Minutes, Board of Selectmen, Sweden, ME Dec. 2, 2008

Present: Jean and Annette Bouchard, Ken Forde, DJ Curtis, Warren Noble., John Clifford, Selectpersons Willey, Jones and Alberta Ridlon and Clerk Gibbons.

The meeting was opened at 7 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. The warrant was read and items approved. Mrs. Ridlon was welcomed to the Board. It is to be noted that the November 25th meeting was cancelled due to the electricity being out in the office until just before the time of the scheduled meeting.

Tax Committee: Mr. Forde reported that Tax Collector Flint is working on lien discharges and hopes to do 10 a week. Mr. Forde reported that the town could be libel to fines due to the long period of time between payment and release of liens by the town.

Broken Mailboxes: Mr. Bouchard reported that he had discussed the problem of snow plows hitting mailboxes with Robby Drew. Mr. Drew promised that he would instruct his drivers to slow down and be careful of mail boxes. He will take disciplinary action if a mail box is plowed down. There are supposed to be working radios in all the trucks so that there is constant contact with the crew during a snow storm.

Budget: DJ Curtis presented a tentative Budget for 2009. The date was set for the Town Meeting: March 21st. Mr. Bouchard advocated for a later Town Meeting date. There are many agencies who have requested funding. The Town budget will be $398,684 if everything is approved. She anticipates a 7% increase in County Tax. Last year the school payments increased 18%. She anticipates the total will be 1.1 million and anticipates that the increase in mill rate will be 13% more than last year. It was voted to remove the $1000 accounting of maintenance from the Town charges and put it under the separate maintenance article. Mr. Jones brought up the need for high speed interest service for the town office, saying that the requirements to put data into the Centralized Voter Registration system cannot be accomplished on the dial-up service provided by the state. He will investigate various provider's fees for installation and monthly charges.

Roads: An issue concerning a culvert near the intersection of Marr Road on Hardscrabble Road was discussed. John Clifford was asked to investigate whether a larger culvert or a 2nd culvert would be feasible. This cannot be done until summer. He will investigate a Jersey barrier.

Fire Chief Report: Mr. Noble asked for a ledger of the expenditures of the Fire Department. He is concerned that each line item should not be over spent and that under spent items should not be spent for other items. There are currently 3 Junior Fire-fighters and 26 Adult Fire fighters. The Fire Association has voted to set aside $500 from fundraising events to start a Fire Building materials fund for interior work that the Fire Department will do on a building if and when it is built.

Other: Minutes of the October 28th meeting were approved (2-0). Minutes of the Town Meeting, Nov. 22 were approved (3-0).

The Clerk Gibbons reported that the ballots had been returned from the State after they had been recalled for a recount. She reported that she had found about a dozen property deeds had never been received in our office and she had a list of another dozen tax transfers which had never been reported by the state. She wrote a letter listing these to the State Revenue Service and they will be sending copies soon. She reported that no hunting licenses were sold in November, but dog licenses for 2009 were being sold and many were processing them by mail with a self addressed stamped envelop. She thanked Warren Noble for supplying sandwiches to the election workers on Election Day.

There was no mail for the Board since the last meeting.

Meeting was adorned at 9:12 p.m. Jane Gibbons, Clerk