Date of Meeting: Monday, November 12, 2013
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:45 PM
Members Present: Chairman James Wood, Matthew Mecum; Michael May; Martin McNamara, Town Administrator, Brian Falk, Town Counsel; Lori Esposito, Administrative
Assistant (Others as listed on attached sheet.)
Financial Warrants Signed in Approval.
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM.
Meeting Minutes: Minutes of August 26 and September 9 presented to the Board.
Matt Mecum made a motion to approve the minutes with edits (typographical errors in August 26 minutes). Mike May seconded the motion; voted all in favor.
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
599 Main Street Paving: The paving has been completed. The finish coat will be done in early spring.
Elmwood Place: The paving of the driveway has also been completed.
Overdue Excise Taxes: To answer questions raised at the last Selectmen’s meeting, once an excise tax bill goes beyond the due date it is turned over to an outside agency for collection and an additional demand fee is added. If it continues to go unpaid, notice is sent to the Registry. An additional fee is added and the owner of the vehicle is not allowed to renew their license or registration until all fees are paid. The TA will request the Assessors investigate any fleets of vehicles housed in Boylston. The TA believes state law requires vehicles housed in a particular community must show that community as the address so that excise tax moneys go to that community. There are several companies in Boylston with fleets of vehicles.
- Mike May brought up the discussion held at the last meeting concerning linkage between both tax collecting systems (lockbox, internal system). There needs to be a concerted effort to link them, even if done manually via a spreadsheet to be checked monthly. Mike wants a list prior to 2010 and a separate list of tax-title and Town-owned properties. He is interested in collection opportunities, as well as Town-owned parcels that might be used by the Town.
- The TA said he requested those lists today and started to review them. They are very confusing. Some auctioned Town parcels are still listed on the tax-title list.
Burkhardt Memorial: The memorial plaque honoring Jay Burkhardt was unveiled at Mill Road and Sewall Streets on Monday morning. The TA thanks the Board, Rep. Naughton, and the Fire, Police and Highway Departments for their assistance.
Dump Truck: The dump truck for the Cemetery/Highway Department has been ordered. Steve Mero expects it to be delivered in a matter of weeks.
F’15 Budget Planning: Draft budgets have been presented to all department heads, boards, committees and commissions, as well as a tentative budget and Town Meeting schedule. The TA said we are asking for level-funding with no new programs or expenses and no upgrades, etc.
- Matt Mecum said if there are things they would like to purchase, now is the time to do bulk purchasing with a RFP.
- Mike May asked if the Finance Committee has weighed in on what the budget should be. The TA said he spoke briefly with the Finance Committee Chair. He agreed it should be level-funded with possibly a two percent decrease prepared.
- Mike May asked if anyone calculated the effect of the numbers on the overall budget? What is the differential in expenditures? The TA said they are not significant and have been deferred for another year.
- Mike May asked what has been done by the Board in the past regarding budgeting input. Does the Board direct the TA? Jim said the past couple of years the TA has made suggestions and the Board supports them. Mr. McNamara noted it is too early in the process; we don’t know what the state will be doing so we should start now by assuming a level-funded budget and a decrease.
- Brief discussion regarding the budgeting process.
7:00 PM Chief Sahagian – Monthly Report to the Board:
- Crime statistics were presented and briefly reviewed:
- 9/24 the Chief spoke with the TA regarding DOT complaints regarding sandwich boards and signage at the 70/140 intersection.
- 10/1 attended Chief’s in-service training on the second floor
- 10/11 at the firing range
- 10/16 attended ethics training at Town Hall
- 10/25 6:00 – 9:00 PM Annual Police Department Halloween party at theTown House
- 10/31 Trick or Treat; no reports issues.
- Officer Shepard completed training for certification as a firearms instructor/range officer.
- Ron Barbato is the new evidence custodian
- Bob Thomas attended the LC update course
- LTC processing in Town has a one to two day turnaround. At the state level, there is a 16 to 18 week backup; residents have been complaining. This is out of the Town’s control.
- An officer was injured today; broke his finger and will be out until January 8, 2014. He is a mid-shift officer. The Chief will be filling in some of those shifts when necessary.
- Criminal arrest last week; driver drifted and didn’t know what he was saying.
- The Chief is working on a $15K equipment grant.
Mutual Aid Agreement:
The Town has a previous M.O.U. with Worcester from ten years ago (July 14, 2003). This new proposed agreement adds detail of three specific situations:
- Transport to and from court
- Transport to and from hospital
- Pursuing motorist across Town line
- We cannot make changes in the agreement specific to the Town since several towns are in the agreement.
- We had a similar agreement with Clinton in April 2003.
- Jim Wood asked if there are any negatives to participating. Chief Sahagian said there are not. We want to participate so that we are covered if we need coverage.
- Mike May asked the Chief to distinguish between Mutual Aid and this M.O.U. Are we empowering an officer to act outside of his jurisdiction or only when mutual aid is called for? Are we creating a liability? The Chief said the intent of the agreement is to cover mutual aid, e.g., a catastrophic incident. This is at the Chief’s discretion. This agreement outlines the three specific incidents due to frequency of occurrences versus the previous agreement that was very generalized regarding emergency situations.
- Brian Falk (Town Counsel) said he flagged routine issues as if we were a sole municipality; nothing is a deal-breaker if we don’t make his suggested changes. He did not discuss it with Jack Collins (the Chief who implemented the agreement changes). In theory all 17 town counsel would have to input, review and approve changes for all towns.
Mike May made a motion to accept the Mutual Aid Agreement as proposed by Chief Sahagian on behalf of the Town. Matt Mecum seconded the motion; voted all in favor and signed.
7:30 PMN Fire Chief Flanagan Report to the Board:
- Grants: (1) The Department has received funding from a FY’12 CCP Grant to be used for portable generator/lights. This year’s FEMA Grant will include emergency medical services, supplies and equipment. The Chief is presently writing our grant request which would be used for an automated CPR device called the Lucas CPR. This allows the EMTs to ventilate the patient and assist with advanced life support while the device provides manual chest compressions. Without the FEMA Grant we will not be able to purchase this machine. It is costly to maintain the 17 defibrillators we have when batteries for each cost over $260. The Chief hopes to have grant request submitted within the next two weeks.
(2) The Department has applied for funding through the Department of Fire Services SAFE Grant Program. This program has been expanded to include funding for fire education programs for senior citizens as well as school-age children. We have requested funding to enable us to provide new, updated carbon monoxide detectors to our seniors. The smoke detector program was very successful and hopefully the Department will provide funding for the carbon monoxide detectors. A portion of that grant would be used for our fire education program at the Elementary School and Tahanto Preschool, as well as help to fund an open house at the Fire Department in the spring.
- Code Red: The Code Red emergency notification system is now live and operational. The system has not been used as yet although the Chief was contacted by the Police Dept. last month to put out a broadcast for a missing child. The child was found safe and sound before the broadcast could be made.
- Training: Jeff Dempsey-Holmes and Ryan Hatcher are currently enrolled in a basic EMT class in Shrewsbury that should be completed before the end of the year. Tim Donahue is awaiting results of his EMT certification exam. The Sterling Fire Dept. will hold another Firefighter I/II class beginning in January 2014. We hope to have a few probationary firefighters attend. Chief Flanagan will assist with the instruction.
Chief Flanagan will attend a week-long class at the National Fire Academy in Maryland beginning December 1. The Chief is only one of four fire chiefs from Massachusetts invited to take the class which is entitled “Command and Control Decision Making in Multiple Alarm Incidents.”
The Department began the training and orientation process for several WPI students interested in gaining EMS experience in Boylston. Nine students have gone through the orientation presentation and are currently doing ride-along time with Boylston EMTs to get some experience prior to filling overnight shifts in Town.
- Community Service: The Department provided fire education classes to grades K through 3 at the Elementary School and to the Preschool at Tahanto. The Department also gave a fire safety presentation to the residents of Sunbanke Village and provided fire drill training to staff members at Frito-Lay on Main Street.
The Department will once again host the 9th Annual Mid-State Fire Mutual Aid Association Safety and Survival Seminar on Thursday, November 14 at Cyprian Keyes. We currently have 190 firefighters and officers registered for the program.
A group of firefighters attended the dedication ceremony for the monument in memory of Jay Burkhardt.
The Boylston Firefighters Association will host its annual Breakfast with Santa on Sunday, December 15, at the Town House.\
Report of the Building Inspector (Tony Zahariadis) to the Board:
- Permit statistics for building, plumbing, electric and mechanical were presented to the Board.
- There are currently four new single-family home applications in process.
- It is slower now than at this time last year.
PILOT Policy: The TA drafted a letter to be sent to all owners of exempt property. Jim Wood asked Brian Falk what the success rate is in other towns. Attorney Falk said bigger cities have better luck; it is hit or miss with smaller towns.
Mike May asked how the percentage of contribution, including community service credit would be calculated. He is concerned about standard and equity.
- The terms will be in the contract of the PILOT once the property owner has voluntarily agreed to pay.
- Brian Falk provided suggested edits and the Board agreed with the changes.
Town House Committee Appointments:
Matt Mecum made a motion to appoint the following to the Town House Committee for purposes of renovating the facility over a several-year time frame: Scott McCubrey, Rich Reardon, Steve Mero, Dave Butler, Herb Cronin and Ruth Noonan. Mike May seconded the motion; voted all in favor.
Town Administrator Goals:
Matt Mecum suggested the following:
- Identify additional non tax revenue sources (e.g, solar panels, tower leases)
- GIS System – get it fully operational and train all who need to use it; ensure it is utilized
- E-Permitting (The TA said this is in process and will be fully installed by next week. Training will take place in mid-December and possibly be ready for January 1.)
- Use social media as a tool. Possibly hire a college student intern. Jim Wood suggested the possibility of a monthly Selectmen’s newsletter.
Mike May, regarding compensation for the TA, suggests setting a date to finish up the contract, goals and bonus.
Meeting set for Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 8:00 AM.
At 8:45 PM Matt Mecum made a motion to adjourn. Mike May seconded the motion; voted all in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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