Date of Meeting: Monday, August 27, 2007
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:35PM –10:20PM
Members Present: Chairman James Stanton, Ken Sydow, Roger Deal Others Present: Suzanne Olsen, Town Administrator; Gregory Angelini, Town Counsel; Michael Kane, Banner Reporter; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant; others as listed on sign-in sheet
Financial warrants were signed in approval prior to the meeting.
Meeting was called to order at 6:35p.m.
School warrant was missing signatures on invoices and did not have enough committee member signatures on the warrant. Chairman Stanton asked Sue Olsen to write a letter to the school administration that effective immediately, no payments will be processed without proper sign-off on the school financial warrant.
Hillside Restoration Foundation: Members asked to come before the board to present them with an update of the Gough House and the status of other Hillside projects. Nel Lazour, Sheila Killeen, and Bob and Judy Haynes were present.
Ms. Kaleen said that a formal “task force” has been meeting and discussing potential re-use of the Gough House. They have been speaking with Worcester area academic institutions to use the house for meetings, cocktail parties, etc. In exchange, the college would care for the home. Nel Lazour said this would allow them to maintain the Gough legacy and the heritage of the house. Some federal funding may come through this year, which would allow leverage to form partnerships and raise money to complete Phase II all at one time; need about $2M to complete.
Roger Deal believes the sooner they can establish an identity with the public, the better. There seems to be public confusion about the use; identifying a use will help with marketing and encourage donations. Ms. Lazour asked if they should wait for federal funding. Mr. Deal personally feels they should move ahead regardless, unless marketing is extremely contingent upon federal funding. They will keep the board updated.
Bob Haynes presented photos and his research of the Spring House on Hillside that was recently discovered. It was cleared by volunteers when found. The superstructure (housing atop the foundation) is missing, so it.s an open foundation approximately 43.x21. with about 10 feet of water. There is some very old fencing around it that has collapsed in several places. Recently, a young deer fell in and drowned and had to be removed. Roger asked what Mr. Haynes is proposing. Mr. Haynes is just emphasizing that the fence is inadequate and there is a potential hazard. Nel Lazour says the Spring House is an important structure in the Hillside “story”, and would like to see it kept intact. Jim Stanton asked Don Parker (present) if he could assist in securing the area, possibly by fencing it in. Mr. Haynes requested
permission to display his poster boards in the foyer of the Town Hall; ok.d by board.
Ms. Lazour updated the board on the assessment done on the horse barn (funds voted in 2006 by the town) at Hillside across from the Gough House. The barn is full of junk, and needs to be cleaned out. Volunteers are will to help the town clean it out. Sue Olsen said we.ve not been able to do it right now, there are too many other projects and not enough man power.
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HEARING: Retiree Health Insurance Policy: Roger Deal summarized: an employee retired from the town, was employed elsewhere and recently (years after she left) chose to sign up for town health benefits. A loophole is being taken care of with policy that defines retiree health insurance eligibility. The policy had been distributed along with a hearing notice to all employees and retirees with a recent paycheck.
Karen Carter (Elementary School teacher): wants to clarify that the policy currently reads anyone who is going to retire must have the insurance for 5 years prior to retirement? Roger confirmed. Ms. Carter has a problem with this, since she.s planning to retire in 3 years, but wouldn.t be eligible because she.s only had insurance coverage for the past 10 months. Jim Stanton agrees that.s a problem because the idea is for the policy not to affect current employees. Ken Sydow suggests changing the 5 year minimum to 12 month minimum on plan prior to retirement.
Ken Sydow motioned to amend Number 1, paragraph (b)as follows:
o After the first word, strike “was covered under the plan” replace with “was employed and eligible”
o Strike (i); re-number (ii) to (i) and change “said date of approval” to “retirement; re-number (iii) to (ii).
Roger second, voted all in favor.
Carol Olsak(?sp) (Elementary School SPED teacher) says their contracts only run for 9 months. Jim said they would need to be on the insurance as of July 1 the year prior to retirement, and retire no sooner than July 1 the following year.
Barbara Seed (Light Dept.) is currently covered under her husband.s insurance. Asked when and how she could join town insurance. Sue Olsen said either during open enrollment time (April/May) or after a qualifying event.
Roger Deal motioned to approve policy with previous amendment; Ken Sydow seconded, voted all in favor.
Ed DeFeudis re: 70/140 Development: Mr. DeFeudis questioned the status of his request (in March) to put up a sign on the town-owned property near Rte. 70 as well as landscape a “green” area. Atty. Angelini has not yet sent a letter to Mr. DeFeudis as the board requested re: additional information. Mr. DeFeudis has since researched the “triangle” at the intersection and found that the area in question is not owned by the town, but by the state due to land-taking. As a result, he doesn.t feel he needs permission from the town since it has no authority over the area.
Ken Sydow thought it was town-owned land; he agrees that an attractive sign would be mutually agreeable and the question is how to go about getting it placed. Jim Stanton feels that just because the state took the land, doesn.t mean the town has no authority, since the town maintains the land. He agrees the sign is a good idea, but a title search needs to be done. Atty. Angelini said regardless, we would need to know where the boundary starts to determine where the taken land is exactly.
Mr. DeFeudis also has a concern about the hot dog vending truck on the property and wants to be sure it.s gone when he starts building. Mr. DeFeudis questioned years ago if the town gave permission for the truck to be there. He gave Atty. Angelini a letter he had dated from 2001 that previous Town Administrator Anita Hegarty wrote affirming that if it.s state owned land there.s apparently no valid permission to be there. Mr. DeFeudis questioned if the town issued a common victualer license for the truck – yes, due to believing he.s on town land.
Mr. DeFeudis left and returned with Peter O.Connell (project engineer) who says the side on Rte. 70 is state owned, Rte. 140 is town owned. Mr. O.Connell also said he.s already had a title search done and the land is part of a state taking; he clarified that the entire corner is not a lot, but a street-taking „line.. The board asked Mr. DeFeudis for a copy of said title search, he is not sure he actually has one.
Jim Stanton asked Atty. Angelini to initiate a title search. He will need plans to start with; Don Parker has plans that can be copied. Mr. Stanton said the sign and the hot dog vending truck will be addressed once the title search is complete; Atty. Angelini thinks it
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will take a few weeks. Mr. DeFeudis asked when the hot dog truck.s license expires – December 31, 2007. Peter O.Connell said it would “be in the best interest of the Town not to renew the license”.
Fire Chief Joe Flanagan: Monthly report to the board.
Tahanto flood clean-up is complete, but the air quality results came back with high level. The DEP suggests waiting one week, then take more samples. Chief Flanagan believes the readings were elevated due to being sampled at the wrong time, during painting and epoxy application. Chief Flanagan feels the next readings will be normal.
8/24 participated in a mock disaster drill in Worcester with other towns – everything went well.
The Elementary School inspection is complete. Several couches in rooms had to be removed due to being against fire and building codes. Dr. Dlott was supportive of the Chief.s decision and all stuffed furniture has been removed from the classrooms.
There has been some arson in surrounding areas (none in Boylston – Sterling was the closest). The Chief.s Association met with the Attorney General.s office and suspects were caught last week.
Jim Stanton asked if the weekend shifts are working out. For the most part; there have only been a few uncovered shifts.
Sign Requests:
Ken Sydow motioned to approve the Boylston Lions. Club request to put sandwich boards at 70/140 and center to advertise upcoming Chicken BBQ; seconded and voted all in favor.
Ken Sydow motioned to approve St. Mary of the Hills request to place their sign board at 70/140 to advertise their upcoming flea market; seconded and voted all in favor.
At 8:50p.m. on a motion made by Ken Sydow and seconded by Roger Deal, the following roll call vote was recorded to go into Executive Session under MGL Chapter 39, §23B ¶ 3, for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining negotiation and return to open session: James Stanton-yes, Roger Deal-yes, Ken Sydow – yes. Open session reconvened at 9:00pm
Federal Census: Roger Deal.s motion for Boylston to participate in the Federal Census was seconded and voted all in favor.
Meeting Minutes: Ken Sydow motioned to approved meeting minutes of 4/18/07, 4/18/07 executive session, 4/30/07, 5/21/07, 5/21/07 executive session, 6/4/07, 6/4/07 executive session, 6/18/07, 6/18/07 executive session, 6/30/07, 7/16/07, 7/16/07 executive sessions #2 and #3, and 8/18/07 as presented and with submitted edits; Roger Deal seconded, voted all in favor. Roger Deal motioned to approve Executive Session #1 minutes as submitted was seconded by Jim Stanton; Mr. Deal and Mr. Stanton voted in favor.
CMRPC /MORE Recycling Policy: As a member of M.O.R.E., Boylston needs to vote to participate in purchasing recycled supplies in order for a grant on behalf of all member towns to be filed. Ken Sydow motioned to participate, providing the Town can negotiate for lowest priced supplies and participation does not involve extensive record keeping; Roger Deal seconded, voted all in favor.
Fall Town Meeting: Sue Olsen is requesting the board set a meeting date. Jim Stanton said other than bylaw changes, there is no specific request for a special town meeting. He thinks the board should wait until their quarterly meeting with department head and chairpersons on 9/4 to Selectmen Mtg 08-27-07 4 of 6
question if any specific items are being requested. Ken Sydow asked if we.re required to have a town meeting – no. He suggests if there is a meeting, that nothing is included regarding the upcoming Rte. 140 mall. Jim Stanton agrees; a special meeting specific to the needs of that project would be held.
Ken Goodwin: A letter of commendation for Mr. Goodwin was received by Howard Liebowitz from MCJTC (upstairs tenant) for his exceptional efforts. Sue Olsen will add to personnel file.
Suburban Coalition Membership: Sue Olsen gave the board information for membership consideration; cost is $250/year. The Board will take under consideration after further review of the information.
Compass Pointe / Sewall St. widening: The Board questioned consideration of relieving the contractor (Venincasa) of the road-widening obligation (as set forth in Planning Board order of conditions) by having them put money aside for future improvements. They will discuss it with Planning Board representative at next week.s quarterly meeting (9/4).
Fuller Motor Homes: Class I license application received and hearing with the Selectmen is scheduled for 9/24/07 (they currently hold a Class II license). Jim Stanton asked Atty. Angelini the requirements for granting a Class I license. Atty. Angelini cited MGL Ch. 140, s. 58 requiring a manufacturer.s agreement to sell new vehicles, and that the sale of new vehicles must be the principle business. The Board may establish further requirements and/or restrictions. The following will be requested of Mr. Fuller at the 9/24 hearing:
# of vehicles currently on their lot
Plot plan
Total number of new and used vehicles anticipated on property and where they will be stored.
Anticipated signage
Egress access
Will the lot be paved?
Selectmen’s Draft Schedule: Schedule for October 2007 – January 2008 meetings approved.
Town Bylaw re: Contractor Work Hours: Work law is currently 7-5pm weekdays, 7-4pm Saturdays. Roger Deal had had a complaint from a contractor who was stopped from working by a police officer on a Saturday, shortly after 4pm when he was nearly finished with a job. It required him to return on Monday and added more time to his job due to returning. Jim Stanton agreed there should be some discretion involved when enforcing the time limits. The bylaw was changed as a result of large contractors abusing the original work hours of 7am-7pm and neighbors were being disturbed regularly. Add to 9/4 quarterly meeting agenda for further discussion with boards.
Appointments:
Capital Planning Committee: The Finance Committee interviewed Larry Brenner and approved of him to be appointed as their representative. The Fin Comm. needs to appoint directly; Mr. Stanton said to contact Fin Comm. chair and inform board when complete.
Appeals Board: Associate Member remains to be appointed; Board asked Lori Esposito to email Bill Filsinger for his recommendation for appointment.
Conservation Commission: Sue Olsen to send scope of committee duties to board for review before the make an appointment.
Business Development Committee: On hold.
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Regional School Alternatives: Rebecca Dono-Healy (School Committee Member) previously volunteered to chair this new committee. The Board would like to invite her to their next meeting to discuss next steps.
Hillside Development Committee: Ken Sydow recommends holding off until the presentation from Atty. Bobrowski is complete next month.
Central Mass Mosquito Control: The Board would like a letter sent to the Board of Health requesting a summary of mosquito control activities carried out to date since CMMC.s inception on July 1st.
Town Counsel Performance Survey: Draft survey presented by Roger Deal. Survey has questions regarding services provided by Town Counsel and Special Counsel. Edit and send via email for department head review and participation.
Town Counsel Appointment Process: Atty. Angelini asked the Board to explain to him what happened during the recent Town Counsel appointment process and why. Jim Stanton summarized what he discussed with Greg last week, after the August 18th meeting when the Board appointed him, along with establishing a new policy and review process, etc. (refer to Selectmen.s meeting minutes of August 18, 2007). Atty. Angelini told the board he was offended, stating that he.s been Town Counsel for 30 years, and not once has he ever had a problem or complaint about his performance. He would have appreciated having an evaluation and been included in conversations regarding his performance. He also said Mr. Deal had a lunch meeting with him and told him he was not happy with how he handled Ken Sydow.s litigation and how much it
cost. Mr. Deal was very upset, insisting the Sydow case was only part of their conversation at lunch. The Sydow case was no the central reason they had lunch together. Greg feels that it.s quite obvious there is some element of dissatisfaction with him as Town Counsel because of his involvement in the Sydow case. The case has been talked about “ad nauseum”; he.s not talked more about any other case in his history with the town. Atty. Angelini is asking for direction from the board regarding what he is expected to do in order to catch up with everything that was on hold. During the time his re-appointment was delayed he was not obligated to do anything on behalf of the town. Will his retainer be paid? Will his hourly rate be increased? He currently charges Boylston $180/hour, when all of his other municipal clients are $225/hour, plus charges for meeting time. Regarding Ken Sydow.s disclosure filed with the Town Clerk, Atty. Angelini said he looked at it and it doesn.t
divulge enough information. He told Mr. Sydow that he should have put more facts in the disclosure; as town counsel, he would have advised him of such. He feels Mr. Sydow should have excused himself from the discussion regarding town counsel appointment. Atty. Angelini advises the Board to reconsider the matter that Mr. Sydow recuses himself and they check with the Ethics Commission re: validity of the disclosure that was filed. He says it doesn.t add up, and perhaps Mr. Sydow has influenced Mr. Deal. Atty. Angelini also asked Mr. Sydow for a copy of the notes he was taking this evening in his notebook. Roger Deal said he is entitled to his opinion and he.s in “nobody.s back pocket” He also told Atty. Angelini that he screwed up by giving consent to a previous employee to return to the Town.s insurance after she left. Atty. Angelini said when the employee left the town, there was nothing in place to prevent her from returning to the town.s insurance plan. This is why he
and Sue and Roger have spent hours completing the new retiree insurance policy that was voted this evening. In leaving, Atty. Angelini said he will await his direction from the Board.
Meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito
Administrative Assistant
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