Town of Lamoine, Maine
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	Administrative Assistant to the Board of Selectmen				Stu Marckoon
	Report for Meeting of January 16, 2020

Happy mid-January!  I’m writing this on January 9^th, and it’s finally starting to feel like mid-winter. 

Business at the town office doesn’t appear to be slowing too much. We’ve done a lot of new cars in the past week – must have been a good Christmas season at the car dealers!

Thanks for the feedback on the January edition of the Lamoine Quarterly.  I’ve posted it and have sent it to the Ellsworth American for printing. 

You’ve got a busy agenda, but nothing that should be all that time consuming at this point.

Minutes – Please take a few minutes to look them over for needed corrections.  Written ones are the easiest for me to fix.

Warrant 16 – We finally will have to move some cash from the investment account into the checking account to cover this warrant.  The school expenses are catching up to the year.  I will likely move about $200,000 next week.  The warrant has some insurance payments that are due this month as well.   It’ll be posted and updated on the website periodically and printed for meeting night.

Cash & Budget Reports – As with the warrant, it’ll be updated on the web and printed for meeting night.   All looks to be in good shape at this point.

Foreclosure Notice Update – We’ve had a few people pay.  The automatic foreclosure date is the date after your next meeting.  I’ve messaged the party in the overdue installment agreement foreclosure that I mentioned last meeting, no response yet.

Quarterly Excise Tax Report – The report is in your packet. For the calendar year collections were up 5.57%, and it’s by far the highest amount of excise tax for a calendar year in town history. 

Shellfish Enforcement – Dick Fennelly will swing by the meeting with an update on what the Shellfish Warden plans are for the region.

Parks Commission Anticipated Opening – Doug Jones has informed the Parks Commission of his intent to step down from the Commission following their meeting in April after 10-years of stellar service.  When the time comes, we already have a person interested in filling the remainder of his term.

Lamoine 150! – The cribbage fest is this coming Sunday.  The next Celebrating Our Story is the night before your meeting.   I’ve asked Bill Butler to give me a hand setting up for the TV recording of that and will pay him to do so.  I will discuss some other CTV/IT matters later on in this report.

Solar Update – There was no conference call last Monday.  Larissa Thomas briefly discussed this last night with the Conservation Commission, but we expect the weekly update to resume next week, so I might have something more concrete.

Community Center – The Committee met on Tuesday – unfortunately the TV system had been turned off the previous night at the Planning Board and it did not record/air live.  There is a message in your packet from the Committee.

Ortho Imagery – There is an e-mail from the state GIS folks about purchasing high resolution aerial photography (satellite) imagery.  I’ll be running that by the Assessors as well to see if that’s something they think is prudent. It could be funded through the Revaluation Reserve.

Code Enforcement – A letter to an alleged violator is in your packet, as well as a court notice on the Bar Harbor Highlands violation.

Lamoine Beach Park Play Structure – Cynthia Donaldson has lined up a donor to front the money to purchase the play structure.  We still don’t have an answer from the State of Maine on whether it would be permitted.  She believes that unless the equipment order is placed soon, the price will rise.  She’s asked whether the town would allow her little children’s group to order the equipment with the up-front money that would be reimbursed.  I don’t have the authority to approve that – it should come from the Selectmen. 

Blunt’s Pond Property Donation – The e-mail that I mentioned at the last meeting is in your packet.  I don’t know if there will be an update before this meeting.    I did run into Aaron Dority of Frenchman Bay Conservancy last evening, but our conversation was more about middle school basketball!

Town Meeting 2020 – A separate memo will be in your packet with some possible choices for Citizen of the Year.

A specimen town meeting ballot has been placed in your packet.  There are no contested races on the ballot this year.

I have added one article to the proposed warrant which is to authorize the Selectmen to execute the line agreement with Marion McDevitt that is currently being drawn up.  A draft of the warrant is in your packet.

Town Report – The cover is updated to include the Lamoine 150! Logo.   I’ve printed one color copy and the cover in your packet is black and white.  See how you like it.   The Selectmen’s report has not been changed from the draft presented last meeting.  Please look it over and submit changes if you wish.  I spoke with the printer today, and the cost won’t rise more than 2% from the previous year.  Still, it’s a much lower price and a great quality job than we’ve gotten from other sources in the past.

CTV/IT – As hinted earlier, you may know that Bill Butler has some availability.  He’s very knowledgeable in the Information Technology field (far more than me) and quite frankly, that stuff eats up my time some days.  He’s also the chair of the Tech Committee.  I’ve suggested to him that the committee meet to discuss some part time IT assistance for the town office (the school has their own IT person).  It wouldn’t be a lot of time, but it would take some burden away from me to be able to have some assistance with the town’s website, Facebook Page, keeping equipment up to date, and computers updated.  I just wanted you to be aware that discussion may be taking place with the Tech Committee in the not too distant future.

Vacation Request – My wife and I have booked a vacation in a much warmer climate than here for late March (a week after town meeting).  I would appreciate your blessing.  It’s not a town payroll week – the checks will come out the day before we leave, so I’ll be here to process that.  The school bills will be paid when we return. 

Meeting Dates – You’ve been meeting the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays each month.  The 1^st Thursday in April will be the day I return to work from vacation.  I have no problem with meeting that night, but it will be a scramble to get much together for that.   Let’s talk about the meeting dates.

Enjoy the winter weather – and stay warm!

stu