1-21-01 Minutes

Minutes of NVC Meeting of January 21, 2001

The Board of Overseers of the Northport Village Corporation met on Sunday January 21, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. at the Drinkwater Elementary School. Overseers present were Allen, Block, Doucette, Handler, Lightner, Rohweder, Whitten, President Vlodek, Treasurer Stein, Village attorney Metcalf, John Fancy of the Utility Committee, Beverly Crofoot of the Historical Society, Selectpersons Denise Lindahl and Tim Peabody representing the Town of Northport, Village Agent Bill Paige and several village residents.

The first item of business was a presentation by the two Selectpersons from Northport regarding the letter that was sent by William Kelly the attorney for the Town of Northport regarding the Village Code Enforcement Officer. They explained that the town of Northport had a CEO and were not sure why the Village felt the need for their own CEO. They also questioned whether the Village has the authority to appoint a CEO and were concerned about overlapping authority.

At this time the board moved in to executive session to discuss the letter and points raised by Selectpersons Lindahl and Peabody with Attorney Metcalf.

After the conclusion of the executive session, Attorney Metcalf responded to Selectpersons Peabody and Lindahl on behalf of the Board. She explained that the Village desires to work with the town on this and other issues. In this case, however, the Village does have the authority to appoint a CEO to enforce its zoning ordinance based on the laws of the State of Maine. The Selectpersons were encouraged to review that authority with Richard Flewellyn of the Maine Municipal Association. Attorney Metcalf further explained that there is actually no overlapping authority. The Town has the authority over use issues governed by the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. Because the Town has no other ordinances, the Village has the authority to enforce its own ordinance, which specifically does not address shoreland use. The Village would acknowledge that if a conflict did exist between Village and Town ordinances, the Town ordinance would indeed prevail.

Lindahl and Peabody reported that new regulations at the transfer station had significantly reduced usage. This may enable the town to cut back one of the existing days currently Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Overseer Doucette asked whether accommodations could be made to allow the Village Agent to use the site on Mondays due to heavy weekend use of village. The Selectpersons thought it likely that this could be accommodated.

Selectpersons Lindahl and Peabody also reported on an application for a mussel farm to be located 1500’ offshore of Kelly Cove. This site would include 4- 40’X40’ rafts. It was also noted that the Northport Harbormaster has received inquires from two other parties interested in starting mussel farms.

The Selectpersons also announced the appointment of a Town Harbor Committee to address waterfront issues and that the Town will soon be advertising for members to serve on its Board of Appeals

The Clerk’s minutes of November 19, 2000 were amended to correct the date of the next meeting to January 21. Minutes were then approved.

The year-end Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Village Agent Paige reported trouble retaining snow removal and sanding services. Three different plowing companies have been used so far. Currently Nadeau is contracted.

Agent Paige also reported that:

	Dean Brown had completed repairs to the wharf entryway for less than $3000. The Board had authorized up to $5,000 to be spent to complete this project.
	That a figure of $3,400 was the estimated cost for constructing a meeting room in the Village office building and that the phone system had been replaced.
	That an additional quote had been received for a new boat and swim float ramp from Steel&Marshall for $13,000.
	That there is a problem this winter with the new dump stickers falling off the bags in the cold weather. Agent Paige has had to pay the disposal fee for the bags without the stickers. He is still driving down the long Bixler and Eldridge driveways to pick up their garbage bags.

CEO Blaine Richardson who was hired for an interim period was introduced. Richardson reported that he has reviewed the Village Zoning Ordinance and felt it was very well put together. He has also noted that he had made a preliminary examination of the village.

The Board moved to executive session.

The Board approved an additional interim contract through Feb 18 with the CEO. Richardson was asked to draft a permit application and a meeting was set for the CEO Search Committee to meet with him to review the application on January 30^th.

President Vlodek reported on some new information regarding Arsenic compiled by the Ad-Hoc Arsenic committee.

	The EPA has lowered the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water standard by 80% to fall in the range of 5-10 ppb.
	The University of Maine geological report could not find evidence of arsenic minerals in the watershed. They will arrange for a public presentation of the report in the spring.

Beverly Crofoot distributed a recent article in the Dartmouth Medical journal detailing recent research results.

John Fancy of the Utilities Committee reported the following:

	2 new water customers.
	South Shore extension work would be more expensive than originally thought.
	There is a possibility that the PUC will be removed from its regulatory function over the water department
	Work is complete on the Sprock and Lagner projects.
	There is still no final word about grant money for the major infrastructure project.

John Fancy presented a management plan for the infrastructure upgrade. The plan detailed the delegation of the project’s decision making responsibilities and recommended reporting procedures to allow the Board to track the project. A project timeline was also presented.

The Board voted to APPROVE the implementation of this plan.

President Vlodek reported for the Parks Committee that during a recent storm that downed trees throughout the mid-coast, there were no downed trees or limbs in Bayside within the Village parks .The recent work to trim and cable trees within the parks was an excellent investment especially considering the grant money that was received.

Judy Rohweder of the Safety Committee requested and the board voted to APPROVE the expenditure of up to $150.00 for four barrels of salt/sand for Bill page to distribute to particularly difficult road areas this winter.

John Lightner of the Information Committee reported that the committee hadn’t compiled sufficient material to produce a newsletter for the February utility mailing. The committee hopes to have more material in place for a publication in late April.

Because the April meeting would fall on Easter Sunday the Board voted to move the meeting to April 22, 2001.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:00.

Meeting schedule for Board of Overseers. Meetings start at 10:00 A.M. at Drinkwater school.

March 11

April 22

May 20