DURHAM — Resident Jane Rice expressed her concerns about untimely updates to the Durham town website during public comment at the Select Board meeting Tuesday.
She pointed to the sparse, outdated minutes available on the website, noting that the Planning Board minutes haven’t been updated since June. When she went to watch the recorded meetings, the most recent video she found was from July.
“I, as a taxpayer, have a problem with that, because I want to know what’s going on,” she said. “It doesn’t do me any good to see that the subdivision up the road is accepted four months later.”
Chairman Kevin Nadeau explained there can be a delay of several weeks for approving minutes from previous meetings, but both he and Town Manager Kathy Tombarelli agreed that minutes should not take months to upload.
“What it really comes down to, for the Select Board, Planning Board, Board of Appeals, and really, the Historic Commission too, boards that make decisions, we really need to do a better job,” Tombarelli said. She mused whether some of the smaller boards and committees should consider designating a secretary to take and upload draft minutes.
She further explained that the portable camera the Planning Board uses to record its meetings is not working.
Nadeau said the Planning Board should use the same room and camera as the Select Board to record future meetings.
Additionally, the Select Board voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a consent agreement between the town and the owner of a junkyard at 1205 Royalsborough Road.
Priscilla Higgins of Durham will have until Oct. 1 to reduce the junkyard to a 300- by 300-foot area and erect an 8-foot-high fence to block it from view from the road. If the stipulations aren’t met in the agreement, Higgins will pay $100 each day beginning Nov. 1, 2022.
Tombarelli also told attendees that all of the town’s Giving Tree requests have been filled.
Town Clerk Jessica Landberg shared that the town received applications from two Durham families with seven children total who are in need of help purchasing Christmas presents. There were more residents interested in purchasing presents than children in need, she said.
The next Select Board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 28 in the Town Office.
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