Minutes Chilmark Board of Selectmen April 18th 2006
People present: Warren Doty, Riggs Parker, Frank Fenner, Tim Carroll, Jonathan Revere, Dennis daRosa, Karsten Larsen, Dennis Jason, Marvin Joslow, Zee Gamson, Perry Ambulos
7:30 PM Called to order in the Selectmen’s meeting room of the town hall by Mr. Fenner..
Friends of the Chilmark Free Public Library
President Marvin Joslow came before the board to inform them of the Friends’ intended “Welcome to Summer - Children’s Book Fair” on July 9th between 12 noon and 3 PM on the grass between the Center and the Library. They expect 200-300 people to attend. This has been cleared with the Summer Program at the Center. They have a $1,000 budget and there will be no expense to the town.
Mr. Fenner commended the Friends for encouraging children to read. Mr. Doty moved and Mr. Parker seconded a motion to endorse the “Children’s Book Fair” on July 9th 2006. SO VOTED: Three Ayes.
Karsten Larsen
Mr. Larsen came before the Selectmen seeking their endorsement to obtain a state permit for a fish weir to be located off the North Shore in Vineyard Sound to the North of Menemsha Beach. This is about the same area that Mr. Murphy had a weir in before.
Mr. Parker moved and Mr. Doty seconded a motion to authorize Mr. Doty to research and grant a one-year trial period on behalf of the Selectmen if Mr. Doty was satisfied with the information he obtains from the state and Mr. Larsen. SO VOTED: Three Ayes.
Housing - Middle Line Road
Mr. Fenner gave a recap of the meeting held with members of the Housing Committee at 4:30 PM today. The issues were 1) the status of the ethics commission’s report on the possible conflict of interest involving John Abrams, 2) a performance bond, 3) rents for the units are too high, 4) no fixed maximum cost to the town, and 5) the restrictions imposed by using CPA funds on infrastructure improvements.
Mr. Fenner said that the deadline is in two days and that legal counsel was not available tonight, though he could be available tomorrow for consultation.
Mr. Doty said that he had trust in the Island Housing Trust and that a side agreement or a memorandum of understanding with the IHT board of directors could be negotiated. Mr. Parker said a new approach was needed and that he could not support a side agreement. Mr. Doty said that no RFP will answer the use of CPA funds question. He suggested working out the pro forma with the IHT. Mr. Parker disagreed and recommended a new RFP be issued.
Mr. Doty said that there had been enough conversations with legal counsel. Mr. Fenner said that the conflict of interest needed to be settled.
Perry Ambulos said that he was very discouraged by another delay. He said he realized that the Selectmen chafed at the suggestion that they were delaying the project, and that he did not think they were. Mr. Parker thanked him for his comment. Mr. Ambulos asked the Selectmen to restore his belief in their leadership by pushing this project along. He said that these major issues should have been addressed long before the 90 day deadline was reached, not two days before.
Mr. Fenner said he understood Mr. Ambulos’s feelings of frustration, but that the Selectmen have the fiduciary responsibility to all the voters. He said that there was not a clean bill of health to accept this proposal right now. Mr. Ambulos asked the Selectmen to hammer out an agreement with IHT with a two week extension. Mr. Doty said that this should be a people question and not a legal question. He said that these people are dedicated first class islanders that are community leaders here on the island. He said that he trusted these people to help make this work. He said he knew the town could work things out with these people.
Mr. Doty moved to accept the Proposal submitted by the Island Housing Trust in response to the Middle Line Road RFP. Mr. Fenner agreed that they are all first class people, but that it was impossible for him to accept this against legal opinion. Mr. Parker said he agreed with Mr. Fenner. No second.
Mr. Doty moved to extend the deadline for 15 days to May 15th. Mr. Fenner said that in that time they could obtain legal counsel. Mr. Parker said that his preference was to issue a new RFP. Mr. Fenner said he was inclined to second this motion but would like to meet tomorrow with legal counsel. Mr. Parker asked what the rush was. Mr. Doty said that we have already waited 88 days and it is now the time to fish or cut bait. Mr. Ambulos asked what did the town lose if it granted an extension. No second.
The Selectmen agreed to continue this meeting until noon the next day to take up this one topic of the RFP response with Town Counsel Ron Rappaport. They agreed that there would be only three choices, Accept, Reject, or extend the deadline to see what changes could be made.
Zee Gamson shared an email note from Jim Feiner asking for an extension or acceptance of the proposal. Mr. Ambulos thanked the Selectmen for at least considering this. Ian Fein asked who wrote the RFP. Mr. Doty said it was a cooperative effort between the Housing Committee, Selectmen and a consultant John Stanton.
Dennis daRosa said that he was involved in affordable housing with his wife. He said that sometimes you come to a point when you are on a threshold of doing something never done before and you have to make a leap of faith. He said it was a shame to get bogged down in the minutiae. He said that this is important to do, and hoped that the Selectmen decide at their meeting tomorrow that it is a go. Mr. Fenner thanked Mr. DaRosa and said he wished it was a go now too. Mrs. Gamson said that the Selectmen were at a point where this is about leadership. Mr. Fenner and Mr. Parker agreed.
West Dock
Mr. Parker reported that almost all the steel sheathing on the east end had been driven. He said Mr. Carroll was working on an amendment to the waterways license to allow the pilings for the grand-fathered boats to be moved out. He said he had sent letters to those slip holders. He reported that the floats were due on May 7th in New Bedford. He said that Mr. Penny recommended the installation of two additional 30 Amp outlets on the pedestals serving the grand-fathered boats instead of single 50 Amp outlets. Mr. Parker said he wanted to abandon the old overhead parking lot lights and replace them with bollards in the future. To facilitate that plan the contractor will install empty sona tubes in these future locations that will
support the bollard lights. They would be filled with concrete at a future time.
Menemsha Harbor
Mr. Parker proposed to reduce the Harbor Department FY 2007 budget at the ATM by $6,746. This would be done by reducing the hours worked by the new Admin.Asst., reducing the pay rate to step 1, and shifting funding from the trash and maintenance lines in the harbor budget.
Annual Town Meeting - Explanations of Articles by the Executive Secretary
The board reviewed Mr. Carroll’s explanations. The board asked for three changes.
Minutes
The minutes of April 4th were approved as corrected.
At 9:20 PM this meeting was continued until April 19th at 12 Noon.
The meeting was called back to order by Mr. Fenner at 12 Noon on April 19th 2006 in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room of the Town Hall.
Middle Line Road RFP
Mr. Fenner posed issues to Mr. Rappaport. 1) Conflict of Interest of John Abrams, 2) maximum cost to town, 3) affordable rents, 4) use of CPA funds - would it restrict all the units or the proportional cost?, 5) current applications cannot afford 125% of median income( two can afford 85% of MI and 8 can not). Mr. Doty said that those are possibly a different group of people since no one has been asked to apply for these units yet.
Mr. Rappaport said that 1) he had spoken to the State Ethics Commission and they expected to have a letter out within two weeks, 2) the Deputy Inspector General said that the town may reject, in part or whole, any proposal under chapter 30B as long as it is not in a manner prejudicial to the governmental body or fair competition and that the town was allowed to issue a 45 day extension. There was discussion.
Mr. Fenner asked about giving a 30 day extension. Mr. Parker said that as the only person here without a conflict of interest, he thought it was important to make sure it is done right. He said a new RFP would be politically wise and provide clarity of appearance that nothing was being done wrong.
Mr. Fenner moved and Mr. Doty seconded a motion to grant a 30 day extension of the RFP to negotiate, resolve the Conflict of Interest issue, ask Island Housing Trust to limit the town’s participation to $950,000, guarantee the project will be built, to reduce the rents, and that the proposal be contingent on a town meeting vote for the funding and long term lease. There was discussion.
The future ground lease was discussed as being in addition to the contract with IHT. Mr. Rappaport said that the IHT must agree to the extension tomorrow before the deadline passes.
SO VOTED: Three Ayes.
Ian Fein asked who would be enforcing the CPA restrictions. Mr. Rappaport said that the ground lease would be contain the CPA restrictions and be enforced by the town.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:07 PM.
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