Date of Meeting: Monday, March 22, 2010
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Members Present: Chairman James Stanton; Roger Deal; Ken Sydow
Others Present: Stephen Madaus, Town Counsel; Nancy Colbert, Town Administrator; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant; others as listed on the attached sign-in sheet
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
· FY 2011 Budget: Town Administrator stated she had just received information last week from Margo Richardson of the Assessors’ Office regarding outstanding telecommunication cases totaling $120K. This money is in the Assessors’ Overlay. She said she did not have this information in front of her when she recommended last week taking this amount out of the Overlay. That cannot be done at this time; it must come out of the budget.
· Personnel Board: Nancy Puff presented a proposed mission/scope for a subcommittee to review the role and function of the Personnel Board. She presented a model based on the Town of Bolton’s Mission Statement. Jim Stanton discussed not needing an “at large” member; having one Personnel Board member, one Selectman, Town Counsel and the Town Administrator. Jim Stanton volunteered to be the representative for the Selectmen. Motion made by Roger deal to appoint Jim Stanton as Selectmen’s representative seconded and voted all in favor.
· Compass Pointe Water Line Installation: The Town Administrator was at the site today to have paperwork signed and distributed the permit conditions to all involved at the site.
· Investment Policy: The Town Administrator presented the Selectmen with copies of the Investment Policy approved by the Board last spring outlining types of investments the Town Treasurer is limited to using. Roger Deal stated he thought the Board had agreed to establish an Investment Advisory Committee. He would like to have representatives from Town Hall as an oversight committee. Ken Sydow said he is fine with an Investment Advisory Committee as long as we are following the policy. Lori Esposito will find past notes regarding setting up an Advisory Committee and present them to the Board for discussion at the next meeting.
Brian McGahie, a Boy Scout working toward his Eagle Scout badge, has chosen to build a handicapped ramp at YMCA Camp Harrington as his project. He has requested a waiver of the building permit fee (approximately $100). Roger Deal made a motion to waive the fee, Ken Sydow seconded the motion. They asked to see the plans. After viewing them, the Board voted all in favor. The Board wished him well on his project.
FY2011 Library Budget – Nick Langhart:
· The Board invited Mr. Langhart in to explain the ten percent expense increase in the budget.
· Jim Stanton said the original guideline was zero percent increase in salary and zero percent increase in expenses. This has been adhered to with very limited exceptions, yet the library budge was submitted with 10% expense increase and 3% salary increase requests.
· Mr. Langhart presented his proposal. If the increase is not funded, we will continue with the same level of service. He conceded that the library will not close if the increase is not granted, they will continue to operate as they currently do. This increase was presented two years ago and was favorably received but last year’s cuts set that back.
· Jim said there are other lines increased other than the technology line item: three percent in audiovisual and five percent in periodicals. Nick said this is to maintain ten percent of the budget toward library materials.
· Jim noted the Finance Committee said the increase would be offset by a decrease and savings in other line items. The Selectmen could not find that decrease. Mr. Langhart said postage and mailings were reduced by about $200 due to automation and sending late notices via email, etc.
· Brad Baker: We would like to be a CW Mars System full member. A survey indicated 97% of Boylston residents wish to be full members. The cost for partial membership is $2,900 versus 6,700 as a full member. This allows access to a larger pool of materials. The Library Fund generously agreed to donate $5K of the first-year cost ($11K), the donation dependent upon full membership to CW Mars. At this time the Boylston Library card has zero visibility from home computer into the inter-library system. The new system would give everyone a new card, allowing them to order materials available from various area libraries, right from their home computer to be delivered to the Boylston library. They would also have the ability to barcode all books
and keep better track of materials and their use. We would eliminate the manual card system.
· Ken Sydow asked who does checkout now? Mr. Langhart said a person uses the card, stamps a two-week due date and pencils in a manual ledger to keep track.
· Ken asked how many residents were surveyed. Brad said they received over 100 responses.
· Brad said to avoid the state waiver process; they need to increase the budget by 1.9%.
· Jim Stanton said this year, with state aid being cut and asking everyone else to level-fund, he doesn’t know how fair it would be to increase the library budget. Although it would be nice to automate, he is not sure it makes sense to add a large expense that we might not be able to maintain every year. Nick said he would have expected to hear from the Finance Committee at this point. Jim noted the Finance Committee just met with the Board last week to present budgets, which is when this came up.
· Brad stated the library has had more significant cuts than other departments in the past. Jim disagreed and said other departments had deep cuts in the first and second round cuts that the library was spared from until the third round of cuts. Many other departments had much more significant cuts (e.g., Parks and Recreation).
· Brad stated he would hate to lose the generosity of the foundation and would prefer to avoid a state waiver process. He would also like to satisfy the residents, since it’s only a few thousand dollars. Jim said its significant dollars to some other departments. The Board would like to say Yes, but we needs to stay within guidelines based on the uncertainty we face. They have added a small salary increase to employees to be fair.
· Roger Deal said that emotionally, his position is in full support of the Library. He is concerned about the ongoing waiver process; however, he does agree with Jim’s points regarding funding and it is very logical. He feels he must abstain from the decision because he personally would like to support the Library.
· Brad asked what is the next step? Jim Stanton said he doesn’t know.
· Ken Sydow asked if there are other areas of the Library budget that can be reduced to support this request. Brad asked how soon the Board needed an answer from the Library Trustees.
· Jim said that if we say yes to them, other departments will want the same and they have already been said no to with regard to their increase requests.
· Brad is to be in touch with the Board by April 5.
At 7:50 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 c. 39, §23B ¶6 to discuss the lease of Town-owned land: James Stanton-yes; Roger Deal-yes; Ken Sydow-yes. The Board agreed they would reconvene to open session following the Executive Session.
8:15 PM John Roy, Financial Director, Boylston Schools:
· Mr. Roy requested authorization for the Elementary School Committee to enter into an inter-municipal agreement for transportation. Motion was made by Roger Deal to grant such authority; motion seconded by Ken Sydow and voted all in favor.
Town Meeting Warrant Draft Review:
· Remove Article No. 2 on special pre-meeting (school)
· Move Article No. 20 (PD transfer for salaries) to Special Town Meeting
· Ballot vote: 2½ override (school) (add last sentence in article re: subject to 2½ vote (as in motion)
o Motion was made by Roger Deal and seconded by Ken Sydow to approve debt exclusion ballot and article. Voted all in favor.
· Re Ambulance revolving fund: Stephen Madaus said we cannot use the revolving fund for salaries unless benefits are also paid out of the same fund. Jim Stanton stated the $74K also covers part-time employees that are not benefit-eligible. Steve will give this further review and get back to the Board.
· Jim Stanton suggested changing zoning articles to number 1-7 with the school article following.
· Zoning article 1: change Shrewsbury Street Business District (SSB) to Route 140 Business District (RBD).
FY’11 Budget Review: Some changes made:
· Building Inspector: Mileage will be level-funded with no increase in office expense.
· School: Elementary and Regional numbers adjusted; net is the same.
· Assessors: Jim Stanton suggested an increase in mapping service (two percent) and meeting and court cases (42%) need to be offset by some other expense line(s). Would like to see YTD on software line also. Nancy will ask Assessors for adjustments.
Motion made to adjourn; motion seconded; voted All in Favor.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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