Vassalboro Select Board
Minutes of the Meeting
December 16, 2009

Members Present: Rob Browne, Lauchlin Titus, and Phil Haines

Others Present: Mary Sabins, Bob Whittemore, Mary Grow, Dick Kelly, Tom Richards, and Erskine Academy Student Amy Schwab.

  1. Call to order – The meeting was called to order by Chairman Browne at 7:00 p.m.

  2. Minutes – L. Titus noted that he was not present at the last meeting and could not have made a motion to approve the warrants at the last meeting as noted in the minutes of the meeting. Section 5 - Treasurer’s Warrants should read: On a motion made by P. Haines, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to approve warrants #35 and #36. On a motion made by P. Haines, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the 12/2/09 meeting as amended.

  3. New Business – a. Bob Whittemore lead the discussion on the hobby of geocaching and requested permission of the Board to hide a cache on the town-owned island in Webber Pond so others can use their hand-held GPS devices to find his “hidden treasure”. After brief discussion and on a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by P. Haines, the Board voted unanimously to approve the request. b. Cemetery Committee Chairman Dick Kelly explained the work already accomplished by the new cemetery committee. They have contacted a few surveyors and now recommend that the Selectmen contract with Rowe and Wendell Surveying to survey the new Section I in the North Cemetery, as that company seems to have the most experience with the North Cemetery. Discussion was also given about some of the other tasks facing the committee including what to do with the fence around the Nichols Cemetery. Dick also mentioned that resident Tom Richards has been attending the Committee meetings and has been very helpful. Dick recommends that Tom be appointed to the committee. After discussion, and on a motion made by P. Haines, seconded by L. Titus, the Board voted unanimously to approve entering into a contract with Rowe and Wendell Surveying to survey Section I in the North Cemetery. A motion was then made by P. Haines, and seconded by L. Titus and voted unanimously by the Board to appoint Tom Richards to the Cemetery Committee. c. Change in the Selectmen’s meeting night was discussed and a general agreement was reached that Thursday night meetings fit better into the schedules of most of the Selectmen as well as the manager. On a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by P. Haines, and voted unanimously by the Board, the Board voted to change their meeting nights to every other Thursday night starting with January 7th at 7:00 p.m. There will be no December 30th meeting. The change to Thursday night meetings will coincide with the late night that the town office is open to the public for services.

  4. Reports – a. Status Report – Sabins read the items on the report and provided an update for each. b. Road report – On a motion made by P. Haines, seconded by L. Titus, the Board voted unanimously to accept the report as presented. c. Financial report – no discussion was given.

  5. Treasurer’s Warrants – On a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by P. Haines, the Board voted unanimously to approve warrants #38 and #39.

  6. Other – 1. Sabins explained to the Board that one of the public works employees was injured at home and will be out of work for several days, maybe even a week, and will be using his sick time while he is out. The employee was concerned about losing his extra overtime hours that he has already put in this week plowing snow. After discussion and on a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to pay the employee time and one half for his hours worked on Sunday, and to pay time and a half for any hours worked over 8 hours on Monday and Tuesday. 2. Sabins explained to the Board that she would like to have a small employee luncheon just before the employees go home for the Christmas holiday at 1:00 p.m. on December 24th, and she asked the Board to agree to pay $50-$60 for the refreshments. The Board approved the idea, and some Board members may try to attend. 3. Brief discussion was given about the need to amend the personnel policy to address such items as the overtime issue dealt with earlier in the meeting. L. Titus suggested appointing a committee to draft the policy changes and offered his assistance to help prepare the amendments to the current policy when the time is appropriate.

  7. Adjourn – There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

/mss

These minutes were read and accepted by the Select Board on 1/7/10 with the following amendments: None.