Board of Selectmen
Minutes
May 20, 2008
Leo F. Blair
Timothy A. Clark
Peter E. Warren
Lucy B. Wallace
Ronald V. Ricci
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M. by Chair, Leo Blair in the Town Hall meeting room.
APPOINTMENT OF TOWN CENTER SEWER ACTION COMMITTEE -
On a Wallace/Warren motion, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Joe Sudol, Carrie Frasier, Pat Jennings and Wade Holtzman to join Chris Ashley and Tim Clark on the Town Center Sewer Action Committee.
ADOPTION OF A NEW BOARD OF SELECTMEN POLICY -
Ron Ricci made a motion to vote to adopt a policy whereby no member of the Board of Selectmen should serve on any other Board of Selectmen elected or appointed board or committee within the town as a voting member unless there is a statutory or contractual requirement that a member of the Board of Selectmen be a voting member of the Board or Committee. The motion was not seconded but Peter Warren requested an amendment to the motion to include Chair.
The final motion was as follows:
On a Clark/Blair motion, the Board voted to adopt a policy whereby no member of the Board of Selectmen should serve on any other Board of Selectmen elected or appointed board or committee within the town as a voting member or as Chairman unless there is statutory requirement that a member of the Board of Selectmen be a voting member of the Board or Committee.
(Wallace – Nay, Clark – Nay, Warren – Aye, Ricci – Aye, Blair – Aye)
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION –
Don Green, Lorin Johnson, Joe Sudol and Deborah Skauen-Hinchliffe spoke in support of the policy change.
MINUTES – On a Wallace/Warren motion, the Board voted unanimously to accept minutes of 5/5, as amended.
On a Blair/Wallace motion, the Board voted unanimously to accept minutes of 5/6, as amended.
TOWN ADMINISTRATORS REPORT -
Tim Bragan informed the Board that the General Store has filed for their Common Victual License and as per the new policies and procedures we will be holding a public hearing on June 3, 2008 at 7:30PM. A notice has gone in the paper and since the property is in an A/R district it has also been sent to owners of property within 300 feet of the store.
Board of Selectmen – Minutes
May 20, 2006 – Page 2
Tim Bragan informed the Board he and Leo were working on the Board Member Liaison appointments and they will be ready for the meeting of June 3rd.
Tim Bragan informed the Board he received the attached letter from the Library Trustees informing the Board of Selectmen of the vacancy that exists on the Board of Trustees due to the passing of Roy Moffa. It is now up to the BOS to coordinate a date to meet with the Trustees to make an appointment to fill the vacancy. He attached a copy of MGL Chapter 41, section 11, which is the part of the law that the Board will be operating under when the appointment to fill the vacancy takes place. The Board agreed to appoint at the June 17th meeting.
Tim Bragan informed the Board that on June 17th, 2008 the Keyspan Company will be seeking the Boards approval to lay new gas lines along Oak Hill and Woodchuck Hill Roads and then proceeding down Massachusetts Avenue to the Boxborough Line.
Tim Bragan recognized the Fire Chief and the Fire Department particularly Andrew Perry for coming up with and orchestrating the recent Firefighter for a day in which six students from Bromfield participated in a day of structured situations and discussion about what firefighters do.
Meet with Hal Davis regarding Chapter 40T legislation – Hal Davis is President of the New England Development Corp, a consulting firm representing municipalities and property owners in utilizing local state and federal financial incentives and tools promoting community development for existing and new real estate developments. Hal Davis is the primary draftsman of the 40T legislation. He drafted home rule legislation that was enacted and created with the East Bedford Industrial Sewer District to fund, through special assessments, the extension of sewer improvements in a key industrial park. This led to further work to create additional districts for other municipalities. The increased difficulties of funding a variety of infrastructure needs caused by shrinking funds from cities and towns led to the need for Chapter 40T. He
explained a voluntary petition accompanied by an improvement plan must be submitted to the town and then a public hearing is held. Basically, the taxpayers would petition the town for approval. The town always has the option to turn down the presented project.
Questions were asked from Joe Sudol, Tom Philippou, Keith Cheveralls and Lorin Johnson. Hal explained more information can be found on www.Chapter40T.com.
ENERGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Lucy Wallace presented a memorandum from herself and Ron Ricci regarding their interview process and recommendations for appointments.
On a Blair/Warren motion, the Board voted unanimously to amend initial vote from the March 22 meeting to increase number of members on the committee from five to up to seven.
On a Wallace/Warren motion, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Brian Smith, Eric Broadbent, David Fay, Forrest Hodgkins, Bill Blackwell, Rene Roy and Helen Kilian as the student representative to the Strategic tier.
On a Clark/Wallace motion, the Board voted unanimously to appoint George Randig, Jack Spero, and John Sweeney as Associate members.
Board of Selectmen – Minutes
May 20, 2008 – Page 3
Updates on Special Town Warrant and Meeting –
Tim Bragan presented the following language to remove Articles 4 & 5 from the Special Town Meeting warrant.
At the direction of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Administrator, Finance Director, and the Department Head have worked and reworked the issues relating to Articles 4 & 5 to reduce their costs and get better numbers than they had at the annual Town meeting. Through this collective effort the scope and costs have been reduced to the point whereby these projects will be dealt with in the current fiscal year.
On a Wallace/Clark motion, the Board voted unanimously to approve withdrawing articles 4 and 5 from the special town meeting warrant.
On a Wallace/Warren motion, the Board voted unanimously to reiterate support of Article 1 the $200,000 override question to support the budget.
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS – Lucy Wallace suggested opening up the reappointment process to allow more time for volunteers to come forward showing interest in any position open for reappointment this year. On a Wallace/Ricci motion, the Board voted unanimously to temporarily reappoint existing committee and board members until the June 17th meeting.
GINNY THRUSTON SCHOLARSHP – On a Wallace/Ricci motion, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Peter Warren and Tim Clark to review letters submitted.
MUNICIPAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND – Lucy Wallace informed the Board of an informational meeting seeking public input on a proposal for a possible project building 96-100 apartment units on Ayer Road near the town line. The meeting will be held on June 2nd.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VACANCY – On a Wallace/Clark motion, the Board voted unanimously to allow the moderator to begin the process of looking for candidates to fill the vacancies for two terms that have expired and to be appointed after July 15th.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 P.M.
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