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MPSC Notes 03/20/14

MASTER PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE
WORKING SESSION NOTES
March 20, 2014  -  1:00 PM
Conference Room B, 3rd Floor, Town Hall




Voting Members Present:  Charlie Corley, Justin Provencher, Julie Torres
Ex Officio Members Present: Tom Moses, Dave Stephens, Michael Burks, Linda Ghiloni
Others Present:  Jennifer Burke, Kerin Shea, Michelle Ciccolo, Ralph Wilmer (VHB), Janice Long (Senior Center)
Members Not Present:  Terrence Joyce, Lorraine Nelson, Jim Quinn, Arthur Redding, Lynn Valcourt, Tony Marques, John Blood, Don Garcia, Len Belli, Brian Choquette, Chris Yates, Sam Wong, Rodney Frias


Update
We are nearing the end of the chapter review process.  These are our last two major chapters.  The only chapters remaining are the Introduction & Implementation chapters.  We hope to hold a public forum in late May or early June for the release of the whole draft document.

Review of DRAFT Public Buildings & Facilities Chapter
There were many comments to include in this chapter.

7.3 -  Hudson’s Local Gvt –
  • Change name of Table 7-1.  Municipal Departments?  
  • Add School Dept, HLP & Housing Authority.  Add paragraph that they are separate legal entities that BOS doesn’t make decisions for.  
  • BOS has no control over elected Boards.  Elected Boards make policy decisions to those areas underneath them.
  • Last sentence of 2nd paragraph – remove “…other elected boards…”.  Most Boards are appointed.
  • Table 7-2 – note whether Board is elected or appointed.  
  • Add MGL & statute next to table.  
  • Remove Historical Society – private.  Remove Sr Center Building Committee & MAPC.
7.4 -  Existing Facilities & Services
  • Edit 1st paragraph.  A combined police/DPW building is on the May TM warrant.  The amounts cited are off.  *KS to send article.
  • Table 7-3 – Library is in Good condition.  Had a large addition in the 1960’s & energy upgrades in recent yrs (roof, windows).  Police Station built in 1920, renovated in 1980.  DPW is 3600 SF, built in 1969.  Gates Pond WTF is on Gates Pond Rd.  It is a water treatment facility, not a wastewater treatment facility.  Same with the Chestnut St water treatment facility.  It is not a wastewater treatment facility.  Add the wastewater treatment facility.  Add other fire stations: Fire Station 1 (Main St.) & lower Main St (Aux Station 2). Hudson Sr Center was built in 1859 & underwent renovation & expansion in 2010.  Add missing Transfer station info. *KS to get Library addition & SR Center addition info.
7.4.1 – Education
  • Hubert Kindergarten closed.  
  • Add state avg for pupil spending, teacher ratio, etc.
  • Table 7-4 – All elementary schools are K-4.  Farley has pre-K.  Quinn School is now 5-7.  Downgrade Forest Ave & Mulready to Fair Condition.  Change Hubert Kindergarten to Hubert School – now home of CHAPS.  *VHB to review comments submitted by Len Belli, Director of Hudson Schools Bldgs & Grounds.
7.4.2 -  Library –
  • Library has a new roof.
  • LBE award was not for Library only, only in part.  Also for Sr Center & Splash Park.
  • Needs improved ADA accessibility, with direct access to upper floor.
  • “Percent” is spelled wrong.
7.4.3 -  DPW –
  • DPW employs 49 people, not 51.  Addition is wrong.
  • Remove – “The administration offices building…”
  • Reword last sentence of 2nd paragraph. – “This is described which are described further in the next section.”
  • Describe what a pavement mgmt plan is, why it is important, etc.
  • Define PCI (pavement condition index).  Can’t use acronym without spelling out first.
  • Add – “state assisted ” to Chapter 90 funding.
7.4.4 -  Water Supply & Wastewater Mgmt –
  • Cut section on Kane & Cranberry Wells.  Town has been upgrading.  *TM to reword & send to VHB.
  • Need to change verb tenses from future to past, “would involve” to “involved”.  
  • Keep 2nd paragraph in for historical context, but put at beginning of section.
  • Add – “500,000 gallons of water per day…”
  • Add more context regarding MWRTA water purchase with Marlboro.
  • Add – “…phosphorous in the Assabet River…”
  • Reword sentences regarding phosphorous.  Needs to be broken up into 2 sentences.
7.4.5 -  Stormwater –
  • SuAsCo merged with OARS
  • Add new SWMI grant.  *KS to send.
7.4.6 -  Solid Waste & Recycling –
  • Explain transfer station vs. “dump”.  Cost?  $10 sticker + $__ per bag/item?
  • Does Stow use our transfer station, too?  *VHB to check with BOH.
  • Add that Town is looking at curbside pickup.
  • Town has 2 capped landfills – one in Berlin on Gates Pond Rd (Hudson owns land) & one on Old Stow Rd.
7.4.7 -  Fire Dept –
  • Add – “… built a state-of-the-art facility on Cox St for its headquarters…”
  • Mention other stations – historic Fire Station 1 downtown & the Aux Station 2 on lower Main St.
  • Add staffing #’s
7.4.8 -  Police Dept –
  • Has 18 patrol officers, not 19.  Has 6 sergeants, not 5.  Has 3 person staff, not 7 – 1 secretary & 1.5 clerks (1 FT & 1 PT).  There are 9 FT dispatchers & 3 PT.  There are 5 reserve officers with capacity for 10.  there are 32 officers.
7.4.9 -  Hudson L & P –
  • This paragraph appeared in the energy chapter.  HLP sent edits at the time.  HLP does NOT serve as a source of revenue generation.  As noted in the HLP edits to the energy chapter, the sentence should read “…it is a tremendous asset to the Town in serving as a source for revenue generation, while also being providing a reliable source of electricity for residents…
  • Add – “In addition to provide providing affordable energy audits…”
7.4.10 -  Recreation –
  • Rec has 1 building – the Clubhouse at Morgan Bowl/Riverside Park.
  • Assabet Rail Trail is no longer “new’.  Opened in 2005.  Change from “most exciting new” to “most important”.
  • Hudson Arts Alliance changed its name to River’s Edge Arts Alliance.
7.5 -  Capital Planning –
  • Need to reword the last sentence of 1st paragraph –article on TM warrant for a joint DPW & Police building.
  • Remove Table 7-5.  It is not relevant without more information on what the amounts are for.  Outdated, too - our current Cap Plan now runs through 2015-2019.  
  • Add more narrative on capital planning process – how do we prepare, who approves, etc.  It is a 5 yr rolling plan, a projection of what we think we need & when.
7.7 -  Public Services & Facilities Recommendations –
  • Remove 1st sentence of 3rd paragraph.  See note above about our Capital Planning process.  We do this already – BOS & FinCom review.  The process is very extensive.
  • Document need & expand annual review to go further out.
  • 3rd & 4th paragraphs need to be revised.    *TM to reword & send to VHB.
  • Add – “…the Town should establish may consider establishing a Capital Improvement Planning Committee…”
  • Remove sentence – we DO prepare & update the Capital Plan annually.
  • Establish healthy goals in new buildings – lighting, ventilation, etc.
  • Last bullet - buildings – “…in any new building s constructed by the Town…”



Review of DRAFT Public Health & Social Services Chapter
There were many comments to include in this chapter.

11.3 -  Public Health Relationship to Land Use Planning –
  • Rename to Public Health Relationship to the Built Environment
  • Add Health goals
  • Last sentence – 1st paragraph, change – “…decrease the number rate  of pedestrians/bicyclists collisions.”
  • “Active transportation… such as walking & bicycling, as opposed to unlike single occupancy travel…”
  • Who is Samimi?  No reference in footnotes of the name, just report titles.
  • Define food dessert – no access to fresh produce or whole grains.
  • Hudson has no public transit.  Also add % of residents with no cars.
  • The downtown is underserved & more vulnerable due to the demographics.
11.4.1 -  Mass Dept of Public Health –
  • Delete the word THE anywhere before DPH.  It is just DPH, not “the DPH.”
11.4.2 -  Hudson Board of Health –
  • Add the new PWTF & CIC Grant.  *KS to send CIC memo.
Metrowest Moves  -
  • Change Healthy Vending Initiative to Worksite Wellness Initiative “…to promote healthier vending machine options worksites in the three communities…”
  • Remove the one named restaurant participating in the Healthy Dining Initiative.  Name all or none.
  • Metrowest Moves assists in developing community design standards such as Complete Streets promotes Complete Street Policies.
  • Remove 2nd reference to Worksite Wellness, as it is now mentioned in the beginning in place of Healthy Vending.
  •    Metrowest Moves submitted the PWTF & CIC grants.
  • Recommend to develop metrics to evaluate outcomes.
Hudson Youth Substance Abuse Prevention  -
  • Define what the “wellness curriculum” entails?
  • Define “Red Ribbon Week”.
Tobacco Control Program  -
  • HHA “…voted to go smoke-free at their housing units complexes in 2013 and currently manages smoke-free units such as the Brigham Circle and Norma Oliver Village on Glen Road housing complexes.
  • Smoke free housing takes effect on 8/1/14.
Communicable Disease Investigations  -
  • It is just DPH, not the DPH.
  • Reword 2nd to last sentence.
11.4.3 -  Hudson Veteran’s Services Dept –
  • Does Hudson have a Veteran’s Agent or a Veteran’s Director?  *KS to verify.
11.4.4  Council on Aging/Senior Center –
  • COA needs its own bullet.
  • Add stats provided at this meeting - # served, % of population, median age, etc.
  • Remove 3rd paragraph.  Has only 1 van with a wheelchair lift & one without.  
  • 5th paragraph – “In 2013,  the Center served 1,769 individual people..”
  • Participation has tripled since renovation in 2010.
  • Last paragraph – Council on Aging, not Council of Aging.
  • Last sentence, remove phrase “…the ensuring that there are…”
*** NEED TO ADD - 11.4.5  Housing Authority –
  • HHA offers many outreach services.  
  • Restate services that are covered in Housing Chapter.
  • HHA maintains active referrals with Hudson’s Social Services Network.
  • Are there other services we should add?  Town runs the Benevolent Fund.  There are other private services run through churches, Chamber of Commerce, & Rotary Club, etc.
11.5 Public Health Data & Trends –
  • Table 2 – There must be other medical conditions with higher impact than Shingles.
  •    Table 3 – Print gridlines to make easier to read.
11.6.1 Transportation –
  • Need to change 1st sentence – Hudson joined RTA in January 2014, although not receiving services.  *KS to send language.
  • “Lack of… sidewalk system forces residents to consistently travel daily via automobile daily even for short trips.”
11.6.2 Drinking Water –
  • 2nd sentence – change pollutants to natural elements.  Iron & Manganese are naturally occurring.  No one polluted the groundwater.
  • Delete 3rd sentence – Kane & Cranberry Wells are done.  One is back online & the other will be shortly.
  • Change “…and is in the process of constructing has constructed a pipe system…”
  • Delete last phrase “…if ignored” from the last sentence.
11.6.3 Healthy Food Access –
  • Add Food Pantry & Community garden plots
  • Add CSA’s?
11.6.5 Healthy Aging –
  • Put missing stats here, rather than under COA?
11.6.6 Public Input –
  • The term is elder services, not elderly services.
11.7 Public Health Recommendations –
Goal 2
  • last bullet – change healthy vending machines to worksite wellness.
Goal 3
  • 2nd bullet – remove sidewalk committee
  • Last bullet – “Require all new developments to include bike lanes, and/or interconnected sidewalks or neighborhood connections for pedestrians.”
  • Have zoning regulations that new developments have to include sidewalks, and fill in sidewalk gaps if within ___ feet of the development.
Goal 4
  • 2nd bullet – HYSAP is not a Metrowest Moves initiative.  Change to Healthy Dining.
  • Are there recommendations for any other social services we are lacking?
Goal 5
  • 1st bullet – disease conditions?
  • 2nd bullet – Doesn’t our BOH do this already?  Is recommendation to hire an additional inspector?  *VHB to verify with BOH.
  • 4th bullet – What are various social service programs?  We are looking for specific recommendations, especially if there are services we are lacking.
Other Business
Please get any additional comments on these chapters back to Jen or Kerin by March 24. We will forward along to VHB for inclusion.  Our next meeting is yet to be scheduled.  We will be going over the Introduction & Implementation chapters.  We will get those chapters out to you when they are ready.

No members had any other questions or concerns at this time.

Minutes
There was no quorum to approve the minutes of March 14, 2013 & May 16, 2013.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:47 PM.