Members present: William Cavanaugh, George Fuller, Mark Karlberg
Others Present: Tony Blair, David Bonney, Colleen O’Connor, Bill Brownhill, Geri Galliher, Madeleine Swindlehurst, Bob Ronzio, Ken & Ann Smith, Rita & Richard Furlong, Mark White, Bill Elovirta, Daniel Hamill, Eve & Sid Cholmar, Gene Pike, Bill Robinson
7:00 PM Meeting opened.
Bill welcomed Mark Karlberg to the Board. Bill explained that the Board every year, after the Annual Town Election, reorganizes so the Board needs to appoint a chairman, vice-chair and clerk. George motioned to appoint Mark Karlberg as chairman, Bill seconded. All in favor. George motioned to appoint Bill Cavanaugh as vice-chair, Mark seconded. All in favor. Bill motioned to appoint George as clerk, Mark seconded. All in favor. Tony thanked Bill for being chairman for many years and wished Mark the best as chairman.
Selectmen’s Comments and Announcements: None.
The Selectmen reviewed the minutes to the April 21, 2010 meeting. George pointed out at that meeting that the Annual Town Meeting warrant that was mailed to voters did not have the Selectmen’s recommendations for the first three articles and asked that the minutes be amended to show that. George motioned to approve the minutes of April 21, 2010, Bill seconded. Motion passed. George motioned to accept Executive Session minutes of April 21, 2010, Bill seconded. Motion passed.
Tony advised that Susan Donnelly left today and was feeling ill so he will do the report that Susan was going to do. We finally got word from the Department of Revenue that our values have been approved. This means we can begin the process of getting our tax rate set. The assessors will be sending out the impact notices to all tax payers so they can review their new values. The taxpayers will have until May 28, 2010 to come in and ask the assessors questions about their new values. Tony advised that the Selectmen need to hold a tax classification hearing to determine if they wish to have a single tax rate or a residential and commercial tax rate. Mark motioned to hold the tax classification hearing on June 2, 2010 at 7:15 p.m., George seconded. All in favor. George asked if
there was something he needed to know before the tax classification hearing. Tony suggested that he come and speak with Susan Donnelly before the hearing.
Tony drafted two letters to John Murray and Jeanne Pryor for their service to the town. Mark read the letters. The Selectmen signed the letters.
Tony advised that the barn in the village is down. The town was not involved with the demolition. George asked if Bill Girard sent a letter asking the owners to clean it up. Tony was not sure. He will ask Bill about this.
Tony advised that the land auction would take place this Saturday at noon time.
Tony advised that the town’s current hazard mitigation plan expires in 2010. The town will renew this plan with the help of Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. A gentleman from BRPC will attend the Selectmen’s meeting on June 2, 2010 to discuss this plan.
Tony advised that his contract will expire on June 30, 2010 and the Selectmen should begin to think about completing an evaluation of his job performance and negotiating a new contract. Bill gave Tony the option of doing this in an open meeting or by executive session. Tony opted for an open meeting evaluation. Bill feels that a good thing for Tony to do would be to write down all of his accomplishments he’s had over the year as part of his evaluation. He also thought it would be a good idea to invite each of the department heads and Town Hall employees to meet with the Board behind closed doors to get their input of how Tony is doing. Tony pointed out that holding a meeting of the entire Board behind closed doors would be a violation of the open meeting law, as anytime a quorum meets
to deliberate it needs to be in open session. Bill feels that this would not be a meeting, it would be an interview. Tony will check with the attorney general to see if this can be done. Bill feels that the Selectmen should be able to speak with each employee and then bring the information to an open meeting. Mark recommends that Bill consult with Town Counsel about whether they can do this or not. Bill thought that if the Selectmen could not all meet together with the employees then they could individually meet with each employee. Bill asked Tony if they should include anyone else in the interviews. Tony would like the Selectmen to speak with people that he has worked with on committees. Tony feels that whatever they decide to do it needs to be legal. Bill feels that they could start interviews at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 28, 2010. Nina could set up the interview schedule. Bill motioned to hold a performance review
with the department heads and employees of town hall on May 28, 2010 beginning at 10:00 a.m., George seconded. All in favor.
The Selectmen reviewed a letter from the Police Chief asking the Selectmen to approve the Town Administrator’s appointment of Daniel Hamill as probationary police officer. The reason for this appointment is because one officer is going to be on maternity leave and another officer is on active duty in the military and cannot work. Tony asked that Daniel Hamill come to this meeting to introduce himself to the Selectmen and the people attending this meeting. Bill Elovirta introduced Daniel Hamill to the Board. George asked Bill Elovirta if this position was advertised prior to his selection of Daniel. Bill advised that he advertised this position in the fall and stated that the position would be open until it was filled. Bill motioned to approve the Town Administrator’s
appointment of Daniel Hamill as probationary police officer term to expire June 30, 2010, George seconded. All in favor.
Public Input: Rita Furlong addressed the Board regarding an incident at the Mullen House. The Parks Department voted to do some plantings and one thing was to plant a tree at the Mullen House. It was decided that, after studying the septic system layout, the tree would be planted in an area at the Mullen House. Rita advised that she placed a flag in the place where the tree would go and left. She also advised that after she left, George Fuller stopped and told the company that was planting this tree to move it to a different location because it should not be placed on the leach field. While Rita understands the logic of this decision, she feels that he should not have interfered with the Parks Commission’s decision and should have contacted them before making the decision to move the
tree. She also feels that if the tree needs to be moved from the location that George chose, he should be responsible for the cost of moving it. She said that this is the second time that George made a decision without consulting with the Parks Commission. He purchased a rake for the beach and charged it to their account without speaking to anyone. George advised that he spoke with some engineering firms about putting the tree over the leach field and the firms advised that it should not go there. George feels that the Parks Commission should not be making decisions of where to plant things if it is going on a Historical property. He feels that the Historical Commission should make this decision. Rita does not feel this way. She feels that George should not have acted alone and he should have contacted the Parks Commission before changing the location. Colleen advised that trees should never be placed over a septic system.
Rita asked George to stop interfering with the Parks Commission’s decisions. George said that the next time he will contact the other Select Board members before making decisions. Bill Cavanaugh stated that one Select Board member cannot act alone, he can only act as a member of the entire Board. Bob Ronzio feels that anything done on town property should be done at a public hearing. Madeleine Swindlehurst asked if the zoning bylaws were followed regarding site line obstruction. George advised that he spoke with someone from Mass Highway and was told that this location was fine.
Colleen O’Connor introduced herself to Mark Karlberg and gave him a description of her ongoing problem with her property. She is telling everyone not to trespass on any of her property. George asked Tony to fill Mark in about this situation.
Tony explained the Green Community Designation application that was submitted on Friday. Tony reviewed the Energy Reduction Plan portion of this grant. He advised that the Selectmen need to vote to adopt this plan in order to receive grant funding. The plan consists of an analysis of the ways the Town uses energy and a series of steps the Town could take to cut that energy use by 20% over the next five years. He explained the areas where the town could reduce energy use: building retrofits, use of wind power, reduction in miles driven by Highway vehicles, etc. Bill motioned to adopt the Energy Reduction Plan, George seconded. All in favor. Tony had the Selectmen sign a letter stating that they adopted this plan. He asked the Selectmen if they wish to concentrate on Fire
Station #2 first to have the total renovations done before they concentrate on different areas. He explained that the town already received $150,000 to put towards the renovations but if we receive more funding then we could have Fire Station #2 totally completed. Briefly discussed radiant floor heat at Fire Station #2. Tony will find out how much it will cost to remove the old floor and get back to the Selectmen at their next meeting. Bill motioned to table the decision of where the funding will go until we find out more on the fire station #2 renovations. Tony advised that he needs to have the grant in by May 28, 2010. Bill withdrew his motion. Mark feels that if we receive $250,000 from this grant it would make more sense to put it all in one area like the fire station.
Ken Smith addressed the Board regarding the Quarry Road property that is going up for auction on Saturday. He explained that there may not be a right-of-way on this property. If there is not a right-of-way, then it would not make sense to sell this property because no one will be able to access this property. He has a plan which would allow the Becket Land Trust to connect this property to their other property. One possibility would be to access this property through the Becket State Forest. He has spoken with someone from the Department of Conservation and Recreation and they were enthusiastic about this plan. He is asking the Selectmen to remove this property from the land auction and sell it to the Becket Land Trust for $1. Ann Smith explained why it would be beneficial to the
town to remove this property from the land auction and sell it to the Becket Land Trust. George motioned to remove this property from the land auction and sell it to the Becket Land Trust for $1, Bill seconded. All in favor.
George asked if the town is doing perk tests on some of the land auction property. He advised that this was never brought up to the Selectmen. Tony advised that this is being done because if the land perks then it would be more valuable to sell. He asked Lenny at the highway garage if he could use the town equipment to complete the perk tests. Lenny said it would be alright but when the time came he was busy doing other jobs and could not provide the town equipment. Tony asked John Murray if he could do the perks tests. He advised that the cost of doing the perk tests was below the amount that would require going out to bid for this project so he felt under the time constraints that John would be best able to get them done before the auction. Bill does not feel it is worth
spending the money to do the perk tests. Bill asked Tony if he asked John Murray to do the perk tests before the election. Tony advised that Selectmen are considered special municipal employees so it was fine for him to ask John to do the perk tests. George motioned to stop doing perk tests on the properties and to sell the properties as is and to not pay anyone until Tony gets a letter from Town Counsel stating that it is okay to do this, Bill seconded. Mark is opposed. Motion passed. Bill asked if he contracted with John or just did it verbally. Tony advised that he entered into this agreement verbally. He also advised that this would cost approximately $2,000 to complete all eight perk tests. Bill feels that Tony should ask the Selectmen before he makes decisions like this. He said that people may look at this as favoritism. Colleen asked why Valerie Nickerson was asked to witness the perk tests. Tony
advised that it was the Board of Health’s decision. Bob Ronzio stated that this was done last minute when it should have been done a long time ago. George motioned that if something like this comes up again that the Town Administrator should come to them before he makes any decisions and before making expenditures on anything similar to this issue, Bill seconded. All in favor.
The Selectmen reviewed the letters of resignation from Andras Sala from the Agricultural Commission and Nina Weiler as Assistant Town Clerk. The Selectmen asked why Nina resigned as Assistant Town Clerk. She stated that it is the Town Clerk’s choice as to whom they wished to appoint as assistant town clerk. She was not sure if the new town clerk wished to have her serve as assistant town clerk and she was also thinking about whether she wished to continue serving as assistant town clerk. Mark motioned to accept the resignations of Andras Sala from the Agricultural Commission and Nina Weiler as Assistant Town Clerk, George seconded. All in favor.
The Selectmen reviewed the Special Permit Application for the use of two electric lights in existing sign and to build two apartments in part of existing building which has been vacant/abandoned at Uncle Larry’s Tavern located at 71 Chester Road.
George motioned to sign the Chapter 90 request for chip sealing, Bill seconded. All in favor. George will not sign this Chapter 90 Request since it is for the highway department.
The Selectmen reviewed the monthly reports of the Building Inspector, Police Department, Citations Issued and Animal Control Officer.
Any other business: George asked the Selectmen if they had any objections to him using the highway department wood chipper to chip up the trees that the Parks Commission took down by the ball field. He will come down with it on a Saturday. The Selectmen do not have an objection to this.
The Selectmen reviewed a Becket Ambulance Department Request for Write-Off Report. George motioned to send it to the collection agency, Bill seconded. All in favor.
George asked why some of the ballot questions appeared at the town election when they were voted down at the Annual Town Meeting. It was explained that the ballots need to be printed a few weeks ahead of time so people can vote by absentee ballot and there is no way to know how the votes will take place at the Annual Town Meeting. The election workers should have explained to the voters that certain questions did not need to be voted on. The specimen ballot that was posted at the election showed that the questions did not need to be voted on but people may not have seen it.
Bill asked how the interviews with the department heads and employees evaluating the Town Administrator would be scheduled. Nina will schedule the appointments if it was determined that it could be done.
Reviewed correspondence.
9:40 PM George motioned to adjourn, Bill seconded. All in favor.
Reviewed the payroll and expense warrants.
Respectfully submitted, _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary Mark L. Karlberg, Chairman
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