Date of Meeting: Monday, December 1, 2008
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Members Present: Chairman James Stanton; Roger Deal; Ken Sydow
Others Present: Joseph Connelly, Interim Town Administrator;
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant; Stephen Madaus, Town Counsel; others as noted on sign-in sheet.
Financial Warrants Signed.
Dan Haynes – Audit Management Letter:
Roger had some questions:
· Inconsistencies with school accounting.
· Have all of Accountant Dan Haynes’ recommendations been implemented? Dan said they have been with the exception of ambulance receivables; he needs to sit with Chief Flanagan to go over the spreadsheet he has to follow. It’s a monthly summary of receivables and detail that should be balanced monthly. He will work with Joe Flanagan to implement.
· Roger assumes any expense sheets turned in are signed by the department supervisor. Dan: Yes, it’s working well.
Herb Cronin and Roger Deal: Brief discussion regarding potential development of Hillside. Herb feels there are covenant restrictions on the site. Roger asked why we are doing all the studies if we can’t develop the land. Dave Butler said the land was taken by eminent domain and paid for with Town bonds. Either the domain taking or bonds would clarify any restrictions. Jim Stanton asked Steve Madaus to look into it to find the answer as to whether there are any restrictions and, if so, when will they end.
Vote on Intention of Rachel Road (7:00 PM):
Steve Madaus read intention:
Whereas, at a meeting on October 27, 2008, this Board voted its intention to layout as a town way a road know as Rachel Road, and sent notice of said intention to the owner(s) of the subject property and posted notice thereof in a public place, as required by the general laws, now therefore, VOTE to layout Rachel Road, having an area of 27,648 square feet, more or less, as shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Acceptance of Rachel Road” dated November 7, 2007, prepared by Connorstone Engineering, and on file in the office of the Town Clerk.
Roger Deal made a motion to vote the intention as read by Town Counsel; Ken seconded ; voted All in Favor.
Finance Committee FY’10 Budget Discussion (7:05 PM):
Joe Connelly presented partially completed proposed FY10 budget. Several departments completed two versions of the budget; he hopes to have all completed and ready for submission at the December 15 Selectmen’s meeting.
Joe met with three union leaderships (schools, police); they are taking the proposal under advisement to increase employee health insurance co-pay from $10 to $20; Emergency Room visit co-pays from $50 to $75. This would save the Town $25,000 toward next year’s premium.
· Jim asked how close the budgets are to being level-funded. Joe responded that the budgets are all very modest.
· Joe: One of last year’s “budget busters” was Assabet tuition. After meeting with Supt. Brian McDermott today, there are three less students for which we didn’t have to pay (approximately $39,000 total). Next year tuition will be up over $14,000 (a $900 increase). At worst, it would need to be level-funded for next year.
· Dan Haynes (Town Accountant) asked about the school transfer article on the Special Town Meeting Warrant. Joe Connelly said it is money that wasn’t transferred at the June 30 meeting. FY’09 started out of balance, transferring from the Elementary to Tahanto; “housekeeping” transfer.
· Dan Haynes asked if any street lights been turned off. Jim: No, but we are also not paying for them. Joe Connelly went to the Light Board’s last meeting; they agreed to keep all street lights on and give us their PILOT money. They hesitated to turn the lights off.
School Administration: Superintendent Brian McDermott, John Roy, School Committee members Larry Brenner and Rebecca Dono-Healy.
· “Stuck” in MSBA schedule; need to first go through the review panel in January.
· They are about to hire an architect. Goal is for architect to have design ready for May Annual Town Meeting.
· They have a Project Manager. A lot of work (feasibility study) has been done.
· Need to come out of December with a decision of whether the sixth grade is going to Tahanto or not. MSBA was pretty clear it was going to take a lot, be a “hard sell” for them to support adding a grade to that building. They’re focusing primarily on the money the state needs to come up with. Ken Sydow asked about Boylston and Berlin being on board with the sixth grade added. Supt. McDermott said a lot of people in Berlin are concerned with the move to Tahanto since there have been financial struggles. Educationally, they agree it makes sense. Jim: If it is educationally appropriate but MSBA doesn’t support it, what do we do? Brian: We would need to ask the Townspeople to support additional space without receiving
state reimbursement. However, we would need to get an answer from MSBA to see if it would be approved, since they oversee/approve the entire project. If we can show it is likely we’ll be overcrowded in the future (ten years) if we don’t add the sixth grade, we might be able to “sell” it. Also, they’re likely looking at a renovation versus a new school. They are being pressured to justify the size of the buildings they are erecting.
· MSBA funding for projects on the original list exists (we are on the list). The next round is not yet funded.
· Ken asked Brian what, in his opinion, needs to be done with the building. Brian said initially, he thought it needed to be torn down. Since then, he is more open to renovation as a possibility. The Project Manager and the architect need to figure out the costs of renovation versus new.
· Ken asked if the Project Manager and architect can do high level budgets to submit to the state. Brian said yes.
· Are there any restrictions on the land at Tahanto? Joe Connelly said yes, but DCR said there should be no problem with getting a waiver.
· Jim: Is an override in May necessary for the building project. Brian: Not likely; need to know which way project is going and get plan and costs first, which won’t be in time for May meeting.
· Vin Perrone: Concerned that the longer we wait, the fixed money put aside by the State for the building projects might not be available to us. If there is more inflation in 18 months, it would make the buildings more costly and they might not increase the funding. We need to move forward to have the design complete.
· Ken: If possible to get out in third or fourth quarter of 2009, we’d have contractors looking for work and competitive bids. It might make sense to have a Special Town Meeting to inform the voters versus rushing to the May Town Meeting, which might not even be possible.
· Dave Butler: Strongly urges doing it at a Special Town Meeting due to the amount of time it would take.
· Ken: If the Regional Agreement were to be opened, is there a way to negotiate a sixth grade addition subject to approval of funding? Brian: We need to be able to put together a financial implication plan. If it makes financial sense, he feels Berlin would support it. Vin: From an operational standpoint, it would make sense to run the school at around 550 students. Adding the sixth grade would bring close to this, making it run optimally.
Budget:
· Jim asked the numbers for enrollment as of October 1. Supt. McDermott replied, Berlin: 114; Boylston: 271.
· Board wants to know if our assessment will be changing (based on “kids in seats”). Currently, Boylston assessment is 70.3%.
· Chapter 70 funds might be impacted. However, the state will try to level-fund towns that are not receiving the minimum (17%) Chapter 70 state aid. Boylston is only receiving 15 percent; Berlin is receiving 34 percent.
· Supt. McDermott hopes to present preliminary budget figures by December 15.
· Roger: the Revenue Study Committee planned to have a report and recommendations by December15.
Tax Classification Hearing/Board of Assessors (8:20 PM): Present: Carl Cravedi, James Holyoak, Margo Richardson
· Roger Deal made a motion to accept the recommendation of a single rate; motion seconded; voted All in Favor.
· Roger Deal made a motion to approve a $12.40 per $1,000 tax rate. Motion seconded; voted All in Favor.
· Dave Butler asked if overlay account increased. Margo: Yes -- $160,000. $64K is for Verizon legislation for abatement.
Special Meeting Warrant Article Review:
A brief review of five Warrant articles.
Report of the Interim Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
· Health Insurance Co-Pay: waiting for responses from unions for co-pay increase.
· Paul X Tivnan Drive: Mass Highway agreed to continue maintaining road through the winter of 2008-2009.
· Health Insurance Line Item: projected $28K deficit by June 30, 2009.
· MCJTC Lease: conference call scheduled for December 2. Base lease at $74,000 plus $25,000/year expenses.
· Town Hall First Floor Window Project:
o Project completed over the Thanksgiving holiday;
o Ken Goodwin was helpful and worked over the weekend on Saturday;
o Windows ordered were incorrect size; needed additional moldings added;
o Board of Selectmen wants correct-sized windows pursued; Joe to follow up.
· HVAC First Floor: engineer advises to release 90 percent payment.
· Hillside Restoration Committee HUD Grant: $245K Grant application in process.
At 9:00 PM on a motion made by Selectman Ken Sydow, and seconded by Roger Deal, the following roll call vote was recorded to go into Executive Session under MGL Chapter 39, §23B ¶ 5, to investigate charges of criminal misconduct: James Stanton-yes, Roger Deal – yes, Ken Sydow -- yes. The Board agreed they would reconvene only to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito
Administrative Assistant
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