Members present: Mark Karlberg, Jeanne Pryor, George Fuller
Others Present: Craig Kleman, Bill & Maddy Elovirta, Colleen O’Connor, Beth VanNess, Nicole Miller, Steve Goetz, Larry Goetz, Dan Andrews, Pat Portieri, Paula Cianfarani, Bruce Garlow, Bill Cavanaugh, Bob Will, Chuck Garman, Bob Gross, Bob Ronzio, Ann Spadafora, Bill Girard
7:00 PM Meeting opened.
Mark asked if anyone from the audience was recording this meeting. Bob Ronzio and Beth VanNess are audio taping the meeting.
Selectmen’s Comments and Announcements: Jeanne expressed her concern about the computer server in town hall. She was in the town hall a few times last week and the server went down a few times while she was there. This is very unproductive for the staff since no one can retrieve any of their files while the server is down. She would like to know if we could get the tech in to look at it. She knows the server is very old and at full capacity and does not know if the server can wait until the annual town meeting to be replaced. Craig advised that he will see if he can move some files to an external drive to see if this would free up some space. He is also waiting for a price on a new server. This could be between five and ten thousand dollars.
Town Administrator’s Report: Craig advised that Jeanne wanted an expenditure report so they could see how the town is doing so he printed up one for each Select person. He thought that they could look at this before the joint meeting with the Finance Committee. He asked the Select Board if they still wished to speak with the parents of the voc students about next year’s budget for vocational education. They would like to meet with the parents. Craig will set this up. George asked if they would be looking into purchasing a van for voc transportation. Craig advised that this is part of the special articles that they will be discussing later on in the meeting.
Jeanne motioned to accept the minutes of the December 21, 2011 Select Board meeting, George seconded. All in favor.
Public Input: Colleen O’Connor asked if there was a list of the required qualifications for the new police chief. Craig advised that the requirements are: applicant should have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or related field and a minimum of five years experience in law enforcement and possess a certificate of completion for the Massachusetts Police Academy.
Briefly discussed the bus purchase and possibly using it for school functions.
The Select Board discussed establishing Police Chief Search Committee. Mark advised that there were 13 interested in this committee. The Select Board does not feel the committee should go over seven people. George feels that they should not choose anyone who is an employee for the town or anyone who is on a committee. Jeanne does not totally agree with George. She feels that a lot of people are interested and they should choose a good mix of people for this committee. Ann Spadafora does not feel a current police officer should be on this committee because they would be choosing their new boss. Jeanne feels it would be good to have someone from the police department on the committee because they would have knowledge about the department and would know what the needs of the
department were. She feels that a retired police chief or police officer from another town could be a non-voting, ex-officio member of the search committee. George asked if the search committee would be looking for a part time or full time police chief. Jeanne advised that they agreed to a full time chief when they were doing the job description. Craig advised that there was no vote about it being full or part time but the discussions leaned toward it being full time. Colleen O’Connor advised that it was discussed about whether it should go to a special or annual town meeting to be voted on because of the funding issue. Ann Spadafora feels this should be a management decision. Bruce Garlow advised that it does not state in the charter that it is a full or part time position and he feels it should be a management decision. He advised that the applicants should know in advance that it is contingent on town meeting passing the
budget whether it will be full or part time. Jeanne motioned to go with a fulltime police chief, Mark seconded. George opposed. Motion passed. Mark does not feel that current members of the police department and paid employees of the town should be on this committee. Jeanne asked if the Select Board should nominate people that they want appointed to this committee. Ann Spadafora suggested that the interested people submit a short letter explaining why they wish to be appointed to the search committee. The Select Board chose the people they thought should be on the committee. The five people who had the most votes were all men. Colleen O’Connor feels there should be at least one woman on the committee. Briefly discussed possibly having a seven member committee and adding two women. The Selectmen would like each person who would like to be appointed to the search committee to write a brief letter explaining why
they would like to be appointed and submit it before their next meeting. After reviewing the letters, the Select Board will decide who they would like to appoint. Craig advised that Jeanne would not be able to attend the meeting on the 18th of January. George feels that the whole Board should be at the meeting when they vote to appoint the search committee. George motioned to reschedule the next Select Board meeting to Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 7:00 p.m., Jeanne seconded. All in favor. Bill Cavanaugh asked that if the Board wants a letter from all interested parties about why they wish to be appointed then they need to make sure all are notified about this. Craig will notify everyone who wished to be appointed to this committee about this letter.
Bill Girard, Building Inspector, addressed the Board regarding the Board of Survey. He explained that anytime the building inspector finds a building that is dilapidated, he needs to have a Board of Survey look at the building and determine if it should be demolished. He cannot make the decision himself. Bill advised that the building code states that the Board of Survey in a town should consist of the fire chief, a surveyor and a disinterested party. He already has a disinterested party and the fire chief to appoint to this Board but he is not aware of a surveyor who is a resident of Becket that could be appointed. He has in the past hired a surveyor to look at buildings to be demolished but it costs money to have them come into town to do this. He suggests that the Board of Selectmen
appoint someone to take the place of a surveyor and appoint someone as the alternate to the Board of Survey. Bill advised that he spoke with Bill Cavanaugh and Beth VanNess about being appointed to this board and they would like to be appointed. George asked Bill if he had a problem with Beth VanNess being a realtor. He did not. Bob Ronzio stated that the statute specifically calls for a surveyor and it does not give any latitude to that. Bill disagreed with him. He advised that the building code states that the Select Board could appoint someone other than a surveyor if the town could not find a surveyor to appoint. Bob Ronzio stated that the building code follows the state statute. George asked if they could table this until the next meeting and have Craig check into this. The Select Board will table this until the next meeting.
The Select Board decided to table voting to waive false alarm fees for residents at 219 Mallard Drive until the meeting on January 17, 2012 because they need more information. Nina advised that she gave Bill Elovirta a copy of the letter but he has not given her anything back. He usually submits the false alarm information and also states whether the residents have their alarm system registered with the police department but she has not received anything from him.
Craig advised that the Select Board does not need to sign the revised Green Communities grant application. He had spoken with a woman from Green Communities about the revisions and she has incorporated the changes into the original application. He went over the project scope with the Select Board. Craig advised that if the Board agrees with the revised project scope then he can proceed to the next step. Jeanne motioned to proceed with the work for the Green Communities grant application per Craig’s report, George seconded. All in favor.
Craig reviewed all of the special articles that he received from the departments. He advised that these are only the money articles that will appear on the annual town meeting warrant. Maddy Elovirta asked about the beach. She asked how long they had to come up with an amount to possibly purchase the parking area from Camp Greylock. Craig advised that all special article requests needed to be in by December 31, 2011 and he had spoken with Rita Furlong about this. Colleen O’Connor asked about beach stickers. She thought that any great pond in Massachusetts is supposed to be accessible to anyone. Bill Cavanaugh advised that the boat ramp is the only thing that has to be accessible. The beach area belongs to Becket residents only. Craig will bring these special
articles to the Finance Committee meeting tomorrow night.
The Select Board reviewed the letter from BRPC regarding appointing a member to the Transportation Advisory Committee. Briefly discussed how this committee works. Beth VanNess advised that she used to be on this committee but discontinued being on it because none of the grant money ever went to Becket. Bill Cavanaugh explained that each town would have a number of delegates depending on the size of the town. Becket only has one so we do not have a lot of voting power. George asked what would happen if we did not fill this position. Craig advised that it would just remain vacant. He has seen this happen in other towns. The Select Board would like something put on the website to try to get an interested person to appoint.
Any other business: Bill Girard spoke about On-Line Permitting Project. Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is applying for a Community Innovation Challenge Grant. This grant will go toward software that would allow online permitting. Currently when a person applies for a building permit, they can get the permit off the town’s website and fill it out and send it in. Bill advised that if the person does not completely fill out the permit he has to send it back to have it completed and this takes time. The online permitting software will not allow anyone applying for a permit to complete the form until all required areas are filled out. He will also have the ability to issue permits while out in the field. This will make it easier for residents and contractors to get
building permits without having to come into town hall. He advised that this is not a necessity but it would make it a lot easier for everyone involved with the permitting process. The grant would cover the software for this project but would not cover the annual fee for upgrading, maintenance and support costs. Jeanne motioned to pursue grant for online permitting software for the inspection services department, George seconded. All in favor. Briefly discussed how the different inspectors will sign off on projects.
Craig advised that he will be attending the Mass Municipal Association Conference and the Select Board can vote to designate him as the voting delegate at this conference. Jeanne motioned to authorize Craig to be the voting delegate at the Mass Municipal Association conference, George seconded. All in favor.
Jeanne gave Craig a list of items that she found in the minutes that need to be followed up on. She advised that some of these may have already been followed up on but they can go over this at their next meeting.
Jeanne asked Craig if Bill Girard and Heather Hunt would be paid extra for cleaning up the town hall garage. He advised that they would be working on it during their normal working hours.
Reviewed correspondence.
Bob Ronzio asked about the backup for the town hall server. Briefly discussed how the system is currently backed up.
8:45 PM George motioned to adjourn, Jeanne seconded. All in favor.
Reviewed payroll/expense warrants.
Respectfully submitted, _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary Mark L. Karlberg, Chairman
Documents discussed at meeting:
- Letter from BRPC regarding appointing member to the TAC.
- Select Board Discussion items that require follow up.
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