From the desk of Heidi Sagar

November 28, 2018 – DRAFT Meeting Minutes

Committee Members Present: Don Beaudin, Douglas Erb, Kathy Parsons, Richard Sagar, Bruce Ulricson. There were 7 people in the audience

Meeting opened at 6:00 pm.

• Doug read the warrant article authorizing the Committee’s work. He again emphasized that the Committee is a fact finding, not decision making body.
• The minutes of the November 13, 2018 meeting were discussed. Don suggested a change from “resident” to “homeowner” in the next-to-last bullet point on page 1.  Kathy suggested that it might be misleading to include Ben Peters’ building costs, as the building was constructed several years ago, and costs may have increased.  It was agreed to remove the entire reference to the building costs, and also to modify the text as suggested by Don.  The amended minutes were approved.
• Doug read a letter addressed to the Committee from Deb Erb. Deb had asked to have the letter included in the minutes.  The letter is an expression of her opinions, and not a statement of opinion by this Committee.  The letter is an attachment to these minutes.
• Doug reported that Greg Hartwell was unable to attend due to the change of date. Doug will ask Greg if he can attend our next meeting.
• Don read a report from the Fire Department regarding the events involving the disputed funds. This was a summary of the longer fifty page document that had been provided earlier at the Committee’s request.  The summary, in its entirety, is included as an attachment to these minutes.
• Richard pointed out that the report that the Committee had previously received from the Select Board regarding the same events should also be included with these minutes. The Committee agreed, and that document is also attached to these minutes.
• There was discussion regarding possible renovations and improvements to the existing fire station. Don reported on a quote provide by Presby Construction.  That quote is attached to these minutes.  The Committee notes that this is a preliminary estimate, and that additional research is needed by the Fire Department Building Committee.  The quote also provides an estimated square foot cost for new construction of a basic building.  It was pointed out that the actual size of the present structure is a little larger than the number mentioned in the quote.  It was also mentioned that these cost estimates did not take into account any special code requirements for this type of structure.  It was noted that the amount quoted for renovations could be nearly covered by the present funds in the Fire Department Trust Fund.
• There was a question regarding the lack of direct Town control over the selection of a fire chief. Becky McGovern pointed out that it was voted at town meeting to allow the Fire Department to make that selection.
• As requested by the Committee, Richard presented a draft of the Final Report to the Town. The Committee members had collaborated by email on the document, and suggestions for editing were discussed.  Those changes will be incorporated into the report and finalized at the next meeting.
• Doug suggested that a minority report could be amended to the report if desired by any dissenting members. The Committee agreed that a minority report should be included if needed.
• The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM. The next meeting to be announced.

Respectfully submitted, Heidi Sagar

Attachments:

Report from Landaff Select Board  (Minutes page 3-11)

Report from Landaff Volunteer Firemen’s Association (Minutes page 12-14)

Presby Building Quote (Minutes page 15)

Letter from Deb Erb (Minutes page 16)

2018-11-28 Minutes _FireStudy_attachments