Town of Monson, MA - Meeting of 2003-10/14

Meeting of 2003-10/14

MONSON BOARD OF SELECTMEN

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2003

Executive session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining closed and the regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen convened at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room at 110 Main Street. In attendance were Richard E. Guertin and Kathleen C. Norbut. James R. Manning was absent. Also present were the Town Administrator and the Media. Town Counsel did not attend this meeting.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of September 23, 2003 Open and Executive sessions. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED. Mr. Guertin noted there were three changes of the open session meeting minutes of September 23, 2003. On page two half way down, it states Town Counsel read the Massachusetts General Laws into the record. One of the options by the Board of Selectmen would be to have the dog picked up and disposed of. Mr. Guertin said he would rather this sentence just read that the Board of Selectmen could have the dog picked up and brought to the dog pound. The second correction was on page 2 in the last paragraph in regards to the bid on the Teen Center. The minutes had stated Reed Coles included a 10% deposit, when in actuality it was in excess of 10%. The last correction was on page 6 in the middle of the page. The word re-codification was misspelled.

A hearing commenced at 7:05 p.m. for pole petition #7868 – Wilbraham Road – for the installation of one new pole. Ms. Norbut read the petition into the record. There was no public comment or input. The Water/Sewer and Highway Departments expressed no objection to the pole location. Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept pole petition #7868 as presented. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

A hearing commenced at 7:06 p.m. for pole petition #7869 – Ayers Road – for the installation of one new pole. Ms. Norbut read the petition into the record. There was no public comment or input. The Water/Sewer and Highway Departments expressed no objection to the pole location. Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept pole petition #7869 as presented. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

A hearing commenced at 7:07 p.m. for pole petition #7880 – Carpenter Road – for the installation of one new pole. Ms. Norbut read the petition into the record. There was no public comment or input. The Water/Sewer and Highway Departments expressed no objection to the pole location. Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept pole petition #7880 as presented. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Adam Barbash and Laura Pastell approached the Board of Selectmen regarding a request for the use of Memorial Hall. Mr. Barbash stated they have competed on a Ballroom Dance team for two years at the University of Connecticut. They are amateur dancers who compete periodically throughout New England and need a large open space for practice. Anytime Memorial Hall is available; Mr. Barbash would like to use it for an hour so the two of them could practice. A CD player they would bring would provide the music with them. Mr. Barbash said he would like to use Memorial Hall maybe two nights per week and possibly an occasional weekend, subject to availability.

Ms. Norbut asked what temperature he would need the hall to be in to be comfortable. Mr. Barbash said 50 to 60 degrees is fine for him, so he wouldn’t need to turn the heat up. He also won’t need to turn up the big lights. Mr. Barbash said they wear a standard dance shoe with a suede bottom, so there isn’t any chance of marking the floors.

Mr. Guertin said, while the building is empty most of the time, there are organizations that do use it, so anything such as this would be subject to availability.

Ms. Norbut added some type of written agreement might be needed with six-month reviews. Also included would be how the key gets picked up and returned and what type of time frame. The agreement would also include the monitoring of conditions of the facility. Ms. Norbut felt it is important to have an understanding that it would be just the two of them using the building for practice and that the Board of Selectmen would have to be notified prior to any instructors or anyone else coming into the building. Ms. Neggers agreed it is important to have some kind of agreement. She also added it is nice to have someone in Memorial Hall

during the winter months and asked Mr. Barbash if he would call to notify her if they found the heat not working properly, etc. Ms. Neggers said she has spoken with Mr. Barbash a couple of times and explained that what the Selectmen’s Office books in the Memorial Hall will take priority and that the key would need to be picked up and dropped off. Ms. Neggers also said she explained Mr. Barbash would have to check with the Selectmen’s Office for availability. Mr. Guertin stated he would like to include in the agreement that this would be reviewed every month or two, as Memorial Hall is a very special building.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to accept the proposal of Adam Barbash and Laura Tastell for use of Memorial Hall for the specific purpose of dance rehearsals on a schedule to be arranged through the Board of Selectmen and to be reviewed after 60 days with on going communication as far as use and scheduling, subject to its availability. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Fire Chief Marshall Harris, Andy Piwcio and George Robichaud approached the Board of Selectmen to give a presentation regarding the need for a new rescue truck. Chief Harris said they were here tonight to request the Board of Selectmen place an article on the warrant for the up coming Town Meeting for the purchase of a new rescue truck. Chief Harris handed the Selectmen a letter describing the proposal and need. Ms. Norbut read the essence of the letter into the record stating the rescue truck responds to the most incidents, more than any other piece of apparatus they have. The rescue truck responds to all auto accidents, fire incidents and assists the ambulance on many calls and responds on ambulance calls when both ambulances are out on other calls while waiting for mutual aid to respond. The rescue truck would serve the department and town for the next 20 to 25 years. The present truck was ordered in November of 1979 and the town took delivery of this vehicle in June of 1980. The new rescue truck would cost $300,000.00. Chief Harris said the old truck is getting old. As time goes by, there is more and more equipment needed to go on the truck. Mr. Piwcio added he feels people question the high cost for a vehicle of this type and added this is a very special piece of apparatus, over and above anything else they have. This truck carries everything necessary for rescuing, as there is no room on the other trucks for this equipment. Mr. Piwcio said fire apparatus is very expensive, costing between $250,000.00 and $300,000.00 per piece. This truck is much more specialized allowing the Fire Department personnel quicker job response time for performing a successful rescue. This new rescue truck will give them the ability to refill air tanks, which now must be run back to the station to be refilled and then returned back to the scene as quickly as possible. It will also have a very sophisticated lighting system. It will also have a generator to run the Jaws of Life. Mr. Guertin said the base cost of the truck is $210,000.00 with $90,000.00 of various apparatus.

Mr. Robichaud said from a town liability and a safety standpoint, presently all the responding personnel are not able to be in a properly seated position in the vehicle. The law requires all persons to be seated and belted in vehicles, now they aren’t able to do this. There are no frills on this new truck that isn’t needed to increase their efficiency. In the new truck, all the tools will be pre-connected to save time and will be electronically driven as opposed to gas driven. The vehicle will be equipped with a power take off generator so you will no longer have to worry about choking a machine and pulling a rope similar to a lawnmower, to get it started. This truck will have the capacity to refill 50 to 60 cylinders for breathing apparatus. Currently they have enough cylinders where each person can only have three. When fighting a fire, one cylinder will only last 15 to 18 minutes, so you go through them very fast. This is why it is so important to be able to refill them right there at the scene rather than running back to the station to refill them. The lighting is also very important from an efficiency and scene safety standpoint. Now on the rescue truck, a generator must be used for the lights, plugging t hem in and pulling the rope, setting them up, etc.

Ms. Neggers said there is a Capital Equipment Bond of $250,000.00 that was implemented in 1992. The balance would come from the proceeds from the sale of the Teen Center. The cost won’t impact any of the town’s budgets. Ms. Neggers added, the rescue truck has been mentioned for a number of years by Buddy Harris as a need. This truck would be paid off in five years. Every seven years, the town has the Fire

Apparatus Bond and every five years the town has the Capital Equipment Bond. Ms. Neggers stated this is all we have to work with in the existing budget.

Within the fire manufacturing industry, Mr. Robichaud said some manufactures have an incentive to help lower costs when the town puts more money up front. Ms. Neggers added it is subject to a competitive bid process.

Ms. Neggers said these are critical equipment up-grades. Some residents may not support spending that much money on something until you are the person trapped in that vehicle hearing and/or watching the rescue team pulling the cords trying to start the equipment, as compared to this new equipment where all they will have to do is flip a switch.

Mr. Guertin read from the letter submitted by Chief Harris that said to operate the Jaws of Life now, they must take the power unit out of the truck, set it up and start it. Then run the equipment off of it. You are only allowed to operate two tools off of the generator at a time. A tool must be shut down in order to hook up a third tool if one is required. This new truck would eliminate that.

Ms. Norbut asked why they were moving toward a Special Town Meeting and not the Annual Town Meeting. Ms. Neggers said that was because of the way the bonding is set up. The way the time frame from bidding and the delivery process is set up, the town would be well into the next fiscal year. They would like to keep the payments steady, two interest payments a year and a single principal payment. If they waited for the Annual Town Meeting, they wouldn’t be able to order the truck until July, so the payment wouldn’t be made until January and the bond wouldn’t be in place. The town would fall off our bonding cycle.

Mr. Robichaud said if they go over the month of January time frame, you would be looking at a newer model year and the increase could be as much as $12,000.00 to $15,000.00 in the price of the vehicle. This is another incentive to act on this a little more quickly.

Ms. Norbut said she would still like to see a coordinated capital needs list. Ms. Neggers added all of the departments are in the process of preparing a capital needs list and submitting this to the Selectmen’s Office. Ms. Neggers added there are significant needs but feels the rescue truck is probably the most critical capital need the town has right now based on her experience with capital planning, which see has been tracking for ten years now for the town.

Ms. Norbut questioned if it is realistic for the Board of Selectmen to get a look at the list of capital needs before the Special Town Meeting on November 24^th. Ms. Neggers said they have seen the request from the Highway Department and that is the only other significant need, the other requests are $30,000.00 or less. Ms. Neggers feels it is better to reserve the big bonds for the big-ticket items and to use the annual capital appropriations for items, which cost $20,000.00, $30,000.00 and even for the $50,000.00 items. Ms. Neggers added she finds in Monson, the departments work very cooperatively with one another when it comes to understanding who needs the equipment the most.

Chief McKenzie, who was in the audience, said the Fire Department really needs a new rescue truck, as he has been here long enough to see it in action. Chief McKenzie added, a mans life was saved just five days ago. Seconds count and that is what saves lives. If this truck were to break down, you just can’t put a price on that.

Ms. Norbut asked if they could do without the light tower in order to cut down on costs. Chief Harris stated the light tower is needed to be able to see, as you can’t hold a flashlight when seconds count and you need both hands free. You have to be able to see if it is a brush fire, accident scene, ambulance call, etc., you need more light. Mr. Robichaud said, to eliminate any item would be defeating the purpose of the truck as

all of these items are part of the unit, with the exception of the cribbing and the rescue saw. The other items need a special place in the truck and the truck is built around them.

Chief McKenzie said there are many, many times when the Police Department asks the Fire Department for assistance with lighting for crime scenes and accident scenes, especially in inclement weather and in the winter. Chief McKenzie added the Fire Department really could use the light tower.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to approve the placement of this particular item on the Special Town Meeting warrant. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Norbut asked that Chief Harris and Chief McKenzie help educate the community, as November 24^th isn’t too far away. She feels many people might not know the status of the “red truck” (rescue truck). Chief Harris added the Fire Department held an open house on Sunday with a really good turn out and everyone there saw the old rescue truck and knows a new one is needed.

The next item on the agenda was to approve the Trick or Treat hours and to approve the Monson Rotary Club Halloween events. Ms. Neggers said the Monson Rotary Club proposes the Trick or Treat hours be the same as ever. Trick or Treat hours will be between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. followed by the parade with use of Memorial Hall at 5:30 p.m. for the annual party.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to approve the hours of 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. for the town Trick or Treat and the approval of the application by the Monson Rotary Club for the use of Memorial Hall for the Rotary Club annual Halloween party at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

David Royce approached the Board of Selectmen regarding the web site proposal. Ms. Neggers said, during the summer Mr. Royce, Ms. Jenkins and she appointed themselves as the web site committee. They began by looking at the town’s web site, which is monsonmass.com. Monson went on line approximately two years ago and has been run by Mr. Ed Lucas at the High School with the assistance of his students. The Selectmen were provided with a break down of the expenditures and how this was paid for using the Revolving Account. Mr. Lucas has been paid for his guidance and expertise in getting the web page up and running. The web committee has found that the way it is set up right now, a department will send or pass something on to Ms. Neggers and she will forward it to Mr. Lucas and he places it on the web site. The town is fairly limited in what we have on our web site, some of this being our fault and some isn’t. Some of it is that we don’t know what we can do as it has been a learning experience. The committee has learned what works for the town and how they would like to do things better. Ms. Neggers, Mr. Royce and Ms. Jenkins explored other municipal web sites by going to mma.org. This is a web site sponsored by the MMA and it contains links to, Ms. Neggers guesses over one hundred web sites. Ms. Neggers realized after doing this that a web site has a much greater potential for communicating with our residents and for communicating with people outside of Monson about what we have here and what we have to offer. With departments facing budget constraints, everyone is looking at how the web site could be utilized with cutting down on foot traffic into the town offices and dealing with the many working people who are not able to access town departments during normal working hours.

Ms. Neggers, Mr. Royce and Ms. Jenkins met with three different vendors of web site services, Samnet, College Web Works and a representative from Virtual Town Hall. Ms. Neggers, Mr. Royce and Ms. Jenkins then evaluated what they had to offer. After many hours they found that Virtual Town Hall provided the best opportunity for the town to make our web site better and to do more with it. Virtual Town Hall specializes in municipal web sites that is all they do. They are a national company. Currently they are working with fifty-one municipalities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on their web sites including, Sturbridge, Southbridge, Grafton, etc. They are also working with the Commonwealth. Another reason they liked Virtual Town Hall is they have partnered with our financial software company, Vadar. Ms. Neggers said they are working on integrating our financial systems with the web for municipalities. As the technology evolves, people can go on line to make electronic transactions, making it interactive. Currently

the Collector does have the opportunity to make online payments via credit card, but it is through a different company and they would like to expand this.

Mr. Guertin asked Mr. Royce about the assessment data base search this includes. Mr. Royce stated this is one of the things he was so impressed with offered by Virtual Town Hall. Because they are partnered with our financial software, we can actually almost have a live link where residents could for example click on Silver Street and look at all the information for all of the houses on Silver Street. Mr. Royce added, you can’t lower your own value, but it would give you an idea of values in your neighborhood. The other p0art is this would allow you to look at your own payment history through the Tax Collectors office. This would be helpful when doing your income taxes with knowing how much in payments you have made for real estate taxes, even if you are doing this in the middle of the night or on a weekend. Mr. Royce and Ms. Jenkins have people coming into their offices all the time who are refinancing their mortgages and want a copy of their information. With this, they could do it from home. Forms could also be downloaded. They also offer an e-mail subscriber service, where for example someone wants copies of the Selectmen’s meetings, it would be posted and the person could subscribe to this and it would be e-mailed right to them. You could also post events with this that would be password protected. Another additional service is e-mail accounts so that for example, each Selectmen would have their own official e-mail account. This would all be automatically archived and maintained off site. As part of the basic contract they offer a marketing plan once the web site is up and running where they work with the community to market it. Another module they are working on is on line registration for Parks and Recreation programs.

Mr. Guertin asked if the PC’s in all of the departments would be able to support this, or would it be another expenditure that the town would have. Ms. Neggers said right now, all that is needed is the creation of a Microsoft Word document and e-mail it. Ms. Neggers added all the departments are on line with the exception of the Highway Department. Ms. Neggers said it is very, very busy here in the Town Office building with everyone coming in and she added she is very impressed by the people who work here and how they manage to get the job done. If the flow of people coming in could be reduced by even ten or fifteen people per week even, then that is fewer interruptions.

Mr. Guertin asked how the initial on going costs of this program compare to numbers listed on the sheet the Selectmen were given. Ms. Neggers said this is the part that really sold her. The base contract for this is $3,000.00. This comes with ten e-mail accounts; she is anticipating the town would need ten more at $60.00 each per year for an additional total of $600.00. Right now, the town doesn’t have this. The town pays Mr. Lucas $2,639.00 for our web site and Samnet $450.00 per year to host the web site. The annual cost is $89.00 less than what is paid now, without the additional e-mail accounts. This will end up costing the town more as the town will have the added feature of the additional e-mail accounts.

Mr. Guertin asked if there is an initial set-up cost. Ms. Neggers said yes, $9,000.00 for the first year, which the town has available in its Revolving Fund. There is a balance of approximately $25,000.00 in this account. So this would be $9,000.00 for the first year and $3,000.00 for subsequent years. The $9,000.00 includes the $3,000.00 and covers the marketing, set-up, training (where they come and train the staff), and design the web site based on their templates, etc. Mr. Royce said this will also allow forms used in the Building Inspectors Office, Assessors Office, etc. to be downloaded which is something the School and others cannot offer the town.

Mr. Guertin asked if the town signs a contract and if so, how long is this for at the price of $3,000.00. Ms. Neggers stated she believes this is a three year contract to start, but added clearly things go up in price. Ms. Neggers said that College Web Works, who were very basic in their web package which didn’t offer nearly as much, was $5,300.00 annually.

Mr. Guertin asked if Virtual Town Hall would be adding more features in the future. Ms. Neggers said yes, more along the line of interactive things where you could do more electronic transactions. One example of this would be to go to the web site of the Building Department, download an application, e-mail it back and have the payment come out of your checking account, without ever having to come in to the office. Ms.

Neggers said the town would even be saving here on printing costs for the forms if someone were to download it at home and print it up on their own printer.

Ms. Norbut said she had concerns with regarding the discussion of the $9,600.00 when talking about the real numbers. It is $3,600.00 with the additional e-mails, a one time implementation charge of $4,000.00 and a one time web site of $2,000.00 which brings us to the $9,600.00. Her question regarding the financial package is, could we take that $4,000.00, $2,000.00 cost and spread this out over the three years. Ms. Norbut added Mr. Lucas and his students have worked hard on this and wondered what their input into this proposal is and if they have had the opportunity to make a counterproposal. Ms. Neggers responded, with the PDF files, they have tried to get the Zoning By-laws posted on the web site, as this is something now that people must come in and buy. This is something that has not been able to be accomplished as the students change every year, so essentially basic skill levels stay the same every year. Ms. Neggers said when this was done, the intent was that it would be done as an after school activity. This is being done during school time with Mr. Lucas probably putting in a great deal of time. It was never intended to be part of the curriculum. Ms. Norbut thanked everyone who has gotten us to this point.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to authorize the Town Administrator to move ahead with contracting with Virtual Town Hall Services for the Town of Monson Massachusetts for our official web site. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers said she would make sure she does acknowledge Mr. Lucas and the students who have worked on this over the past couple of years for their assistance to the town in helping us to establish a web site and for helping us learn more about what we needed. Ms. Norbut said she would like to do this as a Board if possible.

Craig Jalbert, Superintendent of the Water/Sewer Department approached the Board of Selectmen to explain briefly the articles he would like placed on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting. Mr. Jalbert said he has subtracted article number four on the sheet he had submitted prior to the meeting.

After a brief explanation by Mr. Jalbert, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place article number one – to see if the town will vote to fix the salary or compensation of elected officials as prescribed or take any other action relative thereto, Water Commissioners Chairman - $913.00, other 2 @ $844.00 per year. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After a brief explanation by Mr. Jalbert, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place article number two on the warrant – to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer and appropriate from available funds the sum of money to the Sewer Department Salary Account or take any other action relative thereto pursuant to the reclassification of the Water/Sewer Department Secretary position in the amount of $703.72. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After Mr. Jalbert’s brief explanation, Ms. Norbut made a motion to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer and appropriate from available funds a sum of money to the Sewer Department Operating Account or to take any other action relative thereto in the amount of $3,750.00 to replenish the Sewer Operating Account. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After Mr. Jalbert’s brief explanation, Ms. Norbut made a motion to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer and appropriate from available funds a sum of money to the Sewer Department Treatment Capital Account or take any action relative thereto in the amount of $5,268.51 to replenish the past two fiscal years cuts to cover Monson’s share of Capital improvements at the Palmer Wastewater Treatment Plant. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After Mr. Jalbert’s brief explanation, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place on the warrant to see if the town will vote to transfer a sum of money from the Water Available Surplus Account to pay a balance due on a

prior year’s bill in the amount of $841.09 or to take any other action relative thereto. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After a brief explanation by Mr. Jalbert, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place on the warrant to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer and appropriate from available funds and/or Water Available Surplus $1,164.01 to the Water Department Salary Account or take any other action relative thereto. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After Mr. Jalbert gave a brief explanation, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place on the warrant to see if the town will vote to transfer $57,658.00 from the Water Available Surplus Account to the Water Operating Account or to take any other action relative thereto. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Mr. Jalbert gave a brief explanation on article number 8 and Ms. Norbut made a motion to see if the town will vote to borrow and appropriate up to $250,000.00 for the Hospital Road water main replacement or to take any other action relative thereto. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers said there are two articles requested from the Monson Board of Health and briefly explained

them. Number one is to appropriate from available funds an additional $1,500.00 for their public health nurse. Ms. Norbut made a motion to place this article on the warrant as written. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

The second article item Ms. Neggers explained is a request for the town to adopt Massachusetts General Law Chapter 111 Section 26G. Ms. Neggers explained, currently the Board of Health member Gary Allard cannot do any work as a septic installer in the Town of Monson due to any potential conflicts. This would allow him to get a septic installers license without having any conflict of interest and his work would be either inspected by a special agent appointed by the Board of Selectmen or a Board of Health member from another town. Ms. Norbut made a motion to place this article on the warrant as written. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

After a brief discussion, Ms. Norbut made a motion to place an article on the warrant to appropriate a sum of money in the retirement pension account in the amount of $7,219.71 to cover the period from September 30, 2001 to September 8, 2003. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to raise and appropriate $3,000.00 for the purpose of the Land Court fees. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers said the Cemetery Commissioners put in a request for a Revolving Account and explained this had to be done at the Annual Town Meeting. Ms. Neggers said she would let them know this.

Ms. Neggers explained the next request item from the Council on Aging. Ms. Norbut made a motion to place an article on the warrant to see if the Town of Monson will vote to transfer $500.00 from the Senior Aide Matching Fund and $800.00 from the Green Thumb Matching Fund to the Van Driver Overtime. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers explained the next item, which was a request from the Town Accountant, Deborah Mahar.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to place the following articles on the warrant as written:

Article 1 – an increase to the Police Firearms Records appropriation approximately $5,000.00.

Article 2 – An Appropriation for Vocational Education – Chapter 74 for tuition and transportation approximately $25,000.00

Article 3 – An increase to the Pathfinder appropriation approximately $43,558.00.

Article 4 – done previously during this meeting.

Article 5 – also done previously during this meeting

Article 6 – An increase to the Blanket Insurance appropriation approximately $9,000.00 to cover the loss control credit that we received.

Article 7 – An increase to the insurance of approximately $40,000.00.

Article 8 – An increase to the Medicaid appropriation, to bring it up to the $12,000 level (1,200.00)

Article 9 – this was done earlier in the meeting

Article 10 – An article to raise funds for the School Construction Debt Escrow account.

Article 11 – An article for the Middle School Construction Interest account

Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers said the final article was a request from the Highway Department. Ms. Norbut made a motion to place on the warrant an article to see if the town will vote to transfer a sum of money from the Downtown Streets Project account to the General Highways and Bridges Account. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

The next item on the agenda was to authorize the town in the participation of the MIIA Rewards Initiative. Ms. Neggers said last year our insurance company instituted this program for the first time. We were actually successful in obtaining $9,000.00 credit toward the loss control initiatives. Last Tuesday Ms. Neggers attended a seminar sponsored by MIIA regarding this program. Ms. Neggers said there are a

number of detailed activities under all the different categories, but it is pretty much the same format.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to authorize the town to participate in the MIIA Rewards Initiative. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Ms. Neggers said the Board of Selectmen have received a copy of a letter from Chief McKenzie regarding the temporary parking restrictions on Green Street. Construction has commenced. Chief McKenzie said there has been preliminary moving of equipment down there and this coming Monday they will start digging and so on. Chief McKenzie, John Morrell Chief Harris, Chip LaPointe and Craig Jalbert are requesting the Board of Selectmen to prohibit on street parking for the period of time the project is occurring up until December 1^st. As of December 1^st the winter parking regulations take effect and there will be no night parking. This will expedite the project and allow emergency vehicles access to all of the areas they need to get to. Chief McKenzie has posted a similar copy of this to all of the residents on the street and also posted temporary no parking signs. Ms. Norbut said this is a big project and a good project for Monson to be able to use the Block Grant for. She appreciates how all the departments have been working together to make this happen.

Ms. Norbut made a motion to approve the no parking restrictions that will be in place until December 1, 2003. At that time the winter parking ban takes effect. No parking regulations for Lincoln Street, Squier Avenue and Green Street for the entire length effective immediately. This item will be re-evaluated in the spring. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

The meeting schedule for November was discussed. The Board of Selectmen will meet on Wednesday, November 5^th at 7:00 p.m. to authorize the sale of the Middle School Construction Bonds.

The regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting falls on Tuesday, November 11^th which is Veterans Day. This meeting will be pushed back a day to Monday, November 10^th. This meeting will be needed also to finalize the sale of the Middle School Construction Bonds and to sign all the associated paperwork,

The last meeting in November will be on the regular schedule of Tuesday, November 25^th.

In other business to come before the Board of Selectmen, Ms. Norbut announced tomorrow between 10:00 a.m. and noon, the Council on Aging is offering massages for a small fee and it is open to the public.

Correspondence was read and completed.

At 9:15 p.m. Ms. Norbut made a motion to adjourn the meeting from Open Session, Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.

Respectfully Submitted,

__________________________________________

Kathleen C. Norbut, Clerk