Windsor resident begins discussion about local pits; County Commissioner Crockett gives background report

by The Town Line staff

At the July 16, 2024, meeting of the Windsor Select Board, the board authorized Town Manager Theresa Haskell to purchase the 40-yard open top container for the transfer station. Haskell had reported the unit cost $11,600 in 2022, however, the price dropped to $11,000 this year.

The board also voted 3-0 to move forward with the dangerous building recommendation, sent by the town attorney, for 762 Ridge Road.

Resident Tom Reed started a discussion about the town pit ordinance. There was much discussion about the sizes of the pits. The select board has had talks on sending out the Codes Enforcement Officer to deliver the town pit ordinance to local pit owners to make them aware of the ordinance. Assistant Codes Enforcement Officer Greg Feltis has been working on a questionnaire to send out to pit owners.

In other business:

– There have been two applicants for the vacant part-time transfer station attendant position, and one application for the vacant transfer station supervisor position.
– The board approved the appointment of Daniel Findley as an alternate member of the planning board.
Board members present at the meeting were William Appel Jr., Thomas McNaughton and Allison Whynot. Absent were Andrew Ballantyne and Chester D. Barnes Jr.

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At the July 30, 2024, meeting of the Windsor Select Board, Patsy Crockett (Kennebec County Commissioner) introduced herself and gave a background report to the members and the audience.

The new OSHA standards were heavily discussed knowing it will bring an enormous impact on the smaller towns. Kevin Ready and other members of the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department also gave information on this. William Appel Jr. said the original proposed budget increase for the county at 44.1 percent was extremely high, and asked, besides knowing the items you have no control over is one thing but the ones that you can have control over, are so high.

Knowing there are three commissioners, William Appel Jr. suggested the administrator should have produced a plan to space it out rather than all in one year. Patsy Crockett said they have unions to work with, and the negotiating was a 14 percent increase at the jail. Theresa had asked to have the county commissioners to publish the expenses/revenues budgets quarterly and the select board agreed.

William Appel Jr. expressed his displeasure with the county administrator on how he treated Windsor’s Town Manager during a budget meeting and wanted the commissioners to know that Theresa Haskell has been on the County Budget Committee for many years and is very thorough on how budgets work and was truly asking very detailed questions that should have been answered in an appropriate manner and wasn’t.

Angela Molino (EMA Director) wanted to introduce herself and said she also wrote on the public comment section regarding the new proposed OSHA standards to support the firefighters and communities, and how this would affect the smaller towns. The public hearing is now set for November 12, 2024. Currently it looks like towns and cities will have to comply within a two-year period. Angela also mentioned there are preparedness programs and HSGP grants available and if the town is interested, she would help us with them to see if the town qualifies.

Patsy Crockett said she would like to end on a happy note and wanted to present to Theresa Haskell with the Spirit of America 2023 award serving as the town manager, founder of Windsor Days, coaching Windsor sports and being a Girl Scout leader.

In other business, John Deeds spoke of his displeasure with the way the traffic flows within the town, especially by his house on Route 105 heading towards Somerville, which the speed limit is set at 35 mph, and wanted to see if the town could get more patrol in the area for these concerns. He also indicated how fast they travel on Route 32 at this intersection, and, in his opinion, someone is going to get hurt. It was asked to see if the sheriff could be invited to a future select board’s meeting.

On the other hand, Ray Chavarie would like to give credit to the Sherrif’s Department and State Police for their service and helping during rescue calls while their assistance is needed.

Kevin Ready, of the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department, gave more information on the OSHA Standards and what the town will be looking at if this passes, and that it will have a huge affect on the budget. He indicated the fire department will be prepared to present new expenses when this gets approved, but it will all depend on the time frame when everything goes into effect.

William Appel Jr. asked how the “Take it or Leave it” went and Kevin replied it went well. He does not have a final total with him. Theresa Haskell said the amount that was raised would be great to know as townspeople would need to realize without this fundraiser, more money would need to be raised to fund the WVFD.

Town Manager’s Items – Theresa L. Haskell reported the following:

– Haskell handed out the 12-Month Budget figures for 2023/2024. The total actual budget spent was around 89.46 percent with receiving approximately 119.47 percent in revenue.
– KRT Appraisal is looking for a 30-day extension on the revaluation. Within their contract it indicates they could have a 30-day extension with the select board’s approval. KRT indicated the delay was not attributed to any one or two things but across all their 2024 towns where they are doing a revaluation they had a large volume of callbacks on the interior appointments which has caused a bottleneck in their ability to get the information keyed into the system. Windsor alone had an additional week of callbacks as many calls came in after the deadline. Thomas McNaughton motioned to approve a 30-day extension with hopes that it will be completed sooner than that as the tax bills will need to be sent out, seconded by Chester D. Barnes Jr., and approved 4-0-0.
– The following appointments were presented for the select board’s approval: as Andrew Ballantyne and William Appel Jr. as Transfer Station Committee, Nancy Fish,
Chester D. Barnes Jr. and Thomas McNaughton as Conservation Committee members, Allison Whynot as Windsor Educational Foundation and Reed Fund Member, and as General Assistance Deputy, Andrew Ballantyne and Chester D. Barnes Jr. as Cemetery Committee members, Allison Whynot and William Appel Jr. as planning board members. They were approved 4-0-0.
– Haskell said the town normally closes the transfer station on Saturday during the Windsor Fair, at noon, because of the traffic that goes along with the fair. This year the Windsor Fair will be open for two Saturday’s and wanted to know if the select board wanted to approve closing at noon for both Saturdays (August 24 and August 31. The board approved the motion.
– Tomas McNaughton said he attended the planning board meeting in which they have been discussing the possibility of a new Mineral Extraction Ordinance with working with a small group on the needs of the town and the concerns from the community. This would be a welcome working group, and they will be waiting for the planning board to give approval for a group meeting.