SB Notes Tue May 30

6:00 p.m. Call Meeting to Order, Review Agenda, Review Minutes: 5/16/23
6:05 p.m. Public Comment

• Contact the Town Coordinator: [email protected] to sign up. This does not preclude speaking but may determine order of speaking.
• Three-minute comment limit per person.
• Public Comment period will end at 6:20 pm, or before then, if there are no further comments.

Other Business
Parks & Recreation—participant waiver [for race ending at the Heath fairgrounds during the fair]

• SB would like the form to have a place for entrants to write in the specific event that the form applies to. The form was approved as amended.​

Community Hall—estimate for basement floor repair for damaged tiles from winter pipe break 

• Robyn verified with contractor that the $7000 price for the floor did not include the bathrooms.
• Robyn is waiting on an epoxy quote .
• Robyn ask resident, Will Emmett,  if he would share cost of his recent epoxy floor installation in his workshop.
• As Will's cost was not that far off tile replacement , the Board did not want to move forward without the epoxy quote.

Trailer Complaint—Complaint about trailer in disrepair on Bray Road

• Robyn has written a letter to the complainants that this trailer does not fall under the purview of the SB and will cc the BoH. 
• A discussion followed about  how to deal with trailers in violation of the zoning bylaws. Doug Mason said that at one time the Zoning Board had written a letter giving residents two years to comply with the zoning bylaws regarding trailers in violation. The letter was never sent—Doug to retrieve the letter and the Planning Board  will meet with the Select Board on how to move forward.
• An email had been sent by a concerned resident about equality in enforcement when dealing with trailers.
• Robyn agreed that there should  be equality, but expressed concern about where to start as there are many trailer and automobile zoning violations in Heath.

Special Town Meeting (STM)—discuss need and set date, if needed.

• The purpose of the meeting would be to move money.
• The Finance Committee recommended to let the money in question rollover to free cash and not have the expense of a STM.

11 Bellor Road—update [cannabis farmers  zoning violations and legal action may be required]

• TrueCannabis responded that they have met with  FRCOG and they are not in violation. Doug Mason (Planning Board chair)  feels they are in compliance with the fence and that storage containers are allowed in Heath.  The containers had been used as work areas which is not allowed.  They did not get a permit for the electrical work and the  electrical has been removed and they are now in compliance. 
• Residents Barbara Rode, Craig Gerry, and Mike Freeman were allowed to speak on the topic.
• Hilma had a phone conversation with one owner, Chris [last name not stated].  The farmers intend to pay the legal fees as promised. He said that the  Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) had recommended the storage containers. They plan to build a barn and then remove the containers.
• The Select Board is not getting any communication from the farmers.   All  communication is  with the FRCOG with neither party including the Select Board. 
• There was supposed to be a yearly public hearing  with the farmers which has not happened and is overdue.
• The Select Board needs a timeline and clarity on the status of the host agreement.

Telephone System—review proposal for services and vote [the Town wants to get a better financial option than current]

• SB approved using Granite Telecommunications. for our phones —15 lines.

Review of appointed Boards and Committees—planning

• Farmer's Market - see if there is interest in reviving
• Board of Health (BoH),  Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), and  Cultural Council have many openings.  There are no members of the Agricultural Commission.
• Need to look at Building Use Committee (BUC) and Building Facilities Committee roles, do we need both?
• Created a SB liaison to the BoH. Robyn suggested Elissa who accepted.
• SB members reviewed their many liaison positions to various boards and committees with some changes.  Sue L will take over from Robyn as the  liaison to the Highway Dept.

Transfer Station Attendant—employee appointment [two applicants, both from Heath]

• Two applicants applied—both very qualified candidates making the choice very difficult.  
• The hiring committee made  a recommendation of Lee Lively based on his years of experience with hydraulics.  The  SB approved Lee Lively.
• The two candidates were to be notified  on Wednesday. of the results.
• The Board also discussed how to communicate that new transfer permit stickers are needed July 1 and where to get them.

Transfer Station Bag Sticker Fee—Franklin County Solids Waste Management) FCSWMD (recommends  raising to $2 per bag

• Our current expense for trash is approx. $55,000, permits and stickers bring in approx. $35,000 with the Town  paying the difference of approx. $20,000. Raising the stickers to $2 will reduce  this to approx. $10,000.

Municipal Light Plant--method of income transference to town [how does broadband money come back to Town]

• There will be a meeting on Wednesday, May 31  to discuss this  (Sheila Robyn, Hilma, and our town accountant)

Fuse Energy--[FUSE wants Heath to signup for a share in a solar display at no cost to the Town. Sponsored by  DOER (Dept of Energy Resources) to lower carbon footprint.]

• The Select Board  feels there are too many unknowns to commit to a 25 year agreement.
• The Board contacting other towns that had joined the plan and did not get positive feedback.
• The Board voted not accept the proposal.

Financial Planning--discussion [initiated by a letter from a resident concerned about long term financial planning]

• Robyn stated that the first step belongs to the Finance Committee as elected officials. 
• Discussed the need for more long range forecasting rather than working  year-by-year and  Elissa added that we need to communicate better on the budget with town's people and with more lead time up to Town Meeting. [My Note: In early spring meetings between FinComm and the SB both boards expressed this as goal. Long term forecasting would help make this possible.]
• Hilma mentioned the need for a capitol planning schedule and said that the DOR had a long range forecasting sheet. 
• Robyn suggested the June meeting with FinComm for transfers would be an opportunity to begin discussion of long range forecasting and begin working on the budget with this in mind in September. 
• There was a suggestion to create a document/letter/ request to FinComm detailing what the  Board  would like to get for this effort.
• Ned Wolf from FinComm recommended we take advantage of resident Ken Rocke 's offer to help with understanding the MTRSD amendment to our District agreement.
• Robyn suggested we look into what FRCOG Annual Report services other towns take advantage of.
• One long range perspective brought up was a town administrator skill shortage that other towns are experiencing.  Hilma's eventual retirement needs to be included in forecasting.

Communication—methods of dispersing information to residents 

• Elissa raised the question about how to better keep the residents informed.  
• Robyn responded that  there are periodic mailings from the Select Board (SB), phone calls to all residents about upcoming meetings of importance,  a SB report in the Heath Herald, information on the Town sign board outside Sawyer Hall, and most importantly, the Town website has Select Board Agendas  and minutes,. 
• Robyn recognizes that  this is not working for all residents, but feels that to some degree it is the responsibility of the resident to be better informed when there is so much information available. She pointed out that the SB meeting is open to all residents, but not well attended.
• The SB talked about mailing a brochure that would detail sources of information,  and referenced the  welcome packet [recently proposed by Bob Bourke and Elissa] for new residents with needed information.
• An email from a resident regarding  remote format for SB meetings was discussed.  [My Note: This had been discussed at previous meetings and usually lost momentum when cost was raised.] 
• Robyn said that hosting Zoom meetings and running the SB meetings was not efficient as it was distracting and made everything take longer. It is not something she would do again. 
• Hilma was asked about the live broadcasts done by the Heath Union Church.  Hilma to get more info from organist, Dennis Ainsworth, who set up the church's live broadcasts.
• How to fund something similar to the church was discussed and both Elissa and Barbara Gordon (chair of the Cultural Council) suggested grants as a possibility. [Not sure if there was a follow up to this].