Town of Lamoine, Maine
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	Administrative Assistant to the Board of Selectmen				Stu Marckoon
	Report - November 19, 2020

Hello from the plush corner office at the Lamoine Town Hall.  The weather has been unusually warm, Coronavirus has run rampant across the nation and the rate has skyrocketed in Maine in the past two weeks.   Jennifer has been on vacation this week, but it’s been fairly quiet at the town hall for transactions.  It’s sure nice having the election over with (at least here!). 

You’ve got a couple of big discussions on the agenda for your upcoming meeting.  I’m not sure what the Governor may order as far as further restricting interaction with customers.  The protocols we’ve put in place since May seem to be adequate.  We can discuss that when it comes up on the agenda.    If you wish to meet by zoom instead of in person, we can do that.  You’ll be set up for both.

Minutes – November 5, 2020 – Please look over the minutes.  The discussion with the proposed Shoreland Zoning Change got long and redundant.  If you could make sure the essence of the conversation was captured, that would be helpful.

Warrant 13 – We will have to shift some funds from the investment account into the checking account as the school expenditures alone are $125,000, and there was less than $40,000 in checking.  This will be the first transfer out of investments since the property tax money started arriving in August.  Probably the best cash flow year we’ve had in my memory!  Besides the school bills, you’re going to have a plowing bill on here, and there are mostly the usual bills.  Payroll will be on Monday, so that will also be included. The warrant is posted on the website and updated periodically.  A final copy will be printed for your signature on meeting day.

Cash & Budget Reports – The report will be updated periodically on the website and printed for meeting night.

Transfer Station Design meeting with Chip Reeves – Chip has been working on a final preliminary design and should have something to discuss for Thursday.   I suspect he’ll join us via zoom. 

Code Enforcement Officer – Rebecca plans to attend in person (which is what she prefers).  The topics of discussion are the October 15^th meeting with the Assessors and Planning Board as well as the recent decision of the Board of Appeals.  As you’ll recall, I did up a memo for last meeting on the Assessors concerns.  That can be a basis for discussion.

The Appeals Board ruling on the allegedly “too tall house” case may have some sort of action memorandum from the CEO.  It’s not in your packet, as it does not yet exist.

Budget Workshop – Listed on the agenda are the various budgets that have not been discussed at the Selectboard level yet.  I’m pretty close to plugging most everything in.  The Budget Committee meets on Monday the 16^th for the first go-round of the proposed budget.   We can discuss those areas that you have not yet had a chance to discuss.

Meeting Room Monitor Project – Bill Butler has come up with a materials list for a large screen TV installation in the meeting room to assist with Zoom meetings.   I’ll have it printed out, but the tech committee has not yet met to make a formal recommendation.  They plan to meet on the 23^rd of November.

Broadband Expansion – This is another area for discussion amongst the tech committee on the 23^rd.  The grant application to the Island Institute was submitted on November 6^th and the Institute reports they received it.   We wait to hear whether additional funding will be available.

Road Matters – I’ve prepared separate memos on both the Buttermilk Road and Needles Eye Road issues.

COVID-19 – As mentioned in the preamble, the virus has started infecting much larger numbers of people every day in Maine.  As of this writing, we have 58 active cases in Hancock County.  Sadly, it’s just a matter of time before it becomes prevalent here for a guess. 

Here in the town office, Rebecca, Jennifer and I have been very good about reporting potential exposures.  So far nothing has come to fruition.  The precautions that we’ve taken to isolate the office and personnel from lengthy exposure to the outside public seem to be effective for now.  I did have a phone message from last weekend from someone who worried about people who use the transfer station not wearing masks.  I’ll discuss that with Chris and see what signage he thinks would be appropriate.  Other than the bottle drop off and the swap shop, people don’t take long to get rid of “stuff” at the recycling bin and trash dumpsters.  They’re outside when they do so.  It is a public facility, and I’m not sure what the CDC expects for an operation like that.  I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to close the swap shop again.

That’s it for the agenda.  A reminder that we’re closed on Thanksgiving Day, but we are open the day after. 

stu