The Board of Selectmen held an informational workshop to discuss Loon Lake Road Reconstruction Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. before the regular meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. The information I obtained from the cost sheet distributed indicates a cost of reconstruction at $2,531,314.73 and a cost for replacing storm drain from Main Street to Mendolia Road at $332,629.03.

Chairman Philbrick made two adjustments to the agenda to accommodate a catering application for Sarge’s Pub and Grub and a letter of complaint from Jeanine Sahagen concerning the commercial venture “Just Add Water Floating Camps”.

Mark Beauregard was identified to speak as public to speak on a non-agenda item, he mentioned correspondence he submitted some two months ago to the Town Manager addressed to the Board of Selectmen. He understands the Town Manager had deemed the correspondence as a complaint against an employee but stated he did not see it as such and believes it should have been forwarded to the Board as requested. The Town Manager took the opportunity to reiterate his decision to deem it a complaint and reasoning to not forward it to the Board, stating “she” hadn’t done anything wrong as far as he was concerned, and he wouldn’t be pursuing anything further. The Town Manager commented that Mr. Beauregard just likes to complain about the airport and that’s all he’s done since I (Mr. Madigan, Town Manager) have been here. A statement that could be argued to be making it clear Mr. Madigan prefers to censor differing viewpoints rather than openly hear them or the facts they may present and showing no respect for Mr. Beauregard, perhaps he may not be the appropriate person to determine if correspondence from Mr. Beauregard was pertinent to the Board. Blocking constituents from expressing critical opinions offends the Constitution and principles of transparency.

Consent items for the evening began with approval of two reserve account expenditures, one in the amount of $1,269.99 from the Town Office Reserve for the Finance Assistant Computer and the second in the amount of $7,686.40 from the Airport Reserve for the superfluous expense of a property management agreement with Dubois King. The Town Manager was authorized to sign the Bald Mountain Road Service Contract, the purpose of which is to provide partial funding for the installation of municipal stream crossing upgrades to benefit public safety, infrastructure resiliency, and improve fish and wildlife habitat. The Board would also, by majority vote of members present, authorize the Town Manager to sign the Northern Borders Regional Commission Grant Acceptance. Leeanna Wilbur, Vice President & Branch Manager of Rangeley Franklin Savings Bank was in attendance to get authorization from the Board to move the Town’s accounts currently held at the bank to ICS (Insured Cash Sweep) accounts, they unanimously authorized the transfer. The final consent item, an application for a catering permit for Sarge’s Sports Pub & Grub for a single event to be held September 7, 2019 was approved by majority vote.

Correspondence included a thank you letter from the Rangeley meal site to all the residents of Rangeley for their continued support, a thank you letter to Chief French for his help and support from the Rangeley Health and Wellness concert committee and an email from Jeanine Sahagen expressing concerns of a group, identifying as Friends of Rangeley Lake, about Just Add Water Floating Camps. They seem to be worried about permitting, mooring regulations and restrictions, emergency and rescue regulations, waste disposal and the potential for a negative impact on shoreland property values, stating “they” are opposed to the use of overnight houseboats commercial and private.

Old business saw no updates concerning the Downtown Revitalization Plan, an authorization for the Town Manager to sign the Wright-Pierce Allen Street reconstruction amendment number 2 and clarification of AWOS replacement discussion from the previous meeting and an authorization to expend money from the airport reserve for the replacement of the AWOS.

There was a lengthy discussion concerning cell towers and what control the Town may have, could they approach a specific provider and encourage them to take the steps to put their antenna on an existing tower. There is a draft ordinance in the works, it seems a simple fix to include language that would require a provider attach to an existing tower before seeking application to put up a new one.

Department head updates were submitted by the Police Chief and the Fire Chief. The Boston Post Cane was awarded to Rangeley’s oldest living relative, Mildred Van Keuren over the weekend. There are still several empty seats on Boards and Committees including 1 on the Sewer Commission, 2 Alternate seats on the Planning Board, and 1 on the Ordinance Committee, please call Town Clerk, Tricia Roy at the Town Office for more information.

Remember September’s meetings will see a bit of a shake up because of the labor day holiday, they have been scheduled for September 9, 2019 beginning at 5pm with a public hearing on dangerous buildings and September 23, 2019 at 6pm. Other calendar items including the MMA Convention scheduled for October 2-3, the Town Office will be closed those dates to allow for employee attendance and October 31st is AVCOG’s Annual Planning Day.

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