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Alna Facilities Planning Committee

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Date: March 17,2008

Time: 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Location: Fire House

Meeting Minutes:

Alna Facilities Planning Committee Meeting, March 17, 2008, held at the Firehouse at 7 p.m.

Present: Tom Albee (TA), Nick Caristo (NC), Gordon Davis (GD), John Green (JG), Fred Gumkowski (FG), Kathy Pendleton (KP) and Cliff Russell (CR)

Absent: Brian Lawrence

Also present:   Mike Trask, Roger Whitney and Paul Ouellette from the AVFD

 

The first item on NC’s agenda was the status of the commissioned elevation drawings for the renovated/enlarged firehouse.   He reported they were not quite done in time for the meeting but that he had seen them and found them excellent.   Indeed, he recommended that the committee commission a similar set of drawings of the new stand-alone firehouse project to keep the visuals of the competing projects on an even footing.   The committee agreed to this.   (NC estimates a cost of $700.)   There followed a discussion of the level of specification detail the committee should be prepared to discuss in answer to citizen questions.   The committee agreed that it would not be useful for us to try to draft highly detailed specifications, but that certain general matters, such as concrete strength and size of equipment bay doors are now known and could be available as “general” specs.

 

JG reported that feedback received from the Maine Municipal Association and the town lawyer amounted to approval of the Warrant Articles as written (and as seen by the committee on the 10th).   The color-coded ballot system also received an OK, and Town officials will be in charge of checking in voters and handing out warrant copies and ballots.

 

Next, NC reported that he has had at least 36 email responses to the committee piece that ran in last week’s LCN, and that many of these contained good questions about the projects.   This led, later in the meeting, to a suggestion that the committee create a list of frequently-asked questions, with answers, that could become part of the power point presentation in time for the second public information meeting on March 27th at 7 p.m. in the firehouse.   Examples suggested included:

  • What are the implications for property taxes of different interest rates and loan        durations, including those assumed in the Warrant Articles and other possible assumptions covering a range of reasonable numbers?
  • What will the intersection of Golden Ridge Rd. and 218 look like if the renovate/enlarge project is chosen?
  • Can the committee account for the cost differences between:
    • The VFD’s Aug. ’07 proposed stand-alone firehouse and the version in the Mar. ‘08 Warrant?
    • The proposal made public by Les Fossel around the time of the Special Town Meeting in Aug. ‘08 and version of that proposal in the Mar.’08 Warrant?

     Note: With regard to the first of these, it seems that the way information is required to be presented in the Warrant Articles is confusing people because it shows the total interest paid over the life of the loan without taking account of the fact that there is an advantage to postponing repayment of the borrowed principal, an advantage that grows with the length of the postponement.   That advantage is paid for by interest on the borrowing.   Adding up all the interest payments over 30 years, without taking account of the postponement in payments tremendously overstates the real burden of the loan.

 

The committee will meet again on March 24th at the firehouse, at 7 p.m.

 

Cliff Russell