SOUTH BERWICK TOWN COUNCIL
DECEMBER 10, 2007
The Chair reported the following to the Clerk:
Chairman Suzanne Roberge called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Those present included Councilors Robert Gagne, Michelle Kareckas, Jean Demetracopoulos. Town Manager Jeffrey A. Grossman was also in attendance.
On a motion by Mr. Gagne, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to enter executive session at 5:31pm pursuant to 1MRSA §405.6C, acquisition of real property, §405.6A, personnel, and §405.6A1, appointment of a public official.
Mr. Burke arrived after the start of the session.
On a motion by Mr. Gagne, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to end the executive session at 6:30pm.
On a motion by Mr. Burke, seconded by Ms. Roberge, it was unanimously voted to recess the meeting at 6:31pm to accommodate a public hearing. The meeting was reconvened at 7:10pm with the Clerk present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Board of Assessors & Town Council 11-26-07: On a motion by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to adopt the minutes after adding “after Council review” to the end of the last sentence under New Business #4.
SIGNING OF TREASURER'S WARRANT – December 10, 2007
On a motion by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, seconded by Mr. Burke, it was unanimously voted to sign the warrant.
COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS
1. Mr. Burke stated that he is aware of an entity that might be willing to organize the holiday parade.
2. Mrs. Kareckas:
-Need to address the fact that parking waivers for the Paul Street lot expire December 31st.
-Would like to see an agenda item for a noise ordinance.
-Made a motion to set up a special revenue account for waived parking spaces. Mr. Burke seconded. After discussion regarding the Town Attorney’s comments regarding building consensus and the agreed procedure for getting items on the agenda, motion and second were withdrawn provided the issue could be discussed later in the meeting.
-Would like to establish subcommittees to encourage new board membership and to work on a noise ordinance. Mrs. Demetracopoulos agreed to work on board membership and Mr. Burke agreed to work on a noise ordinance.
3. Mr. Gagne stated that he appreciates the new market and the variety it offered. He added that everyone needs to support the market and not cross the border to shop.
4. Mrs. Demetracopoulos:
-Asked for a consensus to hold a workshop in January to finalize the Manager’s review. Consensus was positive.
-Unable to attend evening meetings on Wednesdays for the next couple of months.
-Provided proposed language for zoning ordinance changes regarding parking. She asked for a consensus to send it to the Planning Board. Discussion ensued regarding the procedure for building consensus and placing items on the agenda. Mrs. Demetracopoulos expressed her displeasure at the lack of forward movement on the issue.
5. Ms. Roberge:
-Informed the others of her meeting with Helene Cass, SAD Chair. The SAD board is not interested in meeting with the Council in workshop. They have directed the Superintendent to keep the Manager and Eliot’s Administrator informed of consolidation issues. She added that she did invite them to participate in the meetings held with the Water & Sewer Districts. Mrs. Cass’ response was that the SAD Board did not feel their decisions impacted anything.
-Would like to schedule a Vaughan Fund meeting and a workshop to finalize strategies and goals.
-Received Councilor Demetracopoulos’ notes from the planning board workshop; and asked for copies from the others if they took any.
-Asked the Council to give the Manager direction regarding the upcoming budget. Consensus was to schedule a workshop. Proposing two budgets, one overriding LD1 and one staying within the cap, was suggested. The initial feeling was to stay within the cap.
PUBLIC COMMENT
1. John Rudolph, Oldfields Road, stated that he appreciates the focus on downtown parking. He referenced several emails between the Manager and Chair of the Planning Board about the process for handling parking fees in lieu of spaces. He expressed his concerns regarding the Manager’s actions and opinions. He accused the Manager of mismanaging the town.
2. John Ford, Oldfields Road, asked that the stop sign at the intersection of Oldfields and Vine be changed to a yield sign.
3. George Muller, Portland Street, asked the Council to consider looking into alternative energy sources. He also stated that more has to be done in regard to the speeding.
4. Bernard Mushorn, Portland Street, recommended that the speed limit sign at Jewett Avenue be moved closer to the town line on Portland Street.
REPORTS & CORRESPONDENCE
1. Dale Toughty and John Buxton from the MDOT were present to give an update of the Varney Bridge closing.
Mr. Buxton stated that the work done on the bridge in 1994 was expected to last about 10 years; it has been over 13. He is recommending to the Commissioner that the bridge be closed permanently. He added that it would not be prudent to use the bridge for foot or bicycle traffic. The bridge is beyond practical repair and the estimated cost to replace it is $5-$7 million. His proposal to the Commissioner will include requesting that the bridge be dismantled.
Several Councilors expressed their concerns over the notification process for the bridge closure. Mr. Buxton explained that the usual process for closing the bridge was not followed due to the serious nature of the degradation. Dispatch was notified.
The meeting was recessed at 8:35pm. The meeting reconvened at 8:43pm.
2. The Council discussed the request from the Water District to authorize the Town’s attorney to write a letter in support of the District’s appeal of the ZBA decision granting a variance to the Paige’s for building additional homes on property bordering/accessed through the Districts well field. The focus of the discussion was whether the Council should support the Water District’s appeal or the decision made by a Town board. Mention was made that, the Council at the time, was in favor of filing an appeal itself. The Council chose not to because of the legal costs and the fact that the Water District was going to anyway.
Mr. Gagne made a motion to authorize the Manager to contact legal staff for the purposes of writing a letter to the court in support of the Water District’s appeal. Mrs. Demetracopoulos seconded the motion if the letter focuses on the water quality.
Mrs. Kareckas made a motion to amend by authorizing the Manager to draft a letter of support of the Water District’s appeal by incorporating the language from the Water District’s letter as follows: “The house the Paiges’ have proposed to build is upgradient of, and within the 200 day time of travel zone around the wells, which means that bacteria that escapes the subsurface wastewater system may reach the wells. For these reasons, the development of additional houses on the Paiges’ property is an unacceptable risk to this critical public water supply.” Mr. Burke seconded the amendment. The amendment passed with a unanimous vote.
The original motion as amended was voted on and passed unanimously.
PRESENTATION
Ms. Roberge presented Malcolm Kenney of VFW Post 5744 with a donation of $906. The funds were collected from Water & Sewer District Trustees, the Town Council, and Town employees. Mr. Kenney gladly accepted the donation. He stated that the money will go a long way to help purchase phone cards for the troops.
TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT
1. Mr. Grossman stated that Mr. Rudolph’s accusations of mismanagement are serious and he will need to defend them. Mr. Grossman added that Mr. Rudolph only read select emails; and referenced an email from July that Mr. Rudolph chose not to include. Mr. Grossman stated that he has been charged with following the charter and ordinances to do things properly and that is what he is, and will continue to do. Mr. Rudolph laughed during Mr. Grossman’s statements.
2. No new information has been received from Comcast since the last update.
Ms. Roberge announced that, as a result of the executive session, there would be additional items acted upon under new business that were not on the agenda.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Mr. Gagne made a motion to appoint Steve Einstein to the Planning Board. Ms. Roberge seconded the motion. Motion failed with a 2-3 vote (Mr. Burke, Mrs. Kareckas, & Mrs. Demetracopoulos opposed).
On a motion by Mr. Burke, seconded by Mrs. Kareckas, it was voted 3-2 (Mr. Gagne & Ms. Roberge opposed) to appoint Marian “Mimi” Demers to the Planning Board with a term to expire June 30, 2009.
NEW BUSINESS
1. On a motion by Mr. Gagne, seconded by Mr. Burke, it was unanimously voted to table action on the acceptance of Back Acres Lane until the Public Works Director can be present to answer questions.
2. On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to accept Charles Hugo’s resignation from the Historic District Commission.
3. On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to appoint Susan Petrikas to the Library Advisory Board with a term to expire June 30, 2009.
4. On a motion by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to approve the renewal of Fogarty’s liquor license.
5. On a motion by Mr. Gagne, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to appoint the following as volunteers for Powder House Ski Hill for the 2007/2008 season: Gary Adams, Catalina Bakas, Tracey Hovan, David Burke, Richard Cooke, Eric & Marcia Flinkstrom, Nadine Gookin, John Laprey, Daniel & Julie Hundley, Jack & Michelle Kareckas, Goerdt & Dagmar Lamberts, Brad Martin, Bruce & Renie Martin, Luke Martin, Eric & Barbara Mundell, Mark & Amanda Valli, Kevin Gray, Sue Liberty, and Mark Stailey.
6. The Council discussed the proposed street name changes. Consensus: Keep Main Street the same. Change portion of Wadleigh Lane to Demers Lane. Change portion of Knight’s Pond Road to Harvey Road. All agreed that better signage, especially for Main Street, would be appropriate. No action taken.
On a motion by Mr. Burke, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to suspend the rules and continue with new business after 9:30pm.
7. On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to authorize the Manager to execute a Purchase Option Agreement between the Town of South Berwick and the Roman Catholic Diocese for the purchase of St. Michael’s Church on Young Street, pending staff review.
On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to reactivate the library site committee to review the site and report back by December 28th as to whether the site is viable for use as the library.
On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to charge the building committee with reviewing the site and report back by December 28th as to whether the site is viable for use as a library or other municipal uses.
On a motion by Mrs. Kareckas, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to hold a special council meeting on December 17th at 6:30pm to set the date and sign a warrant calling for a special town meeting and to sign a franchise agreement extension with Comcast.
On a motion by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, seconded by Mr. Gagne, it was unanimously voted to appropriate $1000 from the undesignated fund balance upon execution of the agreement.
8. Mr. Burke, with the aid of Mrs. Demetracopoulos, made a motion to establish a special revenue account for the purpose of receiving funds from donations or mitigation contributions in lieu of parking space requirements as a result of a site review by the Planning Board. Mrs. Kareckas seconded the motion.
Chairman Roberge and senior member Gagne both stated that the motion is out of order. There is no enabling legislation allowing the Council to collect such funds.
Mr. Burke stated that by establishing the account it will send a message to the Planning Board that they need to get the ordinance ready. Mr. Grossman stated that the Planning Board was given the task of drafting the ordinance and has not completed it. Mr. Grossman added that without the proper ordinance & fee schedule, funds could not be collected.
Mrs. Demetracopoulos stated that she presented the Manager with draft language for the ordinance amendments early last week. “Because our staff hasn’t acted, I’ve started to.”
She expressed her frustration on the lack of movement on the issue. Mr. Grossman stated “the staff was never instructed, on any occasion to draft the language for this ordinance or the special revenue account, in fact it was the Planning Board who was instructed to do so.”
Mr. Gagne called for the question. Mr. Burke requested time for further discussion. Mrs. Kareckas suggested amending the motion to include language that would prohibit the use of funds from the special account until the ordinance language is in place. Mr. Burke stated that he didn’t believe they could accept mitigation money until the ordinance is in place so the amendment isn’t necessary.
Discussion regarding proper procedure ensued.
Mr. Gagne called for the question.
The motion establishing the special revenue account passed with a 3-2 vote (Ms. Roberge & Mr. Gagne opposed).
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Mr. Gagne, seconded by Mrs. Demetracopoulos, it was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:08pm.
Attest:
Barbara Bennett
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