SELECT BOARD MINUTES FOR MEETING
Tuesday September 1, 2015 7 pm
Holland Town Hall
27 Sturbridge Road
Holland, MA
Present: Lawrence Mandell, Chair
Elias Gillen, Member
Andrew Harhay, Member
Kelli Robbins, Executive Secretary
Mr. Mandell called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm
Motion 090115-1 - Mr. Mandell, waive the reading of the minutes, accepted as written for August 18, 2015. 2nd Mr. Gillen. All in favor.
Old Business:
Motion 090115-2 – Mr. Mandell, to use the remaining HRA donation to rent a vac truck to clean out the 319 grant catch basins and the Vortec unit by Sturbridge Road. 2nd Mr. Gillen. All in favor.
Indemnification:
Mr. Mandell discussed indemnification and the ongoing process to find better ways to indemnify town employees and officials. Mr. Mandell spoke with Charles Winn, our account manager for MIIA. MIIA will revisit the letter sent denying coverage for the current lawsuit involving Dana Manning. Mr. Mandell asked Mr. Winn if there was other coverage available. Mr. Mandell stated that we may be in a position to through the request for proposal (RFP) process for better insurance coverage, and the Town could adopt G.L. c. 258, § 13. Mr. Mandell is searching for a way that the town would be responsible to cover officials and employees acting in their official capacity for the town. Mr. Mandell stated that achieving this goal would benefit the town by attracting more qualified applicants and more people would
likely get involved.
Mr. Gillen stated that the adoption of G.L. c. 258, § 13 has to be voted at town meeting to be placed on the next annual ballot, at which time the town would vote on its adoption. Mr. Gillen explained that a special town meeting could not be called for the purpose of adopting this statute.
Subordination Agreement 41 Brimfield Road, Brimfield.
Mr. Mandell explained that the subordination agreement for a PVPC rehabilitation grant was previously on the agenda but more information was needed prior to acting upon it. The loan was money from the Tri Community Grant, supervised by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. Holland was the lead town the year this loan was granted. The Holland Select Board acted as signatory that year. This year is will be Wales first. Another year it will be Brimfield. Mr. Mandell stated that he was not comfortable placing the Town in a subordinated position. Mr. Gillen explained that this is money the Town never spent to begin with. Mr. Mandell stated he is concerned with setting precedent that may harm Holland’s citizens when the situation is reversed.
Motion 090115-3 – Mr. Mandell, to subordinate the PVPC loan of 41 Brimfield Road, Brimfield MA. 2nd Mr. Gillen. All in favor.
Lake Oversight Commission:
Mr. Gillen stated he would like the Select Board to rescind their previous decision to make the sitting Select Board member the default Chairman of the LOC.
Motion 090115-4 – Mr. Gillen, to rescind the vote taken at the August 18th meeting making the sitting Select Board member chairman. 2nd Mr. Mandell. All in favor
Mr. Gillen stated that after sitting with the current LOC he was getting the impression the committee is more than advisory. Mr. Gillen stated that perhaps the LOC should be a committee of the Conservation Commission as their intent and purpose is all under the purview of Conservation’s responsibilities. Mr. Mandell stated he would be looking for the LOC to define their roles and responsibilities and bring it back to the Select Board.
Mr. Gillen believes the role of the LOC is to identify issues that need addressing and to bring it back the Select Board. Mr. Mandell asked Lynn Arnold, Chair of the LOC to join the conversation. Ms. Arnold stated that LOC started out as an advisory group but grew to be more.
Mr. Mandell stated he wants to see some sort of charter and mission statement.
Mr. Harhay suggested a good place to begin would be to look in past annual town reports. Mr. Harhay asked if the LOC should be made a standing committee. Ms. Arnold asked if it would be like the Trails Committee. Mr. Harhay said yes, but the Trails Committee budget is for grant writing only. Ms. Arnold stated they would revive the mission of grant writing like the Federal 319 grant, be liaisons with the home owners, help other boards and departments put lake related funding in their budgets.
Mr. Mandell stated he would like to see the LOC with more of a major role than a minor role.
Seaboard Solar:
Mr. Mandell stated that he was concerned that Seaboard has no actual references because the facility is not under construction. He is concerned about being the “new kid on the block.” Mr. Mandell stated the contract provided by Mr. Thomas at a previous meeting was not a municipal contract. The contract provided was developed for Housing Authority use. The next contract provided by Seaboard has language that speaks to the Town being a host for building a facility which Holland is not building. Mr. David Thomas from Seaboard Solar was present at the meeting. Mr. Thomas stated that Royalston, New Salem, West Brookfield have signed contracts with Seaboard. When pressed by Mr. Mandell, Mr. Thomas admitted that there has been no actual interaction, other than the signing of the contract, with
these other towns. Mr. Thomas stated that we were given the wrong contract and that he would see that we receive the correct contract.
Mr. Gillen stated he is concerned about the frequent and continued missteps. Mr. Gillen asked for clarification that this would be the 3rd contract that the town would be receiving from Seaboard, since we have a current contract with them.
New Business:
Special Event permits:
Two special events permits were requested for bass fishing tournaments by Brooks Brothers. The first is on September 26, 2015 to begin at 7 am and the second will be scheduled for October 3, 2015 with a start time of 7 am.
Both applications signed by Mr. Gillen.
Hiring the new Animal Control Officers (ACO)
Mr. Mandell stated that he was involved in the interview process for the new ACO.
Motion 090115-5 – Mr. Mandell, to accept the recommendations of Police Chief Bryan Haughey and appoint Gary Wilson and Kim Desy as Animal Control Officers effective immediately. 2nd Mr. Harhay. All in favor.
Spread Sheet Tracker:
Mr. Harhay discussed his development of a spreadsheet to track what the Select Board has been working on. It will be available in the Select Board office for people to view.
Announcements:
New Town Accountant:
Mr. Mandell announced that Timothy Harrison has retired from his position as town accountant.
After the interview process, the Select Board decided to hire the Eric Kinsherf firm to meet the Town’s accounting needs. Mr. Mandell noted that for the same cost the town would have an entire accounting firm working for us.
Tax Title/owner unknown land:
Mr. Mandell met with the treasurer, tax collector, principal assessor and accountant to see if any of the land that is currently not being taxed can be added to the tax rolls again by some means. Amy De La Roche, the new accounting representative offered to put together some recommendations on how her firm can help with the process.
Mr. Gillen announced that Jennifer Dold, Deborah Tierney and he were working on getting a pen pal program between 5th graders and seniors started. They are currently seeking seniors who might be interested in participating in the program.
Mr. Gillen stated that the senior housing committee is still looking for one conservation member and 2 adhoc members.
Public Access:
Rick Lundin wanted to say he thought it was good that the Board was willing to reconsider their decision about chairman for the LOC.
Mr. Lundin stated that he spoke with the Highway Surveyor in reference to the south ramp needing repairs. Mr. Lundin stated that the Highway Surveyor said the maintenance of the south ramp is not included in his budget and therefore unless some funding can be found he cannot address the issue.
Mr. Lundin also spoke with the Mr. Mandell regarding some zoning violations and building code violations. He was wondering if there has been any update.
Mr. Lundin also asked if the contract for the new fire truck had been signed. Mr. Mandell explained that the contract referenced warranties but did not have any attached. He was waiting for those to be provided. Once they were provided, he signed the contract.
Mr. Lundin then expressed concern regarding the start times of fishing tournaments. He does not like people showing up at 4 am. The start times for both events signed during this meeting are 6 am set up.
Mr. Mandell motion to adjourn, seconded Mr. Gillen. All in favor. So voted at 8:27 pm.
| 
