Members present: William Cavanaugh, Mark Karlberg, George Fuller
Others Present: Richard Furlong, Gerry Galliher, Colleen O’Connor, Bill Elovirta, Mark White, Mike Sawyer, Paula Cianfarani, Pat Portieri, Angie Hilton, Justin Elovirta, Ann Spadafora
7:01 PM Meeting opened.
It was announced that Colleen O’Connor was audio taping the meeting.
Selectmen’s Comments and Announcements: Mark advised that he went and looked at the property on Yokum Pond that was donated to the town. He took some pictures of the property where the culvert was and explained what he saw. This property was accepted at a town meeting and Richard needs to know if the Selectmen want to accept it. Although the spillway and culvert are on the property that abuts the donated piece, the concrete portion of the spillway is on this property. It looks like the concrete is crumbling in spots and will need to be repaired in the future. Mark motioned not to accept this donated parcel located on Leonhardt Road, George seconded. All in favor.
Bill motioned to accept the minutes of December 1, 2010, Mark seconded. All in favor.
Public Input: Colleen O’Connor asked why the Selectmen are concerned about the Police Chief being over 65 but yet they are not concerned about the Chairman of the Board of Health being over 80 years old. She said that the reason that was stated that the Police Chief should retire after reaching the age of 65 was because of liability issues. She feels that the Board of Health Chairman is a liability. She knows of at least eight Title V reports that are not correct and feels that it is just a matter of time before someone sues the town. She wants to know why the Selectmen do not get rid of the Health Board Chair. Bill advised that he is an elected official and you cannot get rid of an elected official. The voters would need to vote him out or do a recall election on him but the
Selectmen do not have the authority to get rid of him. She asked why the Board has not considered regionalizing the Board of Health. Bill advised that the Selectmen are not rejecting it; they just have not considered it yet. He also advised that he would do what was in the town’s best interest.
The Selectmen reviewed the Judgment in Tax Lien Case for property located on Map 206, Lot 89. This property is land locked but he thought the town would be interested in purchasing the property that abuts it on Maple Street so it would have access to it. The property on Map 206, Lot 89 has over 100 acres and the town could use it to have a treatment facility or a community well for people in North Becket Village. Richard thought that now that the town owns this property it may be in its best interest to keep this property in case a treatment facility or a community well was an option in the future.
George would like Richard to check on the property in Sherwood Greens that has the tennis courts to see what was happening with it. The Sherwood Greens Road District Prudential Committee asked that this property be removed from the land auction so that it could purchase this property. Richard will send the prudential committee a letter to see what their plan for this property is.
Richard gave the Selectmen copies of the Procedure for Chapter 61, 61A, 61B Right of First Refusals. He advised that Neil Toomey would be in at some point to speak with the Selectmen regarding this. He wanted them to have copies for their information.
The Selectmen continued discussion of the mandatory retirement age for Police Chief. George advised that there would be no public input on this. The Selectmen received a letter from the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association regarding retirement age for police chiefs. Richard advised that he sent this letter to the town attorney but has not asked for an opinion because he would like the Selectmen to decide if they want to spend the money on attorney fees. He also advised that this could end up costing the town a lot of money because you have one attorney saying one thing and the other attorney saying something else. George asked for the other Selectmen’s opinions about this letter. Bill said that the attorney from the Police Chief’s Association contradicts what the town
attorney is saying. George asked Richard if he received something from the Retirement Board about how much Bill Elovirta can work without it affecting his retirement. Richard did not receive anything from the retirement board. Briefly discussed competency levels. George recommends that Bill Elovirta should bring his attorney in and the town should bring in its attorney so they can make a determination. Richard advised that the Board has to decide how to proceed in this case. He did not ask for an opinion on this because he did not want to incur the cost. He will ask the attorney for an opinion if the Board decides they want one. Mark feels that there are too many people who are over 65 and are competent to do the job they were appointed to do. He also feels that the Selectmen could put it off for two years so Bill Elovirta can retire when he wanted to. Bill feels there is a flaw in the state law. George motioned to
continue this on to town counsel to get more information on it and have them here at the next meeting. No one seconded this motion. Bill feels that it is up to the town to determine if the Police Chief needs to retire so the town would need to pay the lawyers on both sides. Briefly discussed contacting the legislators, Downing, Guyer and Pignatelli regarding this law. Mark motioned to have the Town Administrator approach Kopelman & Paige and ask for their opinion of the letter from the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, Bill seconded. George asked Richard to find out about the letter from the retirement board. All in favor.
The Selectmen reviewed the email from Robert Ronzio requesting to be appointed as representative on the Wired West and Massachusetts Broadband Institute. He will be taking Jeanne Pryor’s place since she resigned from this position. Mark motioned to appoint Robert Ronzio as representative to the Wired West and Massachusetts Broadband Institute, Bill seconded. All in favor.
The Selectmen reviewed the monthly reports of the Building Inspector, Police Department and Citations Issued report.
Any other business: Gale LaBelle, Chair of the Planning Board, advised that the Planning Board would like to apply for the District Local Technical Assistance Grant from BRPC. She stated the reasons for applying for this grant. Mark motioned to let the Planning Board apply for the District Local Technical Assistance Grant, Bill seconded. All in favor.
Richard advised that the new well was drilled at Fire Station #1 and it ended up costing approximately $300 over the appropriation. He also advised that the well company will close the old well for $2,500. Richard spoke with Ray Tarjick and he has agreed to take this out of the fire department expense account. Richard advised that they usually test the water after it has been settled for a few days and he will let the Selectmen know how the test comes out. Briefly discussed the old well and the location of where the line coming into the station will be located.
Richard advised that one of the highway trucks rolled over during the snow/ice storm on Monday. The truck was rolled back over and is running. Some of the damage that it received will need to be repaired after winter when the sander can be removed. The insurance company is aware of this and will leave the claim open until it is completely repaired. The driver was not injured seriously in this accident.
Richard advised that one EMT is out on Worker’s Comp. She was injured on a call and may be out for quite a while.
Richard advised that the new ambulance will be ready the first week of January.
Richard advised that North Becket has the new railroad sign at Ballou Park. He also advised that he took the flag down from the flag pole at Ballou Park. This will stay down through the winter.
Richard advised that the transfer switch to the generator at the town hall is not working properly. When the lights flicker the switch starts vibrating and in order to make it stop you need to turn the power off and then turn it back on. Richard has not been able to get the switch to stop vibrating and found out a new switch would be fairly expensive to repair. Briefly discussed solutions to this issue.
Richard advised that the real estate tax demands went out on Friday and the phones have not stopped ringing. Kathy had car issues on Monday and inadvertently scheduled interviews for her assistant on Tuesday so people were upset when they could not speak with her.
Richard advised that the Selectmen need to schedule the Town Administrator interviews. The Search Committee has three candidates that the Selectmen can interview. Briefly discussed the time that the interviews will start at. Richard advised that he would not sit in during the interview process because he feels that it may be intimidating for the candidates. He also feels that the Selectmen should not do any other business during this meeting. The Selectmen would like letters sent to all of the applicants that did not make it to the interview process thanking them for applying. Mark motioned to schedule the Town Administrator interviews on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 starting at 6:00 p.m., Bill seconded. All in favor.
Nina advised that she received an email from Robert Ronzio requesting to be appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Richard advised that the ZBA is currently short one member and one alternate. George would like to wait until the meeting on December 22, 2010 to take this up. He was not sure if it would be wise to have him on the Planning Board and also on the Zoning Board of Appeals.
George signed a form for the EECBG. Richard advised that BRPC is trying to revise the grant so that instead of using the funds for a salt shed the funds could be used to insulate the highway garage and upgrade the heating system at the town hall. Briefly discussed this grant.
The Selectmen asked Beth VanNess if she wanted to continue on the Transportation Advisory Committee. She advised that the meetings fall on Wednesdays and she cannot attend some of them because she is on the Planning Board so she thought the Selectmen should appoint someone else to be on this committee. Richard advised that they could not appoint someone else until Beth officially resigns from this committee.
Colleen O’Connor advised that the Town of New Ashfield has a woodpile program in its town that she finds helpful and thought the Town of Becket should look into starting a program like this. New Ashfield has volunteers who work on a woodpile for people who need help heating their homes. Anyone needing wood to burn can go and take some. Briefly discussed how this program would work and who would be responsible for gathering the wood.
Reviewed correspondence.
9:15 PM Mark motioned to adjourn, Bill seconded. All in favor.
Reviewed payroll/expense warrants.
Respectfully submitted, _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary George Fuller, Chairman
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