Members present: Mark Karlberg, George Fuller, Jeanne Pryor
Others Present: Craig Kleman, Bill Elovirta, Tyler Miller, Colleen O’Connor, Beth VanNess, Eva Birkette, John Amato, Chris Horton-Berkshire County Mosquito Control, Julia Maynard, Jeanne Morano, Jim Russell-Berkshire Record, Bill Girard, Dan Osman, Gale LaBelle, Karen Karlberg
7:05 PM Meeting opened.
Mark asked if anyone from the audience was recording this meeting. No one is recording.
Select Board’s Comments and Announcements: George stated that a member of the Fire Department stepped down last summer and he did not see anything in the Annual Town Report about this. He would like a letter sent to John Vachula thanking him for his years of services to the town.
Jeanne mentioned that there will be a film shown at the Lee Courthouse on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. called “Windfall”. This film is about the pros and cons of Large Wind Turbines and is open to the public. There is no charge for admission.
Town Administrator’s Report: Craig advised that everything that is in his report is on the agenda so they can take it up when it comes up.
George stated that he did not have a chance to review the minutes of the last Select Board meeting. The Select Board will put this on hold until their next meeting.
Public Input: Colleen O’Connor stated that she is going on her 6th year without having potable water at her house. She has to travel 27 miles to get to a shower and is spending a lot of money for drinking water. She is offering the town a chance to make restitution to her by hooking her up to the public water supply at the school and she in turn will allow the town to keep its illegal septic system in her yard. She advised that it is a beneficial exchange and will be in the best interest of the town to do something. Jeanne would like Craig to check to see what the pros and cons would be to do this. Mark would like Craig to speak with the town attorney and the school about this and get back to them by the next meeting.
7:15 PM Daniel Osman, Manager of Dream Away Lodge, addressed the Board regarding a music festival that he has held for the past two years. He explained that the music festival would begin on July 12th and end on July 15th. He has a big following for this music event and advised that he has approximately 200 people at each event. This year he is asking to have camping on his property throughout the event. He does not believe he will have more than 50 people camping. He gave the Select Board the Ground Rules for the event which includes camping allowed only in designated areas, quiet time from midnight until 8 a.m., no drugs, no alcohol, no open fires, no pets, no food in camping area and everyone is responsible for their own site cleanup. Mark asked Bill Elovirta if
there have been any issues with the event in the past. Bill advised that there have not been any major issues with it. Mr. Osman advised that he will have people available to make sure parking is in the proper areas only and that the rules are being followed. He also advised that if someone does not follow the rules they will be asked to leave. Briefly discussed the garbage issue he has had with bears. He has cleaned up the mess the bears made and is trying to come up with a solution to keep the bears from getting into his dumpsters. Jeanne motioned to allow the Nouveau Revue 3 music event at the Dream Away Lodge from July 12 – 15, 2012, George seconded. All in favor.
The Select Board reviewed letter from Jessie Sullivan regarding her request to rollover her vacation time. Craig advised that he has spoken with the town accountant and wants to hold off on this until he gets better clarification on this. Mark motioned to table agenda item #6, Jeanne seconded. All in favor. This will be taken up again at the next regularly scheduled meeting on May 2, 2012.
Craig strongly recommends that the Select Board approve his appointment of Tyler Miller as a part time police officer because he does not want the police department to be short staffed. He advised that he spoke with the Police Chief Search Committee and was told that interviews with the police chief applicants would not start until mid-May and he does not think the new chief would be hired until after July 1st. Jeanne motioned to approve the Town Administrator’s appointment of Tyler Miller as a part time police officer, Mark seconded. Jeanne and Mark approve, George opposed. Motion passed. George feels that we should not be doing anything until we know what is going on with the police chief.
The Select Board reviewed the letter from the Police Chief Search Committee. Jeanne was not sure if the PCSC should be requiring the applicants for the police chief to fill out release forms when they come in for an interview. She feels this should be done by the person who will hire the new police chief when the search committee presents the finalists for this position. Jeanne motioned to approve the draft letter from the Police Chief Search Committee with the salary range between $55,000 and $58,000 and they will be calling John Amato and that the third paragraph will be deleted, Mark seconded. Mark and Jeanne approve, George opposed. Motion passed. George stated that the reason he is opposed to this is because it should have been voted on by the voters first but it was not. He
feels there was plenty of time to do it that way but it was not done that way. Eva Birkette asked if the benefits that a fulltime chief would receive would be told to the voters at the Annual Town Meeting. Craig advised that he would put something in the warrant that explains each article.
Craig advised that we have had some issues with the town hall server because it is old and full to capacity. He felt that this could not wait until the annual town meeting so he is using reserve funds to purchase the server. He has gone out for quotes from a number of companies and received two quotes. One quote was from Computers R Us from Lenox which came in at $9,529. The other quote came in from CompuWorks from Pittsfield which came in at $9,435. This quote does not include the installation of applications or the data transfer from the old server to the new one which would cost approximately $5,000. Craig advised that for an additional $100 we could upgrade from Windows Server R.2 Standard to Server 2011. He feels this would be wise to do since we will be keeping this server
for a number of years and with upgrades to software this would be more compatible. He recommends that we go with the quote from Computers R Us in the amount of $9,629. Briefly discussed moving the KVS software to the new server. George asked if there was an extended warranty. Craig will look into this. George motioned to accept the bid from Computers R Us in the amount of $9,629 for the new server for town hall, Jeanne seconded. All in favor.
The Select Board reviewed the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting. Briefly discussed the police department budget and detail work performed by the police officers. Bill Girard gave a presentation of the Community Innovation Challenge Grant for the On-Line Municipal Building Permits software. He advised that if the town votes to accept his budget which includes this software then there would be an annual fee for the maintenance costs. The finance committee would support this if the building permit fees increased to cover this cost. Mark asked Bill if he could come up with the new fees for the building permits. He will do that and get them to the Select Board. Jeanne asked him to give them two scenarios. Briefly discussed demolition of buildings. Craig advised that he
has not received the proper wording for the article that deals with the Sherwood Greens property or the mosquito control article. Briefly discussed the mosquito control article regarding the wording of the article. It is up to the petitioners to include the proper wording for the article; it is not up to the Select Board to come up with the proper wording. Chris Horton from Berkshire County Mosquito Control spoke about the cost of joining mosquito control and that it would be a five year commitment if the town chose to join. The Select Board was asked why the petitioned article asking that Marc Portieri be considered for Police Chief was placed last on the warrant. The Select Board advised that the article could be moved up on the warrant. George motioned to recommend placing all articles except Articles 15 (Sherwood Greens property) and 18 (Mosquito Control) on the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting, Jeanne seconded. All in
favor.
The Select Board reviewed the Becket Ambulance Department Request for Write-Off Report. George motioned to send Becket Ambulance Department Request for Write-Off to the collection agency, Jeanne seconded. All in favor.
Any other business: Nina advised that there is a Berkshire County Selectmen’s Association dinner/meeting coming up and she would need to know who will be attending this meeting.
Reviewed correspondence.
9:25 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 Police Chief Search Committee
- Annual Town Meeting Warrant
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