our meeting to order and ask you to join
me in the pledge of allegiance. I can
get through this wire.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you.
public forum
commissioner updates.
Any we want to probably start with any
comment from the public because we have
some public members here. Do we have we
have someone from the public? Did you
want to come up? Step right up. Can you
show us if you'd like to drink? Yeah.
I won't bite. I promise. Or maybe we can
slide one of these around.
Here
I Good morning. Good morning, gentlemen.
I'm Deb Elliot and I hail from our
beautiful little town of Breeman.
Um, uh, Robert Bob Conland is with me
here. Um, and I live in West Cassid.
friend of dips. That's right. And um
we're here to just ask and and Would you
speak up, please? Yes, sir. We're here
to just ask about
um working with the federal agents and
ICE on immigration. That is our that is
our concern today is immigration and the
policies. Um, I did talk to Carrie and
so I have the lowdown, but I wanted to
be here in person, uh, face to face and
so, you know, you can say anything you
want on the phone or whatever, but
FaceTime, you know, is is important to
me. So, um I um I understand the
sheriff's department is not um on as
their normal duty going and picking up
immigrants, but I'm concerned that it
might be in the
future.
Um so that's that's why I'm here. And I
know uh Robert has a few questions as
well.
Yeah. Um, I just wanted to add on to
that just I think you know we were
asking more or less about the difference
between um will the uh Ling County
Sheriff's Office for example honored
administrative warrant from ICE or will
it be judicial warrant that stuff we're
recording
so that's so I I wanted to we wanted to
just kind of differentiate you know what
if there if there is written policy by
the county um and who writes the policy
who decides the policy is it the
sheriff's office? Is it the county
administration? And then uh and then
will there be uh a distinction between
honoring a judicial warrant or an
administrative warrant from ICE uh in
regards to
detaining individuals. That was one that
was a followup on Debs. The other thing
that I wanted to ask in the bigger
picture was uh you know we're down on
the bridge here in Wisconsin and often
times in Newcastle ter peacefully
protesting as as everybody knows we're
entitled to do.
Um and there was an executive order
signed by the president on April 28th
about uh using having the military be uh
available to assist local law
enforcement. Um that was on April 28th.
uh and and it could be enacted in 90
days. So by July 28th of this year, uh
that could be a you know that could be a possib that could be a a real thing
happening here in this county. And it it
you know, this is my reading on it is it feels like a a very intimidating
thing for people uh who are standing out
on the bridge peacefully protesting that
to think that the military might be
available to be up there to quell
something like a peaceful demonstration.
Um, we want to know what the local law
enforcement here in this county will do uh to serve and protect
us on the bridge and
elsewhere. Um, and and whether there's
going to be any policy
um for that. I'm getting a little shaky
just talking about it because this is
America. We shouldn't have to ask these
questions, but we are because we have
to.
So, that's it. in this this audience.
Yep.
You're smiling, sir. Well, I was just
thinking of many many years ago when I
was in the
military, we had no authority with
civilians. Yeah. Right. So, and I
suspect suspect that it may still hold
true. Just because someone does it
doesn't makes a writes his name on a
paper. It doesn't necessarily make it
law. Well, it's not someone though. It's
the president of the United States. He
is a citizen. Well, he's not acting like
one. Well, I we won't Let's not debate
that. So, I know we we'll stay out of
the politics, but I I think uh a lot of
these executive orders are so far in the
reading of a lot of people who have
legal background that I don't have are
unlawful, but they're still being
enacted.
So this
one and and by the way, it also that
same executive order also it promises any law enforcement who who
are sued for any actions they that take
place as a result of
that. Maybe you know hitting somebody
when they're not supposed to, for
example. um that they'll have proono
legal legal help, legal assistance
proono from the government, which is
sort of a dog whistle to say, "Hey, if
you want to beat up some protesters, go
ahead cuz we'll we'll we'll pay for it."
That's in the executive order. That's
written for a
reason. That's why we're
here. So, I don't believe that will
happen here. I have big faith in our
sheriff's department, in our in our town
departments, uh, police departments, and
um, but still that holds true that it
Yeah. could happen. And we're here to
try to possibly prevent something like
that. We're here to speak about um our
cons our concerns. you know, we are
concerned, you know, uh because there's
some some bad players that um could
infiltrate our peaceful protest and
cause a whole bunch
of shenanigans going on. And
um we don't want our peaceful protest to
be knocked down so that we can't have
them. Um, and so if if there's any kind
of violence, even if somebody else
instigates it against one of us or, you
know, even one of us against the gate,
who knows, right? We're not going to do
that, but you never know. People are
people, right? So that would shut down
our peaceful protests. And um I I know
it's Damar Dammerscotta Police
Department that would possibly um come
through on our bridge. to go through the
Reny's parking lot because we did have
one of our protesters um accosted in the
Reny's parking lot when he was leaving.
He had a flag um and a gentleman came
out and started just screaming at him
right in his face about you know blah blah blah blah blah right it was
against what we're doing and um I mean
it didn't get violent but it makes me
you know the more
afraid they are the more afraid they are
and fear can cause um really bad actions
And so, um, that's what we're we want to
be able to protect ourselves. We want to
be able to stand out there and say,
"Hey, you know, we're here, you know,
save our libraries." None of us have any
FTD, right? Um, FDT, whatever, um,
signs. None of us. It's save the food
pantries, is save the libraries, save
the post offices.
You know, I'm in little old Breamman old
800 people and we have a little tiny
post office and um if it ends up I'm a
treasurer secretary of my little HOA so
I have to go to the post office box all
the time and pick up checks and dues and
bills and such. So if they end up
shutting that down then now I have to go
to Dammerscotta or Waldboroough for my
mail. And um you our gentleman that's a
postmaster Lance he is a veteran
disabled veteran and he's the postmaster
and if that closes down all of a sudden
he loses his job. So anyway I'm sorry I
digress. But what I'm trying to say is we're not out there screaming at
people. We're we're unified. I don't
know if you've come through and seen us.
You probably have. Um we're smiling and
waving. We're
joyful, you
know. We just want to make sure
everybody knows, you know, the the
things that are going on in our
community, you know, that's that's what
we're, you know, food security, you
know, all these things that
taking money, federal money away from
the poorest people. And we have a lot of
poor people, right? Um, in in Breamman,
there's a lot of older ladies that have
never worked and they're widows and
they're sitting in their houses that are
falling in around them and they're
living on 800 bucks a month, social
security, you know, um, how are they
going to live if any of that's taken
away, you know, and u main care if
that's taken away, what about all the I
think 70% I believe or 60% of the folks
that are in assisted living homes uh are
on main care and
um if they take that away, where where
are they going to
go? Are their kids ready to take them in
and take care of
them?
Um these are just the community
concerns, okay? We're not trying to take
over anything like that. We're just
trying to get out there and show, you
know, that we're there and we stand for
everybody no matter what side of the
fence yarn they're on, you know.
So anyway, it's just and and and you
know, we just wonder if um you know,
it'd be possible um to just cruise by
our protests, cruise through the Reny's
parking lot. You know what I mean? a
couple times. We're on the bridge um on
Wednesdays 11 to noon. We're only out
there 1 hour. So it, you know, I
probably need to talk to the
Dammerscotta Police Department about
that.
But just a simple cruise through so that
everybody knows there's there's
somebody, you know, um our public
servants, um looking out for us and just
having a presence, you know, it's like
having having a police car on the side
of the road in a driveway and everybody
slows down. Oh You know, um it's
just that presence, right, that does
that.
So, I'm sorry going on so much. I'm just
so passionate about this stuff and I'm concerned for us, for our people,
for the poorest of the poor.
We haven't had any any u request from
ICE for any change and there would be
some discussion if that came up, I'm
sure. And what you folks are doing is
the American way of of being going out
and the ability to go out and to to show
your feelings protesting or supporting
whatever
position. We should have continue as the
American way for doing that. Yeah. So we
appreciate you coming in and it's
important that people be able to express
themselves. Yeah. I I just wanted to add
before I before we leave that I
personally like Deb also believe that
you know our local law enforcement is
you know they're a great bunch of
people. So it's not that it's not that I
have any fear that anybody in this local
law law enforcement is going to do
anything that they shouldn't be doing.
Um I think they do serve and protect the
community. I just think that uh if
there's pressure from
above, you know, asking or demanding or
whatever that something be done, um that
you know, maybe there should be some
policy. Maybe the the people in the
community ought to know how, you know,
our local law enforcement is going to
respond to that kind of pressure if it
comes down the pike. And that executive
order that I talked about, I think is
designed
to, you know, scare people like us from going out on the street. Um, you
can only read it that way. Like you can,
you know, it's out there for a reason.
It was signed for a reason. It was
written for a reason. It was written the
way it was for a reason. And uh, and so
it's coming July 29th. We, you know, so
we, you know, I think everybody should
at least be aware of it. Yeah. and to
know that we're all out there for the
right reasons. We're not advocating the
overthrow of the government. We're just
like Deb said, we're out there for the
right reasons. Well, thank you for
everybody. Thank you for coming in. I I
think you're responding as citizens are
able to and historically have have been
able to. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
so much for taking the time to hear us out and for your uh genuine
concern. We seriously appreciate that,
sir. So, we're going to step out, make
room for other seats, and uh we'll hang
out in the hall for a few. Thank you.
for coming. Appreciate it.
Yeah.
Well, the minutes of the meeting of is
there anyone else who wanted to speak? I
don't want to.
Do we want to do a quick the quick
updates portion?
We have uh the minutes of the April 15th
meeting. Bill, I think u Evan has an
update.
Oh, you do. I'm sorry. We added in
commissioner updates. Well, I sort of
backed him up to the Oh, gotcha. public
first. So, well, anyway, I'll give a
quick rundown of what I've been working
on. Um, so I'm the county rep for the
Coastal County's workforce board.
There's three workforce boards in the
state and the Coastal County's workforce
board um has three county commissioners
from each of the excuse me, six county
commissioners on their board of
directors. Um been attending those
meetings and previous to my involvement
we had one business on the business
board of the meeting which was
Transworld Business Adviserss which I
believe is some sort of franchise group.
Um myself and Alex Zaparo went to their
business meeting and we invited the HR
director from Big Low Labs who is now
going to join as one of the business
reps on the Coastal County's workforce
board. So that's good. We're getting
more Lincoln County representation
there. And then sitting on
the regional planning commission board
of directors, we've gotten two new reps
from Dresden. We previously had none at
the beginning of this year and looks
like next week we'll have one from
Edgecom. So we've got four or five towns
with no representation yet, but
hopefully we'll in the coming months
have all the slots filled or at least
one slot from each town filled. So those
are my updates. Evan, what's CCWI?
Yeah. Yeah, that's so Coastal County's
Workforce Board is the board of
directors and then Coastal County's
Workforce Incorporated is how they
operate for the rest of their grant
stuff. So they've got a business section
and then they've got a legal section and
we have one representative on we have
one representative for the work for the
CEO board. Okay. So York, Cumberland,
Sag Hawk, Lincoln, Knox, and Waldo.
That's what makes up that board. So they
deal with a lot of grants from the
federal department of labor and that's
their programming. And you meet once a
month with them or every other every
other month. Thanks. and and and we
determine that as opposed to there's
been struggles in the past for the state
to handle to take over the money. Yep.
Correct.
Okay. Anything anyone else? Well, I can
just tell you I serve as your
representative on the MCCA board, the
county commissioners association, and uh
um the biggest thing that I've been
involved with them is they're relooking
at their bylaws to make sure it's
modernized um to uh the way we're
functioning nowadays. The MCCA also has
in a um legislative committee and I know
they've been reviewing a lot of bills
and there was a call to action today on
one bill. Um I didn't focus on that yet
to see what the issue was, but there's
that out there. Um so um that's about it
for that.
Cool.
not wanting to leave anyone else out in
the universe. Is there anyone else? No,
I I think those are commissioner
updates. So, that just leaves you. So,
if you had anything to update, right? I
don't have anything more to say. Okay,
great. Then, now we'd like to have the
minutes approved. Move to approve the
minutes of April 15th. Second. Any
discussion? All in favor? I. Three to
zero in favor. Thank you.
Well, now we're getting now in finance.
Good morning. Before you have VP warrant
number 51 in the sum of
$23,8125. Um the largest portion of this
was our monthly um health insurance bill
for May. Uh we also had some other u
routine monthly maintenance bills for
our cruisers.
uh installation of equipment for a
cruiser and our case management uh
services with main pre-trial. So the
hillside was more than one vehicle.
Correct. It's it's two months worth of
vehicle maintenance is what that is. So
we have a program where they go there
monthly to be checked out or something.
Correct. They go when needed. Yeah. When
needed. Yeah. Okay.
Do we want to take these as a package or
individually? Let's take one at a time.
I move we approve accounts payable
warrant number 51.
Second. Moved and seconded. Any other
questions? All in favor? I. Three to
zero in favor. Move to approve accounts
payable warrant number 53.
Second. Well, would you like to explain
it?
Uh, well, it's $221,82.69.
Uh
$21,736 of this is for the monthly jail
assessment. Um so 90% of this went to
the jail for their operations. That was
mainly is the SAGE hawk contribution
similar
or how how is that assessment? Slightly
higher. Slightly higher. And is it uh
done by jail count or what is it? How is
that determined? So our number is based
on the tax cap that was in statute prior
to the last revision. Okay. So our cap
was at $2.4 million. We divide it by 12.
We send them a payment monthly. Okay.
Any other questions? All in favor? I I
three to zero in favor. Now the final
one. Um now we're moving on to payroll.
Yes.
uh before use payroll number eight in
the sum of
$285,9854. Um this payroll is slightly
higher than typical because we had the
uh payouts for the retirement of Bobby
Robinson uh a 39y year 39 years 39year
dispatcher earned every penny. Amen.
Okay, that's it primarily for that one.
Was there a motion? Move to approve
payroll warrant 2025-8.
Second. All in favor? I I. Three to zero
in favor.
Uh payroll number nine for the year in
the sum of
$277,697.36. Uh pretty typical payroll.
We're seeing an increase in overtime. Uh
that's as the influx of um visitors
increases, call volumes increase. Um
many of our staff are starting to take
time off as the weather gets nicer, so
we're having to do field shifts. Um so
as you can see here, this is the first
time that we have uh gone over a 112th
budget or 126 budget for an overtime
figure. Um that's mainly driven by the
comm center overtime.
uh right now when you break down
personnel as a whole within that
department it is 6 and a half% under the
expectations. So it's not a huge concern
right now but based on the current
consumption it will be a problem in
September. So this is something that
we're going to want to keep an eye on
and visit and make sure is managed.
And is it one particular area where the
overtime is being spent in the comm
center right now? So that they
primarily the uh sheriffs. No, they
their consumption is only about $24,000.
Usually that's that and the
communications are the big ones. Oh
yeah. Or the big or the big contributing
factors of what the overtime budget is.
Yes. Is there a motion? Move to approve
payroll warrant 25 2025-9.
Second move seconded. Any other
comments? All in favor? I. Three to zero
in
favor. Let's put this over here.
I haven't figured out yet how to make it
so put your name. Oh, that's fine.
Should I print it too so people can read
it?
just looks clear with your name. Yes,
it certainly
does. And I just don't want to take the
data for it. Yes.
Is this okay? No.
Fast and furious. What the f?
This is the cheapest. Oops.
Sorry. Thank you so much.
Not CIA yet
anyway. National intelligence. No, it's
good. I like whatever Ham left me in the
drawer. Something borrowed and something
new. There might be one from the Queen
Mary.
the ship. Yes, I'll look
for that later.
Michelle, you would bring from your
crew. All I could afford was the
brochure.
Okay. The sheriff's department.
Michelle's not done.
Stick to the script. It's not done yet.
So, the document Carrie sent you
yesterday is our plan document to bring
the paid family medical leave inhouse.
What that translates to is we will
self-fund and self-administer the
program, which means we no longer send
the money to the state. We can self-fund
this through our payroll process as we
are now once we build up um a reserve
balance. We will no longer have to
process this through payroll, which is a
benefit to the employees because right
now this is a taxable fringe benefit to
them.
Um, this is a draft still still working
on it.
Um, I have gone through the process of
getting a quote for a shity bond. That's
part of the process. We're looking at
about $2,100 a year to maintain that. I
expect that number to
be I I expect that to be flat for the
next 3 years based on our payroll
consumption and what this rate is.
Um I at this point will need
approval to submit the application to
the state of Maine once we are finished
with that document.
Are these form sort of plans? Is there
has the state put out any guidance on
what should be submitted and Yeah, kind
of. Kind of. Yeah. So, they put out a
template of um they they put some loose
language out and an expectation of
definitions for the plan document. Um
their formatting is a little clunky. I
think that's the best way to explain it.
Um, but it does allow for us to tailor
it how we prefer to run the plan. Their
only requirement is we can't be more
restrictive than what they've set up in
the law. Um, so far we're meeting their
requirements or actually exceeding. So
if approved, the money stays in our bank
account. So correct. Okay. And how would
that be managed in a separate
um just accounting issue or would it be
in a separate bank account or whatever
protected because
it's related to the employment or or
it's employee funds wouldn't it be at
that or no? Um like withholding like
taxes is it? So it's not a withholding.
It's a it's an employer match. So it's
not employee funds at this point. So, it
would be housed in the same general fund
checking account that we have. Um, which
will help with our cash flow. It'll be
an accounting process which will be held
in a reserve account separate. Um, I can
allocate interest to it each month or
annually, however we choose to do that
modified approval process. And the other
factor of that is it allows us to have
more control of the volume of
contribution. So, we're required to do
1% of wages,
but if we have a sufficient amount of
reserve funds, we don't have to continue
to fund that, which will help maintain
our our our um tax rate. We're not So,
is there an annual cap or is it a cap
based on number of employees once we
have that reserve?
There's no hard cap. It's going to be
based on consumption. Yeah. Um the way
we do our reviewed annually is right and
the way we do our budget our our
positions are budgeted at 100% already.
So the consumption of that reserve is
going to be driven
by the additional costs of having to
backfill shifts when somebody is out on
paid leave
versus paying that person while they're
out because it's already budgeted. the financial burden of the maintenance
of the policy is not going to be
significant for us compared to a a
regular business. So, this method is
should be beneficial to the county
financially. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
We're looking we're looking right now at
sending somewhere between 56 and $60,000
a year to the state. And then on top of
that, the state gets to determine
whether or not an employee is eligible,
whether or not what tier they fit in
within their payment scale. Um, it takes
any control that the county has to
assist this employee with paid family
medical leave out of our hands. Would it
make claims faster? Absolutely. Okay. It
would be all administered in house. And
then um the front page here uh indicates
that the expiration date will be based
on the approval letter. Do you
anticipate that we'll have to be
renewing every year or every three
years? So once your plan document is
approved by the state, it's in effect
for three years unless you violate that
plan document and the state revokes it.
Okay, great. What action would you like?
move to approve um the um uh allow the
treasurer to submit the application for
the main paid family medical leave act
for a self-insured private paying
seconded move and seconded. Any other
comments? All in favor? I I three to
zero in favor. Knock yourself out. Yeah,
have fun. I had fun geeking out on that
documentary. We can tell when everybody
else is falling
asleep by the way. Self insurance. Oh,
thank you, Michelle.
Good morning. Good morning, Morning,
Sheriff.
Mr. Chair, if it's okay, I thought I'd
start by just following up to the public
comment that we had a little bit earlier
just to shed some light on some steps
that we've taken already at the
sheriff's office. Uh uh Deb asked very
pointedly I think about ad or uh uh the
gentleman wither um asked pretty
poignantly about uh administrative
warrants and things like that. Right. So
in our national database a national
crime information center NCIC we call it
uh it's a it's a not to go into a lot of
detail it's a computer system maintained
by the federal government by you know
through the through the FBI and uh um
that that houses warrants nationally. um
and other missing person's information
and federal probation and all kinds of
uh information um that's very specific
on how it can be entered and there are a
lot of rules uh around that. Um and
that's where information is housed on uh
these administrative warrants for ICE uh
or border patrol or whatever immigration
nationalization
uh situations or essentially two types
of entries that they can put there. One
is called a a deported felon, one is
called an administrative warrant. Right?
So, we did we did receive communication
from the Department of Homeland
Security. I think every law enforcement
agency in the state did giz probably 6
months ago, maybe not quite that long
ago. Shortly after the change in
administration, um we're only into May,
so it was probably only 5 months ago,
four or five months ago. Um seems like
forever. I'll leave it at that. Um but
anyway uh um uh asking uh us to uh to
enforce administrative warrants um
should we come across them and how to
enter an into an agreement um with ICE
uh uh under federal law etc etc etc. I
chose not to do that. In fact instructed
my staff uh via memorandum which uh
which is
policy that we're not going to take any
stance on administrative warrants.
They're not our concern. That's not our
jurisdiction. We don't have I don't have
any authority to enforce federal law of
any kind. Um so that that that memo has been in
place. Uh you know, we we will enforce
deported felon warrants. Those are
felony warrants. Um like any other
criminal felony warrant um that's uh
that's that's in the system, you know,
should we come across those. Um you
know, so uh we we've already taken a a
stance on that. I have no me personally
I have no intention at this point uh to change that. Um we work very closely
um I think in a positive way with uh
Border Patrol here in Maine. We uh uh
Border Patrol has a number of resident
agents they call them that really work
away from the border. Um when I say a
number, there's like eight or 10 from
Eastport toky. Um so they're stretched
pretty thin. A couple of them happen to
live right here in Lincoln County. uh
one here in Wisconsin and one down in
Boute. Um so we work closely with them
uh you know should should we have
situations uh arise where we have
deported felons and whatnot. Uh uh
they've been quick to uh help us with
that when they can. We're finding more
and more that they're busier and busier
and less available uh to help us. I
think it's the nature of the of the
beast uh as it goes on. If that's the
case, we're just going to let people go
if we don't have any other reason within
Main Law. um to um to uh you know detain
them for some criminal matter. Right. So
we're not into detaining folks and um
again it's not it's not my it's not my
bailey way. Right. You do have judicial
warrants though they've also asked about
and those are required for right when I talk about deported felons those
are those are judicial warrants. Yep. Um
so uh yes
um we would we will we will enforce
those um you know if if uh if we come
across those are felony warrants. Those are
serious warrants. You know we had a we
had a situation here not too long ago
where gentleman was stopped. It was a
little high-speed chase. Guy went up in
a tree. You probably read about it in
the paper here in Wisconsin. It was a
Wisconsin case. But there's a case of a
person who who may have been in the
country illegally but had active felony
warrants from other states. you know
what I mean? Um, the fact that this
person was uh uh potentially uh here
illegally had really very little to do
with with our response and the warrants
that were in the database and and things
like that. And we and that's fairly
common uh for us uh in in dealing with
those those situations, but they're
signed by a judge, correct? Or Oh, yeah.
There's judicial process, right? Federal
warrants. Yes. Some are state warrants.
In this case, there were there was there
were uh felony warrants for robbery of
burglary out of Ohio, Illinois, one of
the o one of those states. Um in the Midwest there uh um in that in
that particular scenario
um you know, another you know uh people
are on edge and I think it's clear from
listening to uh to Deb's comments that people are on edge and uh they're
concerned um and it creates concern for
us. We support I'm a constitutional
officer as you know and uh we take that
very seriously and people's right to
gather peacefully um and do that and we
you know um um so we have and we'll
continue to work with the Damascana
police and other local agencies to make
sure that those happen safely and
securely. We try to stay out of it,
right? Um uh sometimes our presence
isn't always welcome um or or can make
matters worse depending on how how we
approach the situation. And I think the
most important part for us, and I would
encourage Deb and um others who are
gathering like that, the more
communication they can have with us
ahead of time, the better we can make a
plan and work with them um to make sure
that things stay as uh as peaceful
as as we can. God bless America. There
are there are at least two sets of
opinions. Um and folks are just as
passionate about uh the opposite side of
uh of the opinion as others. Um, and
they're they're welcome to express that
even loudly um and in your face um as
long as they're not violating the law or
otherwise. And that's can be
uncomfortable, can be intimidating. Um,
but there's sometimes often times not a
lot we can do about peaceful expression
of your
um of your uh opinions, no matter how
aggressive it may appear or or feel or
um so and that's that's that's difficult
for folks to understand sometimes.
There's a balance there for us. Um, and
we we try to work that. Do we know uh
when ICE brings um a detainee to two
bridges what they've been charged with
or We do. Okay. Yeah. Um so does that
make a difference or whether or not they
actually get housed there temporarily or
it does. Yes. Um so if uh my
understanding that that Two Bridges
won't accept anybody on administrative
warrants either. Um, and anybody that's
being housed at two bridges, uh, which
are not typically, I don't think there's
any of the ones that are there from ICE
that were actually a case here in
Lincoln County, a majority of them came
from other parts of the state or even
other parts of New England. Um, and
they're all they all have criminal
charges, okay, uh, pending. Um, so, um,
but I I you know, that that's that's a
question probably more for Colonel
Bailey, but that's my understanding as a
member of the jail authority. uh uh the
way things are are going are going with
that. Okay. Um so we're going to monitor
the situation carefully. You know, one
of the things that I'd like to do as as
you know, I I you probably know I I
almost two years ago I formed a citizens
advisory committee to the sheriff,
right? Group of citizens who volunteered
to come forward, kind of uh take a look
at what we do. I'm trying to be
transparent, two-way communications, an
extra another step for me to communicate
with the people that we serve to figure
out how we're doing. Um been a lot of
discussion at our uh CAC meetings about
immigration um as you can
imagine. Um and we're we're we're we're
planning to hold a a public forum along
that uh to talk about that to talk about
where we are, what we're doing, that
kind of thing. I'll certainly keep the board uh apprised of that. I'm going
to try to get some of our federal
partners if they're willing um to come
and uh and talk about uh you know more more clearly define perhaps what
Border Patrol's role is for example um
as a as in their resident agent program
and what they're doing um if that will
help folks understand uh what they're uh why you may be seeing
more border patrol folks around. Um and
that was an initiative really that's
been going on for a couple of years now.
That's not necessarily there may have
been some internal policy changes since
the change in administration um and uh
in January, but uh but the Border Patrol
presence has been with us for a number
of years now. They've had the resident
agent program
um you know in effect for for quite a
while.
So it's not it's on my radar very much
so. Um and uh you know I'm I'm glad that
uh that uh that these folks took time to
come in and share their concerns. I I
want them to know that it's it's
foremost on our radar screen, if you
will. Um, and we're uh we're trying to
be very open-minded as we approach it
and stay focused on what our real
function is, right? And and and my real
function is public safety, right? And um
to me uh my stance is and and the way
I've uh tried to uh address it with my
staff is that our that that's our
primary function is keeping people safe
here in Lincoln County. If we encounter
someone who's a felon, I don't care
where what country they're from. If
they're a danger to to the citizens here
in Lincoln County, we're going to take
action on that as long as we're able to
within the law.
um the fact that they happen to be from
a foreign country is irrelevant to me at
that point. You know, we we we have a
job to do and that that is is to promote
public safety and we're going we're
going to continue to do that. That
haven't been said. We're not looking.
That's not my job. Right. Have the
protesters been working with the
sheriff's department to make sure that
there's a safe protest and Yeah. Any any
I I don't I don't want to call them
protest, right? I mean, you call them
whatever you want. Call them gatherings,
call them vigils, call them protest. um
peace peaceful assemblies. Peaceful
assemblies, right? Yeah. So, um so, uh
yes and no. Okay. Right. So, uh we've
had a lot of communication especially
when there's something planned ahead of
time. Uh you know, there was a few
months back uh again, I'm I lose track
of time. There was a launching at BW. It prompted some some uh gatherings both
in Bath and over here in West Cassid. We
planned ahead for that. Um, and listen,
I have, it's interesting because we work
closely with the Wisconsin police, with
the state police in preparation for that
because it was really injunction
conjunction with a with a protest that
was going on in BA at BIW where several
people were arrested um for obstructing
a public way. Um, so we were prepared
for that. We were working with local law
enforcement
um on that. We didn't have any issues
over here. Uh, we were prepared in the
event that we did. Um but uh but but we
didn't. Um and those folks were somewhat
communicative. Mhm. Sometimes not so
communicative. Our our local folks who
have been gathered, they usually let us
know. Um you know, and uh if they have a
special event going on, almost always
they reach out to us um to try to
communicate. Um but you know, those events are pretty hard for them to
control, I suspect. Right. You never
know who's going to show up with either
uh more passionate opinions or opposing
opinions and they can be, you know, but
communication ahead of time. We try to
reach out if we know who's sponsoring
those events. Um just try to keep that
communication going so we can be as
prepared as we can. What would it be a
best practice for those organizations to
contact you too or any local law
enforcement agency just to just to keep
us you know apprised of the situation
and um you know and so on. So, okay,
that helps. Thank you. That's really
helpful. That's all right. No
problem.
Um, looks like our jail count this
morning, Mr. Chair, out at two bridges
is
173. We have 21 31 from Saget Hog, 23
from Knox, 51 down from Ponobscot, 21
from Waldo. Four federal inmates and uh
which are US Marshall inmates, and 22
from uh from ICE. Uh today, 142 of those
are pre-trial. Well, you can see the
numbers
there. Do I have any questions on the
count? The next item I have on the
agenda is uh is a recommendation to uh
make a uh conditional offer of
employment uh to Brandon. I'm going to probably uh uh mutilate his last name. I think it's uh I don't I
don't know. Muba, maybe.
I don't know. Machuba. Machuba. You want
to spell it? M A C I U B A. That's
assuming that the chief spelled it
right.
Yep. Sorry, I didn't see it there.
That's okay. Yeah, my tech
Brennan comes to us with uh a
significant amount of experience uh uh
in New York. Um and uh we look forward
to the opportunity to get him a waiver,
training waiver because he was a
full-time certified officer out of
state. We can get him a waiver here in
Maine hopefully. um which will save us
having to send him off to the academy
for 18
weeks. Um but there are still some uh
some hoops to jump through as far as
background and things like that go. So
looking for your approval um to move
forward with with Brandon conditional
move to approve the hiring authorization
for Brandon Mashuba. Second move and
seconded. Any other comments? Just a a
question on where does that put your
patrol division with this hire? Is it
are you fully staffed at that point or
is it you still need more? I I think
that will leave us one down. I think
that leaves one vacancy to work in
patrol. Well, I'll see if I can fit in
my schedule, right?
I think that leaves I'm over the age
limit, I think, no, you're really
pulling me in. Yeah, we have a motion.
All in favor? I I three to zero in
favor.
Next, uh, the next item I have is a
payment authorization. Uh, this is a
budgeted payment for two new vehicles,
uh, from, uh, two new, uh, excuse me,
three new Dodge
Durangos.
Um, in the amount of
$113,273. It's a budgeted amount for for
replacement uh, vehicles.
Is there a motion? Move to approve
payment authorization key Newcastle
$113,273.
Second. Kenny any questions? I have some
information to add. So, we generally use
the bid process, but we received
information from U Key Chrysler that the
prices were going up May 1st. And in
order to take advantage of the lower
price that was pre-incre, I reached out
to Commissioner Blahett for approval to
go outside of the bid process to secure
these vehicles. Uh, our historic most
recent cruisers that we've purchased
have been in the low to mid40 range and
the price per vehicle on these was about
38,000. So, it was already less than
what we were anticipating for last
year's prices. And with the bid openings
happen happening after May 1st, our
concern is that the prices that come in
with these bids would be higher than the
amount we would be able to secure
through this opportunity.
Thank you. And then we have to outfit
them once you have them. Oh yes, that's
the purchase and that cost is pretty
except for uh two out of those three
vehicles are going to be replacing Dodge
for Dodge. They're already dodge
triangles and what I'm told from the
installer is that equipment should
transfer. So, it actually will save us
some money. If we had gone to Fords, we
would have had to buy um new equipment.
So, two out of those three vehicles, the
equipment should transfer. So, there
should be some savings on that side,
too. But inevitably, Commissioner,
there's something either the the siren
box doesn't fit or so there will be some
new equipment, but it should be reduced.
Yes. Great. Thank you. Any
other comments, questions? All in favor
of the motion? I I three to zero in
favor. Thank you. Uh the chief has uh an
update on uh some of the fraud activity
that's going around uh that you know
that we've been experiencing here in
Lincoln County for the last couple
years. Yeah. Just briefly, I know I know
in a previous meeting I told you I was
going to sort of make this a quarterly
or or every 3 or 4 months uh event just
simply to uh because our media partners
were here and Brad LCTV is here. Um
because uh the sheriff and I were
talking about this on the way over the
investigations that we do and I think we
do um significant to track some of these
fraud events down almost always end up
outside our country. Um so the
likelihood we're going to recover or
locate the the offending person
um almost always ends on a dead end. So
really the the the real best u option
here is education prevention ahead of
time. So my point to that is uh to bring
some information out so the public hears
about it. So if they're if they're
approached by one of these scammers or
they have an issue to before they do
something, before they go buy something,
before they transfer money to reach out
to law enforcement, a trusted friend,
somebody to say if it's too good to be
true, it probably is true. Um, so I just
I I just uh you know, so for rough
numbers, in 2023,
um, we recorded over
$290,000 in loft lost money here in
Lincoln County. Um, in 2024 that was
$450,000 plus in lost money from fraud.
Um, some of that I think is uh just
better reporting, re better reporting,
uh, more encouragement for people to
report. One of the things I told you at
your last meeting, if we if we're
getting 450 or 290,000 reported, how
many people aren't reporting it because
they're either embarrassed and and they
just don't want to deal with with what
they look at as shame. Uh we we
encourage you to report that. We'll try
to mitigate try to to to reduce the the
harm as quickly as we can. Currently
through uh April, that number is at
$78,000
um lost. And you know, and I just wanted
to highlight a couple quick couple cases
so that people understand um you know,
um in uh we had $1,500 uh from a
contractor scam. Somebody says, "I'm
coming to do work at your house. I'm
paying
$1,500 and they never come back." Um
there's things we can do in Maine.
Maine's law requires a contract before
you begin business. If your contractor
shows up and to do work and they don't
want to sign a contract, you don't want
to do business with them. Um uh and and
that's that those that's an example of a
scam. Um we had a a local business where
their credit cards were hacked um in
excess of
$8,000. Um and we're still working on
that to see see where that's coming
from. Um we have a um one of the more
common scams that seems to be increasing
is uh this one totaled uh uh over over
$18,000 where uh the victim gets a call
um they get a voice that someone
identifying as a granddaughter says
they've been in a crash and they need
money for bail and conveniently the bail
commissioner will show up at the house
which is really brazant, right? Most of
the stuff we've had in the past is is
stuff stealing money, sending money or
whatever. But for someone actually to
show up at a house, um that person was
out
$18,000. Um the the next one was another
grand granddaughter. Uh um and and these
people um will will keep going to the
well and co until it goes dry. This was
back in February where um the the total
reached $45,000 in bail money before we
got involved in it. Um and and that was
a case where they they would uh instead
of them coming to the house, they had
them going and meeting them at different
places around the mid coast.
Um cryptocurrency and we talked about
that last time. Um somebody's account
was hacked. They were on 2041, Um, and these
are another one where somebody got
notified. Again, if it's too good to be
true, it probably is. Someone was
notified they won an award for $90,000
from the Donald Trump grant. I'm not
sure what that is, but all they had to
do was pay 3,000 now to collect money.
Um, and they paid uh
$2,558. So, they're out close to 3,000.
Um, if anytime if anybody is asking you
to pay with gift cards for anything
other than you're buying a gift for a
friend, it's a scam. Um, if someone's
asking you to transfer money, bitcoins,
if it's a if it's a government agency
trying to collect money for bail to
avoid your arrest warrant, um, we've had
some, uh, recently where people have,
uh, um, you know, using state databases,
reached out to sex offenders, telling
them, um, you know, there's warrants for
your arrest, um, identifying them as us.
You need to pay this amount of money or
we're going to we're going to come
arrest you. Um and and and some of these
people have contacted us. Who knows who
hasn't? Um so we're just going to keep
bringing this this this issue out. Don't
really need any action from you. I just
uh want the community to be aware of it.
Understand that if if something seems
too good to be true. If someone's trying
to get you to do something urgently. Um
it's probably a scam. You have to make a
decision now. Right now, there's
probably something that's fishy. It's okay. we are getting more
communication from um businesses and and
banks um where people may be going to
draw money out. So, I think that they're
starting to get on top of this thing um
and and they're probably preventing
stuff that we don't even know about.
Someone goes to the bank, they're
saying, "Hey, I think you you may be
getting scammed." Sometimes we get
called, sometimes we don't. Um, but if
you if you know a friend, a loved one,
somebody you care about, somebody you
don't even care about, if you hear that that you know they're they're
involved in something. We have we have
the dreaded romance scams, right? Where
somebody meets somebody online um and
they may be lonely and may looking for a
friend, they're paying them money uh to keep their life up and maybe come
visit them and they they'll just keep
draining them until they finally, you
know, the relationship ends. So, uh
we'll keep updating you. um and passing
it on, but it's really all going to vote
about communication and education.
Thank you. Thank you. I think the last
item we have this morning is opening of
bids, I think, for what is the last new
vehicle purchase for this year.
We hope. We
hope I guess
around here. You know the road you
ride to your alley? Well, I think we
received two bids. Is that right, Ken?
Two bids. Two bids. Identify. These two
bids are for These two bids are to uh
for another new uh vehicle to replace
one of our vehicles. I think it's C. No,
this is a patrol vehicle. Patrol
vehicle. The three vehicles we just
purchased. Two are patrol supervisor
cars and one of them is a C vehicle.
David, would you identify
I will try. Let me see if So, this is a
this will be a full uh this will be a
marked unit, right? So, yeah.
Were there any other um requirements for
the bid submitters to make sure they
cover?
Yes,
we open give them out and then give it
to the sheriff. Okay. To let me just
check this.
Uh, this one is from Ford. Dalins Ford
in Bangor.
How much,
if I'm reading the number right, it's
45 40. Oops, I'm sorry. Not 45. I wish
it was
45. 4880.
That's a little higher than the other
one.
That 38 sounds pretty good right now,
doesn't it?
So that we'll give it to the sheriff.
We'll have a table it and then they'll
You want me to read these? If you would,
please. Two from Cork Auto Group. The
first for a detective SUV. We've
got with these specs in pen,
$44,928. And then for a
supervisor vehicle with these specs,
$45,520.
So could we have a patrol? That's what
uh that's the first second one I read.
Yep. 45520 patrol and supervisor spec.
So if we could uh just table it for now,
please motion to table. So moved.
Second. All in favor? I I So,
okay. Now, so you we'll take a look.
Sure. Yes, we'll take take a look for
you, Commissioner, and uh and come back
when you have your recommendations.
Yeah.
You have three minutes to do that. All
right. I'll be right on it.
Yeah. Really?
Bring back Amazon gift cards. Yeah. See,
now you're paying for that vacation,
right? When you come back, let's get it
done. Thank you very much. I appreciate
it. Thank you.
Okay, I have the other
one. What they do with
it? Fancy.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Hello.
You're all right.
It's all right. I'm going to flip our
agenda topics because I want to do the
less exciting one first. We'll do a lead
up. Um so we have before you two ask
purchase orders for ask grant
dispersement of funds. So this is our um
annual assistance with specific knowhow
grant that the RPC has been awarding for
a number of years now. Um, in the last
budget cycle, we were able to increase
the award amount um and the total amount
to be able to award um up to five $5,000
grants to communities in Lincoln County.
Um, this is the first year in a while at
least, I think at least since Laura and
I have been here where we had more
applications than funding, which was
excited to see, but also talks about the
need from communities. Um, and so we
awarded a total of five. The first two
towns have signed their ask grant
agreement letter which I'm why I'm here
with you today and I'll be back
hopefully on the 20th with the remaining
three. Um so the first is the town of
Breamman. The broadband committee for
the town of Freeman with support from
the select board um applied and was
awarded an ask grant in the amount of
$5,000 to engage a consultant to analyze
their internet for all program with the
goal of being able to provide permanent
program solutions to the town and
residents needs for widespread internet
access. Um and the consultant that they
will engage is going to provide a
costbenefit analysis of the program to
see how it can move forward. And
essentially what the town is looking to
do is cover the costs of internet to all
residents in Greenman. Um trying to
create uh true digital equity is what
they put in their application. So I am
here um today to ask for approval to on
the purchase authorization request to
issue the ask grant to the town of
Breamman.
So, wasn't the um and Evan, you may
know, didn't Tidewater already commit to
reaching every home in Breeman? That was
one of the first towns that I would say
that their definition of reaching a home
and our definition of reaching them
might be different. So, where they might
say there is access may require a
substantial fee to get hooked up. A few
homes are really out in the bully ways.
That's like another way to put it. Yeah.
And the town has asked for that to just
truly make sure everybody has access.
Yes. Move to approve the payment
authorizations to Breeman in the amount
of $5,000. Seconded. Move and seconded.
All in favor? I. I. Breeman's approved.
Thank you. So, the second purchase
authorization request is to award the
town of Walder their $5,000 ask grant.
um to assist with a yellowbook appraisal
review for the former Sylvvenia site um
which is necessary for the town to then
be able to pursue future funding,
especially federal funding, uh to
repurpose the site into an outdoor
recreation complex. So, what they'll use
this $5,000 for is bring someone on to
do that appraisal um and then submit it
to um the appropriate agencies at the
state level to then move forward and
hopefully access um land and water
conservation funds as well as possible
other federal funding. They have support
for the project from the um former land
owner as well as the public and they've
had conversations with EPA D um who are
all on board. So this is um a investment
in continuing to get that project moving
ahead so that they can access greater
funds to actually implement turning the
former Selenia site into the outdoor
recreation complex that they have
envisioned. You mentioned Yellowbook.
What's that? So, my understanding is
that they had an agreement um and a
former land and water conservation grant
for tennis courts at the former AD Grey
School. And those are supposed to remain
in perpetuity, but obviously that's
being changed. And so, they need to um
correct their error, if you will. And
this appraisal is part of that to show
that what they'll be creating at the
Sylvania site is in comparison to what
was at AD Grey with the tennis courts.
Move to approve the ask grant payment uh
to Walder for $5,000. Seconded. Move and
seconded.
Any all in favor? I I three to zero in
favor of that.
wasn't too boring. I said it's
exciting but not as exciting here. All
right.
[Applause]
Good shuffling going.
Thank you
for those are yours. Ready to take?
Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank
you.
So, I'm going to tee Laura up and then
I'm going to give her the floor because
she has really been um our project
manager on this project and and we're
excited to be here today. Um almost
exactly two years ago, we released the
Lincoln County Housing Needs Assessment,
which I'm sure you're all familiar with.
Um and as you can see, our copy from the
office is a little beat up because it's
not one that just sits on the shelf. Um
we have been working to implement some
of the 21 strategies that were
identified two years ago to advance
housing in Lincoln County. Um those
strategies include working with
municipalities to set goals and foster
public support through leading on
education with the public and building
internal capacity at the RPC to address
affordable housing needs. Um we've also
been working to implement projects and
ensure long-term affordability by um
public private partnerships with
development developers. the ARPA funding
especially as well as ensuring those
ongoing affordability of housing units
that are created through um those
partnerships with
developers. Um what we're here to talk
about today is really um strategy four
under our housing study which is
prioritizing sites and advancing shovel
readiness. So one of the strategies it
was compile a prioritized inventory of
potential housing development sites. We
were also asked in in as one of the
strategies was to look at acquiring
sites with housing development potential
which again falls under the ARPA funds
um that you have dispersed over the past
couple years and then also looking at
addressing infrastructure gaps for key
development sites and if you'll recall I
was here at your last meeting to talk
about a grant that we were awarded by
the state recently in order to start
implementing that. Um what's exciting is
that we have compiled that prioritized
inventory of potential housing
development sites which is the report
you have in front of you nicely bound
today. Um so I'm going to turn it over
to Laura to talk about the process that
we went through with that which was in
partnership with Kamoy Associates who
was also
um we have a nice one for you today.
Yeah. So here are the um final copies of
the priority site inventory.
Um like Emily said, we have been
engaging with Kim Associates um for a
little over a year for this process on
the uh site inventory which kind of used
two different mechanisms to look at
potential affordable housing development
sites. Um one of those being Koine
leading a geographic information systems
desktop analysis which is just a fun way
to say a mapping process. So they were
looking at a bunch of different factors
including environmental factors of um
properties that would make sense for
development and also talking with towns
to see what their priorities are for
those sites as well. So whether that's
proximity to schools for areas that
might make sense and then also um
looking pretty deeply at towns
comprehensive plans to see um their
identified growth areas for um the
potential sites. So, the prioritized
part being those sites that make sense
not only just for housing, but make
sense for the town um and the future
that they want to see moving
forward. So, as you flip through this,
you'll probably see um some of the fun
pictures that Camo added in of the
potential different types of housing. Um
so, you could see some might look a
little bit different uh depending on the
town and the location that they're in.
Um so through this process we also
talked with the sewer and water um
districts to ensure that these sites
would make sense and that they would be
able to um maintain and continue uh to
add on um the number of houses that are
proposed from the housing study itself
as well as um from this process. Um
Kamoy also did direct outreach to all
the properties that are listed in this
document. Um so all the properties
listed here, the um property owners
either agreed that yes, they would be
interested to um sell these properties
to affordable housing developers or they
never heard back from the property. So
there could be a potential um if some
extra steps are taken.
I haven't been able to tell yet, but are
is it for single family residents or
multiple unit? U it's a mix. It's a mix.
Yeah. So you can see
depending on the property. Yeah.
Depending on the property and really
depending on the town. Um so when you're
looking at like you'll probably see the
single family homes versus if you're
looking in the growth areas within
Deercata um you'll see some of those
more multi multifamily um styles of
housing.
And those are all just suggestions from
KON um taking images that have been done
throughout the state. Yes. Yeah. So all
the images that are shown are projects
that have been developed in Maine. Um so
we weren't looking at, you know, what's
been done in Seattle or San Francisco.
We're looking locally. Um Laura is also
being incredibly modest about the GIS
analysis. She played a huge role in
that. Um creating a lot of data layers
looking at the comp plans. Um what you
see in here is approximately 30 sites.
We started with about 90. Um and Laura
did the GIS analysis for all of those
alongside Kimoyne as well as did a
buildout potential analysis. So
reviewing uh zoning ordinances for all
the municipalities to see what the
development potential could be on that
dry acreage for the site. So it was a
significant excuse me a significant
amount of work um on both her part as
well as Camoy to put this together. Um
what was exciting to see was some that's
that 90 some of them whittleled down
based on feedback from the
municipalities or saying you know I
don't know if that's the right location
but here's another one to look at. Um so
there was a little bit of horse trading
if you will on some of these. Um but
what was encouraging was that a larger
number than we expected of property
owners had interest when Kamoy contacted
them to say yes we have an interest if
there's the right person out there to
develop this site um to come and talk to
us. Now certainly we're not saying that
as the county or the RPC that this must
be a site that is developed for
affordable housing. Um, simply what
we're looking for this to be is a
catalog, if you will, for developers or
even the property owner themselves if
they have an interest in developing
affordable housing, what could be done.
There would be more diligence that would
need to be required, but again, this
allows developers to come in and have
some sense of what's out there in
Lincoln County rather than trying to
figure it out on their own. It seems
like it would be very helpful to
developers. Are you is it going to be
pushed out to a number of developers too
so that you don't have to wait for them
to ask for your resources? Yes. You'll
get it out to them. Do you want to talk
about the workshop or Yeah. Yeah. So,
we're looking um we're working out the
specific date with Kamoy to make sure
that they could be there to talk about
the work that they did. But we're
looking to hold a workshop at the end
this month where we'll invite
developers, other regional planning
agencies because they've been really
interested in the work that we've been
working on um for this process as well
as uh different stakeholders that make
sense as well as municipalities. Um to
have a workshop to kind of outline uh
what went into this, the methodology
behind it, but also the the next steps
for this process. Do you have some
developers, a list of developers who are
potential candidates for going to that
workshop? We do. Um, all the ones that
have got ARPA funding to start um as
well as we have other stakeholders um
and developers across the state that
we're aware of. So, we're going to
spread this. We're going to distribute
this widely. You're the first ones
seeing it. We even um got some slack
from our co-workers because we hadn't
even shared it with them. We wanted you
all to see it first.
Um, so we'll be dispersing this this
afternoon to all of our municipalities,
our board membership, developers. Um,
and then when we have that date and time
finalized with Ko, we'll send out
another announcement. We're expecting it
to be on Zoom just because the, um, the
group that we've been working with at
Kamoy would be coming up from Boston for
this. So, um, we figured Zoom would work
well. And does your list of developers
include out of state developers, too,
potentially? We don't, but we're hoping
that we'll spread the word. So, as we
get it out to the networks, um, they
might spread it, too. Okay. Great.
Looks great. Yes. Yep. We're going to
send it to them as well.
I would invite them to
Okay. Does it work? Sounds good.
[Music]
He's shopping for a new place. While he's looking, is the Newcastle one
at Zero um Mills Road or Academy? Is
that the one that's owned by the town
currently? Yes. Okay. So, they just need
a developer. Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Great. Well, that's very nice. Should
there's some potential
for affordable housing. And the excite
the other exciting piece is as other
properties appear up, we have the
template. So um while our contract with
Kimoy is up, they have provided us this
document so we can continue to add or if
properties do get developed for housing,
we can take them out of the profile and
add something else in. So this will be a
living document just like our housing
needs assessment is. So if some of the
no-shows decide they call up that didn't
participate in the first place. Yep.
That's why Laura's phone number and
contact information is at the bottom of
every page. She's anticipating the
phone. Right. Good.
Cool. Nice.
Awesome. Look no further.
That's the hope.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you very much.
to stay for the shar.
Okay. Thank you,
Miss
Huber. Recommendation.
I can wait though. You want to give it
to us right now? Sure. If you if Emily
doesn't mind. Can I stay here at least?
Sure.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Down. Um, looking
at the bids, um, my recommendation would
be that we, uh, award the bid to Quirk,
um, for a 2025 Ford Police Interceptor
all-wheel drive white standard police
car, if you will, um, in the amount of
$45,520. Um, Darling was at 493 for the
same vehicle.
So it has all it meets all the bid
specifications uh including the
spotlight um you know the the the speed
rat ratios you know all the all the all
the so this is quirk out of this is
quirk out of Augusta quirk Ford and do
you usually um where you purchase the
vehicles do you go back there for
service or is there the only service we
go back there for is if they give us a
free oil change you know what I mean or
uh anything that's warrantied and then
we would take it to we might take it to
West Cass at Ford if cuz any Ford garage
will you know what I mean but yes we
have that so the only our service
contract remains with hillside okay you
know what I mean so it's really price
determinative really what yes city issue
is it's the same ve right yeah and if
it's warranted we'll certainly take it
to a Ford garage okay
move to approve
seconded move and seconded to approve
the court
contract all in favor I I three to zero
in favor thank you what do you want me
to do with these Just leave. You got it.
Thanks,
Emily. The cork went up here.
I'll bring it back to
And the gift cards.
Apple. Apple.
Don't date.
Oh, we do this all the time.
Good morning. Good morning.
Um I'm up here for a couple of reasons
today, but I think not as exciting as
everyone else, it feels like. Um the
first thing on the agenda is um talking
about the command trailer disposal. Um
if you guys don't know, um our agency
always carried um I don't know, a
tagalong camper as a mobile command
center. Um, I think we've had it since
2009, 2010 or so. Um, we in interim had
purchased the 2019 Mercedes Sprinter van
to replace the command trailer and now
we're in a position where we're ready
to dispose of the trailer. So, um, we
had talked about having a proposal of,
um, a putting it on the auction site and
I just need some approval for that as
well. Is this the one that's in storage?
It's currently up at recycling right
now. Um, I needed to make room for the
Sprinter van to be housed in our storage
unit. Um, it's been kept
inside for many years. Um, it's in good
shape. It It's essentially a shell of a
tagalong trailer. It doesn't have any
working plumbing. It still has some
working um propane to a degree. Um and
we can still use the kitchen in it, but
it's again it's a shell. It doesn't
really have anything aside from
countertops
and more countertops. Yeah, it it was
retrofitted so it could serve as a
command vehicle and not as a camper. So
the the traditional beds and furniture
that would be in a camper were removed
so that we could put in workspace
countertops. Mhm. So, typically when we
have a a piece of equipment of this
nature, we would put it out to bid and
we have an online bid auction site that
we use now for our patrol vehicles that
we cycle out and we would likely use the
same process for this. Is there a
commission for that that you pay the
online service? There's a a fee that the
purchaser pays. So we we get what the
bid price is and then there's the
premium price that the okay I get it the
purchaser needs to pay. So you're just
asking for permission to go ahead to put
it on there. Do we have a motion?
Just ask one question first. No other
use for it within the county. No. And
not even throughout the the rest of the
state. Um okay. Move to approve the
disposal of the command trailer and to
put it on the online auction system.
Seconded. Moved and second. You don't
You could fix it over and for camper for
the wildland. Oh, I thought you were
going to say a mobile law office or
whatever. Well, that would be it's very
small. Yeah. Well, when we needed Uncle
Henry's and now they've left us. All in
favor? I three to zero in favor.
So the next conversation is on the
ambulance. Um it's a very similar
conversation but um we have
to talk out some of the logistics of
this. So, um, again, a little bit of
history on the ambulance is it's an old
ambulance that was outfitted with radio
equipment of ham radio equipments, um,
amateur radio equipment, and even just
our public safety radio equipment. Um,
we have a a very active communications
team that utilized this vehicle. Um, it
was donated to us in
2017. Um, it's it's had its life with
us. Um, I think it's a 2000 uh 30 uh GMC
3500.
Um, we were originally thinking of the
same process um the bid site, but I
recently have learned that there is a
major engine failure happening with it.
So, regardless of what we do, it would
have to be towed out of my storage unit.
Um, and I would recommend it be used as
salvage at this point. We didn't pay
anything for it. We're we're going to
get a little bit of something for it,
you know.
So, whatever we can get for it. That's
quite a sales job. I can see the phones
are ringing now.
So, we can put this on the auction site.
They do list scrap material, so we could
list it as a nonfunctioning.
There's some junkers who might like
that. There may be, especially there's
not too many ambulances out there. Yeah,
it is a niche market. One of one. Maybe
if we put that in the auction detail.
One of one. Put it in. It does have a
lot of the hookups and the outfits. It's
not going to be sold with the radios
that is being completely stripped out so
that they can be rehomed. Um, it it will
also be essentially an empty shell of an
ambulance. Um, but it has a a fold down
workbench, which is kind of neat and
different, I guess, about any other
ambulances. And can the box come off on
the back if you remove that from the
vehicle with a bad engine? It might. I
do crazy things. Do what you want. Do
whatever. A lot of people are turning
them into campers these days. They are,
so there might be an interest. What do
we pay to list them? I don't think
there's a fee to list them. Okay. Mhm.
So, is there a motion to get rid of this
piece of equipment? Move to dispose of
the
ambulance. All in favor? All in favor of
getting rid of this. I I three to zero.
Now, get rid of two and buy one. And buy
one. I see what you're doing. Yes.
Right. I'm I'm right on it. Um, so in
earlier conversations when we were
looking to purchase this 2019 Sprinter
van, we were looking to replace both of
the vehicles that you guys just approved
to dispose of. Um, in doing so, yes, we
now have the Sprinter van, but we would
like to purchase a trail, a pullalong
trailer, 6x12 trailer, um, as an
accessory to the the Sprinter van, um,
and to replace a lot of the
functionality of what the ambulance used
to do.
Could the sprinter van pull a trailer?
Yep. It's already got a hookup for
trailer and everything, so it's it's
functioning enough to do that. Um, I
have my vehicle that does that as well.
My truck does that. Um, and then our
radio team is all on board for being
able to pull a trailer with their own
vehicles as well.
The nice part about a plan like this is
if you need the sprinter van without the
radio equipment, the trailer stays put
and you take the sprinter van, but you
can pull it along and it's an easy tow.
It's not like trying to pull the camper
van behind a pickup. Exactly. Okay.
Yeah. This was already allocated. So, we
originally allocated
$140,000 towards the Sprinter van and
its accessories. We spent $129 on the
van. So, we still have an additional
$11,000 to be spent specifically on this
project. Move to approve the purchase
authorization of the utility trailer for
$5,895.
Seconded. Move and seconded. No
comments. All in favor? I I three to
zero in favor.
Have fun. Anything else you got to get
rid of?
You
wait. I have been we've been doing a lot
of inventory in the office and um making
sure equipment is functioning is
something that has been lacking over the
years. So um this is why I'm coming to
you all at once with a lot of different
equipments. Um, but I I'd like to see
our office being fully functioning and
fully deployable at all times. Would
those accessories qualify under what we
allocated with the remainder for ARPA?
Yes.
Well, we're not sending it back. No. No,
let's not send it back. And speaking of
ARPA, our annual ARPA report was due
April 30th, so that's been submitted.
Okay, good.
and it's it's all designated as lost
revenue because that's the easiest for
you to make decisions on usage and all
of that. So, all of our allocations were
done prior to the December 31st
um deadline and we're moving forward
with spending those dollars. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
You're staying. Yes. Okay.
my turn. I have a hiring
recommendation for you for the executive
assistant position. And to refresh your
memories, we had a administrative
assistant position in our budget for
several years that was not filled. And
the position was restructured to give it
more responsibilities to serve as a
backup to some of the functions in our
finance and HR offices and um it helps
us with succession planning for um
expected retirement that we're going to
have early next year. So, I make the
recommendation that we hire Wendy Noel
to the position of executive assistant
and her start date would be May 27th.
So, moved. Second. Moved and seconded.
Any questions? All in favor? I. Three to
zero in favor.
Okay. Next is our collection of DOT
notices of layout and taking. The first
one comes to us for the town of
Edgecom and the second one is for the
town of Whitefield and they're both
related to drainage on state roadways.
They've provided
the typical
maps where you can guess where they're
located.
Um, this one's state aid highway number
two river road in Edgecom and it's a a
coffer dam just like the ones that we
previously had. The second one is on
Route
194 right where Whitefield and Pittston
come together and it's also a a covert
situation on the roadway. Since we're
recording this for the first time, could
you just give us 30 seconds of this
quirky action that we have to take? Why
is it here? So, the
DOT is uh making the recommendation that
they acquire some private property.
Usually, it's just a sliver of land
around a roadway, a shoulder, a culvert,
something like that. They
record
that transaction in a notice of layout
and taking that is recorded with the
register of deeds office. DOT prepares
all of this. They notified the the
property owners and they then make an
offer to the property owners that are
affected for the purchase of that piece
of land. This notice is put on public
record. So, anybody that would like to
look at the the notices can come into
our office and look at them. Uh, we
don't scan the not the um maps from the
notices. We just we put them in a file
cabinet. And honestly, there's never a
lot of interest in them, but they are
available. If anybody wants to look at
them, we'll pull them out. They get
recorded, too, though. So, they This
document gets recorded. The plans do
not. The plans do not. DOT only records
this document. Okay.
They're apparently we have the
physicals. We have the physical if
somebody wanted to see them. Correct.
So we have nothing to do with it. Only
to accept it. You accept it. You place
it on record and then if the property
owner disputes the offer being the copy,
then you participate in the hearing.
And when's the last time that ever
happened? It was um last year we had
one. Okay. Yeah, we had down in Bristol.
Yeah, they they're occasional.
Not a complete antiquated thing. No, it
is real. No, and
DOT does all of the administration of
that process. They just notify us that
it's happening and usually it's the
commissioner who
uh represents the district that would
serve on that panel and they go view the
property with the other panel members
and then they come back here to
deliberate. That last one was a quite
lengthy deliberation if I recall. It was
down here. It was by the cemetery in
South Bristol right by the golf course.
Beyond the golf course.
Move to approve the notice of layout and
taking for the town of
second. All in favor? I I
move to approve the
DOT notice of layout and taking for the
town of Whitefield.
Second. All in favor? I I 3 to zero.
Thank you.
The next item is a revisit to the Hon
Hill Tower lease. Uh we have a lease
right now with US Cellular. They have
their cellular phone equipment on our
Hon Hill Tower. That's the tower that we
own as the county and they pay us a
lease
payment. Periodically, US Cellular will
ask to make upgrades to the equipment on
the tower. Uh most recently, I think was
when they replaced the guide wires on
the tower at their expense. They hired
the contractors to do that and then they
did the upgrades to those uh wires.
They're now asking to do some
reconfiguration of the equipment that's
at the top of the tower, meaning they
would put in new support uh braces and
then realign the equipment. I believe
that they're doing this as um a
precursor to a merger with another
cellular company.
They've asked us to do that and in that
process they would need to amend the
lease agreement that they have with us
because the agreement calls out all of
the equipment specifically. They also
suggested that we extend the terms of
the lease to
be four more 10-year terms which is an
extensive amount of time. So, I replied
back to them that the county is not
interested in in pursuing pursuing a
term like that. Um, they're now asking
if we would allow them to make the
upgrades to the equipment and remove the
lease extension from the amendment if we
would be willing to do that. I don't
have any objections to
them realigning their equipment, but not
extending the the terms of the
agreement. When does it otherwise um
expire?
I believe it's coming up quickly here
and we're currently on a 10 or is it it
was 25?
We were on initial agreement.
Hand it
[Applause]
here. Initial term was 20 years and they
had one option to renew for an
additional 10 years.
So
they uh amended it back on March 20th of
2018
and that was for some antenna and that
was the guidewire amendment.
So, three more years it sounds like.
So, the first lease was in January of
97.
So, 2017. So, 2027 it will expire
completely expire. Right. So, I'd like
to make the recommendation to you that
we allow them to make the upgrades to
their equipment and not extend the terms
of the lease. And I would also suggest
that we hire a consultant to start
representing us in these lease
negotiations. Do you think hiring a
consultant would make a big difference
or um I think hiring a consultant will
get you a more realistic market rate.
Okay. I don't know what that rate is. I
have no idea how to collect that. Right.
So there is a local person that owns the
Blind Hill tower that we're currently on
that does this type of work for other
counties. And then there's also another
person that was referred to me out of
Ponobskot County that is new to this
field of um lease negotiation and tower
management, tower site management. would
um is it necessary to make that decision
now or could we wait a year if it's
expiring in 27 or how long would the
process take? I guess I'd like
permission to start asking what that
process would look like, what the cost
would be, what what the county would be
obligated to, not to enter into an
agreement, but just to start gathering
information to make that decision.
Um what she said I
move now I forgot it. Um approve the um
equipment maintenance equipment
maintenance without any extension of the
contract and then to authorize the
administrator to uh engage in some
initial discussions with potential
consultants on um renewals for the
future. Seconded. Thank you. Move and
seconded. Can you repeat that?
I think I have it right here. All All in
favor? Okay. I I You're a jokester, too.
Three in three to zero in favor.
Just as a side, I noticed that uh the
tower out here seems pretty rusty. I
don't know if we have annual maintenance
on that or not or painting or we don't
talk about that tower. We don't talk
about that this one. Yeah. Yeah, we
don't talk about it. All right. Well,
I'll try not to.
But it's something I noticed as I was
driving by the other day, man.
I'm hoping at some point that tower can
go away. Okay. But for today, it's
functioning perfectly. Okay. Don't
breathe too hard. Right.
Okay. Next item is the station design
conference. This is the conference that
I told you about that's in Glendale,
Arizona, coming up in a couple weeks.
And it's specific to agencies who are
looking to build public safety
facilities in whatever manner that may
look like. and we invited several of our
department heads and between calendar
conflicts and planned vacations, we've
settled on three of our employees going
to the conference. So, it'll be Sheriff
Bracket, our communications director,
Tara Do, and our EMA director, Emily
Huber. They'll all be traveling to
Glendale. and the cost of the
registration for the conference, the
lodging for all three of them, the
flights, and then the the cost of the
PDM for meals. The total amount is about
$6,900. So, I'd like permission for the
outofstate travel and to cover the
expenses. When is this taking place?
It's uh first day is May 18th. May 18th.
It'll still be pretty warm out there
then.
Did you want to go? No. I could probably
find you a flight. No, that's all right.
Well, I assume they'll be stuck in
conference room with AC that's too high.
Um, as in likely they'll all come back
with respiratory infections. Exactly.
But uh if you could remind us there's um
topics that will help us as we're trying
to plan a new public safety building.
So, there's many, many different agenda
items specific to what we're trying to
do. In addition to that, they have
one-on-one consulting sessions where
they can look at your project at the
step it's at today and then offer some
insight and some um suggestions on ways
that you can design it or plan for usage
that might be outside of what you've
already explored. So, it'll expand our
focus so that maybe we find one or two
or or more different uses for that
facility, ways to fund that
facility, ways that it could be more
streamlined or or made more efficient
down the road or plan for future life
expectancy on that. There's there's a
lot of different and um
valuable topics that they'll be
covering. So, have we tasked one of
those three to take the lead on that and
sort of get I mean because they each
come from separate departments. You're
not apparently attending. So, um who is
going to sort of ask that overarching
question? I think Emily just
volunteered. I can so I'm not going to I
wondered if she was waving back. I just
want to put out there that like we all
did our research on it like even from my
perspective as it's hard to find things
for EMA. Um, and there are a lot of
different individual sessions that cover
EOCC's. They cover and I think that all
of us are going to be able to get
something out of it to the point that
we're going to have to divide and
conquer during the same time frames of
the information that's going to be put
out there. Um, we're all very excited
for the one-on-one sessions so that we
can discuss kind of layouts of each of
our our needs and our wants. Um, and
it's going to be extremely beneficial
for all three of us, no matter how we're
looking at it. Cuz that's what I'm
curious about is that what else could we
do while we're building? Is there more
county services that could be delivered
through there or um do we collaborate
with one of the towns if wherever we end
up or maybe a budding towns is there
some opportunities to do something
together there. So hopefully you can
engage in that discussion. It will be
very interesting. It's very um law and
fireheavy okay based but again there's a
lot of um individual sessions around
each of our needs. So I don't think
we'll come away with nothing. Great.
I just comment when we did this when we
built two bridges and it was very
beneficial.
I think the one one to one thing sound
that really Yeah, we're great. very
excited um to the point that we all had
to move our schedules around so that we
could make sure this a priority because
we want to make sure that all of us can
get something out of it and that not one
of us can speak more than the other, you
know.
Great. Well,
good. Okay, good news.
You want a motion to approve? Okay. Move
to approve the travel for the sheriff,
EMA director, communications director
for a total of $6,900.
Second.
Moved and seconded. All in favor? I I
three to zero. Going to Glendale. Yeah,
we're excited. Good. Good. Can't wait to
hear the report back. How many days?
three. I think it's four. We're We'll be
leaving on that Sunday to make sure that
we can get there for the Monday
one-on-one sessions. And the last day of
the conference is Thursday. So, we'll be
heading out on Friday or coming back on
Friday. Cool. And all the deputies will
be ready to go if something happens
while you guys are all away.
They carry me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah.
They all have deputy directors.
right? We're going to
get to see some fresh faces on the 20th.
Oh yeah, we should have all deputy days. Put something on the agenda
so they all to speak, you know. That'd
be great for them. Yeah, good idea.
All right. Okay. Next item is the
proposal that we received from LCTV
regarding the camera installation.
And what that proposal would do is have
a camera mounted above your head there
on the wall. There'll be one on the
back. Each of the seats will have a
microphone. There'll be two microphones
at the table here. And then it'll have
all the supplementary equipment, the
mixing switches, and all of that fun
stuff that I'm not an expert on, but I
have an expert here if you have
questions. Um, it would also there also
included in the proposal is the cost to
have a technician attend each of our
meetings to run that equipment and then
upload it so that we can be live
streaming it. Uh, one of the notes that
I made while I was sitting here is to to
start a Lincoln County YouTube channel
so that we can use our Zoom platform to
live stream to YouTube while the
meetings are happening. So, those kinks
I'm still working on. But, do we have to
do anything different in that corner to
house any of like like the laptop
computer, um the converter,
any other equipment? So, there's a case
that it stores in that can stay here. If
that table needs to move, we can find a
different workstation or Yeah. Okay. I
think once we get the equipment on site
and we actually physically can see it in
the space, then we can address anything
else that might be needed for it. And
did they say like um once approval is
given how quickly it could go live next
or the is the equipment readily
available? the the equipment we would
need to to make a payment for the
equipment and then it could be ordered
and I think it would arrive within a
week or so and then it could potentially
installation is I'm sorry I was just
saying potentially at the next meeting
we would yeah yes I see a nod in the
back maybe it's like a a semi I say one
or two weeks okay installation is a
matter of putting a bracket on the wall
okay the um network cables already in
place Mhm. and the cameras will be
powered by the network. Okay. So, it
would be a very easy to install system.
Okay. Move to approve uh the proposal of
LCTV to outfit this room
for recording and broadcasting of our
meeting. I will second it. You moved and
second it. Any other comments? One
question. Um, have you One thing I've
never looked up is why people use Town
Hall streams versus YouTube as a
platform. Has that come up yet? I think
it's tied to their website. What's town
hall stream?
Just like YouTube, but they primarily
house the digital record and that's
where you can watch instead of on
YouTube. So, some people just have it
streaming through this outfit called
town hall streams is the second most
common thing after YouTube. Oh, really?
Okay. But yeah, you think it's tied
through there? I don't know. Maybe they
just YouTube's too corporate. They don't
want it to live there. I don't know. I
don't know the answer, but I'll look it
up.
Behind you. Uh, most towns in Lincoln
County, Walder, Wisconsin,
Newcastle, Dan RCA, they all stream
their select board and planning board
meetings and budget committee stuff like
that all to uh their YouTube channels.
Uh, I don't know what town hall is.
Yeah. Um I think Booth Bay uses it and
Sagada Hawk uses it and a few other
people out there. Yep. The only the only
one I don't know about is Bristol. They
uh tend to upload their stuff to Google
Drive and that's where I usually get it
from. Uh they don't have a YouTube
channel that I know about. That's all I
wanted to say. Cool. Thank you.
Figure that out as it goes along. Cool.
All in favor of the motion. I I I three
to zero. Great. And just so I'm clear,
the proposal is the equipment and the
ongoing per meeting labor cost to have
the technician here
at the
three-hour minimal.
Yes, I I do have an update for you on
the DA's office restitution. I reached
out to their office supervisor and the
um deputy district attorney contacted
the county where this individual was
being prosecuted and the case is still
pending. So, nothing has been ordered
yet as a result of the actions with the
credit card here, but uh I let her know
that we would be looking for a a routine
update on this until the the matter was
completely resolved. So, that sounds
like when they say the
um matter was in litigation, that's the
act of using the card and then pulling
it back. that charge of because I
thought uh DA DA assistant DA Murdoch
said that they were pursuing charges
around that incident and is that what
that is or um she said where where he's
being prosecuted and the case is still
pending and the case is still pending or
like which case I guess that's what I
sounds like what he's sitting in
something else is why he's in the other
county. Yeah. Okay. Um I guess that's so
you want to know about just whether or
not the new charges were brought or not
um for that activity
specific to the
Yes. Cuz I don't see why they would say
that he's still under those those
charges without
addressing you know what we were talking
about here. I will get an update. Good.
Thank you.
Oh, I had it on two things. LCTV. So,
the next one is the
proposal that was separate from the
cameras. Okay, got it. Do you want to
take any action on that today? Is there
anything new to
report? I I guess my lingering question
is is which towns would opt in
enough for it to make sense to even
start to think about them coming in as
an organization of part of the the
county cuz if only
one town or no town opts in that doesn't
look like it accomplishes what they're
trying to accomplish. I I don't think it
I don't think so. Yeah.
[Music]
Okay. So, I guess we'll just keep it
there until we get more information. No
action. No action. Okay.
I do have an update for you on the
public safety building project. We had a
Zoom meeting with the uh consultants
that we're using and right now we're
doing site evaluations.
We've got a list of 10 different
possible locations that are in Newcastle
and Noble that have a site that is large
enough in acreage. We would need at
least I think it's either 12 or 14 acres
to accomplish everything that we've put
into our preliminary um site. And of the
10, there are
four six of the 10 are feasible for our
needs. So what the consultant is going
to do is then move it to the next step
where there's um regulatory analysis
done, there's mapping done. Our planning
office is going to help with that so
that it keeps our cost down with the
consultant. And then um the other thing
that we need to consider is whether or
not these parcels are something that the
owner would be interested in selling. So
it's not their criteria wasn't just go
look at properties that are for sale
now. It's just where would it work and
then deal with the owners or whatever.
Right? So the the list was made based on
proximity
to the areas that we've identified as
being priority and then large enough so
that we could accommodate everything
we're trying to do. I think only one of
the 10 was for sale at the time that the
list was compiled. I don't know if any
of these parcels are listed on the site
inventory that the planning office
presented today for housing. So that
might give us an idea on whether or not
um there's interest in selling. Right.
But Sheriff Brackett has indicated that
he would be open to going and meeting
with the the owners of the properties if
we get to a point like that just to
explain what what we're trying to do and
to see if there's an interest in selling
part of the property or all of the
person or does a combination of a couple
different owners. Yes. Are they looking
at that idea too if they're overlap or
next to each other? you would have to
approach more than just one owner. Most
of these are sta standalone standalone parcels, but there's like
there's one here that's on the list
that's feasible. It's 51 acres.
We wouldn't need 51 acres, but are all
51 acres buildable? There there was at
least one parcel that had wetlands as
part of the parcel, but not in a section
that would prohibit construction and
road access.
So there's there's a lot of different
things that are going into this
analysis. We do have another meeting
scheduled for uh next Friday, I believe
it is. This Friday, it's this Friday.
And things can change after our
delegation comes back from Arizona,
right? And say we need more than 15
acres or whatever, right? We were pretty
aggressive with our request. Okay. Yeah.
So, I don't know that it'll change a
whole lot, but um it could Who knows? I
mean, who knows what they're going to
get out of this, but but we have another
meeting scheduled and um we're moving
this process along. We want to be able
to
have our timeline in line with the
congressionally directed spending
request window that we're hoping will
open next spring. So, all of the things
that we need to do on our end, grant
funding that would help pay for them.
Yes,
[Music]
that's our ultimate goal is to allow the
federal government to pay for this for
us. That would be very nice. I'm sure
the county would appreciate that. I'm
certain they would.
So, it's it is moving forward. Great.
Thank you.
And I have an update on tax abatement
hearings. We have one pending for the
town of Breamman that has initially
indicated that they'd be willing to an
extension until the end of June and I
reached out and got a response from them
yesterday and um they were waiting on
some records from the town. I would be
of the mindset that it's time to
schedule this. They've had plenty of
time to gather all of their their
supporting documents to build their case
and prepare to present it to you. Um, so
I'll be reaching out to them with some
dates in June to get this scheduled. The
other one that we have that you've
accepted is with a property owner in the
town of Whitefield and um they indicated
that there may be additional property
owners coming in coming with tax
abatement applications for similar
situations and I did receive one
yesterday but it was incomplete. So,
I'll be reaching out to them for the
complete document that they need to
prepare and I'll have that on the next
agenda for you to accept if they are
timely. But I I would recommend that we
hold these hearings separate from each
other so that the um facts of each case
can be considered independently. And um
I have some dates from you. So, I'll reach out to them to get that
scheduled. I'm hoping that that can be
made in May. Do you think we could nail
that down this week? So, I mean, summer
is coming up quickly and the calendars.
My plan is to You don't want You don't
want to spend Sundays in here listening
to the tax hearings? Of course. I'm not
sure if these windows open. So, come on,
guys. They do, but the AC works in here.
Oh, okay. Well, when the when the
chiller's on and the the boiler's off.
Well, can't guarantee if it's nice out
there, you know that we're in here. So,
Right. Right. It does get a little You
can tell because the traffic's backed up
and and everybody wants to go outside
then. There we
go. It's sell drinks to the people are
stopped, right? They need a little
lemonator, right? Anything to help the
county, right?
Uh, okay. So, I I do have an executive
session scheduled for discussion of
legal under 1 MRSA 4056E.
And in that regard, I will move a motion
that we do go into that executive
session for discussion of legal and one
MRSA 40516.
Second move and seconded. All in favor?
I I 3 to zero.