Shapleigh Select Board Approves Tower Bond, Hires Paramedic, Sets Paving Budget

[0:01] Speaker A (unidentified): We'll finish business. [0:02] Speaker B (unidentified): Have the best day of the year. Michelle. [0:09] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: So October 13th, next Tuesday, the board has a workshop with the comp plan committee at 4 p.m. and with the capital improvement committee at 6.30. Comp plan will be here. Capital improvement will be at the town hall. So the planning board will be here later. We've received well over 20 applications for the deputy town clerk position. I did put the posting on pause so that the clerk can go through all of the resumes and evaluate and select some to move forward for the interview. And by law, the clerk appoints their own deputy. However, the board has the final say as the hiring authority. So when it comes to scheduling the interviews, we should incorporate the board into those interviews. I will be out of the office on Friday for pre-approved vacation day. Volunteer Barbecue was well attended. Thank you again to all of Shapley's volunteers and to those who helped make Friday's event a success. Thankfully, we didn't have too much food left over, and everybody seemed happy with what they got. [1:34] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, it was very well attended. So [1:38] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: I forwarded you all an email that I received last week from a property owner basically requesting to have his Internet exposure reduced. I did get a legal opinion from both the town attorney and from MMA that what's on there is public information anyway, way and we do put it on there so that we get less phone calls for that type of information. MMA did suggest that you could that we could limit the public search indexing on our website. I might have to refer to Dave and ask you how to do that. [2:24] Speaker A (unidentified): Not good at all. The IT guy. That's right. [2:29] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: And then... Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then, so our in-house IT guy is stepping down. He took on a full-time job elsewhere and it's been too much for him to try to fit it in on his days off. And he's referred me and his other clients to somebody else to pass things on to. and he deals with just the in-house stuff. And then Charlie inherited our domain and e-mail hosting. He inherited that from Ted when Ted passed, and Charlie's just been basically trying to get us to the next hoster, basically. But apparently for the switchover, he needs three. Almost. He needs three days where he can devote to it, and he's having some issues, some issues in care of family members, so he hasn't been able to get to that. So I was wondering, maybe, Dave, if you'd like to grab the – [3:35] Select Board member: I'll be happy to take that on. [3:38] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: So this – I mean, if you want to take it on or if you want to talk to this guy about what his qualifications are – and this is Charlie. This is our email guy. He's in town. Okay. You didn't want to do that? Me? [3:56] Select Board member: You don't want him to do that. Yeah. Exactly. [4:02] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: I'm not snitching. It's nice to have Dave. [4:06] Speaker A (unidentified): Well, phone call would have just been to Dave anyway. IT savvy. [4:12] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: Thanks, Penny. So I can unplug things and I can Google things, but the whole networking and all that is beyond me. That is it for those updates. Beautiful. Blue Sky Towers for Planning Board. So a couple months ago we reviewed an amount for a performance bond for Blue Sky Towers in the amount of forty one thousand seven hundred thirty one dollars. Well, this performance bond has gone back and forth between their legal and our legal into what meets the definition laid out in our zoning ordinance. We now have what our attorney and what their attorney agrees meets the definition of our ordinance and requires the final sign off by the Select Board. So I have a letter drafted to the Planning Board chair. Dear Ms. Harris, in regards to the proposed performance guarantee for the Blue Sky Towers for a communications tower proposed on land located at Map 11B1, the Select Board finds after consultation with legal counsel that the proposed guarantee meets the legal requirements as set forth in Section 105.61.2B8 in the Shapley zoning and therefore approved a guarantee. Then I've got the legal correspondence back and forth, but most importantly the highlighted one where he concludes that [5:56] Select Board member: it does meet. We need a motion. Yeah, we need a motion. I'll make a motion that we accept the performance guarantee from Blue Sky. Second. We have a motion, a [6:06] Speaker A (unidentified): second. Any discussion? All in favor? Oh, would you watch? Okay. [6:11] Speaker B (unidentified): Okay, Gray Road. Yeah, how high is it? [6:21] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: It's already been approved. [6:25] Speaker B (unidentified): Permitted by Planning. Wouldn't know. [6:29] Select Board member: Yeah, I can't remember. I can't either, like [6:31] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: a while ago. Yeah, the only thing, one of the conditions was that they had to get this in to meet the town standards. Anyway, passes 3-0. Nothing [6:55] Speaker A (unidentified): else on the unfinished business. [6:56] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: No, I did receive a letter that I'm going to pass on to the Williams Property Committee where it's in regards to the Williams property. But there's a gentleman that wants to take his wife out there, and she has a hard time getting through the area that's between the rocks out there on Williams property. Yeah, so between the gate and the big boulders. So he's he's looking for an accommodation there, but I'm going to pass that along to the committee to see what they can do to help him out. Department [7:36] Speaker A (unidentified): heads, well I don't know who to pick first since you're right there. I'll go first I guess. Yeah, can you go last still? [7:52] Speaker B (unidentified): See where we do last week, transfer station again, a little bit more base gravel, trying to get that out a little further as I wait for the concrete bed. I think I'm going to stop right where I'm at now, and a lot of it will be a couple more loads of base gravel, then finish gravel. Because you've got to beat the other road, and you can't have base gravel with big rocks and all that from the drive over. So it'll be finish gravel up to there, and then wait until actually it's poured and everything else. [8:25] Speaker A (unidentified): He's going to be, he's coming up soon for that pretty soon, right? [8:31] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: Yeah, he's supposed to be in this week to do it, the last conversation that I had. [8:37] Speaker B (unidentified): Darren's leaving, I'm out Thursday, so I already gave him full warning a week ago, I forwarded it to Michelle. [8:44] Speaker A (unidentified): I just wanted to know if I could help him [8:46] Speaker B (unidentified): set the steel and stuff, but he went away and this is the time I usually go away annually. [8:51] Speaker A (unidentified): I just, when I come back following is fine, but I just want to make sure I'm used back from vacation. I didn't know if we had a kind of thing and something, just trying to get a time frame time. Yeah. No, I think I'll reach out to Michelle. [9:13] Speaker B (unidentified): Jeff held his stuff done last week in the pit, all set up for stockpile. I just mugged in mine Saturday in the sand salt facility, I moved a bunch of, I got a knock down the head of dirt. When you go up to the top level, there's usually a big pile, and there wasn't much of a pile, but there was still probably six or eight foot of head there and about ten feet. So I just scooped it out of the middle and put it on the sides and knocked that down. Then I moved most of the salt from the salt building into the big building on the front, on the side, so it's just quicker and easier when we keep going. That's how we've done it. It works out pretty good. When I get back Monday or Tuesday, I don't know if they're open Monday, but I'll try to order salt to fill that other building so we have it all in our hands. It's really beneficial. Instead of ordering it and we're in the middle of stockpiling and waiting because we mix our salt as we go. So that's all set up pretty much. Did a driveway culvert today, did a little bit of grading last week, finished up in the beginning of the week and we did some and ditching this afternoon on Mann Road and fixing some of the shoulders on the Graney Kent Pond Road. That's pretty much it. We'll be over there cleaning out the culvert by Graney Kent Pond Road towards the Graney Kent Brook. That's it. Then we'll get ready when I come back to see how the roads are. We might put out some finish gravel on some of the road entrances and some of the little potholes and looks like we're going to be early this year for frost and everything else, I don't know unless we go into Indian summer, I don't know. [11:05] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, 31 tonight and then we'll warm back up forties for the rest of the week and stuff so. [11:14] Speaker B (unidentified): I'll tell you this morning wasn't too warm up on the top of the hill on Ross Corner Road where we did Latrice's Culver. Right at the top of the hill that wind was howling and we were freezing. [11:27] Speaker A (unidentified): Lake was whitecaps today. [11:29] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, if that wind hadn't of been blowing we didn't have any sun there either. So we were in the shade but it was pretty cold. I guess that's all I have. It's beautiful for budgetary stuff what are you guys looking for like capital big stuff big capital yeah not really I'm like 20 I'm going to go up on my budget a little bit on road commissioner stuff but what do we define capital as 2 000 or 10 okay so on the paving, $25,000, I guess that would be capital. That's capital. I didn't realize that, yeah. [Speaker A (unidentified): The paving for?] For paving just in general. We used to have it at $200,000 four years ago. Correct. We went backwards. We dropped it down to $175,000. and can't really do much if we expand one row a year it's like [12:37] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: it was $200 and then they dropped it down to $150 when we started going out started going out with the plowing contract and then maybe four years ago they brought it up to $175 yeah [12:48] Speaker B (unidentified): If you do a major project like I did last year, it's just gone, nothing yet. I didn't have anything left. If I tried to do a project this year, what do you need for, what do you need for, I just want to go up to 200 I know. [13:05] Speaker A (unidentified): You want to go up to 200. What are we looking at for a plan as far as what roads are in the Ross Corner? We're gonna finish springtime, we're gonna finish out Ross Corner Road ditching, Ross Corner Road, we're gonna finish ditching that. [13:19] Speaker B (unidentified): From, okay, well, we're over three quarters of the way through that, so I think I probably have the money this year to do it, but I don't have time with all the. [13:38] Speaker A (unidentified): Other projects I have. Yeah, I'm just trying to get it, we're gonna go up to two hundred thousand, we're gonna make sure we have a, have an idea what we're a pavement, you know, so that we're at the Ross Corner Road, that's going to take a good chunk. [13:55] Speaker B (unidentified): Okay, and then I plan on ditching, I probably need to go down to Mason Road and do some work on that, okay, that hasn't been done in a long time, and I need some ditching and a paving, so that's. [14:09] Speaker A (unidentified): Not really what's, what's the dollar, do we have a dollar a dollar a mile, do they, do they do it by changes every year. [14:17] Speaker B (unidentified): Especially with the prices right now, that's why Jeff opted not to do anything this past year. [14:24] Speaker A (unidentified): There was some kind of formula to go by, we wouldn't know how many miles we could end up doing for the town, so right now we're at $175,000 and you want to go to $200,000 so. [14:39] Speaker B (unidentified): $200,000, I talked to Jeff last year, he was like, I don't know, just stay there because I have a lot of long roads, so I have a lot of road. [14:52] Speaker A (unidentified): More roads that we get along, so 200 000 just for paving, yeah, and there was one or two things that. [15:01] Speaker B (unidentified): I wanted to go up on, but they weren't 25, they weren't 10, I don't know if they were 10 000. [15:06] Speaker A (unidentified): So just for that, when we put it in for a warrant, put in for the budget committee, yep, if we could just have all the roads listed of what we're paving. [15:16] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, you're not going to get much more than Ross Corner Road and maybe Mason. [15:20] Speaker A (unidentified): I know, but what needs to be paved? [15:22] Speaker B (unidentified): Let's put it that way. Oh, what needs to be paved? Everything. [15:26] Speaker A (unidentified): Get out your nose. Well, not everything. We've got Ross Corner Road, Park and Dine and everything else. I'm just saying, let's prioritize, just like we did with the bridges. Prioritize what we're going to have to do. We've got to put things under priority so we know where we're at. You may need more than $200,000 in order to keep it up. [15:42] Speaker B (unidentified): No, it goes by year by year until $130,000. Yeah. I mean, you can't plan five years out because things change so much on that. It's hard to do. Yeah, I get it. [15:53] Speaker A (unidentified): Just so we have an idea. [15:54] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, so it's not a change. I give you a couple rows, that's probably. [15:57] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, that works for me. Rescue Department has a new hire? [16:05] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: Yes, they have a paramedic. Who comes with bring recommendations I believe he works with Chief Huff Air Department as well [16:24] Speaker A (unidentified): It only brings it down to two more spots he needs filled or something like that two or three they've done a great job filling them [16:47] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: The one [16:59] Speaker B (unidentified): Person from actually Sanford Fire Department that works at Sanford Fire Department yep that's really good do [17:11] Speaker A (unidentified): You know this gentleman [17:15] Speaker B (unidentified): Munson Robert how many years has he been a paramedic i [17:22] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: Don't think it says on the application no i don't think so he's got that on his resume but tyler has that at the station i think they've gone to pick up their car today are they back that [17:39] Speaker B (unidentified): Looks pretty shut up i mean Yeah, I would think so. [17:45] Select Board member: I'll make a motion that we move forward with hiring Bob Munson. Second. Any discussion? [17:54] Speaker A (unidentified): All in favor? Congratulations, Mr. Munson. Proclamation, Municipal Official Appreciation Month. [18:08] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: So, the Spirit of America Foundation annually dedicates October as Municipal Officials Month. This year is dedicated to public works employees to express gratitude. And the proclamation this year that the foundation is asking the board to sign says,, whereas Spirit of America Foundation values municipal officials' help with its program and created Municipal Officials Appreciation Month in 2026, dedicated nationally to public works employees to express gratitude, whereas municipal officials make personal sacrifices to serve constituents and deserve more public recognition, respect, than they generally receive, Whereas public work employees maintain Essential community infrastructure including roads, water systems, parks, and sanitation. Whereas public work employees key duties include operating heavy machinery for snow removal and road repair, fixing water sewer lines, repairing street signs, maintaining public landscaping, and performing maintenance on municipal vehicles and facilities to ensure public safety and functionality. Whereas Public Works employees may be on call 24-7 to respond to emergencies and may work in severe weather conditions, whereas Shapley much appreciates the services provided by its Public Works employees and other municipal officials, now therefore be it proclaimed that Shapley, Maine designates October 2026 as Shapley Municipal Officials Appreciation Month and encourages our citizens to show their municipal officials and especially to public work employees for all they do to make this a better community. The [20:05] Select Board member: motion that we adopt Municipal Officials Appreciation Month in October. I'll send that. [20:12] Speaker A (unidentified): Any discussion? All in favor? Passes 3-0. [20:18] Speaker B (unidentified): Any awards involved with that? [20:21] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: It'll get quoted on the wall with last year's. Last year was fire department, I think. Let [20:32] Speaker B (unidentified): me post up what's done and everything else like last year was. I asked a lot of them last year on Owl's next room. [20:49] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: It was big on the team. Yeah. Liquor license. So we have two catering event liquor licenses this week. We have one, both of them for this weekend. One for Badwin Brook Farm from Popping Bottles Catering Company and one for Golden Heart Estate, which is the Ross Corner venue, and that's the Roman caterer is out applying for those. [21:29] Select Board member: I'll make a motion that we accept both liquor licenses. Second. Any discussion? I just have a question for the Ross Cornerland. I assume they've received all there, they yes they got [21:45] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: approved at the last planning board meeting. I watched the video because Barbara's out of town [21:50] Speaker A (unidentified): just to confirm. Okay, thank you. There's nothing to sign. There's nothing to sign. A motion, a second, all in favor? Passes 3-0. Fire chief. Well, I'm glad they got everything signed off. Are you ready to go around yet? Yes. Update to winter maintenance contract for the district. [22:13] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: So I have sent a copy of this along to the contractor, and I had hoped to have him give his official go-ahead before this meeting, but I had not heard back from him on this, so we should probably hold this off until the next meeting. [22:30] Speaker A (unidentified): So we'll table that until the next meeting. FOAA request 10-2. [22:42] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: Request that the board has received on page 2 is the board still needs to send an acknowledgment. [22:56] Speaker A (unidentified): I will send that acknowledgment. I'm going to stop by the office tomorrow. [23:01] Select Board member: We're going to send that tomorrow. The [23:40] Speaker A (unidentified): board's okay with that. We'll make that available tomorrow after you. That's fine. Okay. Tax abatements? [23:51] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: We have five tax abatements. We have one for day at Map 1, -12. The land value was adjusted to reflect lack of road frontage and limited development potential. potential. It's $337.57 in tax dollars. We have Smith on Map 1, Lot 12F is the value of combining the acreage with an abutting lot reduces the amount on this property. That's $363.74 in tax dollars. We have Goodwin Map 4, lot 24. The building belongs to a different lot and the acreage is being combined with an abutting parcel. Tax dollar amount is $3,540.15 cents an abatement we have Turner map for lot 12 the homestead exemption was left off that's two hundred and twenty nine dollars and ninety four cents in tax dollars we have Battelle map 3 lot 39 a to just an acreage correction 64 dollars and 43 cents in tax dollars that's it for the abatements I have a [25:28] Speaker A (unidentified): motion on the abatements please i'll make a motion to approve the abatements as listed i'll second any discussion all in favor pass three zero supplemental tax bill we [25:42] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: have a supplemental tax bill for goodwin map 4 lot 24a where the building on the abatement was added to this property. The supplemental tax bill is in the amount of [25:59] Speaker A (unidentified): I'll make a motion to approve the supplemental tax bill for $2,946.05. [26:04] Select Board member: I'll second that motion. [26:06] Speaker A (unidentified): Any discussion? All in favor? Passes 3-0. Any of the new business? Are we all set? [26:15] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: I do have something to add. It's that time of year once we hit October we start thinking about Christmas. you know because it's all over [26:29] Speaker A (unidentified): can we get to Halloween first [26:30] Town Administrator / Select Board administrative staff: yeah it's all over so in letting our taxpayers and our employees know in advance I went through the holiday schedule November 11th Veterans Day is a Wednesday the town hall, library and transfer station will be closed the town hall and library will be closed November 26th and 27th for Thanksgiving giving December 24th and 25th for Christmas and January 1st for New Year's Day the town hall will close early on New Year's Eve that it's it's a Thursday so it's normally 12 to 7 they'll be open from 12 to 4 anything [27:37] Speaker A (unidentified): else information October 13th board workshop with capital improvements committee 630 town hall october 17th crab fair and bake sale 8 a.m to 2 p.m october 20th second public hearing of proposed municipal tax levy ordinance october 24th lion's turkey dinner 4 to 6 p.m october 30th deadline for operating budgets request for 2027 october November 31st, Trunk or Treat, 5.30 to 6.30 p.m. at the Community Center. November 3rd, Election Day, Town Clerk's Office will be closed for the election. November 7th, Chili Chowder Cook-Off, Heating Assistance Fundraiser, 12 to 2 p.m. Time-off Request Notification, Town Admin, Court Order Regarding Motion for Temporary Stay, Genest Appeal. Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes, 9 17 20 26. Executive session was not needed. Signatures, AP, payroll warrants, proclamation, Municipal Officials Appreciation Month, letter to the Planning Board regarding performance guarantee, Blue Sky Towers, tax amendments, supplements, tax bill, winter maintenance in some amendment, Southern District. Any other business the board would like to present? A motion to adjourn. I make the motion to adjourn. Second. Six all in favor. All right, passes. Sorry, I forgot my glasses.