Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes July 25th, 2017
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Penobscot County Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes July 25th, 2017 #2147 9:00 AM Commissioners Tom Davis and Laura Sanborn. 65° Commissioner Peter Baldacci was absent. Approval of Minutes- • Commissioner Sanborn made a motion to approve the July 11th, 2017 minutes. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0. Unorganized Territory Update- • Department Head Barbara Veilleux presented that Our Katahdin has requested that Barbara provide a Marathon permit for them to fill out and complete. Barbara will be sending the permit out to them in the near future. • Barbara explained that she has not received any more feedback on the draft RFP for financial services for the UT’s TIF Committee. Barbara would like to send the RFP out to bid. Commissioner Davis suggested waiting until Commissioner Baldacci would have a chance to review the draft before it goes out to bid. Commissioner Davis would rather not have to pay for the financial drafting service and would like Barbara to see if Eastern Maine Development Committee (EMDC) or Penquis Cap would perhaps provide the service where the county helps fund their programs. Barbara commented the drafting service is extensive and believes the county will have to pay for the service. Administrator Bill Collins asked if EMDC charges for the grants/loans that they give out. Commissioner Davis believes there is a very small fee to process the loans and grants. Commissioner Sanborn believes the county will have to pay for the processing. Barbara responded that she will wait until Commissioner Baldacci has chance to review the draft RFP before she puts the service out to bid. • Barbara stated that current TIF Committee member Jason Bird has suggested that Matt Watkins of Bangor Savings Bank to be added to the committee. Commissioner Davis suggested Greg Fuller of Machias Savings Bank as another person to consider. The Commissioners supported Barbara inviting Mr. Watkins to the committee. • Barbara stated that the UT has received $106,812 in local road assistance funds from the Department of Transportation. Barbara was pleased with the amount considering she had budgeted roughly $17,000 less in the UT’s budget. • Deputy Director George Buswell informed the Commissioners that the test drillings for the problematic areas of the UT’s Mattamiscontis Road have been completed. George explained that the borings found the gravel underlying the road is in decent shape compared to the other gravel samples in the region. The drillings also found that there are 6-7 inches of old pavement layered underneath the current pavement. George and Commissioner Davis believe that over the years heavy trucks and traffic have traveled over the same areas the pavement which has subsequently formed cracks throughout the entire layers of old pavement. George would like to have a pavement reclaimer come in and grind, put back, and pack down the old pavement before laying a finishing coat. Commissioner Davis asked if we could add on to the recent paving quote that the UT had for the paving project on the Greenfield Road. George responded that we couldn’t, based upon that paving company does not have a reclaim equipment. Barbara explained that there is roughly 10,000 feet of paving that should be done on the Mattamiscontis road, however the UT has only budgeted for roughly 8,000 feet of road and they don’t want to diminish the UT’s reserves. Commissioner Davis suggested when Barbara and George draft the bid for the project, that they should include two options for quotes, a 10,000 foot price and an 8,000 foot price. George and Barbara agreed they would structure the bid that way and make a decision once the prices come in. • Barbara presented pictures of the Prentiss Salt Shed re-roofing job that is underway. Barbara and George complemented the contractor for the progress and aesthetics of the job so far. Administrative Update- • Administrator Bill Collins presented jail population figures on behalf of Sheriff Morton. Today’s count is at 182 (149 males, 33 females) with 30 boarded out to other county jails. The jail is housing one federal inmate and there are 74 inmates in Pre-Trial Services. Bill noted that if you combine the pretrial and boarded out inmates, our jail is handling/housing approximately 300 inmates. • Bill explained that a young man has requested if he could take and replant a few flowers that are in behind the 127 Hammond Street building. The gentlemen explained that the flowers are about to die and he would like to replant them over near the High Street Church Area. The Commissioners agreed. • Bill stated that Commissioner Baldacci is currently attending the NACO conference. • Bill recently spoke with MCCA Executive Director Charlie Pray. Charlie provided more details about the committee that legislators would like to create that would work in hand with the Department of Corrections and determine the dispersion of funding to Maine County Jails. Bill has shared that he feels an individual with a finance background should be on the committee. Bill recommended our Finance Director Judy Alexander and Kennebec County Administrator Bob Devlin as some possible committee members. Judy has agreed to be on the committee if asked. Bill asked if the Commissioners had any people in mind for the committee to let him know. Commissioner Davis asked if Bill knew if Commissioner Baldacci could serve on the committee as a representative of the MCCA. • Finance Director Judy Alexander presented that the county has $575,000 remaining in its TAN Account after this week’s withdrawal. Last year at this time the county had $625,000. Judy has touched base with Scott Ferguson of the DOC and she hopes we will receive the jail funds within the next week or two. Judy hopes that where we have submitted all of the required paperwork and reports that our county won’t have to wait on the other Maine Counties to submit their respective documents before the funds are disbursed. Based on historical cash flow, Judy expects a couple towns to be sending in their funds to the county for Taxes this week. In the past the county receives roughly $1.8 million in Tax “Income” in each month of August and September. • Bill stated that latest funding news for the county’s jail is to expect $12.2 million in jail funding and $3 million of supplementary funds. Bill said of the $12.2 million the state used to require 30% of those funds to be devoted towards programming. Now the State has changed the criteria that only 30% of $5.6 million (of the $12.2 million) needs to be devoted to programming which in turns leaves Maine Jails with more funds to spend on operational costs. Bill believes the job of the new jail committee (mentioned earlier) will be to split the supplemental funding ($3 million) based on Maine Jail’s needs, not Average Daily Population (which is how the $12.2 million is disbursed.) Due to our jail’s high population over the course of the last year, Bill and Judy expect our jail will receive roughly $1.7 million of the $12.2 jail funds (this is an increase of roughly $200,000 based on last year’s jail funding and average daily population figures). • Bill reminded the Commissioners that Joanna Russel, Director of the Northeastern Workforce Development Board, has invited the Commissioners and their spouses to Lobster Mania taking place July 27th 6:00-8:00 pm at the BARN. • Bill explained that Piscataquis County’s telephone and computer systems were shut down due to a bad lighting/thunder storm last week. Our county’s IT Department Director Cliff Warren and his staff have spent a significant amount of time working to bring Piscataquis’ system back on line. To Bill’s knowledge most of the system is back up and running. • Due to work to the city of Bangor’s main water line, the county was without water for a good portion of the day last Tuesday. The water service has been reconnected. However the temporary line has not been disassembled or picked up. Stan MacMillan’s construction company, who did a lot of the water line work for the city, thanked Bill for the county allowing him to use the 127 Hammond Street Parking lot during the repair. • The county’s Registrar of Deeds, Susan Bulay, notified Bill that one of their micro film storage vendors (AMS) has been acquired by another company (Konica). Konica has notified Susan that they wish to have a contract signed before they do any more work for the department. Bill explained that the previous vendor (AMS) never required a contract. Bill forwarded the notice to John Hamer. Mr. Hamer noted the only part of the contract that the county should pay special note to is that Konica would require the county to settle all disputes in the state the organization is located in (in this case New York). Commissioner Sanborn motioned to accept the contract upon Commissioner Baldacci’s review and approval. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0. • The organization that handles the county’s deferred compensation program, VOYA, reached out to Bill and notified him that if the county does not sign the updated terms of their contract that the organization may not accept any future contributions made to the retirement plan. Bill spoke with VOYA’s Regional Vice President Greg Miller and explained to Greg that he was previously told the county did not have to sign the contract for it to be effective or have a working relationship with the plan. The county had purposely not signed the contract in order to discuss a major change to one of VOYA’s fixed account terms. The county had a public hearing on the issue in May. Bill asked if the Commissioner would approve for him to sign the paperwork so that the county can continue making contributions to the plan. Bill stated that the Commissioners can also decide if they wish to go out to bid for the service. Commissioner Sanborn motioned to approve the contract and have Bill sign it on behalf of the Commissioners. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0. PRCC Update- • PRCC union rep and county employee Chris Lavoie thanked the Commissioners, Bill, and PRCC Head Chad LaBree for all their respective work in coming to an agreement on the PRCC union contract. Bill noted that Chris was a pleasure to work with and he and the Commissioners were glad to come to an agreement. Commissioner Davis thanked Chris for all of the work the dispatchers do. Administrative Update Continued- • Payroll Warrant to be approved for: $ 216,977.34 • Accounts Payable Warrant to be approved for 7/20/17: $ 55.73 • Accounts Payable Warrant to be approved for 7/25/17: $ 116,244.65 • Unorganized Territory Warrant to be approved for: $ 17,347.74 • Payroll change notice signed for: Samuel Irish- Dismissed. Miscellaneous - Jody Currier-Smith, Patrick Knaide, Nicholas Mitton, Adam Orcutt, Gerald Carstensen, Justine Backer, Benjamen Brown. Hired Part Time – Dustin Umlauf. • Compensation notice signed for: Barbara Veilleux – 2 hours. Cap Ayer – 4 hours. Executive Session - Commissioner Sanborn motioned to go into Executive Session to discuss a contract matter at 9:40 am under 1 MRSA §405 (6) (E). Commissioner Davis seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0. Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sanborn, Treasurer Dan Tremble, Administrator Bill Collins, PRCC Department Head Chad LaBree, Board Chair Mark Leonard and Administrative Assistant Tyler Thompson were in attendance. Executive Session ended at 9:57am with no votes taken. Executive Session - Commissioner Davis motioned to go into Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter at 9:58 am under 1 MRSA §405 (6) (A). Commissioner Sanborn seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0. Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sanborn, Treasurer Dan Tremble, Administrator Bill Collins, and Administrative Assistant Tyler Thompson were in attendance. Executive Session ended at 10:12 am with no votes taken. Public Comment- None Meeting Adjourned- The meeting was adjourned at 10:13 am with no further business on the agenda. Certified By: /s/ Penobscot County Administrator William Collins Absent Peter K. Baldacci, Chairman /s/ Laura J. Sanborn, Commissioner /s/ Thomas J. Davis, Jr., Commissioner
