Yeah, I'm ready. Hi, Jane. Yes. Uh, good evening, Lunberg. My name is Brett Ramston. I'm the vice chair of the Lunberg Sew Commission. Um, we are starting the meeting now and we begin that with the pledge of allegiance
um in which Julie has a flag for us. covered. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
and all. Thank you all. Um, in accordance with the requirements of Oprah meeting law, please be advised, just making sure I'm on camera, uh, that this meeting of the super commission is being recorded and will be able to be found on the Lunberg Access
YouTube channel after the meeting. The following information is also provided for members of the public that would like to participate in the meeting remotely. To participate remotely from a computer, please use the link joined. Uh to join the public meeting webinar found
on the posted agenda or from a telephone, please dial toll-free uh number 888475-4499 and enter the webinar number ID number 83187249940. Uh if you have not registered with Zoom, you will be asked
for your name and email address. Nope. No participant ID is needed. Just press pound when asked. I will do a roll call vote uh for all members. Um followed by a roll call vote of our
staff. Um, Joseph Early here and Scott Dah here. And Brett Ramston is here. And thank you, gentlemen. Uh, following with the staff, um, if we could, I'll ask for Bill
Bernard. I'm here. Andrew Valerie. Valerie. You muted. You're still mute, but I read your lips. Y valier. Got it. Got it. Hey, and Jane Ranway.
Hi, Jane. Thank you. Okay. Uh, do we have any public for which to have public comments? Excuse me. There is no public on the call at the moment. Okay. Are there any
announcements or comments from the um staff or uh commissioners? See none. Uh looks like we'll jump right into the current business folks. Um and we have
uh uh an update. Bill, if you could update us on the CWMP. Yeah. So, I found the file finally and I sent over the executive summary in
the first chapter. I couldn't send it all over at once because the file is way too big. Um, but I I put together a document that kind of
highlighted what it's all about. So, I guess uh yeah, you know what? Why don't I share it any I've been running into a number of people that do actually follow
our meetings after the fact on YouTube. So, we can share that information. That'd be great. Share share screen. Share this one. share. All right.
Excellent. Okay. Now, if I get this out of the way. All right. So the comprehensive wastewater management plan was it was built over a number of years starting well somewhere around 2005 I believe and
it's the latest update is 2016 and that update um looks at the future of the system up through the year 2036. So, it's a 20-year
plan. Let's see. So, it's the plan is to evaluate whether or not conventional on-site, you know, title five septic systems are adequate for sanitation,
environmental protection, and growth management within the town. The ton um determined that they needed a plan for three factors. Um which are the there was a concern
that the town is not well suited for the conventional title five septic. uh that they were concerned about population growth and talking about the other concern was the limited capacity of sending waste water to
nearby towns, right? Because we sent everything to Lemonster and Fitsburg. So phase one determined that the town has 11 areas that needed study. Phase two
identified and described and evaluated several alternatives to address wastewater treatment. Then phase three um included a detailed evaluation of wastewater collection, treatment and
disposal alternatives. And it's uh and then phase four just built off of phase three and really dug down a little bit more and updated the plan. So the priority need
areas that the plan identified are lower Massav, Baker Station, Lake Wham, Massav at near Bale Street, Highland Street, Rolling Acres, and Pioneer Drive. Let me see.
Bill, in your assessment, Mhm. Um, I know we're not too deep into it yet, but how does your more recent observations uh match up with the assessment that was made in 2016?
Well, um, right now most people that want to connect are within the areas that already have sewer. I know in the past they um they queried some of these areas in
different roads if they wanted to expand and um the most recent one was what in 20 I think it was in 22 I think it was right before I started working there and the people said no they didn't
want it so I think we're we've been pretty much following the plan. Excellent. Please continue. All right. Uh so the the plan recommended
um that the town should implement institutional and system management procedures prior to future infrastructure construction. Right? So they wanted us to look at waste water conservation, storm water management, nutrient
management and develop a septage management plan. Um so it it went further into those areas that it recommended. It it actually said where the the flow should go. So the lower Massav, Baker Station,
Lake Whale um Massav at Bale Street, Highland Street, Rolling Acres and Pioneer Drive, it recommended sending all that waste water to Lemonster. Um because Lemonster has more capacity for
it and it costs us a little bit less to send it to Lemonster as opposed to Fitsburg. So one difference from phase three to phase four was it no longer recommended that lower Massav and Massav at Bill Street transport the generative waste
water to Fitsburg. Right. So it change it send it over to Lemonster. That was one of the biggest changes that I saw. [Music] Excellent. All right. So the purpose of
the report uh wastewater management needs to have been well need let me start again for the purposes of this report wastewater management needs were evaluated on five
categories public health water supply protection protection of surface waters preserving community character and managing growth. So the the report was built around those
needs. Um I don't have any other notes. I could at some point um I guess if you guys want the full report I could put it on a thumb drive
and and get it to you that way because it's it's 247 pages. It was 24 megabytes. So it'll never go through email. You could put it on a Google Drive and share make it private but share the link.
Yeah, that's good thought. I will do that. Um I have a couple questions. Sure. Um the 11 areas that aren't suited for traditional septic that's just
because proximity to lakes or well there's 11 areas total. Yeah. So this the areas that were identified for future expansion it from what I could see was yeah the the soils aren't
suitable. Um, okay. They need lakes, right? There's the potential of a septic system of a fail that could contaminate a lake. Okay. Um, yeah, some of the lots are too small in areas. Okay. So, that makes for a
variety of reasons. Yeah. And then um there's a couple mentions of analyzing whether or not um conventional title 5 will provide adequate sanitation through the 2026 or
2036. Is that asking to like independently determine whether septic systems are good enough or do we expect like the code to be more like particular and that current septic tanks might not meet the the
legal requirements or I'm not really sure exactly what that's asking. Yeah. So, what it's saying is yeah, you're right. Can a title five septic system be designed to meet code in
whatever given area? Um the report goes into that a little bit. You know, they've granted exceptions over the years. You know, if the lot was too small or the soils weren't right or different reasons, they granted some
exceptions. Um it's not up to the the commission to look at that. Okay. I guess that answers the question really cuz like you're going to have a lot that is zoned to be built on but it can't meet title five. Does that mean we're
required to find a way to get a get a sewer reaching them kind of thing or well it doesn't require us to do that. it it may be prudent to do that and you know the report goes into which areas we
should be looking at first for future expansion right I think generally you'd assume that the farther these lots get from the center of town and the already sewer accessible areas we're running into fewer properties that are too small for septic
correct right okay I think that's all my questions excellent. Uh does anybody else have any other questions? All right. If uh if everybody's all set,
we'll move on to um number B and [Music] um talk about the commission vacancies. And I thought I'd ask, is there any updates on finding that letter that went
out last year? Yeah. Um, I talked to the town manager about it a little bit. It didn't really get too much traction. I'm trying to remember how it went, but it it didn't go too
far. Uh, if I suppose if the commission wants to to do their own letter, I don't see why we couldn't, but a tonguewide letter for other commissions. Yeah, there wasn't there
wasn't too much traction for that. Kind of surprised by that. Okay. Um well, gentlemen, I think um you know, a letter worked before. I think a letter would be uh definitely recommended now
to take another shot at some uh very helpful new members. Um so, um do we want to talk about maybe working on our own letter? um to put
together. Uh it would be helpful if we had a copy of that old one. Do um Scott, do you or Joe have the letter that you got? No, I don't. We must We must have it on the share drive somewhere. Yeah.
Like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy written in like 1987. So it um it looked like it might have come off an old mimograph machine and then scanned a few times. Um I did see the somebody on the
conservation commission put something online, you know, selling the commission in the commitment and um then referred them to the volunteer form on the town site. So, I did see that uh a few days
ago and I don't know I think a lot of people are I guess we can maybe see if we can get any interest at the town meeting because I think there seems to be um a little bit of a public push in a sense of um some people are getting sick
of hearing uh some complaints about stuff but then the same people not volunteering. So it might that might come up. That would be great if it came up. Yeah.
But who who knows? I don't know. I I heard the plan for dinner at this meeting. Okay. I uh I coach a couple of four-year-old soccer team and a 5-year-old soccer team on Saturdays. So, I might make a pitch
to the to the other parents after practice. See if if I can drum up any interests. Kind of a a younger crowd. I don't know. Maybe they've got some interest in getting involved. Um, a lot of them new to town kind of thing. So, um, been rained out
the last couple weeks, but uh, and we're off this week, but um, I guess next Saturday I can see if anybody's interested. That would be great. It's supposed to it's supposed to rain this Saturday too on you. Even if you did have a game. Well, should a soccer game actually
happen, that would be great, Joe. Greatly appreciated. All right, so where do we want to leave this right now? Um, guess we'll just uh, you know, I might be able to just
come up with some form of draft or whatever and I'll, you know, and then maybe run it by the next meeting or email you guys and we can bring it up at the next meeting because I I don't remember it being a very
long detailed letter. If I I remember it being maybe three or four sentences. Yeah. I was like, "Did you know that your local sewer department like is overseen by a group of so and some number of elected officials and they
volunteer their time and if you're interested in participating, come like send an email to this person. I like it. Yeah, short short is short and direct is good. Shorter the better. I guess I
could I'll pro well I will look at the town volunteer form and and get the email address off of there too to include with the form. I think ours went to a particular person. I'm not sure if that's still how it's working, but I think they have a generic email address for the
volunteer opportunities. Excellent. All right. Well, if you will you're willing to do that, Scott, that would be great. And um yeah, shoot it to us. We'll have a chance to talk about it at the next meeting and yeah, I think we got a couple weeks till the next meeting
anyways, right? Plus, I'll talk to some people at the meeting. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. Very good. Okay. Um, and then I found I found the letter. I could
share it. Hey, how about this guy, right? Was how closely I remembered the word. Yeah, it was like three, four sentences. Uh, well, all right. Three bullet points. How's that? Yeah, we can easily recreate that. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, can you just uh email it to us? Sure. Okay. We can just tweak it if even needed. New dates. That's great. Thank you, Bill. That helps a
lot. How about that? I'm going to call that progress, right? Wonder what else he's got in there. All right. We should hand sign all thousand of them
for a personal touch, too, before we Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we can make it into a stamp. I I do have a signature stamp. Very good, gentlemen. Very good. Okay. So, let's um yeah, we'll take a look at
that particular letter and maybe um come back next meeting um kind of throw our ideas around about any changes we may or may not want to make to it.
Um, and yeah, from there, sounds good. Very good. Thank you, gentlemen. All right, we're moving uh forward to the DPW director/ sewer business manager updates.
And the first line item there is uh actually we have the minutes from um March 25th 25 and April 15 25. Did you gentlemen have a chance to get a
look at those minutes? I did. I did as well. All right. Um if there's no need for additions or changes, um let's uh do a vote for that. If I could have uh somebody make a motion for those two
meeting minutes would be great. I'll make a motion to accept the minute the previous meetings minutes. Yeah. I'll second the motion. All right. We've got a motion. It's been seconded. Uh Scott
I Joe I and I for myself. The minutes have been accepted and thank you Jane for your excellent work on those. Uh moving on to the fourth quarter FY25 billing.
Um I understand it's been printed and Andrew, do you have any updates for that? Yes, I think it's a success. I think I'm 99.9% confident that this bill run went
last. I got it today. I got the I think text and email from Uni. Was that the name of the So on Uni Pay. Yep. It should be on. So I had even though no one's received their bill through mail, they can go ahead and pay it online. Yeah, I I got
the notifications today. So yeah, I did as well. At least that part worked. So I am, like I said, a lot a lot of lot of work. uh a lot of effort, a lot of going over multiple things, but uh I
think we got it and I'm I'm happy about that. So, and I hope the residents will be too and a little less uh frantic over it this this time. Yeah, it's it's great that you were able to get those bugs out and everything. Something that's been a
challenge for a while. Yep, it it has been. Um, but like I said, it's uh my due, you know, due diligence to uh make sure that everything is correct. And I I think Bill can see that I've, you know, any issues that I've run into, I I did, you know, bring it up to him and like,
look at this, Bill, there's some crazy things, but uh we I've I've adjusted things and the spill run should be accurate for everyone. Andrew, as always, if there's something a miss that for some reason, they're more than welcome to call in and I'll
take a look and see what's going on. That's great, Andrew. Thank you very much. We appreciate all your efforts on that and your double-checking and um you've just been amazing with uh not just picking things up um and taking on
this challenge, but uh you're you've uh made sure that it's it's being done the right way and uh I know Bill's been essential in helping you with that. Um but just wanted to say uh we appreciate what you do and um we appreciate you
getting that together. So, well, thank you. I I appreciate all of you. So, yes, we do. Excellent. So, so Brad, I just want to echo all that. Munis threw about 14 curve balls at him. We had to bring in
two different consultants and he worked through it all. Got got it through. And even after he got them printed, he you know, he he caught the one that was going to bill somebody $14,000. He caught that. So, Oh, yep. and it's all in um the correct formats
as well. So, it's formats that I've been relying on, but um it's it's a lot a lot of time to run through and just make sure that every single number is not wonky. And honestly, there's some numbers that you might not think that
are wonky, but they are. we is that I have uh you know our printing report um that error and that 14 the Muna system in the report didn't it doesn't tell you the n the actual uh billing number it just told you it told me oh this is
where it went but I went in but it moved that number over into the billing number and I had to check that too so very very uh it's is double checking extra checking uh it's very yeah very redundant content, I would say. But, um,
I think we're I think we got it and I'm I'm happy about that. Very happy. Great. Excellent. Great job. And, uh, is the So, you take it the um, the software isn't still doing quite
what it needed to do. I I said I don't I'm not sure. I I'm hoping that once we go into the cloud, I don't I don't know when that is, Bill. it was this week. But um yeah, but they say when it once everything goes into, you know, a cloud, things won't be as um
wonky. But, you know, hoping for the best, but at least like I said, I I feel as though I've been working on the system daily for so x amount of months just trying to figure things out. I I think I have a grasp of how it works. So
at this point it's huge. Excellent. Uh does anybody um want to uh have any other questions for Andrew on this subject or um I'll only ask the sub question of was
the um did they turn on this the partial payment option? I I I talked to Eileen a couple time. Uh she was she was away last week, so I um this is the first week she's been back. So I will ask her about that uh tomorrow. Uh because like
I said, I've been doing, you know, trying to Well, especially where the the current bills are going out, so it's a pretty good opportunity to get in front of For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But I I will um make sure that that's
done well. Sounds good. Already been excellent. Excellent. Well, great job and um it's good to have those out. Um and um great. We'll take it from there. Keep up the great work, Andrew. Thank
you. Thank you. Yep. And u then we're uh got a question for Bill regarding the the manhole repairs. Where do we where do we stand there at the moment, sir? So, I reached out to Insitu Forum and they told me they want to start work
sometime in June. They're going to start sending in all their submittals shortly. So, looks like we're we're on track there. Excellent. Does anybody have any questions for Bill regarding this? Nope.
Great. We're on a roll here, folks. Then we have the town meeting slideshow. Um dates there, Bill. Yep. So let me share the [Music]
screen. So Oh, but uh we have what three articles, four article, three articles. Um, only one of them, uh, two of them are on the consent calendar, meaning that they're really
non-controversial. So, they group a bunch of warrant articles together, and they do a a vote on on all of them at the same time. So, I I put slides for like this one, the first one, you see, article 21, transfer of funds at the
OPED. So, that's on the consent calendar. So this slide will probably never get shown but it's here. It's available. Just explains what OPED is. Uh the big one is is the budget, right? So that's article 22
here. So just a quick slide to explain the budget a little bit. Um the guess the big takeaway from this one is we do have to use retained earnings to balance our budget but we
are not raising our rates which is good for the customers. Um I talked about rising cost though a little bit because next year we're probably going to have to raise rates. You know we'll address that when we get there but that's the way it's trending.
And I did put the picture of a clog and you know try to remind people that clogs are serious problems, right? And don't put anything down the toilet that shouldn't be in there. Um, knock on wood clogs have been way down since, you
know, we made a big push last year to to get the news out about clogs and it it really helped. So, we'll we'll keep pushing on it because it it saves saves us money. Saves the absolutely the reason maybe even a congratulations in
some some way saying, "Hey, you're paying attention and it's saving everybody money kind of thing." Yeah, I I did incorporate that into um our bills if um anyone if they look at it. That's
great. All right, then. So the the next slide's part of the the summary of the the budget shows our our revenues and then I have a subsequent sides for each of these the revenues
indirect cost the expenses and the budget deficit and I broke it down this way because of the way the um the article is written. So the numbers here will match what's written in the article. It's kind
of strange how it it's written. So I'll you know I'll have tried to my best to explain it if somebody questions it. Uh so then here's our estimate of revenues and I put indirect cost on that same
page because um it's revenues minus indirect cost is one of the numbers that shows up on um in the in the article. This 1.276 million that shows up in the article. That's why I kind of put it
that way. and our estimate of expenses, right? And obviously uh the biggest expense is the user fees, but that that's the waste water we sent to Lemonster and Fitsburg. That's that's the big expense.
Mhm. So, typically at town meetings there's not too many questions on the sewer budget, but you know, so I only did what four slides for it. It should be sufficient. And then this is the another one,
article 23, moving money into the INI fund. That's another one that'll be on the consent calendar. So this slide probably won't be shown at town meeting and this one too. The
24 move money to the sewer reserve capacity fund. It's another one that's on the consent calendar that we probably don't need the slide, but it's here. We're ready. Yeah. So, the slides were due last Friday, so
I sent them in even though you guys haven't had a chance to look at them. Um, probably should have done it earlier, but sorry about that. And think it's fine. It look good to me.
We knew it all before and now it's just graphic. Yeah, it's just put together so you can kind of comprehend it a little bit. Mhm. Very nice. So Brett, do you want me to present the slides at the town meeting or are you
coming? You gonna present or Well, if you could do so because um the reality is I don't hear not just not well, but the acoustics in that room I've gone to I don't know how many meetings and if I've been able to
interpret a couple of words. Unfortunately, my impairment affects me too much in that room. So, if you could handle that, that would be really helpful. I'll do it. Thank you. Bill, I would say the only thing you got
to that I've heard outside rumblings is people are still somebody brought up at the last town meeting um I'm sorry the finance committee meeting that our billing issues still weren't resolved and he's just uh
obviously isn't caught up currently but he did put that out on live broadcast even though it's incorrect. Um, so you might just have to give some reassurances that the billing's working and hopefully the
uh even the partial pay will be up there. Might be a good platform because I'm sure that's the one thing they're going to bring up because you know they were harping on the 26% uh uncollected part. Yeah, it could have just been one
person, but the fact that they put it out there again after it seemed to be resolved a month ago, you know, um yeah, it was a little disheartening, but we get it out in front of him.
Okay, that was it on that. So, that's so that's the the demands that we weren't able to get out, right? Yes. Andrew, we got it. It was the last time though, right? We got those out. Yep, we did.
And the billing this quarter that's going out. And if there's any demands that haven't been paid, that's still just it's going to reflect on that bill for this quarter as well. Um, so I said the next process is doing demands again
the proper way. Um, but like I said, I I have to see, you know, I might have to talk to Randy again and see like why I'm getting, you know, those $20 amounts because I don't want to send out double demands. Um, so whoever owes the demand technically from that time, you know,
time period that I did the demands, quarter four billing is going to still reflect that for the people that haven't paid their bill fully. So like I said, everything that I looked at number-wise came up pretty perfect. So yeah, they just
brought up the past and the munus problems all which on their way to resolving themselves. At least the technical part is done. Now it's on just this. Yeah, exactly. Not much heads up. Right. Thank you.
There's not much we can do about people not paying their bills, you know, other than just keep sending them a bill, keep sending them a drain. No, but our but our part is is working now as it should. So, yeah, it's a good it's a good opportunity to get it out there,
especially if it gets brought up, of course. Okay. Yeah, I'll try to slide that in somewhere. Well, no, I was just, you know, I'm not saying that you have to slide it in. say that it might be I'm sure that same person and I understand
just be ready. It might be coming up. Yeah. Yep. All right. Good. That's good thought. Excellent. Um so all right. Do you have uh is there
anything else we should talk about the regarding the town meeting? Gentlemen, ladies, do we have a requirement to be there? What's the expectation of the board members?
I'm just asking. I don't know. This would be my first real one. Oh, you were there last year. Yeah, but that was that was that that wasn't the regular town meeting. That was That's right.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm assuming this one would be more fun on a grander scale. You're you're in an unknown at at that point. No, you're big time commissioners there. Oh. Oh, yeah. That's right.
That's where That's where we're going with this. [Music] All right. I'm sure it'll be fun for whoever can get there. And Bill, I appreciate you doing the presentation. I just No, understood. You know, you
wouldn't want to be up there. I'd be like, I do the presentation, people would ask me something, I'd be like, this one is This one has what? Article 22, 23. I forget what's number of it. Oh, so yeah, it's good chunk down. Yeah,
but I'll be talking on article number one, too. So, yeah, I'll be up there a couple times. You got a long day ahead of you. Yep. Very good. Well, thank you, gentlemen.
Um so uh moving on to what looks to be our last subject here um would be the assistant to the business manager position. U I understand there's not really any new updates there or are there?
There is. There is. So we uh interviewed a woman uh named Susan. Uh we recommended to hire her. She's been going through the hiring process with um the HR department and it looks like her
start date is going to be May 27th if everything goes as planned. Oh. Oh, excellent. Yeah. Congratulations, Andrew. That's great. Yeah. No. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Just found out today. Excellent. Well, that's great news. That's great news. Let's hope uh that moves forward. We certainly can use all the help we can get and Andrew could certainly use the
support. Um excellent. Um gentlemen, is there anything else uh regarding current business we we'd like to discuss before we move on to future agenda items? I don't have anything. Okay. Very good.
Excellent. Um, well, it's been a great meeting. Um, regarding future agenda items, um, let's see. I'm not sure we need We should probably, uh, certainly
leave the commission vacancies on there. Um, y then, of course, we'll have our our director and manager up updates, whatever's uh, makes sense there. Um maybe we could have a um a mention of
the town meeting and anything that may or may not have come up there. [Music] Um after that uh you know maybe a another update on our assistant potential assistant.
Um, and any other business that uh you gentlemen um believe should be on there, Mr. Manager and Director, believe that in your hands. All right.
Excellent. All right. Um, if anyone has anything else to they could think of to add to that. Otherwise, um, we'll ask if there's any public comment or comment from
commissioners or staff before we move on. Seeing none, there's no public on, but probably should throw a pitch out there for the citizens of Lunberg to go to your town meeting. There's a lot of
important items there. Um, make your voice heard. Go and vote. Thank you, Mr. Director. Appreciate that. Great. Um, and I believe we have a vote before we get back together, too. Or or are we meeting before
that? Am I wrong on that? I might be. But the next meeting is after town meeting, right? Okay. And I think it's uh 13th or something like that. Was that on? Yeah. Okay. Yep. Very good.
Um our upcoming meetings are going to be our next one is May 13th as Scott just mentioned um 2025 I'd say at 7 p.m. which will be a regular hybrid meeting uh at the DBW. Um the meeting after
that's going to be May 27th at 6 p.m. That'll be a Zoom meeting like tonight. Uh we've got one coming up after that on will be in June. Uh that'll also be June 10th. Uh that'll also be a 700 p.m. regular hybrid meeting at the
DPW. And then June 24th will be a Zoom. And uh we'll look forward to seeing all of you then. Um, and with that, I'd like to ask for a motion to have our meeting adjourned.
Gentlemen, motion to adjurnn. I will second the motion to adjurnn. We We have a motion that's been seconded. Um, Joe, I, Scott, I and I for myself. Have a great
night, Looney. Thank you very much.