Penobscot County Commissioners' Meeting Minutes for February 12, 2019
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Penobscot County Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 2226 9:00 AM Commissioners Laura Sanborn and Andre Cushing 10° Peter Baldacci (Arrived 9:20 a.m.)
Approval of Minutes -
Commissioner Cushing made a motion to approve January 22nd and January 29th, 2019 meeting minutes. Commissioner Sanborn seconded the motion. Vote to approve passed 2-0.
UT Update -
The United States Board of Geographic Names has sent a request for the opinion of the Penobscot County Commissioners about a proposal to name a small island, located in Junior Lake in Pukakon Township. Commissioner Cushing moved to approve the request name “Thompson Island”. Commissioner Sanborn seconded the motion. Motion passed 2-0.
Barbara Veilleux inspected roads in Greenfield, Grand Falls, Mattamiscontis, Kingman and Prentiss last week and found them to be in good shape.
Barbara and George Buswell inventoried the salt/sand sheds in Greenfield and Grand Falls. The sheds are about where we were last year and are in hopes that we can make it through the winter without purchasing more.
Barbara reported that she contacted Attorney Roger Huber in regards to the Rackliff property in Prentiss Township. Mr. Huber has received the information and will contact Barbara with a work plan and his recommendations.
Barbara reached out to Jeff Packard from the Upper Valley Economic Corporation for clarification of their request for funding. Mr. Packard confirmed they need the money to fund 2019 operating expenses. This request cannot be funded from TIF dollars since it is for operating expenses. Commissioner Cushing stated that he has spoken to Lee Umphrey of EMDC who will be contacting Mr. Packard.
Barbara states that the public hearing regarding a bill that would restrict the posting of public roads when temperature goes below freezing has occurred. It was met with opposition by Dept. of Transportation and Maine Municipal Association.
EMA Update –
Brad Nuding presented a brief snapshot to the Commissioners of what EMA has been involved in for the last six weeks.
o Bangor Reunification Meeting – EMA has been working with the City of Bangor to develop a plan for reunification of family and children if an incident occurred. The fire and police departments, city executives and American Red Cross have been part of multiple planning meetings. Brad has developed this plan with numerous modifications in hopes that this Friday it will be approved. National Standard practice through American Red Cross helps manage for these events. The state has developed a reunification plan as well. This plan is a merger of both plans. Commissioner Cushing referred to a training that was recently offered for Elected Officials. Brad stated that it is a two hour course. He will contact towns who missed the first training and schedule another class.
o Recently there was a training exercise with the UMaine System. All three campuses were involved. Brad was part of the planning team. This exercise consisted of a fire at the dental clinic. Unfortunately this site holds their IT network which resulted in a loss of communications. All campuses were part of the exercise simultaneously. When you lose communication it is difficult to manage. This was a great exercise with a lot of take-a-ways learned.
o BIA planning meeting with the airport as they are required through FAA for annual exercises to test their emergency plan was held. This cycle was an active shooter event exercise at the airport. There are three phases:
o Discussion based tabletop exercise o Discussion based including role playing o Full scale exercise
Brad commented on LD 372. This is an act to increase the safety of municipal residents by allowing municipalities to address downed wires during extended power outages. If a power outage of five or more days, this bill will allow a municipality to contract to have power and cable lines removed from road and submit a bill to entities for reimbursement. If it meets a federal threshold those funds would come from FEMA for reimbursement, otherwise, from the provider itself. The problem EMA sees is the timeframe; not all outages will meet the five day threshold.
Sheriff’s Update –
Captain Rick Clukey, Jail Administrator stated that today’s jail population is 186 (151 males, 35 females) with 63 boarded out to other county jails. There are no federal inmates, no county swaps and 80 inmates in Pre-Trial Services.
He thanked the Commissioners for the opportunity to be on the building committee. Captain was impressed with the time and effort involved in researching and detailing the options.
Captain reported that the Sheriff’s Office is making efforts to communicate with the courts in a more consistent fashion to keep the cases moving forward.
Captain stated that the Sheriff’s Office has been working with Jenna Mehnert from NAMI in training Corrections Officers on each shift in CIT training and mental Health/first aid training.
Commissioner Sanborn made a motion to approve award to Darlings Ford of Bangor – Certified Police Vehicle 2020 Ford Utility Police Interceptor $35,805 per vehicle for a total of $250,635. Commissioner Cushing seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.
IT Update –
Cliff Warren, IT Director stated that he is not able to make a decision on which Voice Data System bid to accept. Cliff has reached out to each vendor and should be able to make a definitive recommendation at next week’s meeting.
Cliff spoke to the IT department of the federally funded MS-ISAC that was discussed last week. Cliff feels more comfortable in use of this system now that his questions were answered. The Commissioners thanked Cliff for his research.
PRCC Update –
Josh Lilley, Assistant Director reported the Medway tower microwave unit came in and Whitten’s will be providing a firmer update on installation.
Josh stated that there were 3,443 business line calls and 1,172 9-1-1 calls last week.
Josh reported that there are five open positions and interviews will be held next week with HR Director Erika Honey participating.
Administration Update –
The Commissioners agreed to a late opening at 10:30 a.m. based upon tomorrows impending snow storm.
LUPC advertisement closed on Friday with two inquiries for the position.
Bill reported that there was no video of the maintenance vehicle accident in the Y parking lot. Bill advised Cap to get an estimate on the dented bumper as well as a quote on the rust on the vehicle. This information will be forwarded once it becomes available.
Bill was also notified of an incident at the Post Office. Someone had fallen a week ago. This individual states that he was injured and unfortunately there is no video. This claim has been forwarded to the Risk Pool with no other action needed at this time. The Post Office said when the individual first fell, there was no injury. A week later they learned this individual claimed of injuries.
Bill requested the Commissioners to approve forfeiture funds for the DA’s Office. State vs Mellott in the amount of $163.50. Commissioner Sanborn made a motion to approve the forfeiture of funds for the DA’s Office. Commissioner Cushing seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.
Governor Mills’ budget includes $18.4 M for county jails for the each of the next two years.
Tracey Erickson representing the Wellness Committee had intended to come before you today to thank you (Commissioners and Dick Hansen – Cigna) for your financial support to build showers in the Wellness Center. Employees are very thankful.
The Penobscot County Delegation will be holding a meeting this Friday on the third floor Great Room at 10:00 a.m. Bill will invite all the department heads as well as any local elected officials to attend this meeting.
Cap has spoken with Aaron Newcomb regarding the work that he has been awarded for the three separate projects. Aaron relayed to Cap he will start on March 18th with the projected end date of April 30th. Okayed.
Sheriff Morton was unable to attend today’s meeting due to the need to meet with Knox County Sheriff Brackett.
The Commissioners Room will be scheduled to be painted starting tomorrow for the next three days by the jail trustees.
Reminder that Monday of next week is a holiday.
The Building Committee met yesterday and will meet again Monday, January 25th at 10:00 on the third floor Great Room. Commissioner Sanborn attended stating that the Committee had used the data from WBRC and is doing comparative studies. The preliminary recommendation was a 300 bed stand-alone facility. The concern is viability of that proposal to the public of $65 M plus. Commissioner Baldacci raised an idea of downsizing to 150 bed building. Another concern Commissioner Baldacci made is the financial commitment that would be involved in preparing the details needed in order to go out to referendum.
Payroll Change Notices signed for: Ashley Smith – Hired; Toni Davis – Promoted; Robert Booth – Payroll Change; Blake Miller, Tyler Thompson and Terry Sullivan - Comp time.
Payroll Warrant to be approved for: $ 217,768.49 Accounts Payable Warrant to be approved for: $163,071.85 UT A/P Warrant to be approved for : -NONE- UT TIF Warrant to be approved for: -NONE-
Public Comment –
Doug Dunbar thanked Captain Clukey for actively working on updating training for employees in the jail. Doug reported there are funds available for additional trainings. Doug commented he is working with Jenna Mehnert from NAMI to change the five year discretionary period in order to volunteer in the jail.
Executive Session---Commissioner Cushing made a motion to go into Executive Session at 10:35 a.m., under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) (D) Contract Matter. Commissioner Sanborn seconded the motion. Vote to approve 3-0. Present were: Administrator Bill Collins, HR Director Erika Honey and Treasurer John Hiatt. Session ended at 11:10 a.m. No votes taken.
Executive Session---Commissioner Cushing made a motion to go into Executive Session at 11:11 a.m., under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) (A) Personnel Matter. Commissioner Sanborn seconded the motion. Vote to approve 3 - 0. Present were: Administrator Bill Collins, HR Director Erika Honey and Treasurer John Hiatt. Commissioner Cushing left at 11:12 a.m. Session ended at 11:38 a.m. No votes taken.
Executive Session---Commissioner Sanborn made a motion to go into Executive Session at 11:39 a.m., under 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) (A) Personnel Matter. Commissioner Baldacci seconded the motion. Vote to approve 2 - 0. Present were: Administrator Bill Collins and HR Director Erika Honey. Session ended at 11:47 a.m. No votes taken.
Meeting Adjourned-
Commissioner Sanborn moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:48 a.m. with no further business on the agenda. Commissioner Baldacci seconded the motion. Moved to approve 2-0
Certified By: Administrator, William Collins Peter K. Baldacci, Chairman Laura J. Sanborn, Commissioner Andre E. Cushing, III, Commissioner
