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Minutes of Meeting – November 13, 2013; meeting called to order at 7:00pm. Present: Ken Fowler; Ed Lane; Channing Gibson; Dave Roche; John McNinch.
Citizen’s Open Forum: Ralph Petillo came before the Board to announce that the Chamber had received a Certificate of Recognition from the Southern Berkshire Regional Community Center. He also mentioned that Santa will arrive in Town on 12/6, the Voices of Hope is scheduled for 12/7 and that there is a gingerbread contest scheduled for 12/8 at the library. Finally, he mentioned that there is a Get Away to Lenox – It’s the Inn Thing To Do promotion going on, with 5000 postcards being mailed out.
MOTION by CG, seconded by EL to accept the Minutes of October 30 and November 6. 5/0 vote on October 30 Minutes; 4/0 vote on November 6 Minutes with JM abstaining.
FY14 Tax Classification Public Hearing: The Board of Assessors joined the Board to hold the FY14 Tax Rate Classification Public Hearing. KF read the public hearing notice as it appeared in The Berkshire Eagle. MOTION by JM, seconded by CG to open the public hearing. 5/0 vote. Assessor Scott Pignatelli stated that values are down slightly by 1.6% over last year’s value, that we have $13.5 million in new growth and that his board is recommending a dual tax rate again this year. MOTION by JM, seconded by KF to close the public hearing. 5/0 vote. MOTION by JM, seconded by KF to approve a dual tax rate. 5/0 vote. MOTION by JM, seconded by KF to approve a residential rate of $12.07 and a commercial rate of $14.91. 5/0 vote.
Sharon Hawkes updated the Board on upcoming activities at the Library: Food for Fines, presentation by Tom Werman, the need to hire an Events Coordinator, Gingerbread House contest, progress on the digitalization of images, and the upcoming gala.
Laurie Klefos and Lindsey Hammond Schmid from the Berkshire Visitors Bureau came before the Board to update them on tourism in Berkshire County, as well as its effect on the economy, and to review our program. Laurie explained that spending by international travelers is up almost 7%, and that spending in the US is up by 5% with another 4% growth anticipated. In addition, tourism spending by US visitors increased 2.7% in Berkshire County last year to $355M, 40% of which was brought into Lenox. With this in mind, they suggested that the Town once again make an investment in the BVB to continue to advertise Lenox through online efforts at Berkshires.org, e-mail blasts and through the BVB Visitors Guide, and are suggesting the amount of $17,735, up just slightly from the current year. CG stated that the BVB knows this
area, and is very good at what they do. He asked for an explanation as to why the Guide is such a good buy, to which Laurie explained that it is distributed to 300 locations throughout the county, and that 80,000 copies are mailed out – in other words, you get great coverage. KF stated that this is a great opportunity for Lenox. DR thanked them for their presentation, and asked MED to place this item on the 12/11 agenda for a vote.
Jim Wilusz from Tri-Town Health came before the Board to discuss the Berkshire On-line Municipal Permits Program. He explained that the Town has worked with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to install the Building Permit Module through Full Circle Technologies, Inc. for permitting applications. Tri-Town Health would like to purchase software that would allow them to not only utilize the system for soil testing, septic testing and renewals, food service establishments, sewer and disposal systems, but also so that they would have the ability to “speak to” the inspections software. As with the inspections program, the one-time start-up costs, the first year’s annual costs and equipment costs such as tablets for in-the-field inspections, would be covered through this grant. He anticipates the cost
after that to be roughly $4500 in FY15. He went on to state that this would streamline permitting for his office, but that they would still accommodate those that required assistance. The Town of Le has already approved of this, and he will be going before Stockbridge next Monday. MOTION by KF, seconded by JM to move forward with this grant application. 5/0 vote.
Consent Agenda: DR went through each item on the Consent Agenda, asking if any items needed a Hold placed on it. MOTION by CG, seconded by KF to approve the Consent Agenda which includes the following: Permission for the Church on the Hill and the Lenox Youth Basketball to hold their annual craft fairs as follows: Church on the Hill, July 26 and 27, 2014, Lenox Youth Basketball, August 8-10, 2014; permission to the Lenox Youth Basketball Association to hang a banner on Main Street from July 28 – August 10, 2014 to advertise their fair. 5/0 vote.
BOS Reports: JM mentioned that anyone interested in serving on the Land Management Committee needs to submit a letter to the Selectmen’s office. There are currently three at-large openings. CG mentioned that there are three openings on the Finance Committee and for an alternate on the ZBA. He then briefly touched upon the proposed Springlawn project that the Planning Board recently heard. He noted that this was merely a courtesy presentation, as it is the ZBA that has jurisdiction over this project. Finally, he stated that the Planning Board is working on a temporary sign bylaw for Route 7 and 20 for the May annual town meeting. EL stated that the three sewer projects occurring in town are moving along very nicely. He also mentioned that the Christmas lights will be going up over the weekend. KF showed two brochures depicting light poles for the municipal lot. They are looking to install two LED light fixtures. Hopefully, the Board will be able to vote on this item at the
12/11 meeting. He then mentioned that the ConCom has granted Broadway Electric a continuance so that minor modifications may be made to the plan. They have a deadline of the end of December to get approval. He went on to state that the Environmental Committee voted to request that the ConCom and Broadway Electric seek a favorable decision with regard to this project as approved at the May Annual Town Meeting. He then brought up E-Waste, a program for the recycling of cell phones. Finally, he mentioned that the Environmental Committee asked that phosphate readings be taken at intake at the treatment plant. While a great idea, it would be cost prohibitive at $70/test/day. DR stated that the School Department’s Strategic Planning Committee is now compiling the results of the survey.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20pm.
Minutes Taken By: ______________________ Minutes Accepted By: ______________________
Mary Ellen Deming Clerk
Interim Town Manager Board of Selectmen
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