Date of Meeting: Monday, October 24, 2011
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:20 PM
Members Present: Chairman Kenneth Sydow, Members Roger Deal and James Wood
Others Present: Nancy Colbert Puff, Town Administrator; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant to the Board of Selectmen; others as noted on attached sign-in sheet
6:32 PM: Ken Sydow called the meeting to order.
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
Supplemental State Aid – FY’12: The State closed out FY’11 with a surplus, some of which they will return to cities and towns in the form of a supplemental payment to be made on October 28. Our payment of $20,948 is to be received no later than October 31.
School Dept Vocational Tuitions and Transportation: Twenty-two students were budgeted for and latest count is 25 students; we anticipate a deficit of $48,234 or $16,078 per student. Also, West Boylston is no longer sharing a bus route, contributing to a projected deficit of $29,737. This amounts to a total deficit of $77,971. The Town Administrator recommends the Board schedule a Special Town Meeting to address these shortfalls.
Treasurer/Collector Position: Jeff Ugalde has accepted the position with the Town. He agreed to commit his time to Lunenburg until his replacement is found; he anticipates this to be no later than January 3, 2012.
Gough House Project: Three bids were received, with Yankee Steeplejack being the low bidder at $160,750 base bid. However, Yankee made a mistake with the pricing and has withdrawn their bid at the risk of losing their 5% bond ($11,500). The Town Administrator recommends awarding the bid to the next lowest bidder: Quality Contractors with a $178,315 bid. She suggests authorizing the Chairman of the Board to execute the contract once the project bonds and insurance certificates have been received.
- Jim Wood made a motion to award the contract per the Town Administrator’s recommendation and authorize the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen to execute the contract. The motion was seconded by Roger Deal and voted all in favor.
- Ken Sydow said that before signing the contract, we should make sure Town Counsel has reviewed it. Jim Wood asked if this would cost the Town money and Nancy Puff said it would not as it was all covered under the Federal grant received for the project.
Mill Road Circle Paving: Of the three bids received, the low bid was submitted by P.J. Albert, Inc. in the amount of $38,380.90. The project will be funded through the Highway Department’s expense account, budgeted for $92,425, with a current balance of $52,321. Following completion of this paving, the account balance will be $13,850 (15% of the total).
Phoenix Communications: Phoenix submitted permit applications on October 18 to construct a 30,000 square foot office/light assembly/warehouse building on the former Turflinks site. Applications are subject to expedited permitting, guaranteeing a decision within 180 days, or April 15, 2012.
Green Street Drainage: Northborough has not begun drainage improvements to address the recurring icing/flooding conditions. Their Director of Public Works resigned in late summer and, as a result, work has been delayed. The TA is awaiting a new target construction date.
HB1972 – An Act Regulating Election Primaries: Attached is an Executive Summary of this bill for the Board’s consideration. The Legislature will be considering whether to change the timing of primary elections to facilitate voting by members in military service and their families, as well as overseas voters. The attached requests that the Board support this proposal by making a resolution, as attached.
- Ken Sydow asked what the Town Clerk recommends. The Town Administrator wasn’t sure but said it seems like a positive thing to do. Sandy Bourassa, Town Clerk, came in to the meeting and said it really does not affect the Town very much, but the overall effect would be positive and she recommends it.
A motion was made, seconded and voted all in favor to support HB1972 bill.
7:00 PM Report of Chief of Police to Board of Selectmen:
- October 23: The DARE party was a very successful, fun event. Lots of prizes were given away, including nine new bicycles and helmets.
- August 4: the Federal Protective Services representative met with the Chief and made a site visit to the Route 140 area to determine interest in moving their office from Warwick, Rhode Island. The Chief will keep the Board informed. Ken Sydow suggested that perhaps Nancy Puff could be put in touch with him to see if there is a possibility of them moving to Boylston.
- August 29-30: A housebreaks suspect was taken into custody; there have been no break-ins since.
- Sep 1: The Chief attended ticket hearings in Clinton District Court and also completed the Performance Evaluations.
- Sep 20: The Chief attended a meeting at Tahanto regarding a new evacuation plan.
- Sep 23: The Chief met with the Fire Chief and State EMT training authorities.
- Sep 27: Meeting re: fire alarm/security alarm issues.
- Sep 30: A fatality occurred on Route 140 near DiPilato’s Service Station; MVA involving a motorcycle and a truck.
- October 4: The Chief attended in-service training upstairs at the MCJTC.
- October 6: Attended motor vehicle hearings in Clinton District Court.
- October 7: Scheduled to do weapons qualification at the shooting range; postponed due to weather.
- October 13: Participated in a Tahanto evacuation drill.
- October 22: Took line-of-sight photos near Calliope Theater for proposed crosswalk.
- October 31: Requested the Board set trick or treat hours to be from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
A motion was made by Roger Deal, seconded by Jim Wood and voted all in favor to approve the trick or treat hours requested by the Chief.
7:15 PM Report of the Fire Chief to the Board of Selectmen:
- A ruptured gas line on Sewall Street today caused a gas leak at Compasse Point.
- Grants:
- Received $3,000 from MEMA to purchase rehab supplies for fire department operations.
- Received a SAFE grant for $2,800 to support a fire education program.
- The Chief is in the process of applying for a grant in conjunction with the Council on Aging to provide free smoke detectors (plus installation) to residents. A liability form to be signed by recipients will be reviewed by Town Counsel.
- Three members are currently enrolled in an EMT class at Assabet. The course should be completed in January.
- Beginning July 1, 2011 the Fire Department began regional training with the West Boylston Fire Department. Regional EMS training is held the first Wednesday of each month; fire training the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month.
- The Fire Department will sponsor the 7th Annual Mid-State Fire Marshall’s Aid Association Firefighters Seminar on Thursday, November 17. This will be held at Cyprian Keyes. Attendance is usually in the 180-200 range of firefighters.
Fire education classes were conducted the past two weeks at the Elementary, Preschool and Tahanto schools.
Plan Review: Fire protection plans for Tahanto have been approved by the Fire Department and peer review from the Fire Marshall’s office. A temporary propane tank should be installed for temporary heat.
Highway Superintendent, Don Parker:
- Don Parker requested the Selectmen award the Mill Road paving contract to P. J. Albert, low bidder.
- Ken Sydow asked Don’s thoughts on the Town roads which are in the worst condition. Don said Northborough has to complete their Green Street repair before that road is considered for paving. The project is on hold, and he hasn’t heard from them since their DPW Director resigned.
- Jim Wood asked Don if he had a list of roads to be paved next year. Don said Timberbrook needs work.
- Additional Hire: Don asked the Board of Selectmen to consider an additional hire for now to keep up with the new roads and the new fields to be maintained. He currently has four part-time positions.
- Cemetery Commission: There is a mid-term vacancy which needs to be a joint appointment of both Boards. Don will check with the other members and have them get on Selectmen’s agenda.
- Parking lot paving: This has been completed; they are in the process of adding signs.
Motion was made to award the Mill Road paving contract to P. J. Albert for $38,380.90. The motion was seconded and voted all in favor.
- Parks & Rec: Don spoke with them regarding the issue with benches at the Elementary School. When the new playground was put in, additional benches were never installed. Don just found that the benches had been stored away.
- Y.O.U.,Inc.: The Highway Department will install water if time allows before the ground freezes.
- Truck repairs: Don has had considerable bill for repairs, taking money out of the salt and sand budget. Part of the problem is that there is no place to garage the trucks. Jim Wood said that one of these days we hope to have a sufficient garage for the highway department.
Building Inspector, Tony Zaharaidis:
- Tony submitted a six-week detail of permits. $10,743 has been collected in permit fees. Ken Sydow asked how everything is going. Tony said there are a lot of little things and he has been very active but there is not a lot of new building.
Finance Committee: Members present: Eric Brose, Karen McGahie, Herb Cronin, Steven Dorval
- Ken Sydow thanked them for all they do.
- Nancy Puff said she had spoken with Eric Brose about a meeting to discuss next year’s budget process. Typically a budget memo is sent to all departments in November. It is still early and she doesn’t have any numbers, but feels it would be safe to say there will be no additional spending.
- Nancy Nykiel, the Town Accountant, is waiting to verify free cash with the State. It should be elevated due to the Tahanto building permit fee, as well as town-owned land auction sales.
- A Special Town Meeting will likely be needed for the school to transfer some line items.
- Re: Capital Planning Committee, it would be a good idea to reconvene this committee with two Finance Committee members, one appointed by the Board of Selectmen, one by the Planning Board and one at-large member.
Ken said we should start with a two percent reduction across all budgets, as we did last year.
Roger agrees; we still have a tax increase to anticipate once the school is up and operational. He recommends keeping it level-funded and maintain that across the board with no wiggle room.
Ken said the Stabilization Fund puts us in a good position but we don’t have much money to spend.
Eric Brose said, to clarify, stabilization and the operating budget are totally different. Jim Wood said he didn’t know the numbers yet but he was thinking we are doing okay and agrees we need to be very conservative. Herb said we seem to also have the schools on the same page now, level-funding the school budget. Karen agrees and feels level-funding is reasonable to ask – not a two percent cut. Steve agrees with level-funding.
The Finance Committee budget hearings will commence in February, as usual.
Eric Brose said they currently have a reserve fund transfer request for $5,000.
A short discussion was held with the Finance Committee regarding new business development coming into Town.
Upon motion by Roger Deal, seconded by Jim Wood and voted all in favor, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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