Date of Meeting: Monday, March 18, 2013
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:40 PM
Members Present: Chairman Kenneth Sydow, James Wood, Matthew Mecum; Martin McNamara, Town Administrator; Attorney Brian Falk of Mirick O’Connell; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant (Others as listed on attached sheet.)
The meeting was called to order by the Chairman at 6:30 PM. Financial warrants were signed in approval.
Representative Harold Naughton – Updates:
The Legislature is in the process of drafting a response to the Governor’s budget. On April 10 the House budget will be released and debated two weeks later. He strongly suggests planning for level-funding for State aid.
Chapter 90 funds: they have made an effort to release numbers much earlier than last year (July). The goal is for the State to get back up to $300M (from $200M). Various tax proposals have been presented to support and create funding.
Transportation bond bill: $100K has been requested for projects such as Route 140. He needs suggestions for specific projects and uses to support the bill. He will work with Marty McNamara for language to insert if we get the opportunity to do so. Ken said he reviewed the history of the 140 study/grants and cited some projects.
Calliope Crosswalk: He is requesting MA Highway to install a new crosswalk. He is arguing the need for a study, site work, engineering, etc., since a crosswalk already existed. Harold has a meeting upcoming.
Elementary School: Regarding Chapter 70 formula (Superintendent Ekstrom present) for elementary education to grant a waiver to include Boylston in the rural schools grant program – request was denied. The head of the agency recently resigned and Harold will broach the subject again with the interim commissioner once in place. If not administratively, he will attempt to do through legislation.
Chapter 70 Foundation formula: Mr. Naughton sat with the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee to get Boylston up to at least 82% reimbursement. Legislation is ongoing.
Committee on Public Safety/Homeland Security : Mr. Naughton is Chair of the Committee. All of the gun control hearings are coming to his committee and he will be busy over the next few months. They are also conducting hearings for lab closings/meningitis spread.
6:50 PM Senator Harriette Chandler – Updates:
Tahanto: Senator Chandler has been trying to get the towns to agree on that new building for years and is very happy to hear it’s completed.
Budget – House 1 (Governor’s) was out in January. Two weeks ago the House and Senate concluded their hearing schedule. House Budget 1 will be released April 10 with one week of debate. The Senate budget will be out three to four weeks later, after April, when the largest tax revenues come in. This is why Cherry Sheet numbers are delayed. The numbers are very different in April from those in February.
Governor’s $2B capital expenditures: The Governor wants to increase the personal income tax by 1% and reduce the sales tax by 1%. Ms. Chandler has real reservations about it; there are too many Central Mass residents still struggling and she is not comfortable increasing their taxes. The bulk of the money would go to transportation efforts in the Governor’s budget.
Regional transportation: The RTA is important and needs to be supported. Boylston has no public transportation beyond Route 140. You cannot live in Boylston without a car which makes it very difficult for people. A few years ago the WRTA had serious problems – heavy debt. Part of the problem is RTAs have “backward spending” - they spend money then wait to get reimbursed. Borrowing covers funds but they are paying interest. She is hoping this year they can “forward fund” the RTAs. The first year would require two budgets, but it would release money to them. She is about to become the new Co-Chair of the RTA Caucus. (There are 15 RTAs and all need to speak with one voice.) If the WRTA gets more forward funded money, they would be
able to improve access.
Speaking to the Board and the Town Administrator: They need to think about what Boylston needs in terms of transportation for the bond bill. It needs to be in the planning stage or shovel ready. Ms. Chandler will do everything possible to help get it. Tied to enhancing early childhood education the SPED budget can be set, then the Town gets incoming students, the budget is suddenly unbalanced. One of the problems is transportation. Jim Wood said various unfunded mandates are a big issue. It doesn’t seem fair to tell us what we have to do but have no money attached to it.
Regarding the Governor’s proposed tax, many people have expressed to him that they would like to see the State cutting funds to support a balanced budget. The economy is fragile; this is not a time to raise taxes.
Ms. Chandler said she has heard that concern many times. She doesn’t want to raise taxes but our roads and bridges need to be repaired. The infrastructure needs to be maintained; otherwise, we will have a bad accident. People are struggling but we need to address our transportation problems.
Ken said there is a great deal of talk of increased taxes, tolls, gas, etc., to subsidize city transportation, such as the “T.” There needs to be a decrease in the waste spending. People in Central Mass don’t feel the need to support transportation in Boston and the eastern part of the State.
Harriette said we have the lowest gas tax around and doesn’t think it will increase. Regarding tolls, they are considering eliminating toll booth and replacing them with transponders and a camera billing system. Also, the east/west travelers bear the burden, not the north/south travelers. Eliminating toll takers will save costs. They are also working to realize savings in healthcare.
Matt said, regarding infrastructure, there is an issue with the prevailing wage, e.g., Boylston wanted to do the septic system at the Town House but had to put it out to bid and then get more money due to the high costs of labor-regulated wages. Ken said that, as a small town, we could have had local workers doe the work for less money.
Harriette said regarding the Home Rule Bill, Northborough is proposing that anything under $50K be exempt from prevailing wage rates. The Town could adopt to do what they have agreed to do in Northborough as both Home Rule Bill and regular bill. If you want her and Harold Naughton to do it, they would do it as their representatives. The Northborough bills might get turned down; she is not sure.
Nadine Ekstrom, School Superintendent, SAID THE District is currently a Level 2 District and moving toward Level 1. Several grants have criterion for only Levels 3 and 4 Districts in order to do training. Levels 1 and 2 have no support:
Level 1 top 20%
Level 2 20.80%
Level 3 below 80%
Level 4 bottom 5%
Level 5 State takes over
Tahanto is Level 1; the Elementary School is Level 2
Harriette said Levels 3 and 4 have other factors taken into consideration for the grant money. They are usually urban areas. Level 5 is a very poorly-performing district and you can’t compare Boylston to those districts. The money is going to the poor districts. Perhaps there could be some consideration for more affluent districts; she will look into it.
- Discussion regarding shovel-ready projects. Harriette said she needs to know exactly what the cost will be. The bond bill requires it and the Town won’t get a penny more or a penny less.
7:40 PM Report of the Police Chief to the Board of Selectmen:
The Chief presented the following statistics to the Board:
- Feb 14 Copier training
- Feb 15 Police Dept. interview
- Feb 28 Met with Boylston House of Pizza regarding beer and wine license
- Mar 3 Stu’s road race; briefly closed Route 140
- Mar 4 Followed up with Boylston House of Pizza regarding the beer and wine license; prepared a document for the Board of Selectmen
- Mar 4 Candidate for Patrolman Conway presented to the Board for appointment. Granted, pending background and drug testing
- Mar 5 Inservice training
- Mar 7 Ticket hearings Clinton Court
- Mar 11 Union negotiation meeting at Police Department
- Mar 12 Patrolman Conway’s test results successful. Mike made his first arrest for the FritoLay theft on his first night of work.
- Mar 14 Took the 3 to 11 shift
- Mar 15 Took the 11 to 7 shift
- Mar 22 Acuity installing antivirus software
Report of the Fire Chief to the Board of Selectmen:
MEMA plowing for 2013 blizzard submitted on behalf of Fire Dept and DPW. Not sure if any plowing is reimbursable; certain requirements for storms need to be met.
Fire and EMS responses on the increase. There have been two structure fires in Town in the past three months.
Grants: The Fire Department has been successful in obtaining five separate grants: three from MEMA, one from the Department of Fire Services and one from the National Volunteer Fire Council. With the exception of the grant for the CodeRed software and the SAFE grant, all materials have been obtained. The grant for the CodeRed software is still pending; waiting on an additional $1,700. The SAFE grant should be awarded some time this month.
MEMA: $1,844.28
MEMA CCP Grant: $2,928.77
MEMA EMPG Grant: $2,500.00
Nat’l Volunteer Fire Council/DCR Grant: $2,879.90
(50% reimbursable with matching amount to be donated by the
Boylston Firefighters Association)
Department of Fire Services SAFE Grant: $3,725.00
Training: Captain Mackenzie completed Fire Inspector class and Lt. Jason Bradford completed basic Fire Instructor class at the Department of Fire Services. Chief Flanagan will be attending a “Train the Trainer” class at DFS this week regarding responding to highway emergencies. The Chief will also attend the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis next month. The Fire Department is seeking members of the community who would like to serve as on-call emergency medical technicians. The department has several slots reserved in an EMT class starting in September in Shrewsbury on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 10 PM. Two current firefighters are enrolled in the class and we are hoping to gain some interest from the community.
Community Service: The department will host its first Safety Day for the local Boy Scout troops. Deputy Matt Ronn is organizing a program whereby the Boy Scouts will earn fire safety and first aid badges while “working” at the fire station. There will be several stations set up for the children to get some hands-on experience in various firefighting and EMS techniques. This program will be funded through a SAFE Grant. Safety Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 13.
FY2014 Budget: In his FY’14 budget, presented to the Finance Committee in February, the Chief requested additional money for Fire Dept. vehicle maintenance to cover the cost of annual apparatus maintenance. For the past three years the Fire Dept. has relied on a leftover Special Article to cover the majority of vehicle maintenance costs but this money is now used up. The actual annual maintenance costs for all vehicles, including ambulances, are $10K. The amount of $82,150 of the proposed budget of $331,296 will be requested in the form of a transfer from the ambulance receipts reserve account.
Report of the Building Inspector to the Board of Selectmen:
Tahanto Demolition Permit: Matt Mecum updated the Board on this. We are waiting for a permit fee of approximately $18K. The construction company feels they already paid it as part of the original building permit because it is on the same property. Tony said it is up to the Board if they want to release the permit. Tony feels there should be a separate demolition permit due to separate buildings, even though they are on the same property. The company wanted the fee included from the beginning and Tony told them No. He is looking to the Board to make the decision since the company is disputing this. Range of the fee is approximately $10 to $18K.
Matt said his concern is a delay (due to the company protesting the fee) in the demolition. The fields for sports could be delayed and students would need to be bussed to other playing fields. Tony said the demolition permit allows communication from the Building Department to the Assessors to affect the taxed buildings. Jim asked if we make them pay is there a good possibility of a delay? Tony said there is.
Jim Wood made a motion, seconded by Matt Mecum, to waive the additional fee. Voted all in favor.
Proposed Sign Bylaw: Bill Manter and Laurie Levy of the Planning Board appeared before the Board.
The Bylaw has been rewritten. The most significant aid in the By-law will be a chart to assist business and homeowners to clarify if a building permit is needed. Sign sizes are mostly unchanged. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 23.
If the sign is within the parameters of the Bylaw, a business can just get a permit from the Building Inspector. Outside of those parameters, the Board of Selectmen is not involved; the Planning Board is to be approached. People still have the option of going to the Zoning Board of Appeals if not approved by the Planning Board.
Attorney Falk said sign by-laws can raise first amendment issues, specifically restrictions on non-commercial speech. The Board cannot enforce restrictions greater than commercial speech. A brief discussion was held regarding verbiage in the proposed Bylaw. Attorney Falk will continue to review it and will work with the Planning Board. Bill Manter said this is a first step on the sign bylaws; in the future we could consider additional technology in the business district, for example. The Board thanked them for their efforts.
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
Re: Gough House: The TA said the Gough House Restoration Committee issued a request for bids for Phase Two of their project in October 2011. The low bidder was Yankee Steeplejack with a bid of $160,750. The next lowest bid was Quality Contractors at $178,315.
CIC Stormwater Grant. The TA attended a meeting of the 30 towns that are a part of this grant. The original application was for $200K but because of the Governor’s 9C cuts, we are only approved for $115K. Each town has been asked to contribute $2,833. Chip Burkhardt and Joe McGrath of the Conservation Commission both agreed that the benefits we receive are well worth the contribution requested. At this time 27 of the 30 towns have signed on to make the contribution.
TM Electronics: The TA, the Building Inspector and the Chair of the Planning Board met with TM Electronics’ COO, Doug Small, and Attorney James Stanton concerning their expansion project at 45 Main Street. They have an Article on the Warrant requesting a zoning change at this location. It was determined that the Planning Board can actually approve the extension of the boundary line requested by Special Permit and has scheduled a hearing for that purpose on April 1. If approved, there will be no need for the Article on the Warrant.
Light Dept. Bonds: Notification has been received that the 15 year General Obligation Bonds for the Light Dept. upgrade were received and the Town Treasurer has awarded them to UMB Bank at a rate of 2.024%. Documents are attached to the TA’s report.
Motion was made by Jim Wood, seconded by Matt Mecum, to approve the proposed revised Personnel Bylaw. Voted all in favor.
Sexual Harassment/Harassment of Protected Classes Policy
Motion was made by Jim Wood, seconded by Matt Mecum, to approve as presented. Voted all in favor.
Leaf Dump Update: Matt Mecum spoke with Steve Mero, who has not had a chance to do much on it. Jim Wood said he just wants to be sure we keep it alive.
State Primary Warrant: Signed for the Town Clerk.
Light Department Bid Bonds Sale:
Motion was made by Jim Wood to approve sale of bid bonds, seconded by Matt Mecum and voted all in favor.
At 8:35 PM on a motion made by Selectman Matthew Mecum, and seconded by James Wood, the following roll call vote was recorded to go into Executive Session under MGL c. 30A §21 ¶3 to prepare for negotiations with union personnel. James Wood: Yes; Matthew Mecum: Yes. Kenneth Sydow: Yes. The Board agreed they would reconvene only to adjourn. Police Chief Sahagian was also present.
At 9:10 PM James Wood motioned to adjourn Executive Session and reconvene in open session only to adjourn. Roll call vote recorded as follows: Jim Wood: Yes; Matt Mecum: Yes. Ken Sydow: Yes.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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