Advisory Committee Present: Christopher Slade
January 11, 2005 David Bosselait
Scott Powell
Wendy Rogers
Panny Gerken
David Lindsay
The Advisory Committee met at the Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.
APPOINTMENTS
On a motion made by Rogers and seconded by Bosselait the Advisory Committee voted to approve the amendment of term expiration dates of the appointments of Gerken and Lindsay to expire at the end of Annual Town Meeting, May 2005. (Slade-yes, Bosselait – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes,)
HAROLD BROWN, DPW
Emerson renovations: Panny Gerken and Harold Brown are meeting with Kaffee Kang to discuss the status of the Emerson Renovations.
Replacement of the sander: Mr. Brown stated that he planned to request a new truck for FY06 to replace his 1981 truck but unfortunately he is need of a sander immediately to replace the 1973 sander that was in an accident. Mr. Brown’s present fleet of trucks include one 1986, one 1973, two 1981, one 1996 and one 2000. At present he has 5 sanders.
Mr. Brown has located a 1998 International 6 wheeler in North Yarmouth, Maine who has bought a 10 wheeler. They are asking $58,900 and with talking to them Mr. Brown stated they would sell for $56,700. He would need to put at least $6-7,000 into the truck to fix what is wrong with it to get a longer life out of it. He stated he would go through the bid process for this truck. If we don’t get a new truck, remember the present equipment is old and will do the best we can with what we have. Mr. Brown stated that he would delay the request for an additional truck if he were given approval to proceed with purchasing the truck from Maine.
Mr. Brown stated he was willing to check with the insurance company to see if they would pay for the rental of a truck until a purchase was made. We will be receiving $4,500 from the insurance company along with the sander and plow frame and any thing that can be salvaged from the truck.
The options would be to proceed with the purchase of this truck or wait for a town meeting to purchase a truck that would be more like $140,000. Mr. Lindsay stated that this request would cost $38 per household.
Mr. Brown stated that if the Advisory Committee did not approve his request he would run with the equipment he has but there was a possibility the response time could be affected. Advisory Committee had concerned with safety issues without a sander and felt comfortable that this was an unforeseen expenditure. On a motion made by Bosselait and seconded by Gerken the Advisory Committee voted to approve the transfer request in the amount of $56,700 or less to acquire a replacement truck. (Slade - yes, Bosselait – yes, Gerken – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes, Lindsay – no)
Mr. Brown informed the Advisory Committee that the amount agreed to ($600,000) way back when for septic system for Florence Sawyer and Emerson School was incorrect. Mr. Brown stated that the system is now double the size. He will be submitting an article for an additional $900,000 for the system. Mr. Brown will request estimates from other engineers to try to determine the amount needed. Some members of the Advisory Committee expressed concern that we might be forced to build a treatment plant, but Mr. Brown stated that, based on DEP, we do not have the time to go the treatment plant route.
TRANSFER REQUESTS
Cemetery Committee: On a motion made by Gerken and seconded by Rogers the Advisory Committee approved the transfer request in the amount of $1,050. (Slade-yes, Bosselait – yes, Gerken – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes, Lindsay – yes)
Fire Department: On a motion made by Gerken and seconded by Rogers the Advisory Committee approved the transfer request in the amount of $2,070 which is 10% of the grant received for the clean air system to be installed at the fire station. (Slade - yes, Bosselait – yes, Gerken – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes, Lindsay – yes)
Assabet tuition reimbursement: On a motion made by Gerken and seconded by Rogers the Advisory Committee approved the transfer request in the amount of $5,755 to 303 Post Secondary Vocational Ed for tuition of a student to Assabet vocational education school. (Slade-yes, Bosselait – yes, Gerken – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes, Lindsay – yes)
Appraisal – Smith Property: On a motion made Rogers and seconded by Gerken the Advisory Committee voted to transfer the amount of $4,950 to the Selectmen’s engineering account from the Advisory Committee reserve fund for an appraisal for the Smith property. Discussion followed to include 1) appraisal should be kept confidential during the negotiation process if possible and 2) overall expenditures on the Smith property should not exceed the $25,050.00 specified in the article. (Slade – yes, Bosselait – yes, Powell – yes, Rogers – yes, Gerken – yes and Lindsay – yes)
MEMBERSHIP
The Advisory Committee approved the membership to the ATFC at $125.00 for the
remainder of this year.
ANNUAL REPORT
The Advisory Committee reviewed and finalized the annual report.
BUDGET
The Advisory Committee increased their dues and membership line item of $150.00 for increase in dues to the ATFC. They also level funded their reserve fund at $140,000, but a second budget will be submitted for the reserve fund at $150,000.
Advisory Committee would like a copy of projections from Town Accountant (spreadsheet of budgets) for the next meeting. They also suggested the budget be put on the website.
APPOINTMENTS
On a motion made by Rogers and seconded by Bosselait the Advisory Committee voted to approve the amendment of term expiration dates of the appointments of Gerken and Lindsay to expire at the end of Annual Town Meeting, May 2005. (Slade-yes, Bosselait – yes, Rogers – yes, Powell – yes,)
REPORT MEETINGS ATTENDED BY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Master Planning Committee: Mr. Slade stated he attended the Master Planning Committee and reported that they have hired a firm for the master plan that they will be meeting with next week.
Police Station Study Committee: Mr. Slade and Mr. Lindsay attended the police station study committee meeting on Monday, January 10, 2005. Mr. Lindsay stated that he will be attending all Police Station Study Committee meetings that he possibly can. Ideally the Committee would like to have their plans approved in May.
Meeting adjourned.
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