Minutes of Meeting – November 12, 2014; meeting called to order at 7:00pm. Present: Ed Lane; Dave Roche; Warren Archey; Channing Gibson; Ken Fowler.
CG announced the upcoming Special Town Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 18 at 7pm in the Town Hall. He also mentioned that Scott Laugenour has resigned as the Town’s BRTA representative and as a member of the Environmental Committee. If anyone is interested in either of these positions, they should submit an application to the Selectmen’s Office.
MOTION by DR, seconded by KF to accept the Minutes of October 29 as presented. 5/0 vote.
Citizen’s Open Forum: Susan May urged everyone to attend the STM and to vote for the solar article which the Environmental Committee has endorsed.
Consent Agenda: CG went through each item on the Consent Agenda, asking if any item needed a Hold placed on it. CG asked that a hold be placed on the BVB Marketing Proposal. MOTION by KF, seconded by DR to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: Change of hours, allowing Loeb’s Foodtown and Moonshine’s Package Store to sell alcohol beginning at 10am on Sundays; grant permission to hold craft fairs in Lilac Park to the Church on the Hill for July 25 & 26, and the Lenox Youth Basketball for August 7-9, 2015; allow a temporary banner for Shakespeare & Co. from 12/1-12/13. 5/0 vote. With regard to the BVB marketing proposal, CG just wanted to make everyone aware that Kinder-Morgan is a member of the BVB, 1Berkshires and the Chamber. MOTION by KF, seconded by EL to approve a BVB 2015 Marketing
Proposal in the amount of $16,840. 5/0 vote.
Town Manager Report: MOTION by KF, seconded by DR to approve a One-Day A/A license to Berkshire Creative for 12/4 from 6:30-9pm at Ventfort Hall. 5/0 vote. MOTION by KF, seconded by DR to approve of a temporary banner to Essencials for 14 days from 11/28-12/11. 5/0 vote. MOTION by DR, seconded by EL to grant permission to Philip Rennie to sell Christmas trees at 969 East Street from 11/24-12/25, 9am-9pm. 5/0 vote. The TM informed the Board that he has hired Gwen Miller as the Town’s new Land Use Director/Town Planner. She will begin her duties on December 1, 2014.
The Board of Assessors met with the Board to hold the annual tax classification hearing. Clerk DR read the hearing notice as it appeared in the newspaper. MOTION by DR, seconded by EL to open the public hearing. 5/0 vote. Assessors Clerk Jim Sorrentino provided an update on property values, new growth and the Assessor’s recommendation to continue with dual tax rates. Our current tax rates are $12.07 (residential) and $14.91 (commercial). Continuing with a dual tax rate means that each class experiences the same percentage change in their annual tax bills. With the discussion done, MOTION by DR, seconded by KF to close the public hearing. 5/0 vote. MOTION by EL, seconded by DR to adopt a residential factor of 0.957 for the purposes of determining the Fiscal 2015 tax rate. 5/0 vote.
Sharon Hawkes appeared before the Board to update them on current activities at the Library. She mentioned that they will begin work on a 5-year strategic plan for years 2016-2020.
Eleanor Tillinghast came before the Board to discuss the Kinder Morgan pipeline. She is currently part of the Green Berkshires group, which is now a part of Northeast Energy Solutions (NEES), and came to discuss Lenox joining their coalition to fight the pipeline. Their focus is the Kinder-Morgan pipeline, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They have hired an attorney out of Boston who specializes in this type of work. They are trying to determine the need for this pipeline and why it needs to go through areas such as our watershed lands. They are willing to share their expertise and legal counsel at a cost of $20,000 to Lenox, an amount that would most likely increase over time. KF stated that he was encouraged by what he heard, and feels that Lenox needs help keeping the pipeline out of the
watershed lands. CG questioned why Lenox would need to join a coalition with Article 97 protection on the watershed lands. She explained that the feds can grant eminent domain powers, including on Article 97 lands. Susan May stated that this is a lot of money, and would other towns be asked to join the coalition. Ms. Tillinghast stated that she thought only Lenox would be invited to join. The TM then brought up the fact that the BRPC is seeking $5000 from Lenox towards technical assistance costs to continue to fight this project as part of the nine jurisdictions affected. WA questioned what the coalition could do that the BRPC group can’t. The Board agreed to give this idea some thought and bring it to a vote at a later meeting.
Lilac Park Maintenance: EL explained that the Lilac Park subcommittee has informed the Town that volunteers can no longer maintain the park as originally designed. Accordingly, they would like the Town to take over the maintenance beginning with the summer 2015. They are willing to utilize an endowment to bring the park up to the standard to which it should be kept, and will then turn the remainder of the endowment ($60,000) over to the Town to help fund the maintenance. There was a general consensus that the Town should take over the maintenance, but there needs to be further discussion as to how.
Solar: KF stated that the deadline for submission to the RFP is November 20. He then reminded everyone of the STM on November 18, and urged everyone to vote in favor of the solar article which is seeking authorization for the Selectmen to negotiate a lease with the winning respondent(s) to the solar RFP.
Rest of River: No report.
BOS Reports: WA stated that he is very happy that the Town has hired a planner, and that he is excited about the prospect of getting the GIS in Town. DR mentioned that we need to consider increasing the funding for legal expenses in the FY16 budget. KF stated that water and sewer bills have been mailed out, with a due date of 12/8. He asked that a thank you letter be sent to Donald Bilyeu for his years as Election Warden for the Town. CG stated that a family was able to purchase a home in Lenox Dale thanks to the Home Ownership grant that was received through the Affordable Housing Committee.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.
Minutes Taken By: ______________________ Minutes Accepted By: ______________________
Mary Ellen Deming Clerk
Administrative Services Director Board of Selectmen
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