Present: Pam Wilkinson, Jerry Grant, Jack Goosetrey, Richard Barter and Sue Austin
Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz
Chair Wilkinson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
First Order of Business: Public Hearings/Presentation
None
Second Order of Business:
Approval of February 19, 2002 Town Council Minutes
One correction was noted: Order #65
Councilor Austin made the motion to reconsider Order #64 Council Rules and Appointments.
Councilor Barter Wilkinson seconded the motion.
The motion carried unanimously.
It was moved by Councilor Grant to accept the minutes as amended.
Councilor Barter seconded the motion.
The motion carried unanimously, 5-0.
Third Order of Business:
Reports from the Council Chair
On February 28, 2002 an informational meeting concerning milfoil was held. Both Kim McBride and John Welch were in attendance. The group discussed the 11 Most Wanted types of water contaminants and a poster depicting them was displayed.
The group discussed the need for volunteers to help oversee the boat launch areas around the lakes to prevent further milfoil problems. Little Sebago Lake Association is seeking state approval to be open only when volunteers are available at their boat launch. The state has not yet developed a Task Force to help enforce and rid the lakes of potential milfoil contamination. Information has been distributed to the boat owners to help better educate them about milfoil and other water pollutants.
A meeting with Town Attorney Bill Dale and the Town s committee and board members was very informative. Mr. Dale outlined new information with the boards and committee members and many ideas and concerns were discussed within the groups. It was suggested that the committees meet biannually with the Town Attorney in the future.
Reports from the Town Manager
Mr. Berkowitz reported that discussions were held with MDOT representative Ray Faucher regarding the proposed bypass project. A draft of the environmental assessment is complete and Ray will be getting back in touch with the town during the week of March 18th to set up a date for a workshop. Groundbreaking for the bypass is set for Spring 2003. The public will be invited to
attend the next meeting, which will be scheduled in late April. A second meeting with the DOT and the Council will follow.
Recycling Report: The town is to be commended on their recycling efforts and was encouraged to continue! Information on recycling is available at the Town Office if anyone is interested.
The Tip of the Month noted that for every pound of waste that is disposed of the cost to the town is 5 cents. (A one-galloon container would cost the town 40 cents). Recycling saves money.
Yarmouth Lumber Company: The state has been timely in reporting to the town on a monthly basis and the most recent report notes ground water tables are improving. Small spills are still occurring however, and the company s response has been somewhat cavalier. Mitch added that it is important that the small spills are contained to insure that area remains safe.
Route 115 Speed Limit: MDOT has reported back to the town concerning the request for a speed limit change on Route 115/Yarmouth Road. The state has not found the speed limits posted in that area to be improper and no changes are warranted at this time.
Route 100 Resurfacing Project: MDOT reported that the proposed level 2-resurfacing project (extending south toward Gobeil s Furniture) would take place during the summer of 2003. This will allow the town to proceed with the proposed waterline extension project in that area prior to the resurfacing of the road.
Committee Reports
None
Council Correspondence
The public is invited to the 2nd annual celebration of the Blue Feather Gallery, located at 4 Brown Street on March 8, 2002 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be given away.
Forest Lake Association has asked requested a town representative join them as they work on a watershed protection plan. Mr. Berkowitz has volunteered to attend these meetings.
Councilor Grant suggested that perhaps the same town representative could work with the town s three lake associations.
Groundbreaking ceremony is set for Friday March 8, 2002 at 10:00 a.m. for Gobeil s Furniture Gallery s store expansion. The public is invited to attend.
The Board of Selectmen from New Gloucester has requested that a proposal be considered that would create a regional public safety committee that would be used for dispatching services with neighboring towns. This idea is in the discussion phase and input is being solicited. If anyone is interested to attend meetings regarding this joint concept, they are urged to contact New Gloucester Town Manager Bill Cooper.
Regional Transportation Advisory Committee will meet on March 26, 2002 at the Scarborough Municipal Building.
A joint regional meeting will be held in New Gloucester on March 21st, with representatives from Poland, Pownal, Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Raymond and Windham to discuss regional services, the state budget and other ideas that are in common to Gray and her neighboring communities.
Fourth Order of Business:
Committee Appointments and Resignations
v Appointment of Barry Sheff as a full time member of the Planning Board
Mr. Sheff will be appointed at the next Council Workshop. No action taken this evening.
Committee Business
None
Workshop Status
Councilor Grant reported on the February 25th Council Workshop meeting. Information on the budget, Mayberry Road/Wilkies Beach improvements, the formation of a committee and budget items were discussed. The agricultural setback discussion was tabled pending more information.
Council Business
Councilor Wilkinson suggested that at some point in the near future a meeting take place with residents in the Yarmouth Lumber area. Councilor Grant asked if the Council could be made aware of what the company s procedure process is with regard to small spills and if the company is following these procedures. Mr. Grant said that before the Council can go any further, this information is needed and added that it was great to hear that the water quality has improved.
Mr. Berkowitz offered to draft a report or letter to the company on behalf of the Council, if they wished him to do so suggesting that if the matter does not improve with regard to the small spills, the town s Planning Board may need to look into the matter. Councilor Barter said that he was not in favor of the idea and asked that the Council be made aware of what the specifics are before any further action is taken. So far, the DEP has reported to the town that changes have been made and are within their guidelines. Unannounced spot checks are being conducted and the water quality as improved. Thus far, the company s compliance has been adequate. Mr. Berkowitz stated he would ask the company to quantify their procedure process and request that this information be provided to the town so that the Council can decide if
further action is warranted. The Manager will report back to Council when this information is obtained.
With regard to the Route 115 speed limit issue, the Council discussed that the request to lower the speed limit came from area residents about one year ago due to speeding traffic concerns along the road. Councilor Wilkinson stated that the response the Council was provided by the State DOT needs to be publicized so that the residents know that an answer has been obtained regarding their request. It was noted that the town does not control Route 115, as it is a state road. The lack of police enforcement of the existing speed limit was also discussed as was the safety concerns for the town s seniors residing at Apple Tree Village on Route 115. Councilor Grant suggested more signage be utilized to help out-of- towners to slow down in anticipation of the village. The Manager mentioned the proposed sidewalk program and if
a sidewalk connection does materialize at Apple Tree, a crosswalk will be needed there. A blinking light may also be warranted as well. If these changes come to pass, the DOT may need to revisit the speeds along Route 115 again and implement some changes. Councilor Barter said the town might be able to implement the blinking light without state approval but that enforcement of the speed limit is still a major factor with traffic and pedestrian safety along Route 115.
Fifth Order of Business:
Reading of and Additions to the Agenda
None
Sixth Order of Business: New Orders
Order #68:
Council review and action authorizing of Accounts for Capital Improvements. Sponsored by Town Manager.
The Manager proposed the following three actions with regard to the use of the leftover money ($75,000) acquired through the McKin settlement.
1. The Town Council of Gray hereby establishes a reserve fund in the amount of $37,472.91 for the purpose of acquiring the upgraded general ledger software, related equipment as needed and the Virtual Clerk software for the administrative services of the Town. Said funds are allocated from the net proceeds from the McKin Fund Settlement.
2. The Town Council of Gray hereby establishes a reserve fund in the amount of $38,000 for the architectural and engineering work related to the conversion of the post office building adjacent to Town Offices. Said funds shall only be expended if the acquisition of the post office building is approved by the voters. Said funds are allocated from the net proceeds from the McKin Fund Settlement.
3. The Town Council of the Town of Gray hereby authorizes the following reserve accounts for any funds so approved by the voters at the Town Meeting for fiscal year 2003 or in any subsequent years. All funds so appropriated and designated shall be placed into the appropriate reserve account and all expenditures must be for the purposes to which the respective reserve was established.
§ Buildings and Grounds Program
§ Technology Replacement Program
§ Bridge Repair and Replacement Program
§ Sidewalk Improvements/Development Program
All funds in their respective reserve accounts shall remain until expended per the capital program schedules. In all cases, approved motions shall be in full force and effect from and after passage.
Councilor Barter made the motion to authorize the proposed accounts for Capital Improvements.
Councilor Goosetrey seconded.
The Manager explained the plans for the town to acquire Virtual Clerk software that would enable residents to access information on-line regardless of the day or the hour. General information, forms, and bill paying would be possible with the help of this software. The town wants to begin payment transactions on line, starting with the recreation department and its programs and continue on from there.
Mr. Berkowitz noted that item 2 should read $33,000 and not $38,000 because the Council previously approved a $5,000 allotment for the post office s preliminary design work related to converting the old Post Office building into town office space.
Councilor Barter moved to amend item 2 to establish a reserve fund in the amount of $33,000 for the architectural and engineering work related to the post office building located adjacent to the Town Offices.
Councilor Grant seconded the motion.
The Council s vote was unanimous on the main and amended motions.
This order requires a majority vote after an opportunity for public comment.
Order #69:
Council review and action to accept the letter of transmittal for the 03 Budget. Sponsored by Town Manager.
Councilor Grant moved to accept the letter of transmittal for the 2003 budget.
Councilor Barter seconded the motion.
Mitch Berkowitz provided the Council with the highlights from the letter of transmittal dated March 5, 2002. Mitch explained that the Charter requires the letter of transmittal be submitted to the Council for consideration prior to the budget s adoption. Mr. Berkowitz clarified that only the letter was to be formally accepted which is a separate item and does not include the budget proposed.
The Council will still have the opportunity to work through any items that need to be changed prior to the town meeting vote. The proposed budget is for the fiscal year July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003 as required by the Town Charter, Article V to be presented at least 90 days prior to the Town meeting.
“This is my first major compendium of work for the Town of Gray since becoming your Manager in May of 2001. It reflects several key elements worthy of your consideration and most of all it identifies elements of a long-term plan that addressed the evolutionary process Gray is facing. My reflections since arrive over 10 months ago indicate that Gray has been and continues to be on the cusp of change; that this process is meeting with some very mixed feelings rather than being embraced for the opportunities that come when one acknowledges how to deal with this type of change and to direct its energy. It will happen however; the question remains “can we shape our future?” I believe that a community can.
There should be no mystery as to how this budget works. We first developed a better understanding of Gray s past and the challenges it faces today and tomorrow. The experience in gathering the public s insight through the Comprehensive Plan Update process was the most enlightening of all. With this effort continuing, the vision of what people want Gray to become is much clearer and like every community it pits the expectations against our limited resources. This budget “dovetails” with a comprehensive plan. It sets forth a foundation that permits annual investments for those daily operational and service expenses as well as those items that are called capital such as our streets, sidewalks, bridges, buildings, parks, open space, technology, equipment and the environment. Without the annual
investments, Gray will be more reactive to pending requirements and become a community that sees its remaining open space poorly managed and its future a repeat of some of the past that has brought us to the present. Each of the budget elements represent some aspect of Gray today and what it needs now so that it can evolve to be the type of community where its people continue to live, learn, work and play in a community called Gray.”
Total Expenses: $10,148,052
Total Revenues: $1,962,699
Net Amount to be collected: $8,185,353
Estimated Town Valuation: $363,755,072
Tax Rate (Net amount divided by estimated town valuation): $22.56 (per $1,000 of valuation)
The proposed budget is presented in a different format than in prior years. There are seven major sections based upon services and operations. These are:
Administrative Services
Municipal Finances
Leisure and Information Services
Public Safety Services
Public Works Services
Council, Boards, Committees
Municipal Buildings
Community and Agency Services
Within each are the various divisions and services they provide. See attached budget for details.
We have changed the format for Parks and Recreation. Parks and Recreation Programs have been set up to rely solely upon the revenues they must generate while the administrative services are supported by taxes. Both of these appear in the budget.
In the past, the maintenance services were not clearly defined leaving some building supplies and repairs to be done on an inconsistent basis. We have consolidated most of the maintenance into the Buildings and Grounds division under Public Works Services and the staff will be directly in charge of assuring that all buildings are properly supplied, maintained, inspected as required and repaired.
The most important change in this budget are reflected under Reserves and four additional capital programs have been developed. These are a five-year bridge program, five-year technology program, a five-year building and grounds program and a five-year sidewalk replacement and development program. Together with the other capital programs, Gray
can for the first time anticipate its future capital needs in their entirety rather than witness annual spikes in their tax rate to react to needed equipment and replacements. During the current fiscal year, our citizens have been able to go on-line to inquire about town government, its laws, rules and regulations. In the next fiscal year we will be moving closer to on-line transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with new software called “Virtual Clerk”. This coupled with the State s motor vehicle program called Rapid Renewal and the Moses program for fish and wildlife related licenses, Gray Town Government will be providing more services to its citizens.
Also included for the first time and appearing within the Code Enforcement budget is the introduction of a town wide Water Quality Program. It is expected that a multiple year approach to documenting the water quality and those factors that may threaten the water quality will lead to a better understanding of our limited remaining land and the policies that governs its use.
We have addressed one of our most important governmental resources, our staff. They deliver the services that this budget represents. Assuring that they have opportunities for development that improves their performance and that their compensation is competitive in this regional employment market is critical to the quality of service Gray offers.
The revenues element has also been addressed. Through a philosophy of “pay as you go” our fees for the transfer station, planning, zoning and inspection are recommended for an increase to reflect more accurately the cost to deliver these services to their users rather than to all of the taxpayers.
Out debt service continues to decline with principle payments of $187,513.50 and interest payments of $39,561.43.
Fund Balance and Cash Flow:
I would be remiss if we did not speak to these two extremely important issues. In the past, our taxpayer s view of Fund Balance was that it was an account of excess funds to which people could look to use for a host of expenses. This is not the case. Fund balance is an accounting of those funds that are unexpended at the year-end and receivables that the community has accumulated over several years. Unfortunately, the balance gives the impression that we have a great surplus of cash when in reality, our tax receivables account for the lion share of any fund balance. Secondly, when we project our cash flow position over the next fiscal year two significant events become clear. The first is that when the Charter Amendment required a Crisis Fund, it also required that we take cash from our fund balance to
assure proper funding. This reduces both the fund balance and available cash to operate. Secondly, the amount of actual cash remaining to assure that we pay our bills in between tax collections continues to decline. It has been the working policy of the Council that we do not borrow in anticipation of taxes. With a continued drain of hard cash from the fund balance, this policy may not be achieved in the future. I must therefore indicate that any changes in the fund balance to reduce taxes will have an almost immediate impact on our ability to meet expenses and the results may require the issuance of tax anticipation notes. This would signal a major change in the fiscal health and integrity of this community.
In summary, this budget represents an investment of about ten percent on the current tax rate. The responsibility of management is to recommend what it believes is needed for the community now and into the future. This budget has been built for Gary, a community that continues to evolve.
We look forward to cooperatively working with the Council to assure that this budget and Gray represents the best that our community can be.
Respectfully submitted,
Mitchell A. Berkowitz
Town Manager
Councilor Wilkinson requested that upon acceptance of the letter of transmittal, another meeting be held to look at the budget figures and to bring any changes to the public.
Councilor Barter suggested that the letter of transmittal have bullet points to make the budget proposals easier for the citizens to understand. Councilor Barter stated that the Manager s
statement was extremely well done and he commended the effort that went into preparing it. Councilor Barter said he hoped to hear from residents as to whether they support sidewalks, water quality testing and increased recreational programs.
There was no public comment.
Next budget discussion will be at the Council Workshop meeting on March 25, 2002.
The Council s vote was unanimous.
This order requires a majority vote after an opportunity for public comment.
Order #70: [First Reading]
Amendment to the Fee Schedule Ordinance. Sponsored by the Town Manager.
Councilor Wilkinson read the proposed amendment to the Fee Schedule Ordinance.
Whereas, the Town Council of the Town of Gray may periodically revise the fee schedule as originally established for the conduct of various services by the Town and,
Whereas, the Town Council has determined that some of the fees that are charged for services are not set at levels that more appropriately cover the true cost of providing those services and therefore is amending the fee schedule.
Now therefore be it ordained by the Town Council of the Town of Gray as follows:
The attached fee schedule shall be adopted and that all such referenced fees shall supercede and replace those same categorical fees that are in place at the time of adoption with all other fees not so listed herein remaining.
This ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days after passage.
Signed this the day of March, 2002 by the Gray Town Council
Pamela A. Wilkinson Gerald F. Grant
Jack T. Goosetrey Susan M. Austin
Richard F. Barter
Councilor Barter said he wanted to clarify that the new fees would not totally subsidize the cost of expenses. The fees were compared regionally to see if they were comparable to other towns. The new fee schedule will be a step taken toward helping the town to keep the tax rate down based on common usage.
Councilor Grant moved to accept the first reading of the proposed amendment to the Fee Schedule Ordinance.
Councilor Barter seconded the motion.
There was no further discussion or public comment.
Council s vote was unanimous.
Order #71:
Council review and possible action regarding the department of education s state agency client program. Sponsor Town Manager.
The Manager reported that the Superintendent of Schools and he had spoken about the department of educations state agency client program that deals with children who are wards of the state and receive local services. Local communities bill the state for reimbursement for these services. While this year the state has sufficient funds to reimburse towns, had it not, the impact would have totaled $12,000 that the town of Gray would have had to pay to make up for the deficit. At this rate, the projected shortfall for the next fiscal year would have totaled over $100,000. While this is not going to happen, the information is important and the Superintendent of Schools will monitor the situation and keep the town informed.
Councilor Barter called the matter a boondoggle and back door maneuver by the state to have the towns pay for the state s shortfall. Councilor Barter said that the towns that provide services for these children should be reimbursed and the state s pockets should not be protected on the backs of the towns.
Councilor Barter suggested local area representatives and senators send a strong message to the Augusta on behalf of the citizenry that the core of the issue is about constitutional rights. Councilor Wilkinson agreed and suggested a letter be sent to Augusta on behalf of the Council. The Manager will draft a letter for the Councils consideration.
This order requires a majority vote after an opportunity for public comment.
Seventh Order of Business: Tabled Orders
None
This order requires a majority vote after an opportunity for public comment.
Eighth Order of Business: Standing Orders
Order #1:
Public Discussion of Non-Agenda Items.
None
Order #2:
Council approval of Pole Permits to Central Maine Power and Pine Tree Telephone Company.
None
This order requires a majority vote after an opportunity for public comment.
Ninth Order of Business: Adjournment
Councilor Grant moved to adjourn.
Councilor Austin seconded the motion.
The Council s vote was unanimous.
Meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Janmarie A. Bourret
Recorder
Notary Public
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