Town of Mount Vernon Community Newsletter
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Town of Mount Vernon Community Newsletter www.mtvernonme.org April 2021 Edition TOWN OFFICE STAFF TOWN DEPARTMENT STAFF Dr. Shaw Memorial Library 293-2565 Town Office Animal Control Officer Website: drshawlibrary.org Phone: 293-2379 Trish Davis @ 491-0410 Email: [email protected] Fax: 293-3507 Open Saturdays 10am-3pm and [email protected] Cemetery Sexton Wednesdays from 3-6 pm Mondays 9am-5 pm Robert Grenier @ 293-2783 Tue, Wed, & Th 7am-3pm Curbside service available during these 1st Saturday of Month 9-Noon hours and also on Monday afternoons & Code Enforcement Officer and Wednesday mornings. Plumbing Inspector TOWN OFFICE LOBBY Andrew Marble @ 293-2636 Call or email ahead for this service OPENED FOR BUSINESS [email protected] and we will arrange a pickup time. ON TUESDAY, MARCH 2ND. Tuesdays 8am-4pm MASKS MUST BE WORN AND 2 PEOPLE MAY ENTER Fire Chief LOBBY AT A TIME. Dana Dunn @ 293-2114 (non-emergencies) Mt. Vernon Post Office Hours WE LOOK FORWARD TO Retail Window ASSISTING YOU!! General Assistance Paul Crockett @ 293-2532 Monday-Friday 7-10 am [email protected] Closed from 10-11 am Open from 11am to 1 pm Town Clerk & Tax Collector Health Officer Heather Wheeler @ 293-2379 Daniel K. Onion @ 293-2076 Saturdays from 9-11 am [email protected] Rescue Director Deputy Clerk Pat Rawson @ 293-2597 Amanda Wheeler @ 293-2379 (non-emergencies) Newsletter [email protected] Road Commissioner Treasurer Lee Dunn @ 242-5828 All articles to be submitted by 25th Kerry Casey @ 293-2379 of each month to [email protected] Tax Assessor Mondays & Wednesdays 10-12 Roger Peppard [email protected] 3rd Thursday of each month Select Board [email protected] Paid Business Advertisments Business Card Size $15/month [email protected] Transfer Station 1/4 page $25/month Carole O’Connell @ 458-1425 1/2 page $45/month Mac Hardy, Chair @ 293-4646 Sat & Sun 8:30 am –Noon [email protected] May 1st thru September 30th open on Wednesdays from 3-6pm Sherene Gilman @ 293-2388 [email protected] Inside this issue: Paul Crockett @ 293-3000 From the Mt. Vernon Select Board Desktop 2 [email protected] February Select Board Meeting Highlights 3-5 Select Board Admin. Assistant Message from Mt. Vernon’s Community Ctr. 5 Melanie Gay Knox @ 293-1105 [email protected] Broadband Committee News 6-7 Dr. Shaw Memorial Library News 8-9 Select Board Meetings are held every other Monday at the Town Health Officer Dan Onion, MD, MPH 10-11 Office @ 1997 North Road 30-Mile Watershed News 12 Warrant @ 6:30 pm Community Announcements & Updates 13-18 Regular Town Business @ 7:00 pm Mt. Vernon Boards, Committees & Trustees 19-20 Local Places of Worship 21 From the Mt. Vernon Selectboard Desktop Greetings and happy SPRING Hopefully, we will all gradually return to some normalcy over the next few months. Town hall is open again for walk-in business, albeit with the mask mandate still in play. Don’t forget that re-registration for cars can also be done online at https://www1.maine.gov/online/bmv/rapid-renewal The annual spring election is set for Tuesday June 8th, where town meeting officially starts. Town meeting continues Saturday June 12th with the balance of the warrant articles. We have not yet determined the location and do not know if we can all gather inside. Last year it worked out well meeting outside with the awesome fire department tents. We will sort this out in May, but we plan to hold a “normal” town meeting. Sadly, our excellent code enforcement officer, Andrew Marble is going to give up his Mount Vernon day as one of his other towns is adding a day to his schedule. Andy has done an excellent job for us and we really appreciate that. So, unless we can get him to change his mind: Help Wanted: Code enforcement officer and licensed plumbing inspector While these are jobs usually held by the same person, they have unique licensing and qualifications. The LPI must be State licensed to start, while the CEO can take up to a year to get certified by the State. This Local contractors: please pass this code enforcement/LPI job info along to anyone you may know who has these skills. Andy is with us through April, but we really don’t want to risk holding up septic installs and so forth because we have no CEO/LPI. The select board and budget committee have been working on finalizing the 2022 budget. It is looking like it will re- main fairly flat. We welcome the public’s input. On a related note, the annual RSU 38 budget vote is scheduled for May 19th. You can also view the latest budget documents for the RSU at: https://www.maranacook.org/o/rsu-38/page/fy- 22-budget-documents On a different note, I want to pass along appreciation to everyone who recycles at the transfer station. We, collective- ly, have been able to keep our zero-sort recycling stream very “clean”. What that means for taxpayers is that we are not being charged additional fees that kick in when there are too many non-recyclable items on the load. So, keep up the good work. As a reminder, things that the ecomaine does not accept include all “Styrofoam”, plastic bags, garden hoses, wax-coated boxes and more. There is a lot of related info that you can look at here: https://www.ecomaine.org/what-can-be-recycled/ On behalf of the Mount Vernon Select Board, Paul Crockett 2 March Selectboard Minutes Highlights Selectboard agendas and full minutes can be found @ www.mtvernonme.org March 1, 2021 Zoom Meeting with Fire Department cancelled as budget is remaining the same and there were no questions. Selectman Crockett will revise Savage Computer contract and bring to Select- board for review. Selectman Crocket will collate Spectrum Franchise Contract and present at next Selectboard meeting. $116,883.79 from FEMA reimbursement account will be moved to capital im- provement roads account. Selectman Gilman created an evaluation document for town employees to as- sess their performance. Several positions will be up for review in April. Governance Committee met with Town Clerk to let her know that the Town will abide by vote regarding her position for 2021-2022. Currently the Emergency Management Leader position is vacant. Chairman Har- dy was informed by Sean Goodwin, Kennebec County EMA Director, that the Homestead Exemption that we receive is dependent on having an Emergency Management Leader. More discussion to come. Selectman Crockett and Gilman are drafting a policy on Chairs and Treasurer’s of Committees and Boards. Website is in the process of being updated. Fuel bidding with the School Collaborative has been put on hold as prices are too high. Dan from MTV Heating is cleaning the furnaces and boilers in the town buildings. Office was opened to the public again on Tuesday, March 2nd, masks required and 2 visitors at a time. Budget discussions with Cemetery Sexton/911, Broadband Committee, Athletic Com- mittee and Transfer Station took place. Treasurer will put money in budget for pur- chasing additional container, which may not be needed, but funds will be available. Currently nomination papers are available for 2 and 3 year positions on School Board and 3 year position on Selectboard. Modern Pest Control left quote discussion at 3/15 meeting. 3 March 1, 2021 (Continued) Paid Leave Law is expected to impact approximately 13 employees. A letter will be go- ing out to those employees shortly. Selectman Crockett will get an estimate to upgrade to Office 365 and bring to next meeting. Library Trustees will be holding a fund raiser in Memory of George Smith promoting an outside educational sitting area. Selectman Crockett and Mark Gilbert (Channel 7) are exploring ways to stream Select- board meeting on YouTube. March 15, 2021 Josh Neptune was approved for a 30-day auto recycling permit Modern Pest Control has been hired to address mouse problem at Town Office Andrew Marble resigned as Code Enforcement Officer & Plumbing Inspector as of April 26th. Town Clerk wishes to remain salaried. If changed to hourly requests compensation for elections and town meetings in addition to 35 1/2 hours weekly. She also requested Deputy Clerk be considered for raise and Gemini be considered for backup on TRIO. Scott Herrick gave pros and cons of going cloud based and gave estimates on how we can make our system safer including 2 hard drives for backup and uninterruptable bat- tery pack on server. Scott will donate the 1 license needed. He will contact TRIO and schedule demo for Town Office. Sexton Bob Grenier added a few hundred dollars to budget, otherwise stayed same. Requested cemetery and municipal lawns carryover be rolled into capital funds. Transfer station doesn’t want overflow container. Discovered that the sensors were shutting the machines down –not due to overload. Budget recommendation was $135,000 with no money carried forward. One On-road plowing bid was received and granted to Lee Dunn for $221,030. Two Off-road plowing bids were received and contract was granted to John Currier @ $11,100 (year 1), $11,200 (year 2), and $11,300 (year 3). CMP will get back to Selectboard with a decision regarding cost of generator hookup and who will be responsible. RSU #38 budget increasing by $519,00 a 2.75% increase. Chairman Hardy has asked for information regarding 10 Mt. Vernon students going to school in Readfield, why and whether it effects the student count. Town of Mt. Vernon signed Inter-Local Waste Management Agreement with Belgrade.