Community Preservation Committee
Minutes of Meeting Held on January 13, 2009
7:00pm in Town Hall Selectmen’s Hearing Room
Members Present: Absent:
Jennifer Burke Emma Parente
Linda Ghiloni Arthur Redding
Ron White
John Parent
Paul Byrne
Joseph Durant
James Vereault
This meeting was held to hear presentations from Applicants for Funding:
1. Department of Public Works Purchase of Scofield Property
Tony Marques, the Director of Public Works presented information regarding the purchase of the Schofield Property. His request to the CPC was for 50% of the project and he included information from a grant application to DEP for the other 50%. He stated that he had a verbal commitment from DEP that he would get their funding. The Scofield Property is within the boundaries of the approved Zone II area for the Cranberry Well. The merits of purchasing the property include protection of our water supply and the potential for another well head, as well as open space and passive recreation. Questions followed regarding purchase price and Mr. Marques stated that he had a letter from Mr. Yates the Attorney for Mrs. Schofield accepting the appraised price.
A motion was made by Mr. Byrne to approve funding the project and that $27,750.00 be recommended for submission to the May Town Meeting Warrant from the CPC Budgeted Reserve Fund, seconded by Mr. Durant and carried….
Vote: 6-0 in Favor
James Vereault present at this time.
2. Town Clerk Preservation of Vital Records
Joan Wordell was present to provide information on the purchase of “Laserfiche” software to digitize vital records such as marriage licenses, birth and death records. The department will scan original documents into the software program then create a database for easier access to the information. Using digitized software will eliminate many hours of manpower to type into ledger books and free up storage space. All original records will still be bound in books stored in the vault. Ms. Wordell stated she had spoken with other cities and towns that use the softball and they were very pleased, as well as the fact that she did look into other software programs, but did not have as much confidence in the capabilities of those other products.
Ms. Ghiloni motioned to recommend funding of $9,950.00 for Vital Record Preservation for the Town Clerk Office to the May Town Meeting from the Historic Preservation Reserve Fund, seconded by Mr. Parent and carried….
Vote: 7-0 in Favor
Linda Ghiloni removed herself from the table to address the Committee as the Director of Recreation.
3. Cherry Street and Sauta Farm Projects:
Ms. Ghiloni explained that she recently requested Town Counsel give a legal ruling on the use of CPA funding for the Sauta Cornfield project. It was determined that this project was eligible for funding since the property does not exist at this time as a recreation facility. She will be applying in the next round of applications over the summer of 2009 for the design and construction of the Sauta Cornfield into a soccer field complex.
The Cherry Street property (1.5 acres) acquired by the Town through bankruptcy proceedings, is adjacent to the existing Cherry Street ball field. Ms. Ghiloni explained the request for $8,000 to begin the process of determining if the subject land was usable for recreation purposes. If it is determined that it can be she will incorporation both the 1.5 acres with the existing 4.3 acres and apply for a Community Development Block Grant for design, renovation and construction of the area, since it lies within the economic area for funding by CDBG. That application is due one year from now and if she could get a survey, wetland delineation and existing conditions plan done now she would have a better idea of the number of acres available for development.
Mr. Byrne motioned to recommend $8,000 from CPC Budgeted Reserve for Engineering/Survey work on Cherry Street (1.5 acres) to the May Town Meeting, seconded by Mr. Durant and carried…
Vote: 7-0 in Favor
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