SELECTMEN’S MEETING
May 8, 2018
1.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Ed
Walsh made a motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Kimberly
Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, the agenda was approved.
2. MINUTES
OF LAST MEETING:
Minutes of last meeting will be tabled.
Jill
Kramer, Bourque & Clegg Re: Changes in Marijuana Law
The
way the current ordinance is written is no longer valid based on the
recently changed law. It references the wrong statutes. Ms. Kramer
explained what the changes in the marijuana law were, and why our
ordinance it is written incorrect, as well as our options.
Maine
legislature over rode the Governor’s veto last week and enacted new
marijuana legislation entitled, “Don’t use Marijuana, Marijuana
Legalization Act” (28B MRS Section 101). The title section 7 (the
portion that Acton based it’s ordinance on) was repealed. The new
28B section was totally reworked to eliminate marijuana social clubs
and add retail establishments such as nurseries and testing
facilities are allowed. A lot of the same things in Title 7 are still
there.
Major
changes to the new statute are as follows:
-
Makes it clear that municipalities must opt in, to allow any kind of
marijuana retail establishments. Not just stores but cultivation
facilities, testing facilities, nurseries, and other things like
that. The town can opt into one, all or none of those. If the town
decided to not do anything, they are automatically banned. Even if
an ordinance is enacted, the applicants must also make application
to have these establishments and if the town does nothing with them,
then they are deemed as denied. So there are several levels of
protection built in for the municipalities. The town needs to allow
it and then extra allow it. So, before anyone can do anything with
regards to marijuana growth or sales in town related to marijuana
sales. -
A second component the municipalities can weigh in on and that is
the home cultivation provision. This basically allows anyone over
the age of 21 to grow up to 3 adult plants, 12 immature plants and
any number of seedlings either on a parcel of land where they are
domiciled, a parcel of land they are not domiciled on but they own,
or a parcel land which is owned by someone else and they have
permission to grow there. The 3 plants are attached to the
individual, so I can’t have 3 plants on my land, 3 plants on another
piece of land I own and 3 plants on a piece of land I have
permission to grow on at the same time. The way the statue is
written allows for those 3 options of where they want to grow their
plants, however, the town has some extra say here. The
municipalities are allowed to limit where the plants go to on the
parcel which the person is domiciled. The ordinance would indicate
these parameters.
So,
the proposed ordinance as written is outdated. The statute it
references has been repealed and it is not enforceable. Common
understanding here is this is a ban on marijuana is unnecessary
because they are not allowed until they are allowed.
Jerry
Nulton of the Marijuana Committee approached the podium to speak on
this new change. He understands that social/community growths is an
unlicensed growth and the town can do nothing about it effective
today and it should be acted on quickly. They were warned about
this. As far as the ban goes, its not necessary to have this ban,
but he thinks it is to our advantage that the town go on record and
voice what they want. The town voted roughly 56 to 44 on legalizing
to make sure their kids weren’t being criminalized. Going on record
makes a lot of sense but at the same time I think we should limit
personal grow to on domiciled parcels. Another item to note that its
different from the original legislation (as predicted), there is zero
tax revenue for the town and no benefit of tax relief to the town.
The
Town Administrator, Jennifer Roux asked if the ordinance could be
amended with the recommended changes at this point. Ms. Kramer will
look into this in the next few days.
Mr.
Nass approached the podium with his reminders:
-
All towns around us has a ban on recreational marijuana activity.
He suggests, even if citations are incorrect, we should still vote
on this. -
Another message he gleans from all the work done is that there are
a lot of organizations looking for loop holes in this legislation.
We now have an opportunity to make a statement and we should still
vote on it. -
Mr. Nass also indicated that this should remain a normal public
hearing even if there are changes. Mrs. Roux indicated you can make
minor changes, but they need to be relevant to the question.
Mrs. Roux is recommending to the Board that they publicly announce
and hold a meeting Friday, May 11th at 4 pm or whenever
convenient because absentee ballots need to go out May 12th
and an answer is needed.
Ms. Kramer will get answers to these questions back to the Board
before a decision is made.
Jerry spoke again regarding personal growth, by making money off of
the process, it becomes relevant for retail aspects.
Special meeting set for Friday, May 11 at 4 pm.
3. DEPARTMENT
HEAD / COMMITTEE CHAIR UPDATES:
A. Forest/Conservation
– Hebo Hybo
Carl
Davis update. All were sent a letter. Received 8 letters back and 3
phone calls. Three of the letters returned letters did not want any
use in terms of a recreational trail; 5 of those letters wanted
more information. Of the phone calls, 1 call indicated they were in
favor and the other 2 wanted more information. As of now, the plan
is to have a meeting within the next couple of months with the land
owners and get ideas from there of what their thoughts are as well
give out more information.
Lois
Michaud would like to have any information concerning changes,
upgrades and/or shared to those on Hebo Hybo so that she can present
it to the people that have Maple Grove as they will be meeting in
June. Also, she would like a 2 week notice prior to any meetings
because a 24-hour notice is just not enough time. Mrs. Roux
announced that she has turned over all documents pertaining to Hebo
Hybo Road that the Town has.
Next
item is the cemetery on Hobbs Farm. Three River’s Land Trust sent a
letter which he read to all present. They wanted to withdraw from
being caretaker of said cemetery and reassign responsibility to the
Cemetery committee. The Board would need to appoint a new caretaker.
Discussion ensued on financial responsibilities of this care. Stones
are $1,000 apiece per stone. Ms. Michaud indicated she does not
have the budget for it. Mr. Davis and Ms. Michaud both indicated a
lot of work has been done on that cemetery, but currently they don’t
have enough volunteers to do all the work. Ms. Roux asked if it is
imperative to repair stones in the first year. Ms. Michaud indicated
that these are generally first priority. Discussion ensued on who’s
property the cemetery was located on. Then, the next biggest
problem is the trees on the property. Tabling until next week until
more information surrounding ownership can be resolved.
B.
Check Presentation to Southern Maine Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery
Association
5013c
donation after April taxes. Check presented and pictures taken with
Jim Batchelder. Jim also updated everyone on their current 4 major
projects/events: Memorial Walkway
project,
Memorial Day Ceremonies at Committal Shelter at 1 pm, POW/MIA
Memorial placing of Vietnam War Veteran’s tablet; and on
Veteran’s Day there will be a 100 Year Anniversary Celebration
of Armistice Day at WWI Monument being built.
C. Road
Committee, Cindy Hart
RSMS
Review. Discussion ensued regarding date of training and information
to be shared on website. Next discussions ensued time commitments
and process to document information received in going over road
survey data. Scheduled for the 15th. Request was made
holding the mapping information downstairs; the Board of Selectmen
agreed that would not happen, it will be upstairs. The Town
Administrator was concerned on the who, what and where’s of the
program residence and the retention of the information and how it
would be stored on the Town Server. She indicated she would need
direct instruction from the Board on what this is going to be and the
extent of the responsibilities of the her and the town, especially
regarding accessing the computer. Board supports this program and
Mrs. Roux needs to be the key computer operator as others can not
access our systems. Class is 3 hours long. Training will be May
15th from Noon to 3 pm.
D. Flat
Ground Road
Survey
results are in. Out of 32 property owners, 23 survey letters were
returned, 9 were not. Out of the 23 received, all 23 were positive.
The Board agreed that it was clear the article should stay on the
warrant as scheduled.
4. OLD
BUSINESS:
A.
Atlantic Broad Band Agreement
Mrs.
Roux sent an email to Atlantic Broad Band with changes recommended by
the attorney which was acknowledged. We will hold on old business
until their response to changes is received.
B. Purchasing
Policy
Treasurer
provided purchasing policy last week. Suggested changes were
adjusted. Selectmen Ed Walsh asked that this be tabled one more week
so he could further review the changes. This will be tabled 1 week.
C.
Annual Town Meeting, Warrant Recommendations
-
Article 77 was added regarding addition of flag pole and lighting;
-
Warrants – recommendations to date have been added to warrant. Ed
wanted to talk on Article 34 and the only other article that might
need discussion are some of the road issues.
*Articles 26A – 33 were reviewed. Ed Walsh made a motion to
recommend articles 26 through 33 as written, seconded by Kimberly
Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, the motions carried.
*Article 34 – Mr. Walsh indicated that the Fire Chief with all his
discussions, started out at $80,000 and to take it to $70,000 he
would take a hit to his budget. If it can be put up closer to
$75,000 it will take a lesser hit to outfit it. Anything over the
$75,000 will be a hit to his budget, so this was brought back to
discuss. After discussions, the Board Members felt it can be held at
the $70,000. Kimberly Stacey-Horn made a motion to recommend article
34 as written, Ed Walsh seconded it. All were in favor, the motion
carried.
*The
Town Administrator indicated the next set of warrant articles were
the road articles. She wanted to know if the Board had any
reservations or concerns with these articles since there were
discussions around them, especially Article 42. Ms. Miller indicated
they could vote on Articles 35, 36, and 37. Elise Miller made a
motion to accept Articles 35, 36 and 37 as written, seconded by
Kimberly Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, the motions carried.
*Article
38 – These lines were increased by 20% as they were due to be
increased. Ed Walsh made a motion to accept article 38 as written,
seconded by Kimberly Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, the motions
carried.
*Article
39 – None of the numbers increased; Article 40 had no changes. Ed
Walsh made a motion to approve articles 39 and 40 as written,
seconded by Kimberly Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, the motions
carried.
*
The remaining Articles will be reviewed next week.
D.
Downstairs Office
Tabled
until next week; still working on budget lines.
E.
Candidate’s Night
Date
change. New date is Wednesday, May 23rd at 7:30pm.
Hoping to follow special town meeting at 7 pm. A copy of the flyer
is available.
F.
Odyssey of the Mind
Goal
was $12,000. They have currently raised $11, 088 dollars. May 11th
Spaghetti dinner will hopefully put them over the edge. Extra
funds will rollover to next year’s team.
5. NEW
BUSINESS:
A. Special
Town Meeting Recommendations/Warrant
Recommendation
needed on overdraft warrant to approve as written or not. Ed Walsh
made a motion to approve as written, seconded by Kimberly
Stacey-Horn. All were in favor, motion carried. Will present Friday
to be signed.
B.
Non Zero Tax Balances
2017
taxes are printed out. There are 18 accounts with <$1.00 and 19
accounts with <$5.00
balances.
Looking for instruction on what you want to authorize to be written
off and what you want letters sent to before we start the lien
process. Mrs. Roux recommended we write of <$1.00 and send a
reminder letter the rest.
6. PUBLIC
COMMENT:
None
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
BOS Office Hours First, Second and Third Thursday of Each
Month 7:00 to 8:00 pm
05/11/2018 Spaghetti Dinner, 5:30 to 7 pm, $5 donation, to support
Odyssey of the Mind Team
05/15/2018 Public Hearing on Marijuana Ordinance, 7 pm
05/17/2018 Acton Planning Board Public Hearing, 7 pm
05/23/2018 Candidates Night, 7:30 pm
05/23/2018 Library hosting presentation on Loons, Wakefield House,
2 to 4 pm
8. UPCOMING MEETINGS:
05/15/2018 BOS, 5 pm
05/14/2018 Forest/Conservation Committee Meeting, 7pm
05/15/2018 Marijuana Public Hearing, 7 pm
05/17/2018 Planning Board, 7 pm
05/17/2018 Recreational Committee Meeting, 7 pm
05/22/2018 BOS, 5 pm
05/24/2018 Cemetery Committee Meeting, 5 pm
05/29/2018 BOS, 5 pm
9. MEMBERS PRESENT:
Ed Walsh, Selectmen, Elise Miller, Selectmen, Kimberly
Stacey-Horn, Selectmen,
and Jennifer Roux, Town Administrator
10. OTHERS PRESENT:
Jim Batchelder, Carl Davis, Cindy Hart, Jill Kramer,
Lois Michaud, Richard Nass, and Jerry Nulton