[0:00] We're live.
>> All right. I like to thank everybody for
[0:03] coming out tonight. All councilors are
present. Uh you'll see that our
[0:06] assistant town manager is filling in for
our town manager. He's out of town on
[0:11] business. Think to ask somebody to lead
us in prayer.
[0:17] [clears throat]
[0:20] We pray for our country at all times
that all citizens are safe, healthy, and
[0:24] happy. We pray for wisdom for all those
who guide and govern. Help this govern
[0:29] body in every situation to know and to
do the things that are right and just
[0:34] with soundness of judgment and making
vital decisions.
[0:37] We pray for the peacemakers
that the holy lifegiven spirit may ever
[0:41] dwell in their hearts and the barriers
of fear, suspicion, and hatred may fall.
[0:46] This we pray to the holy father. Amen.
>> Amen. I aliance to the flag of the
[0:52] United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
[0:57] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
[1:06] » Public comment period.
Podium's open.
[1:18] » Mr. Assistant Town Manager, you got the
floor.
[1:20] » Uh, licenses and permits. We had uh an
additional that was not added to the uh
[1:26] the packet came in today. It was
[clears throat] a renewal for liquor
[1:30] license for the fish and game club uh
which was approved by the town clerk. No
[1:35] motion needed on that. Justformational
uh financial uh report. I'll uh I'll
[1:42] read off Aaron's memo. Um December
financials uh closed with uh 175,245
[1:49] in our checking account. uh 500 in our
investment account and uh 44289
[1:56] in outstanding payments for net cash
position of 131,456.
[2:02] Uh revenue report once again uh
indicates a skewed picture of actual
[2:05] activity for December. Uh we made tax
collections of over $414,000
[2:11] uh for 2023
to 2025 taxes. Uh we also saw uh 1,000
[2:18] or 100 thou 200 123,000 revenue from uh
revenue sharing which was a bit lower uh
[2:25] than what was projected um and 84,742
from the Betty reimbursement. Uh
[2:31] expenses were at 51.6% of projection at
the end of December about 1.6 above our
[2:37] year-to- date plan which is 50%.
uh if you am mortise onetime payments we
[2:43] make uh each year uh we would be under
50% on expenses for the year. So we you
[2:48] know we got those big payments that come
out paving and school payments. Uh a
[2:52] monthly payment to MSAD20 at 227,000
uh which is 35% of all our expenses uh
[3:00] was our largest single expense. Uh we
have paid uh nearly 1.4 million to the
[3:05] school in the first half of the fiscal
year 2526.
[3:08] Uh we've not needed to tap in uh to the
TAN uh yet, which is really good news.
[3:14] Uh we don't anticipate having to use the
uh TAN in the near future and with the
[3:18] due date of taxes of February 1st, we
may not need to at all, which is also
[3:23] very good news. Uhformational memo, uh
no action at all requested. Any
[3:29] questions? I might answer them, I might
not. I'm not sure.
[3:36] » [clears throat]
>> Um,
[3:39] no AWS report uh this month, Mr. Ojeski,
as you did not meet in December.
[3:45] » Me, too.
>> Thank you. Uh, financial audit, town
[3:48] report. Um, staff met with Jazelle from
Felch this month to discuss our pending
[3:53] audit. She took over the audit process
and with additional information provided
[3:57] uh by the town has moved the audit
through to completion. Uh we've reviewed
[4:01] the draft audit. Anticipate having the
final audit well before the next council
[4:04] meeting. Uh the annual report is
finished. It has been for some time. Uh
[4:09] waiting for a final audit copies uh to
go with the annual report. Uh be sent to
[4:14] council members as soon as it's printed.
Uh we anticipate anticipate posting the
[4:18] digital version of these documents on
the town of Fort Prefield web page at
[4:21] the same time and printed copies will be
available at the town office.
[4:31] Uh, I guess I'm doing the police
department report uh for the month. I
[4:36] did send it to you guys via email, so
you had a chance to approve uh to review
[4:40] it. Uh, I'll go through it. Um,
normally it be up at the podium, but
[4:46] [clears throat] I'm not going to get up
to to talk to you guys about it. uh two
[4:49] uh 2025 was yet another busy year for
the Fort Fairfield PD, ending uh the
[4:54] year with 3,521
incidents.
[4:59] 119 of these incidents were referred to
the district attorney's office for
[5:03] prosecution by either arrest, summons,
or warrant requests, which is quite a
[5:08] substantial amount for a community our
size. Uh notable cases for 2025 include
[5:13] the double fatal crash uh this summer
which occurred on the Limestone Road
[5:17] which we charged a driver uh with two
counts of manslaughter and OUI. Uh in
[5:23] December we received a 20-year sentence
for the person who supplied drugs which
[5:27] killed two Fort Fairfield residents in
Easter of 2024.
[5:31] Uh we are currently working to wrap up
an overdose death case from the summer
[5:35] of 2024 where [clears throat] a man was
found deceased from an overdose on
[5:38] Columbia Avenue. Uh we submitted the
case to the district attorney and hope
[5:42] to have a grand jury indictment in the
near future. Uh in 2025 we had 22 drug
[5:47] arrests ranging from fentanyl,
methamphetamine, cocaine possession, and
[5:50] trafficking. We had 95 traffic crashes,
over 600 traffic stops for various
[5:55] offenses, uh including many OUIs, cruel
traffic summones, dangerous drivers. Uh
[6:01] we continue to try and be proactive with
the drug, mental health, ne neglect, and
[6:05] domestic violence issues to work to
improve the quality of life of our
[6:08] residents and visitors. I attached a
list of the incidents and arrests with
[6:11] the council packet, so you guys can take
a look at that. And if anybody has any
[6:14] questions on that, feel free to ask
anytime. On the financial side of
[6:18] things, uh this past fiscal year, uh we
came in under budget for the fourth year
[6:23] in a row. Uh we work hard to keep the
cost down. As with any other department,
[6:27] the driving cost is labor. As we operate
247, this can be costlier than most
[6:31] departments. Uh the p uh this past year,
we were able to secure close to $30,000
[6:36] in state highway safety grant funding to
add additional patrols to address
[6:40] problem issues such as speeding,
impaired, uh driving, and dangerous
[6:43] drivers. We continue to receive
additional grant funding through MIMA uh
[6:47] Homeland Security to increase patrol to
supplement border patrols. I continue to
[6:52] apply for and receive grants uh to
assist us with equipment upgrades and
[6:55] additional patrols. Some good news this
week. Um, I had applied for $51,000 in
[7:01] CDS funding through uh Congressman
Golden's office that was approved. Uh,
[7:06] we should be receiving the funding soon.
This was uh project specific, so I had
[7:11] to label out what we needed for
equipment uh replacement. Um, I chose
[7:16] our radios, our invehicle repeaters,
which allow our officers to communicate
[7:21] when they're outside of the car on their
portable radios, our radar units, uh,
[7:25] bulletproof vests and trauma first aid
kits. Definitely good opportunity to
[7:29] save money without um, by getting this
equipment with this program rather than
[7:35] it coming out of the property tax base.
Uh, 2025, we received a training
[7:39] reimbursement from the fire marshall's
office for an officer that we had sent
[7:42] to the academy, [clears throat] left our
employment. Uh with these funds, we were
[7:45] able to replace our police station
camera system and we were able to add
[7:48] some cameras outside of the building
because we didn't have any prior, which
[7:52] was problematic. Um
we had been without a camera system for
[7:57] almost two years. Uh we replaced uh an
aging cruiser we with a rebuilt one that
[8:02] uh we worked with Caldwells to uh to
procure and repair the damage. Um we're
[8:07] also able to get some replacement parts
through state surplus that really drove
[8:11] down the costs on that. Uh we replaced
our handguns due to safety issues. Uh we
[8:16] completed several other equipment
upgrades uh which we were not able to do
[8:20] because of the lack of capital equipment
reserves. Uh we're on budget this year
[8:23] and continue to work hard to keep costs
at a minimum. Uh we have not raised our
[8:28] operations budget for the last few years
and only had to raise our budget because
[8:31] of increases in wages, benefits, and
insurance. Uh we continue to partner
[8:35] with MSAD20 on our school resource
officer and DARE program which is
[8:38] progressing quite well. Uh, Sergeant
Cormier is very wellreceived in the
[8:42] district. Uh, we're reaping the benefits
of the partnership. I hear consistent
[8:46] praise on the program. Uh, we're
fortunate to have this partnership and
[8:50] we hope to continue to grow it. Officer
Whipperman and K9 Titan continue to
[8:55] progress. We've had very notable success
with this program so far and hope uh
[8:59] this will continue as he becomes
certified on narcotics detection very
[9:03] soon. Community policing programs
continue with our involvement
[9:06] coordination of the light parade uh
which was pretty good success this year
[9:10] and that keeps uh that continues to grow
each year. Uh the riding with Jacob
[9:14] campaign was a little little different
last year but we made it work with the
[9:18] Rotary Club uh and the main potato
blossom festivals. Uh our officers are
[9:22] busy and we're fortunate to have a
dedicated team of professionals serving
[9:26] our community. Uh we continue to be
fully staffed and rely on several
[9:29] part-time reserve officers to save on
overtime. We've not had to fill a vacant
[9:33] shift using overtime in several months
due to our the dedication of our
[9:37] part-time officers, which is a
significant cost savings
[9:41] rather than than paying the overtime
with the benefits. Uh I remain involved
[9:45] with the main chief of police
association. I'll be sworn in as
[9:48] president in late September. Uh this has
been a great opportunity to increase
[9:51] networking which is beneficial for our
community and the department. That opens
[9:55] doors for funding, programming,
equipment procurement which we have not
[9:58] had the opportunity um for prior. things
are going smoothly and I'll be able to
[10:03] answer any questions at any time.
Longwinded, but there you go. That's
[10:07] what's up.
>> Thanks for all your hard work you did.
[10:09] » Thank you. Appreciate it.
Uh economic development uh report uh
[10:16] memo from Aaron uh in December. Aaron
attended the following training
[10:20] networking training sessions. NMDC
executive meeting loan committee. Uh he
[10:25] met with Van Beer and town manager Luke
Dyer to discuss strategies that he's
[10:28] found to be successful. uh community and
economic development. He attended the
[10:33] Strong Towns organization orientation
session, uh completed Strong Towns 101
[10:38] training session, started local uh
conversations leading courses, attended
[10:43] the MCDA
monthly uh meeting, attended finding a
[10:48] developer MCDA seminar, met with Ignite
Prescy. um
[10:55] working on starting uh up or engaging
with the main street ma uh main program
[11:00] that he spoke about last month and the
strong towns program. Uh both are
[11:05] different parts of a healthy community
and are not mutually exclusive. Uh he
[11:09] believes that both of these programs
will benefit our efforts to revitalize
[11:12] and bring new business to Fort
Fairfield.
[11:15] making progress with getting to know
people, networking, um, and looking for
[11:19] programs, uh, to bring money into town,
which, uh, [clears throat]
[11:24] we definitely need. Uh, so you'll also
find the proposed budget schedule um,
[11:31] varies a little or differs a little bit
from last year um, where we had the
[11:37] department heads all presenting on one
night. Uh Aaron has presented
[11:44] two dates for department head
presentation. Um so we'll plan to roll
[11:51] out the budget on March 23, 2026. Budget
proposal available at the town office
[11:55] and on the website. March 25 uh budget
uh head or department heads present to
[12:03] the town council and budget advisory
committee. April one, the second group,
[12:08] uh, present to the town council and
budget advisory committee. April 8th,
[12:13] uh, the council budget workshop.
[12:18] April 15, uh, the presentation of budget
to the town council.
[12:23] April 29, the first public budget
hearing.
[12:29] May 13, the second public budget
hearing. in June 17. If all goes well,
[12:35] approve the budget. Um, any comments or
questions or concerns on that? No. Um,
[12:42] he also indicated a a schedule of when
uh department heads would be presenting.
[12:48] So, I think the one night is just you're
you're drinking out of a fire hose of
[12:54] information for for budget uh for
department heads and presenting their
[12:59] budgets and two nights would be a little
bit more beneficial.
[13:03] Good. Okay. Uh leans uh foreclosed
property update.
[13:10] Uh tax collector received 4,474
in payments on 2020 23 and 24 taxes fees
[13:19] and interest on eight properties with
leans. As of December 31st, there are 40
[13:24] properties owing 58,676
and 23 taxes and 116 properties owing uh
[13:33] owing 117,000 in 2024 taxes. Uh notably,
the staff sent out 45day notices of
[13:42] impending foreclosure for unpaid 2023
taxes to 40 uh property owners on
[13:47] December 31st. Uh, the town will
foreclose on properties with unpaid 2023
[13:53] taxes in February.
Additionally, staff sent a 90-day notice
[13:57] of intent to sell a property that was
foreclosed on in 2022 for unpaid 2019
[14:03] taxes. Um, at that time, the resident
had entered into an agreement, a payment
[14:08] agreement uh to get his account current,
but has failed to adhere to the
[14:11] agreement. Uh, as with the other
foreclosure sales, funds in excess of
[14:15] what is owed to the town will be
returned to the former owner. Uh, staff
[14:20] has signed listing agreements for nearly
all of the 2022 properties with dogs
[14:25] realy this week.
No action requested.
[14:32] And uh we're on to old business with uh
the uh updated emergency response plan
[14:38] with Chief Jalbert and Assistant Chief
Gahhagen.
[14:44] Evening counselors. Um, I'm sure you
guys have all had a chance to see that.
[14:48] I think Aaron said it digitally to you
guys. So, what this uh emergency
[14:52] operation plan is is it's it's a
revision of the old one that was last
[14:56] updated in 2015. So, what this new one
does is it changes the format. It gets
[15:00] us more in streamlined with, you know,
state
[15:04] EOPS and federal ones. So um and it
provides a lot of lists of roles and
[15:11] responsibilities and things that we're
going to do um you know in case of a
[15:15] natural disaster or flooding stuff like
that. So it's just a matter of up you
[15:19] know getting your guys' approval to
update to get it more streamlined and
[15:23] more modern
here to answer any questions on if you
[15:26] guys have any questions on on the actual
it's pretty long document but uh
[15:33] it's replacing like a 115 page document.
So, it's a lot more streamlined than the
[15:37] old one.
[15:43] » Do we need a motion to approve it?
>> Yes.
[15:46] » I move that we approve the updated
emergency operations plan.
[15:51] » I'll second it.
>> Motion and second. Any further
[15:53] discussions?
All those in favor?
[15:58] » I.
>> Thank you.
[16:01] Uh, next for old business is the
executive session conduct uh policy.
[16:07] Each year, all council members, town
manager, and department heads must sign
[16:11] an executive session conduct
[clears throat] policy. This policy is
[16:14] to protect all people involved in
executive sessions. And that will be
[16:19] sent around right [clears throat] now so
we don't forget.
[16:34] There were two pens on the table. Are
there still two? And or does anybody
[16:37] need one?
[16:41] » I use blue ink or black ink.
>> Whatever ink color you want.
[16:45] » Okay. I got blue.
>> Blue supposed to be blue on legal
[16:49] documents.
>> Original signatures. That's the way the
[16:52] registry wants it. So that's why we did
it.
[16:57] Can I use
[17:01] [clears throat]
[17:04] » a thing? So be [clears throat] it would
be by the book. So it be by the book
[17:09] there.
>> So we have to sign
[17:13] for
>> Okay.
[17:25] We'll sign our own
[17:33] blue.
[17:45] 21st.
>> Yes.
[18:04] [clears throat]
[18:20] Thank you.
Uh new business. We're so inclined to
[18:25] approve uh budget advisory committee
council appointments.
[18:31] part of the ordinance, we need two
members of the council to be appointed
[18:35] to the budget advisory committee.
I'll leave that to you folks.
[18:43] I'll take one.
Do you folks know where I'm at? Yeah.
[18:49] » Sorry kids at home.
>> Yeah.
[18:52] I didn't let me out right now.
[19:01] One more.
[laughter]
[19:06] » Are you willing to continue where you're
familiar with the process?
[19:09] » I've been on it for how long? Since it
started.
[19:13] Like since it started before I was a
counselor, I was on it.
[19:18] And I've been on it forever.
>> They said they weren't an experienced
[19:22] member.
[laughter]
[19:26] H
[19:29] you can keep me on it, but I will not
guarantee that I'll be at all of the all
[19:33] of the meetings because it it's pretty
tedious. There's a lot of council
[19:37] meetings already scheduled.
[19:41] » It sounds like we got two counselors.
[19:46] » Believe we need a motion for the record.
[19:51] » Make a motion that we accept the two
councils that
[19:55] are going to be on the committee.
>> Motion
[19:58] » second.
>> Second. Any further discussion?
[20:03] » All those in favor?
>> I.
[20:07] Thank you, counselors.
>> We're looking uh next for the approval
[20:12] of the minutes of the December 17, 2025
council meeting.
[20:16] » Entertain a motion to approve the
minutes of the December 17th, 2025
[20:20] meeting.
I move we approve the minutes of the
[20:24] December 17th meeting. Second.
>> Any discussions?
[20:30] All those in favor?
[20:34] » Entertain a motion to accept the minutes
of the January 6 special meeting.
[20:39] » I move we approve the minutes of the
January 6 meeting.
[20:42] » Okay.
Second. Any discussions?
[20:46] All those in favor? I
>> I
[20:50] » entertain a motion to accept warrant
number 12 in the amount of $255,86025.
[21:00] » Make a motion we accept the warrant is
red.
[21:03] » Okay.
>> Second.
[21:04] » Second. Any discussions?
All those in favor?
[21:09] » And warrant number 13. I'd entertain a
motion to accept an amount of $457,2386.
[21:17] Make the motion we accept the warrant is
ready.
[21:19] » Second that
>> second. Any discussions?
[21:22] » All those in favor?
>> I
[21:24] » I
[21:28] [snorts]
>> I do not have anything under
[21:30] » You must have something.
>> I do not do not.
[21:36] » Okay. Uh public comment period. Anybody
has anything else?
[21:42] » My name is Cesky and I live right here
in Puerto Rico. Uh I just wanted to
[21:46] mention that um chief comments failed to
mention in his list of things that he
[21:49] does for us is he's on the pines health
board of health uh board for us at Pines
[21:55] Health Services and we find that the
cooperative that we're going to have
[21:59] with the police department is going to
be incredibly helpful for us both in the
[22:02] ER and help take care of some of the
problems on the street. So I think you
[22:05] should take credit for that as well. I
thank you.
[22:08] » Let's give the chief a big round of
applause.
[22:10] [applause]
[22:16] They make me blush. [laughter]
[22:22] » Anybody else?
[clears throat]
[22:27] » Okay, I move that we adjourn.
>> Second.
[22:31] » Any further discussion?
>> All those in favor?
[22:35] » I
not even 6:30.
[22:40] ah
>> very efficient. [laughter]
[22:42] Um
>> Januaries uh usually aren't uh much of a
[22:46] load for for council. So that's good.