Carrabassett Valley Selectmen’s Meeting

4:30 p.m. Monday July 11th, 2011

At the Library

Agenda:

Review and sign 2011 Payroll Warrant(s) #______for $______.

Review and sign 2011 Town Expenditure Warrant(s) # for $______.

1. MINUTES of the previous meeting (June 13th, 2011) are attached.

2. UPDATE ON RECREATIONAL BRIDGE PROJECT: We anticipate receiving a signed contract (perhaps before this meeting) from the bridge contractor. We hope to finally be out to bid for the remaining excavation and bridge abutment work on or about July 11th (we are awaiting the final specs from the Town’s engineer). We will provide the Board with an update.

3. UPDATE ON THE MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS PROJECT: We will provide the Board with a brief update on this project. If any Board member (or citizen) is interested we will provide a walking tour of this trail work being completed at the Outdoor Center on Tuesday (July 12th) afternoon.

4. UPDATED FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE PUBLIC LOTS: As a follow-up to the discussion with Town Forester, Michael Kankainen, at the last Selectmen’s meeting we have had continued discussions with Michael regarding the completion of the Forest Management Plan and an updated forest inventory for the Town’s 2100 acre public lot. The proposal is for Michael to update and complete the Forest Management Plan for the previously agreed price of $8,000 (we did not pay Michael for the original plan). This will be completed by August 1st. If agreed by the Board, Michael will also complete an updated forest inventory with an associated report for $2/acre ($4,400 total)—our current inventory is ten-years old and outdated as we have harvested wood on a substantial portion of the public lot. This information is critical to plan for future forest management (including the Recreation Zone). This work would be completed by November 15th. Going forward, the proposal also calls for Michael to be paid $100 for each planning meeting he is asked to attend and $65/hour for report writing.

5. POTENTIAL AGC ROOF REPAIR PROJECT: The AGC Operations Committee will be meeting at 3:00 p.m. on July 11th (prior to the Selectmen’s Meeting) to discuss a proposal from Roof Solutions Company of Madison to repair the Anti-Gravity Complex (AGC) Roof to alleviate long-standing roof leaking problems at this facility. The total cost of the proposal is $15,296. As you know, the AGC is owned jointly by the Town and Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) and both parties would share in the cost of the repairs. There appears however, to be a need for the Town to finance the project with CVA reimbursing the Town over a five-year period (through our regular monthly billing to them for operational expenses). There is over $19,000 currently in the Town’s AGC Capital Maintenance Account. We will present more information to the Board at the meeting based on the results of the AGC Operations Committee meeting. Please see attached a copy of the proposal to repair the roof. It has been somewhat difficult to find a roofing contractor willing to take on this repair project (this is a very large “screwed on” metal roof as opposed to a more expensive standing seam roof). As you know, the building was opened in February of 2001.

6. NEW WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM MAY BE NEEDED IN THE TOWN OFFICE BUILDING: We are experiencing problems with the water filtration system in the Town Office. The current system was installed approximately ten years ago to eliminate substantial odor problems associated with the presence of Sulfur in the water (this is common in the immediate “Valley Center” area). We have had a local plumber working on trying to repair the system and we are having some difficulty locating parts for this system (Provectr water treatment system from Watersoft, Inc.). We have asked Goodwin Well Drilling to look at the problem (they are due here on July 11th) as they install and repair water filtration systems. The potential system replacement cost is approximately $2,400 (which would need to come from the Building Maintenance Account). The problem affects not only the Town Office but the Ambulance Service (rental) quarters also. We will provide more information at the meeting.

INFORMATIONAL:

---Electrical Work at the Airport: As part of last year’s Airport Apron Project, we added some additional electrical update work at the airport (updating the electrical service to the hangars which will also service the (4) electrical plug-ins for airplanes and the new AWOS which Life Flight of Maine is installing). This work is now being completed under a separate bid sent out to local electrical contractors. Bids are due 2:00 p.m. July 22nd and the Board of Selectmen will need to take action on the bids at the next Selectmen’s meeting. Completion of this work will not cause us to exceed the budget for this project.

---The contract for the Airport Crack Sealing Project has been signed and the work is being scheduled (this project may hinder use of the airport for three days when the project begins).

---AGC Operations Committee Meeting: 3:00 p.m. July 11th at the AGC

---Forestry Committee (Oversight of Public Lots) Meeting: 3:00 p.m. July 13th at the Outdoor

Center

---Golf Course Greens Committee Meeting: 3:00 p.m. July 20th at the Clubhouse

TOWN OF CARRABASSETT VALLEY

MINUTES OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING

June 13, 2011

Board Members Present: Bob Luce Steve Pierce

Jay Reynolds Lloyd Cuttler

Others Present: Dave Cota Neal Trask

BJ Bangs John McCatherin

John Ober Michael Kankainen

John Norris Deb Bowker

Bob Luce opened the meeting at 4:30 p.m.

Expenditure warrant #25 for $98,981.96 was reviewed and signed by Selectmen.

Payroll warrant #24 for $18,266.94 was reviewed and signed by Selectmen.

The minutes of the May 16, 2011 were reviewed. A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as written. Motion carried.

The Franklin County Hazard Mitigation Plan was discussed. This will assist Franklin County to be eligible for FEMA funding for disaster relief for public facilities. There would potentially be money available for rip-rap along the river near the Town Office, in the event there was a severe flood. A motion was made and seconded to sign the plan; motion carried.

A contract for pavement crack sealing at the Airport was reviewed. The Town has received an FAA grant for $43,700. The Town has approved $2,300 for its share of this project. Bids were opened in April, and the low bid was from Hi-way Safety System, Inc of Rockland, Mass. For $17,600. A motion was made to authorize the Town Manager to sign the contract, as written. The motion was seconded and approved.

Bids for two Town Building window/door replacement projects were reviewed. Dave Cota provided the bid results, but he would like to have more time to review them carefully, since they were due today at 2 p.m. He wants to determine the exact type of windows that have been specified in the bids. He will get back to the board following this review. Steve Pierce made a motion to authorize Dave Cota to look into this further and make a determination based on the findings of his review (low bid being Scott Dolan for $17,000 for window replacement at the Outdoor Center and $1,700 for replacement of the front entrance door/window to the ambulance service in the Town Office building. Motion was seconded and approved.

Dave Cota gave an update on the Recreational Bridge Project. He said there is a potential issue with the bond for the contractor, but there may be a way around it by requiring the Contractor to provide an irrevocable letter of credit from a bank instead. Otherwise, the second bidder may need to be contacted for renegotiation. Dave said that the other components of the project are being put out to bid, such as building the approaches to the bridge, the two abutments and the right-of-way. Within the next week, these bid packages should be put together. All easements are in place.

The Mountain Bike Trail Building Project was reviewed. Sugarloaf has provided man power and equipment, and this is making quite a difference. The Town has two employees working on the project, and the Carrabassett Mountain Bike Club held a volunteer work day. The Trail Contractor is doing a great job, and everyone is impressed. Dave feels that people will enjoy the beginners trail, even as a walking trail. The contractor and his employees will be here one more week. The backhoe is rented for two more weeks after that and Dave has hired a local person to run this machine.

Michael Kankainen attended the meeting to review the timber harvesting and forest management plan for the Town’s public lots for 2011. Since 2007, the Town has taken in almost $300,000 in stumpage revenue. Many bridges at the Outdoor Center have been replaced. There’s $34,000 left in the account right now (major expenditures, to date, have included: Forester Fees $38,000, bridge replacement and Nordic Ski trail work $98,000, new Nordic ski bridge, arena and trail work: $78,000, Trail Consultants and engineering: $23,000 and Road Work: $58,000). Some money will need to be spent this year for an updated forestry plan. Dave suggested that Michael also complete a new inventory that would also consider developing a plan for the Recreational Zone to provide some sustainable forestry.

Harvesting 2011 – 2014: (About one month of each of the next three or four summer) complete the harvesting of the east side of the Town Lot Road and Trail 1 East up to Trail 50. Also complete the harvesting of the block to the West of Trail 21 and North of Trail 1 West and Trail 7 East. It could potentially generate about $300/acre (gross) and would net about $50,000 over the next three years.

Michael said he had originally projected a yield of about $300,000, assuming that much of the top part of the lot would not be cut (more difficult areas). If they are to work in the Recreation Zone, he may recommend doing so with the use of horses, to reduce the impact. There are still approximately 200 acres where nothing has been done to date. He said they’re close to the revenue that was originally projected, and now it’s time to re-inventory. There wouldn’t be anything done in the Recreation Zone this year, but a plan may be developed for discussion. The existing plan is now ten years old.

Bob Luce commented that, now that work has been in progress to everyone’s satisfaction, it’s a good time to go back and look at the other areas to develop a plan for the future. Dave Cota said there will be a Forestry Committee meeting in the near future to discuss Michael’s suggestions and comments.

Lloyd Cuttler said he would like to see money from the Recreation Zone earmarked for maintenance of what has already been built.

Informational:

The Golf Greens Committee met on June 9th to discuss capital projects for 2011. The 5th hole project is being wrapped up. At a future meeting, the purchase of greens covers (from the Golf Course Reserve Fund) will be discussed, and also doing small drainage projects (smaller in scale than the most recent). The greens covers may help to reduce winter kill. Bob Bruce, golf course superintendent, will provide more information at the next meeting. There’s also some discussion about housing for the new electric carts, which Sugarloaf has entered into a lease/purchase arrangement. It will need to be reviewed whether this is considered maintenance or capital.

June 14th, there is a Referendum Special Town Meeting on the School Budget. Dave Cota said that this will be to “validate” a vote that has already been taken and approved. He feels this is a very cumbersome process, and it’s unfortunate that the voters didn’t have enough information in order to change this State School Legislation process.

The Town has paid the last payment of $37,500 for the purchase of the new Snowmobile Trail Groomer, and the grant for $47,213.01 has been received. Per the agreement, the Town and the Snowmobile Club split the difference in additional grant funding (over $37,500 which was the final payment). Each received $4,856.50. This additional Town funding will go back to surplus to offset some for the $40,000 from Surplus the Town voted to expend for this purchase.

If approved by the Selectmen, the Town will sell the groomer to the Snowmobile Club for $1 as per the agreement. Steve Pierce made a motion to sell the groomer to the Snowmobile Club for $1. Jay Reynolds seconded the motion. Motion carried.

With regard to ATV usage on the Airport’s land, it is intended to use the existing snowmobile trail. Neal Trask asked Dave Cota to sign an ATV land easement for reimbursement for trail maintenance. This is a one-year use permit. Bob Luce confirmed that this follows the snowmobile trail. Steve Pierce made a motion to authorize Dave Cota to sign the land easement for the ATV Club. Lloyd Cuttler seconded the motion. Lloyd also mentioned that perhaps more signage is necessary along Route 27. Motion carried. Dave Cota will discuss the signage with MDOT.

Bob Luce reported that he has discussed the next Maine Huts and Trails Lodge building, which will be located on the Sanitary District’s land. They’re working to plan for additional parking to access this lodge and to take some of the pressure off parking for the Poplar Stream Hut. Bob said there might be some relief at the Touring Center, and there will also be some available parking at the Black Fly lot. Bob said he would like to see their plans take these items into account, without having to plan for construction and maintenance of additional parking lots. The best opportunity, as it appears right now, is to make the Black Fly lot as big as possible.

Meeting adjourned at 5:47 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Lynn Schnorr