Monday, December 16, 2019 Board of Selectmen meeting began with a 5 pm public hearing on the purchase of Depot Street and Road Funding, both questions to be on the January 8, 2020 Special Town Meeting ballot. Besides myself there was one additional member of the public in attendance. The Board of Selectmen have negotiated a sale price with Luke Brochu for the parking area on Depot Street. Mr. Brochu has offered to sell the parcel to the Town of Rangeley for $250,000 payable in $25,000 installments over a 10 year period. The asking price is $146,000 in excess of the lots assessed value and $100,000 in excess of the market value opinion obtained by the Board. The current cost of the lease paid to Mr. Brochu for the parcel is approximately equivalent to his annual tax. Board members expressed the asking amount is firm. There appears to be no interest in offering it to the Town at a more reasonable or “just” rate.

Next the Board would discuss the two million dollar plus short fall the Town is facing concerning road construction cost. The document provided at the meeting shows a total of $1,628,900.11 in remaining roads current construction and $2,835,807.30 in additional/potential projects, current funding available is $1,000,000 in grant monies awarded to the Town contingent upon various qualifications including proof of available funds and other monies in the amount of the remaining road loan balance of $833,000+/-, leaving an estimated additional financial need of $2,629,707.41. The sheet identifies each road/project and it’s associated estimated cost, copies can be obtained at the office.

An additional public hearing was held at 5:45 pm to allow for public input on the proposed General Assistance Ordinance. Annually the municipal officers are required to adopt the local ordinance and yearly appendices as updated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The regular board meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm, correspondence item from Land Use Planning Commission was added as an adjustment to new business and a letter of resignation was added as a Town Manager report item.

Consent items for the evening began with the approval of the General Assistance Ordinance appendices, A-D and H. A liquor license was approved for Rangeley Region Health & Wellness benefit concert to be held July 25, 2020. The Board approved event permits for Snodeo parade, January 25, 2020, Rangeley Health & Wellness Benefit Concert, July 25, 2020, Rangeley Skating Club Winterpaloozah, February 16, 2020, and Maine Forestry Museum parade, July 18, 2020. They would also vote to approve a vendors license for Rangeley Health and Wellness. Two requests for appointments were approved, Shelly Lowell was appointed to the Budget Committee and the Rangeley Region Economic Opportunity Committee. An additional $6,188.61 was requested and authorized to be expended from the Town Office reserve for the purpose of windows 10 upgrades, some departments need new computers because of compatibility issues. Finally the warrant for special town meeting to determine a three million dollar ($3,000,000) road fund question and a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar ($250,000) purchase price for a parking lot, to be held January 8, 2020 from 8 am to 8 pm was approved, absentee ballots are available.

The Rangeley Health Ride Policy was on the agenda for a second reading, it was voted to change language from collision to accident, sighting not all accidents are collisions and to change the question concerning the details of the incident so it didn’t appear to be laying the blame of the incident on the volunteer. The policy was adopted as amended. Another attempt to explain the force account was submitted to the Board, however it was obtained from someone with a vested interest in the monies being designated for Airport use only, Guy Rouelle with DuBois & King Inc. The Board requested a specific non-biased party be reached. The Town Manager made a comment that only confirmed Selectmen Egan’s existing question, the force account only existed to cover the Towns 5% so if the need for the 5% no longer existed then does that in fact mean the money is not force account funds and therefore not subject to mandates on what it may be used for. The Town Manager will reach out to Luke Garrison to get a final opinion on the “force account” issue. The final old business item was to request acceptance of an offer on the previously designated saleable heavy rescue unit. The Board approved the acceptance of the $15,000 offer and a subsequent authorization to expend $5,000 from the fire reserve to purchase additional miscellaneous equipment for the new/used KME heavy rescue.

The first item of new business was acceptance of the formal resignation of Rebekah Carmichael-Austin as the airport manager. Per policy adoption procedures an amendment to the Personnel Policy, Article 12 Health Insurance Non-Bargaining Unit Employees was presented for first reading, though not read at the meeting it is available by request for review. The Fire Chief submitted a request to accept a grant from the Stephen King Foundation in the amount of $10,000, for the purchase of high visibility winter jackets for 20 of the departments firefighters, the Board unanimously authorized the acceptance. An additional request was submitted by the Fire Chief to accept an offer made on the departments 1998 Yamaha Venture, the Chief received an offer of $500.00 for the machine, while the Board did not allow for acceptance of the offer, wanting to avoid the appearance of impropriety they did vote to authorize the Chief to put the property out to bid. The Board reviewed the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) proposal and timeline as submitted by Darryl Sterling, the Town’s Economic and Community Development Consultant. Through the use of TIF, municipalities typically divert future property tax revenue increases from a defined area or district toward an economic development project or public improvement project in the community. TIF subsidies are not appropriated directly from a town’s budget, but the town incurs loss through foregone tax revenue. The Board requested Darryl be in attendance at the next meeting to explain the process in more detail so they can decide if they should move forward at this time. Chairman Philbrick read the notice of filing of transfer application with the Maine Land Use Planning Commission on behalf of Arctaris Saddleback Company, LLC. Written comments from interested persons should be sent to a Maine Land Use Planning Commission address in either Wilton, 932 US Route 2 East, Wilton, ME 04294 or Augusta, 18 Elkins Lane, Harlow Bldg., 22 State House Station, August, ME 04333-0022 and any requests for public hearing must also be submitted in writing.

Town Manager Report items included the usual department head updates submitted by the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Code Enforcement Officer. Town Clerk, Tricia Roy provided a 2020 Annual Town Meeting timeline, other calendar items included the date for Special Town Meeting, January 8, 2020 polls open from 8 am to 8 pm and the 2020 spring bond issue schedule.

The next regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting will be held January 6, 2020, at 6 pm, with a 4:30 pm work session with the Town Manager to discuss the coming years proposed budget expectations..