Date of Meeting: Thursday, April 30, 2012
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:40 PM
Members Present: Chairman Kenneth Sydow, Members Roger Deal and James Wood ; Stephen Madaus, Town Counsel ;Lori Esposito, Interim Town Administrator; Dennis Pojani, Town Moderator; Sandra Bourassa, Town Clerk; Rose Bardsley, Clerk
The meeting was called to order at 6:37 PM.
Report of the Interim Town Administrator to the Board:
1. Parks & Recreation: Karen Barber has requested use of the basement at the Police Station for P&R-related activities. Lori asked Karen to respond to questions (attached) she thought the Board would want answered before considering her request. Karen’s response to the questions is attached. P&R will be meeting with the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, May 15. Karen also wants to relocate her office there. Lori suggested there might be an insurance issue.
2. Finance Committee: Eric Brose completed the Financial Committee’s report regarding the FY’13 budget. It was not finished in time for the Warrant printing; however, Lori has posted a copy of it on line along with the Warrant and will print copies for handouts at the Annual Town Meeting. A copy is attached.
Eric Brose will attend tonight’s meeting.
3. Lions Club Scholarship: The Lions Club requests nominations for their service award to a graduating senior from Boylston. Mail nominations to them no later than May 19.
Alzheimer’s Association Request: Letter from the Alzheimer’s Association to Chief Sahagian is attached. They will hold a charity bicycle event on July14, 2012; their route will carry them through Boylston. Lori has requested a certificate of insurance from them and Chief Sahagian has given his okay.
Motion made by Roger Deal, seconded by Jim Wood, and voted all in favor to approve the Alzheimer’s Association bicycle race coming through Boylston.
New England Forestry Association: Ken Sydow said that on May 5, 2012 the N.E. Forestry Association is conducting a tour of the beetle area and would like to stop at the soccer fields at Hillside for a quick picnic lunch. They requested permission to come inside Town Hall if the weather is inclement.
Motion made by Roger Deal, seconded by Jim Wood, and voted all in favor to approve the New England Forestry Association picnicking at Hillside.
Citizens’ Petition: A petition containing 77 names has been presented to the Board requesting the Town establish and maintain a Town yard waste drop site. Residents need a place to drop off yard waste. Jim Wood said he thinks it is a good idea. Lori said Brittany Blaney-Anderson, lead petitioner, is aware that the petition cannot be considered at this year’s annual town meeting, but perhaps next year. Ken Sydow said that’s a great thing for the new Town Administrator to work on with the Highway Department for the next Town Meeting.
Approval of Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes: The meeting minutes for December 19, 2011, January 5, 9 and 11 were presented for approval. Roger Deal felt some details specific to approval of different projects and funding received for projects involving Nancy Puff, the prior Town Administrator, had been left out of the January 9 minutes. Following some discussion, it was thought he was referring to meeting minutes of January 23. Jim Wood said he would accept the December 19 and January 5 minutes but wants to see the minutes from January 23, 2012.
Motion was made by Jim Wood, seconded by Roger Deal, and voted all in favor to accept the minutes of December 19, 2011 and January 5, 2012.
Ken Sydow acknowledged the presence of Martin McNamara, new Town Administrator as of May 7, 2012 and introduced him to the audience.
At 6:52 PM the meeting was adjourned for a ten minute break. The meeting resumed at 7:03 PM.
Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles:
- Dennis Pojani, Town Moderator, asked Roger Deal, outgoing Selectman, how many years he had served the Town in different capacities. Roger said he was on the School Board for nine years and has been a Selectman for six years. He said he would like to have four or five minutes of time at the Town Meeting to address Townspeople.
- Ken Sydow announced that this portion of the meeting would be televised. He requested that those at the table introduce themselves to the audience.
- Mr. Sydow read each of the Articles. He said there would be a Special Town Meeting on May 7, 2012 beginning at 7:00 PM with one Article: “To see if the Town will vote to transfer any unexpended balances of Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations, hitherto made to other accounts….” The Town Accountant will read off specific reference to the accounts at the meeting. This shows where the money is coming from and where it is projected to go.
- The Town Clerk said there is an election for Town officers and two questions on the ballot. The election will take place on Monday, May 14, 2012 from 12:00 Noon to 8:00 PM. Article 33, questions 1 and 2 (see Warrant). Those will not be handled at Town Meeting.
- Ken said the Annual Town Meeting will begin at approximately 7:15 PM. There are 32 Articles on the Warrant.
Articles 1 through 13 are housekeeping articles, generally taken all in one vote unless someone wants to vote on them individually. This is standard practice.
Dennis Pojani asked if the revolving fund articles had been voted by the Board of Selectmen, as required. Ken Sydow said that was correct; the Board voted those in a prior meeting.
Article 14 is fairly standard. No questions were raised. The Finance Committee recommends approval.
Article 15: Classification for wages for various jobs. The Finance Committee recommends approval.
Article 16: Transfer of funds. Ken said regarding a number of these Articles, we have had some questions about potential confusion in splitting the funding sources – some from the Assessors’ overlay and some from free cash. The overlay account consists of money the Assessors held for law suits and potential abatements and now that time has passed. They are releasing any available balances from 2007 2010. The money could have been released to the general fund to be used as free cash, but the Assessors preferred to distribute it amongst various articles, including this one. The present Town Hall server can no longer be serviced and requires replacement.
Article 17 is a total of $79K to replace the Library’s failing septic system, as well as construct an ADA compliant main entrance at the Library. The Library Trustees can speak more about this at Town Meeting.
Article 18 is for a ramp leading to the main entrance. The Library Trustees have donated $50K to be split between Articles 17 and 18. This is in addition to the $79K. Library Trustees will give more detail at the Town Meeting
Article 19 is a request for an appropriation of $60K to replace the septic system at the Town House. Dennis Costello, Town Health Agent, said both septic systems (Library and Town House) must be replaced. The Town House system is on its “last leg” and must be replaced immediately.
Article 20 requests $1,000 to replace a garage door at the Highway Department building. This money would come from the Assessors’ overlay.
Article 21 is a request for $5,500 to replace oil tanks at the Highway Dept. building. Don Parker said there are presently four, 275-gallon tanks for heating oil. Two years in a row the supplier has said they are not safe; Don said the tanks have been there as long as he can remember. The funds would include any ancillary equipment. They have already pumped out the fuel that was in the tanks. Ken Sydow noted that the insurer also weighed in on this. Don said the tanks are supposedly adequate for the time being but it is time to replace them. Dennis Pojani asked if they are being replaced with double-wall tanks. Don said they will be replaced with three, 330-gallon tanks.
Article 22 requests transferring $80K from ambulance receipts account to the Fire Dept. budget. Ken Sydow said the Fire Chief can explain this Article. Each year we transfer money as there is not enough money to cover all expenses. It has been handled this way for a number of years.
Article 23: Acceptance of Redwood Circle. Laurie Levy of the Planning Board spoke. She said the Planning Board recommended acceptance of Redwood Circle. Lori Esposito said she has not yet received a report on this from the Planning Board. Don Parker said he had to make a recommendation. Mike Andrade from Graves Engineering assured him the project was inspected and he recommends that it be approved. Ken said the Highway Dept., the Planning Board and the Town Engineer all approve accepting Redwood Circle as a public way.
Article 24 will be addressed at Town Meeting by the Light Department. Two important things about this Article: the Light Dept. proposes to utilize the Town’s Treasurer to track the money and utilize the Town’s borrowing power. They say there will not be an increase in rates. It is something that needs to be done over a period of time and it will not hurt the Town. It will not change our taxes or our rates. They note that this is a good time to borrow money with lower interest rates as they are now.
- Roger Deal asked if there is any risk to the Town if they default, as this is akin to co-signing. Ken Sydow said we have been assured by the Light Dept. that there is no risk as there is money continually flowing through the Light Dept. They can handle this in other ways if necessary. Steve Madaus said any risk to the Town would depend on the documents that make up the deal. He has not seen them. It is a large amount of capital that the Light Dept. does not have, so they are using the Town’s borrowing capabilities. It would be a risk to the Town because it is the Town’s credit they are using. Roger asked Steve if he should review the documents. Steve said he did not know to what extent they had been prepared. Ken Sydow said he did not believe they had
been prepared. They talked to Town Counsel on how to present it to the Town. Based on that, they would then prepare the paperwork. Roger felt it would be prudent to do some sort of pre-review and Ken agreed.
Steve Madaus said this would require a two-thirds vote since it involves borrowing. At Town Meeting Town Counsel will advise that this would require a two-thirds vote.
Article 25: Dennis Costello, Health Agent, said they entered into an agreement with the University of Massachusetts re flu vaccinations. When they do a flu clinic they get free vaccine. They pay the nurses and each year they set a monetary amount of $15 per vaccination. This fiscal year we did not have any vaccine for seniors and borrowed from the VNA. By passing this Article we could purchase our own vaccine if necessary. We do not know until October how much vaccine we will get. This would enable us to purchase our own vaccine and, by doing so, the State would actually reimburse us at a higher rate.
Article 26: Mosquito Control: Dennis Costello said this Article involved the Town becoming a member for three years of the CMMCP. The projected figure of $36K per year would be deducted from our State local aid (Cherry Sheet). We have been a member at certain times over the years. The CDC and the State recommend all local communities be involved. The debate involves spraying versus not spraying. The majority of the work is done in the winter – killing larvae before they hatch. A resident can ask to have his property sprayed or not – there is no wholesale spraying. It is a much more thoughtful program than it was 20 years ago and can have a public health benefit. At this point there is no control
for ticks and they are on the rise.
Discussion regarding financing the program and whether it would contractually be $36K per year or the cost would rise after the first or second year.
Article 27: Assessors’ computers and servers: The Board is aware of the need for new computers and a new server exclusively for the Assessors. Legally, the Assessors must have their own server.
Article 28: Elementary School roof repairs: They have had leaks for many years. Don Parker asked if there were any guarantee left on the roof; Ken Sydow said there was not.
Article 29: Elementary School bathroom stalls: No discussion.
Article 30: Eric Brose will read at Town Meeting.
Article 31: Transfer to Stabilization Account: Eric Brose said the Finance Committee is trying to put money aside for a rainy day. A two-thirds vote is required for any money going in or coming out of Stabilization. Ken said the State has figures for the percentage of what you can keep.
Article 32: This is standard wording that refers to the following pages in the Warrant, which is the budget. Eric Brose said the Finance Committee will recommend acceptance of the budget. The Finance Committee wrote up an explanation, copies of which will be distributed at Town Meeting; it is also on the Town web site. (Copy attached.)
- Roger asked Eric if there are any articles he needs to explain. Eric said they looked at each department so they can understand personnel and needs. There is only a certain amount of money we can appropriate. The Town used most of their portion and the school used all of theirs. Salaries have been kept low for years. This year we were able to offer a three percent increase for non-union employees; this is long overdue. In general, he is very pleased with the way they managed the budget and put money aside.
- Roger said there is considerable confusion in the community regarding what we spend to send students to Assabet and to bring students in to Boylston. Ken said the School Committee can answer that but they budget for a certain number of students going at approximately $16K/year. There is another number in there for transportation, but that is only for Boylston students; Berlin does their own transportation to Assabet. Lori said the majority of the increase is due to not being able to share busing with West Boylston.
General Discussion
- Lori asked if Eric would speak at Town Meeting to what the folks in Town did to keep the insurance costs down. The State mandated that towns achieve savings in health insurance. One option was the GIC plan; larger towns would save a significant amount of money but smaller towns do not benefit from the GIC. The previous Town Administrator looked into an alternative and the Board did not arbitrarily decide to go into the GIC; they gave the employees the option of keeping the present insurance which they and the unions overwhelmingly voted to do. The employees’ share has increased from 33% to 37%, decreasing the Town’s share from 67% to 63%, a savings to the Town of $70,000-plus. This helped us to achieve the budget.
- Ken said a lot of people have shown their personal support to save on the insurance and keep the plans they presently have.
Don Parker asked if the School Committee approved the school budget. Lori said they did.
Steve Madaus said the ballot questions are citizen-initiated and are non-binding ballot questions.
Reading of the Warrant and discussion concluded at 7:55 PM.
Library Bequest
Kenneth Linnell, Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Library, sent a letter to the Selectmen regarding a
bequest made by Robert N. Doyle, a former resident of Boylston, to the Library. Town Counsel drafted a
motion for acceptance of the bequest which Jim Wood read:
I move that the Board vote to accept on behalf of the Town a gift bequeathed from the Estate of Robert N.
Doyle, formerly of Boylston, in the amount of $10,566.65, plus any accumulated interest, said sum to be held
in a separate account by the Treasurer and available for expenditure for the benefit of the Boylston Public
Library. Roger Deal seconded the motion; it was voted all in favor and unanimously approved.
8:00 Hillside Property Agricultural Use
- Patricia and Michael May of Cross Street, along with their daughter, Mackenzie, appeared before the Board to discuss the possibility of leasing land at Hillside for farming and raising cattle. They presently own a 65 acre parcel on Cross Street where they raise chickens, hogs and turkeys and sell eggs. They have been converting the land to agriculture, but it is difficult as the land is too rocky to support much in the way of vegetable farming, which is the reason for their request. In addition to the land which they would farm and on which they would like to have cattle, the Townspeople would be able to do gardening as well.
- The Mays spoke with Parks & Recreation to see what they might do to participate. He presented the Board with a letter from Karen Barber in support.
- Mr. May said they would try to lease 33 acres, initially on both sides of the road on this side of the high tension wires. Some acres would be vegetables, some for haying and eventually some for livestock. Their daughter graduated from the University of New Hampshire and has been the manager at Applecrest Farm on the New Hampshire coast. She would offer technical assistance with gardening.
They feel that the property near the high tension wires is less desirable to potential purchaers.
Any excess food would go to the Boylston food pantry.
They are not asking for something for nothing; they would pay Chapter 61 rates as annual taxes and would make ongoing improvements to the property. They would make investments into the soil and the Water Dept. is very amenable to them capturing water from the tower.
Jim Wood said he thinks it is a fantastic idea and very nice to have someone come forward with the idea of a community garden, as there is nothing like it in Town. At one time the Town was all farmland.
Roger said he agrees to some extent with Jim, this is not a 4H project. There is a profit objective on the part of the Mays. He asked what the distribution of profits would be. It would be incumbent on the Mays’ part to quantify what the profit potential could be for the community. With regard to cattle, Roger said he was not aware of any restrictions on that.
Roger asked if they were proposing a five-year lease. Mr. May said it depends on the opportunity to invest in the land – setting up the property for ongoing use. He is looking at a three to five-year window of cash-out, as it is possible to do only so much at a time. This will require a $10,000 to $20,000 investment. Fencing would be a significant investment as it has to be able to restrain cattle. It involves pasture rotation and management. Fencing would cost at least $10,000.
Ideally, they would like a five-year lease term with three five-year renewal options. Ideally, it would be for 20 years.
Roger said he appreciates their generosity in wanting to do something for the community but sooner or later we have to develop some land commercially. He would not want to hinder the future prospects of the Town for commercial development. He told Mr. May he needs to quantify his expectations as he would have a $50,000 to $60,000 investment. Roger said these are questions Mr. May needs to resolve with our Town Administrator and the future Board of Selectmen.
Roger asked Town Counsel if, at any time this lease is approved by the Board of Selectmen, does itstill have to go through a Town Meeting.
Steve said that to make land available for lease it requires a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting and also a vote at Town Meeting for the Board of Selectmen to enter into an agreement. Chapter 30B states that land over $25,000 must be subject to competitive bidding or a RFP. To enter into any lease with Town Meeting authorization , we would have to put it out under 30B: “….30 acres available…..” The Town would then have to make an appraisal of the bids.
Roger told Mr. May it is not as simple as it might have been reported to be and it is important that he understand that.
Matt Mecum asked if it could be done at a Special Town Meeting and Steve Madaus said he thought it could. Matt asked if there were increments of obligation that would allow them to proceed. He asked if this year they could put in a community garden; does the Board have options.
Jim Wood said there is a time limit of ten years.
Ken said we started a Hillside-use study and there is a considerable amount of information available. He said to keep in mind that the land is owned by the Townspeople. There is some preference for commercial development in order to increase the tax base. The new Town Administrator will be charged with getting up to speed on Hillside.
Steve Madaus said the Board of Selectmen have to be authorized to negotiate a lease, limited to ten years, for buildings.
Ken told the Mays they wouldn’t want to put in a tremendous investment in seven years and find out it is over at the end of ten years.
Mr. May said they would build a financial model. Although it is a profit thing for them, they are very committed to doing things for the community. They will follow and respect whatever guidelines are given to them. Mr. May said if they could use a calculation, some rate of tax based on the value of the land – a payment in lieu of taxes.
Steve Madaus said it would not be “in lieu of.” Once leased, it becomes taxable land. There might be other towns who have land available for farming.
It was left that the new Town Administrator would work on the issue.
Citizens’ Comments regarding appearing before the Board
- “Except in unusual circumstances, any matter presented for consideration of the Board shall neither be acted upon, nor a decision made the night of the presentation. A scheduled time on a future agenda may be necessary, at the Board’s discretion.”
- Lori said she does not want people to get upset with the Board because they cannot make a decision that night.
- Discussion concerning wording of documents so as not to be in violation of State laws regarding land use.
Ken said it would be important to go over these things in a Workshop meeting. Lori asked if it would be appropriate to combine that with a Quarterly Meeting as they were due for one.
At 8:40 PM Roger Deal made a motion, seconded by Jim Wood and voted all in favor, to adjourn.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rose Bardsley, Clerk
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