Members Present: Libby Mitchell, Lauchlin Titus, and Rob Browne

Others Present: Mary Sabins, George Gould, Sarah Luce, and Mary Grow

1.Call to order – The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mitchell at 7:00 p.m. L. Mitchell complimented the office staff for the excellent job they did at the election polls yesterday.

2.Minutes – On a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the 10/22/08 meeting as written.

3.Treasurer’s Warrants – On a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to approve warrants #27 and #28.

4.Reports – a. Status Report – The Status Report was reviewed and Sabins added further information that had developed since the report was written concerning the recycling efforts, the sale of the public works truck, and the streetlight improvement issues.
b. Road Report – After review and upon a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to accept the report as written.
c. Police Report – On a motion made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, the Board voted unanimously to accept the report as presented.

5.New Business – a. Sign the Town Manager’s revised contract – After Chairman Mitchell confirmed that all parties were satisfied with the wording of the revised contract, a motion was made by L. Titus, seconded by R. Browne, and voted unanimously by the Board to accept and sign the contract as presented. Spectator George Gould witnessed the signatures of all parties.

6.Other – 1. Resident Sarah Luce had presented a letter to the Board prior to the meeting to express her concern over a potential conflict of interest that an Appeals Board Member may have in participating in an appeal hearing of a reported relative. Chairman Mitchell advised Ms. Luce that the matter was an Appeal Board issue and needed to be dealt with at the Appeal Board level. Sabins confirmed that CEO Paul Mitnik had already notified the Appeals Board Chairman of Ms. Luce’s concern. The Selectmen felt confident that if the Appeals Board member had a conflict in hearing the appeals case, the member would disclose the conflict and step down from the hearing.
2. Sabins presented a draft budget timeline and tentative meeting dates in preparation of the upcoming budget season.
3. Brief discussion was given concerning local school consolidation vote outcomes.
4. Resident George Gould complimented the Board on making drinking water available at the Town Office and for improving the Town’s website. George also inquired what is being done to preserve open farmland in town and requested that a committee be formed to study the matter. L. Titus offered that the Conservation Commission may have already had discussions about this issue. Chairman Mitchell suggested that we invite the Conservation Commission Chairman to the next Board meeting to update the Board on the Conservation Commission’s progress with this and other issues outlined in the Strategic Plan.
5. R. Browne stated that he had received an inquiry from a resident about reviving the Cemetery Committee. Chairman Mitchell asked Sabins to research the files to find information on the work that the Committee had performed in the past and bring it to a Selectmen’s meeting for discussion.

7.Adjourn – There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

/mss

These minutes were read and accepted by the Select Board on 11/19/08 with the following amendments: none.