MEETING MINUTES
February 8, 2012 - 3:00 PM
Conference Room B, 3rd Floor, Town Hall
Voting Members Present: Brian Choquette, Charles Corley, Terrence Joyce, Justin Provencher, Arthur Redding, Chris Yates, Sam Wong, Rodney Frias, Don Garcia
Ex Officio Members Present: Paul Blazar, John Blood, Dick Braga, Linda Ghiloni, Tony Marques
Others Present: Michelle Ciccolo, Jennifer Burke, Kerin Shea,
Members Not Present: Lorraine Nelson, Jim Quinn, Dave Stephens, Lynn Valcourt
Chair Election
The meeting began with Ms. Burke & Ms. Ciccolo asking members for nominations for Chair of the Steering Committee. There was one nomination.
Don Garcia, seconded by Brian Choquette, nominated Mr. Frias as Chair of the Master Plan Steering Committee.
Vote: 9-0-0, unanimous
Draft RFP
Ms. Ciccolo and Ms. Burke went over the draft RFP to hire a consultant. Members focused on the Scope of Work. There are state-mandated required elements of a Master Plan. There will be additional elements the Town would like addressed, such as Public Health & Social Service Planning. We will also make sure our plan is consistent with regional planning, as both elements will be required in the pending CLURPA Legislation.
A Master Plan may cost anywhere from $65,000 to upwards of $300,000, depending on what a town’s needs are and what services it requests. Since Hudson has many comprehensive planning tools and documents in place, we hope to ask for a base price, with emphasis on the extra planning tools, such as updating of the Town’s Subdivision Control Regulations and doing an expanded Historical Inventory. The Town has in-house GIS mapping, which will help to keep costs down. As Hudson Light & Power has many energy planning tools in place, Mr. Choquette will work with Ms. Ciccolo to streamline the Energy Planning component. No one objected to Ms. Ciccolo’s modifying this component of the RFP.
Mr. Provencher asked for clarification of the Steering Committee’s role in working with the consultant. Ms. Burke stated that the Master Plan falls under the purview of the Planning Board in the Town’s Administrative Code (General By-laws), but that the Steering Committee would guide the process. Voting members and ex-officio members were chosen to make sure all areas and interests were represented in the process. Ms. Ciccolo said that the RFP would be revised to state that the consultant would work under the advisory guidance of the Steering Committee with policy direction of the Planning Board. No one objected to this revision.
RFP Review Committee
A sub-committee is needed to review the submitted proposals. They will be quite lengthy, as the RFP’s must include not only the proposal for Hudson’s Master plan, but also links to 3 examples of past work, as well as references. The sub-committee will also be responsible to interviewing the top candidate(s). Three volunteers were requested of the Committee. Mr. Frias volunteered. As no other volunteers came forward, Ms. Burke & Ms. Ciccolo said that a smaller committee would be fine, as they, along with Ms. Shea, would also be reviewing the proposals. There were no objections to the composition of the sub-committee.
Future Meeting Schedule
The future schedule has not been set. The Committee will need to meet sometime during the week of April 7 to review & accept the sub-committee’s consultant recommendation, and in turn recommend said consultant to the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Ciccolo will send out another poll via email to determine the best days & times. Members responded favorably to the email poll.
Other Business
Ms. Burke noted the resignation of Steve Mikula, the representative from the Housing Authority. They will be appointing another person yet to be named.
Ms. Shea noted that all of the Town’s many comprehensive planning documents referenced in the Scope of Work are all available on the Town’s website, under the Master Plan Steering Committee page. Many members at the last meeting expressed interest in reading the Town’s original 1965 Master Plan.
No members had any other questions or issues at this time.
Minutes
Minutes from the meeting of 12/19/11 were handed out to members at the meeting and will be distributed via email to all. Approval will wait until the next meeting.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM.
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