MINOT — The town is updating its policies, including allowing employees to work remotely.

Members of the Board of Selectmen began a review of policy updates at their Monday meeting, beginning with remote work.

“As you know, the world has moved towards allowing for work at home” since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many workplaces and schools to close in 2020, Town Administrator Danielle Loring said Tuesday.

Local officials had tasked Loring about a month ago with drafting a policy that would allow for some town employees to work from home. They discussed Monday the draft language for that policy, Loring said.

“Certain salaried staff members would be . . . given cellphones and laptops in order to do work from home. But for the most part, the expectation was that we are a customer service industry so, therefore, we would expect that primarily work will be done in the office, so that we would be there for the residents,” Loring said.

Updates to other employee-related policies will be drafted and discussed in the coming months, with a single vote to adopt all of the proposed policy changes slated for the end of the year, she said.

The next policy to discuss will be maternity leave for staff workers, she said.

Selectmen entered executive session for the town administrator’s annual review.

Afterward, they voted to extend Loring’s employment with the town after giving her a positive review, she said.

Loring outlined her goals for the coming year, including continued work on community outreach, finding new ways to diversify the town’s revenues and continuing to work with staff by giving them professional and educational opportunities to support their growth in an effort to ensure “that the town has strong core services for the public,” she said.

In other business, town officials voted to establish a policy that the Town Office would only be available for use for town business or for nonprofit activities. Someone had requested to host a craft fair on the premises, Loring said. That request was denied.

The town Highway Department reported that the bulk of road construction had been completed for the season and that winter preparations are underway.

The town is expected to take delivery of its winter sand purchase by the end of October, Loring said.

She updated the board about how certain state laws have affected the town, such as one that recently went into effect, allowing older Minot homeowners who have lived in Maine for a decade or more to freeze the amount they pay in property taxes. The lost revenue to the town as a result of that law is expected to be reimbursed by the state.

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