happen immediately, it's something that had to [1:13:26] Terry Walters, town resident: be scheduled. So hi Terry Walters, town resident. I just had a question on old business. Several meetings ago, we had a spirited discussion in this room about a proposal to have a moratorium on data centers and distribution centers. We can thank Tom for initiating that. I was kind of left feeling that the town was going to put together an alternative to that, and are we, and what is the status of that, and if not, should we go with Tom's [1:14:06] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Alternative, the moratorium is in the, in process in terms of getting the legal language together and making sure that we have that. Luckily, we have a basically a template from surrounding towns, so we're getting that together. We're gonna have that lawyer put it together, and then we're gonna basically get that moratorium in place. It needs to be ratified by the voters within, I want to say six, thirty days, I forget that, ninety days. And so that's, that's the first step, and then that gives us all the breathing room to basically do the right thing and make sure that we are assembling a committee together to really look at these, you know, potential ordinances down the road. But it's not something we have to go gung-ho on. That's basically the board's position right now. Okay, so it's in the works. Absolutely. Okay, thank you. Yeah, progress is being made. A few other things have been taking our attention lately, so yeah. [1:15:02] Speaker B (unidentified): Martha, one more thing, I know here [1:15:05] Speaker H (unidentified): I go again. Martha, resident in the revaluation, have we, and maybe it's on the website and I haven't looked on the real Hollis website, what's the process of the revaluation? If somebody shows up on our steps, do, does the resident, just because people have been asking, do they have to let them in? What's the process on that? They do not, they do not need to let them in. Okay, all right. And how does that affect their appeal process at the other end? That is something I can probably get [1:15:37] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): better language on, but it does affect their appeal process and what they have, because they don't have a view of the interior, and so they can't make assessments, you know, correct assessments on [1:15:46] Speaker H (unidentified): what they see inside. Right, and that's the thing, you know, I think residents are, you know, if you're a senior, if you're alone, or there's a teen, I would think if there's a young child that answers the door, they're not going to go in. I think common sense would tell them that, but it can be a scary thing these days, and then, you know, they show up on the cameras, and it's like, who is [1:16:07] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): this person? What are you doing at my house? Not to interrupt you, but my understanding is that it's not going to be like a, hey, I'm here type of thing. It's a scheduled piece that they're going to make sure that they give due notice and in advance. They are also, you know, perfect, they do this, they do this is their perfect, this is their job. So they've done this about 150,000 times probably. All these assessors, they're going to be coming to people's doorsteps. You should probably feel pretty comfortable. If you don't though, if you can still of course decide not [1:16:37] Speaker H (unidentified): to, but yeah, that's great because, you know, I'm just trying to put some confidence out there for the residents because, you know, if you're home alone and somebody wraps on your door, I know the last time a few years ago when it was going on, I had young babies and they answered the door and they said, and we thought it was the cat and we opened the door and there's a man standing there and it's not the cat. It's like, ma, it's not the cat. So, you know, I just in this day and age people are trying to get cautious and good for them if they're going to schedule that way to go. We've [1:17:10] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): we've probably hired just the most reputable of reputable firms to do this. [1:17:15] Butch Gannon, Hollis resident: It's my understanding they're gonna put pictures and vehicles and license numbers on our website so people will know that is also we'll be able to know [1:17:28] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): who's showing up and the cars will be marked. The cars will have signage on them. We will have a picture of every car. They will have, yes, they will be in Uniform for a lack of a better term. It's going to be very obvious who they are. [1:17:43] Speaker D (unidentified): And I've just looked up on the je O'Donnell website. They have a reevaluation brochure and one of the frequently asked questions is, do I have to let them in my house? No, you have a right to deny entrance. However in the inspection process of the reevaluation, the more information made available, the more fair and equalized will be your assessment. It is very important that the inspector review not only the quality of your construction, but also any deterioration or negative influences. [1:18:15] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): It's important. Yeah, everyone talks about upgrades and like, you know, are they seeing my upgraded kitchen? It's also Fairness on if you haven't upgraded your kitchen, for example. You know, you're getting a fair assessment because, you know, your kitchen is from 1972 or something. Other public comments online by the way, anybody online that willing to publicly comment, the peanut gatherer out here, just anybody else have any other questions in the public? If you want to, you can, Martha, it's okay, all right, you can start registering your [1:18:54] Speaker D (unidentified): dogs in two months. Come on now, all [1:19:06] Speaker G (unidentified): right, that [1:19:09] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Really it for public comment. Okay. Well, it's been a pleasure being your interim or, you know, what do you call it, interim chair. With that said, I'll pass the mic to Jack. [1:19:22] Speaker B (unidentified): Well, I just want to say thank you, Dan, Mike, for acting as the chair. Mary, thank you for acknowledging what it took to do what had to be done. And I want to thank everybody tonight for coming in and everybody that's watching. And at this time I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second. [1:19:46] Select Board Chair (presiding officer): Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion passes. Good night everybody.