BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009
The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen convened at 6:00 p.m. In attendance were Richard E. Guertin, Edward S. Harrison and John F. Goodrich II. Also present was the Town Administrator. Mr. Harrison made a motion to go into executive session at 6:00 P.M. for a discussion of non-union contractual bargaining. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED. At 7:00 P.M. Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from executive session to return to open session. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED. The media was now present.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Acceptance of Meeting Minutes:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of May 12, 2009 – open session. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Monson Summerfest Committee – Discussion Regarding Funding:
Steve Slozak, Vice Chairman of the Summerfest Committee, approached the Board of Selectmen. It was explained this was a continuation from the last meeting regarding Police coverage and the costs incurred during the fireworks and Summerfest festivities on the 4th of July. Ms. Neggers noted Scott Walker, Chairman of the Summerfest Committee, had met with Police Chief Steve Kozloski following the last meeting. It was reiterated the costs incurred for payment of the Police coverage during the Summerfest was between $4,500.00 and $5,000.00 for both the fireworks and the July 4th festivities. Ms. Neggers explained the procedure for the past several years has been a donation from the Gifts to the Town Account has been awarded for the Summerfest in the amount of $2,500.00, going right into the Police
Department Salaries Account with the additional costs being absorbed by the Police Department budget.
Ms. Neggers further explained, originally the town was billing the Summerfest for the Police coverage, charging them the Police off-duty detail rates. Then in the early 1990’s it reverted to a point where the Police Chief was having a hard time filling the details due to it being voluntary and it was felt it would be easier to have the officer work his normal shift covering the Summerfest assignment, with the donations from the Gifts to the Town Account being adequate enough to offset the total costs. Subsequent to that, costs have increased as this was twenty years ago, and secondly this was split into two events, the Summerfest event itself on July 4th and the fireworks held the weekend before. The Police Department also took over the task of putting the signs up and taking them down in order to have
the signs situated accurately, aiding in incurred costs as well. To encapsulate, over time the Police Department has absorbed additional duties, having one event split into two events, and costs increasing, creeping up over the years until now with the tough financial times being placed on the Police Department’s budget are at a point where the budget can no longer sustain it.
Chief Kozloski said he doesn’t recommend treating this as a detail, but feels it still needs to be treated as a Police assigned event with the funds being reimbursed somehow back to the town.
Mr. Guertin asked Chief Kozloski if there are any other events where Police coverage is requested and the salaries are not reimbursed. Chief Kozloski replied there are a few other events in town throughout the year that require Police coverage such as the Big MAC craft fair, the Halloween parade, the Garden Club generally requests added coverage during events and some of the Memorial Hall events, but these only require one or two officers with funds from Community Policing being used (which has also been cut now) as opposed to ten or fifteen officers during the Summerfest at holiday rates.
Mr. Slozak said he thought the Summerfest Committee had the funds to offset the remaining $2,000.00 or whatever the balance is after the donation from the town, and would discuss this with the Summerfest Committee. Mr. Slozak added he didn’t feel as though the Summerfest budget could pay this expense in entirety without the Town’s assistance. Normally the Summerfest spends $10,000.00 a year on the fireworks display, with funds being generated from the booth fees, donations, ads placed in the booklets and costs of parking. This year they are going to spend $15,000.00 on the fireworks as it’s the 30th Anniversary of the Monson Summerfest.
Mr. Harrison said he supports the Summerfest and thinks it’s a great institution but was hard pressed on why Monson should have to pay even $3,000.00 dollars when the Summerfest Committee is spending $5,000.00 dollars extra on something that goes “poof” in ten minutes, and wondered if this was a wise expenditure in these tough economic times.
Mr. Slozak noted normally their budget runs anywhere from $28, 000.00 to $30,000.00 for the one day and the fireworks, as they pay for certain marching bands and have a lot of other expenses, and added the fireworks are all contracted at this point and the amount cannot be reduced.
Mr. Harrison said the Police Department budget needs to be held harmless from any costs associated with the Summerfest details given the town’s budget. Mr. Goodrich agreed and added taxpayers should know no tax dollars are being spent on the Summerfest.
Mr. Harrison added there is a limited amount of money in the Gifts to the Town Account, with a balance of approximately $30,000.00, and added rather than see it go toward a fireworks display or a one day event, he would rather see the funds donated in a more useful way and possibly not cut something as important as the Library.
Mr. Guertin felt the Summerfest is an important event for families and bringing a lot of people in to Monson and suggested going with a donation of $2,500.00 as in past years, but asking the Summerfest Committee to pay the remaining balance on the Police salaries for the events.
Mr. Goodrich agreed with Mr. Harrison about hating to see town departments cut, but felt the town budgets were agreed upon by the voters at the Town Meeting. Mr. Goodrich noted it was a short notice until the July 4th festivities to change the process now, and also agreed with holding the Police Department harmless and felt a donation in the amount of $3,000.00 would be appropriate with the Summerfest Committee’s portion being the remaining $1,500.00 to $2,000.00, as he too felt the Summerfest is an important day, especially for families now during the economic difficulties people are facing this year by adding something a little positive to the situation. Mr. Goodrich noted at a later date he would like to address the issue in developing something more standardized as to when the Police Department would
charge for coverage and when they don’t as he didn’t feel the current method was fair.
Mr. Goodrich made a motion to allocate $3,000.00 from the Gifts to the Town Account for the purpose of Summerfest, provided the Police Department budget is held completely harmless for the coverage. Mr. Guertin seconded. Mr. Goodrich and Mr. Guertin voted Aye. Mr. Harrison voted Nay.
Ms. Neggers noted a certificate of General Liability Insurance was needed from the Summerfest Committee for the night of the fireworks; they have already submitted a certificate of insurance for the 4th of July activities.
Fiscal 2010 Budget – Ongoing State Aid Reductions:
Ms. Neggers provided an up-date on the FY 2010 budget and noted the Governor and the Legislature have not yet finalized the State’s budget and have until July 1st to do so.
Ms. Neggers described forty-eight percent of Monson’s budget is funded via State Aid, therefore Monson is one of the communities in the Commonwealth who is very reliant upon the State to assist in paying bills on provided services to the residents. The Governor had released a budget that contained a low number and a high number, and Monson went with the lowest number and balancing a budget based on that, resulting in serever cuts including the loss of a Police Officer and two E.M.T.’s, among other very painful, very difficult cuts. The Senate and the Governor have since released a few more budgets, each plunging Monson further into a deficit. Based on the most recent number available from the Commonwealth, Monson is looking a total decline in State Revenue from the current year FY09, to next year FY10 of
$721,592.00. The Senate cut Chapter 70, which is Education Aid, by approximately $154,000.00 and Ms. Neggers said nobody understands just how this is working with the Federal Stimulus money, but she understands there are ways this will be held harmless. There is an additional $110,000.00 reduction; $10,000.00 reduction in payment in lieu of taxes and a reduction of $100,000.00 in aid. Ms. Neggers said when she looks at the numbers; she would say Monson is in anywhere from $100,000.00 to $120,000.00 in deficit based on the budget approved at the Town Meeting. The House budget used the new revenue from the sales tax to be put toward local aid, whereas the Senate budget did not devote any of the new money. Every indication is Monson’s budget will be out of balance by about $100,000.00 excluding the Schools and keeping them funded where they are now. Ms. Neggers added Monson will wait until the final numbers are released, and will possibly have to revisit a Town
Meeting.
Mr. Guertin stated he has been doing some thinking about the implications of additional cuts and noted additional cuts might not be required, but on the assumption Monson will have to make additional cuts from $100,000.00 to $120,000.00 in the budget, he took a look a the statutory services Monson must provide, such as the Police, Highway, Collector, Assessor, Building Inspector, the Town Clerk, and he doesn’t see how it would be possible to get another $100,000.00, or anywhere near it, out of these budgets and felt if the money wasn’t going to come from any of those Departments it would have to come from the remaining departments Parks & Recreation, Senior Center, Library and the Cemetery. Under this scenario, if you provide games for the children under the Parks and Recreation so they don’t have
too much time on their hands, you take away from the seniors. If you provide Meals-on-Wheels to seniors who aren’t able to get out, you take away from the children, if you take away from the Library you hurt residents who use the Library computers to search for employment while at the same time the Library tends to assist the schools who maybe lost libraries with all the cuts going on there as well. The Cemetery cuts the grass when it’s growing but maybe it could be cut less and when they aren’t as busy in the wintertime, maybe they don’t need as much staff. Mr. Guertin explained the Senior Center delivers a lot of functions and provides a lot of services, as do the other departments just mentioned, and felt all the services couldn’t all be of equal importance. Mr. Guertin added there is a need to prioritize all the services provided and felt the above mentioned departments should be asked to identify the types of services provided and prioritize them
in some kind of a sequence with the most important at the top of the list. Once everything has been prioritized, ask the departments if they were only given 75% of the budget they requested what services they would have to cut to make up the 25% difference and what would the impacts be. By doing this ahead of time, if cuts are needed for July 1st there would be some input ahead of time. Mr. Harrison agreed this request is a given and it’s an exercise worth doing.
Ms. Neggers explained it would be a range of approximately 13% to 17% across the board for the above mentioned departments.
Mr. Goodrich added he felt it was appropriate to involve the department heads in the discussion, but was hesitant to ask them to provide a list prioritizing services prior to having a firmer indication of what the numbers coming from the State will be as he feels the moral implication of telling a department to try to cut their budget is tough. Mr. Guertin responded there is a risk with waiting too long and there are pluses in knowing where cuts could be made ahead of time.
Ms. Neggers said the reduction we are facing is not standard and feels the town has done a pretty fair job of balancing the resident’s needs with the financial constraints the town is operating under and trying to hold our employees harmless, but doesn’t feel its possible to maintain everything we are doing without impacting the services given the budget cuts we are facing from the State. Ms. Neggers added the debate is which services and cuts need to be made and the impacts they will have, and feels it’s a decision up to the community, the town departments, and the employees to make.
Mr. Harrison said options would be to use funds from the Stabilization Account or the Gifts to the Town Account. Ms. Neggers replied Monson is a hurricane away from bankruptcy and the town must have some type of emergency funds to fall back on and noted the Free Cash might be down this years as well, with possibly another deficit in revenue in this account.
Mr. Harrison felt the Selectmen had to be armed with the knowledge to know what cuts of this type would mean to the departments if any of these cuts had to be made by the Selectmen as a Board. Ms. Neggers suggested approaching the department heads directly to ask this of them as these will be very, very painful cuts to make. Ms. Neggers added the cities and towns that are doing well, are doing well because they have wealthy people living in them who have voluntarily voted to pay more in taxes. In Monson, people have chosen not to pay more in taxes.
Mr. Goodrich felt there is also a need to keep an eye on the long term after this immediate issue, and a more severe need to look at department consolidation, such as Parks and Recreation and the Cemetery Department who both have lawn care equipment and take care of grass around town with both having department heads who have decent salaries. Mr. Harrison asked if there is any amount of money to be saved with consolidating the departments. Ms. Neggers said the Highway Department, Parks and Recreation and the Cemetery Department have been sharing employees, and between the two departments they have four full time employees, 80 acres of grass to maintain, run all the recreation programs and bury all of the dead, therefore she didn’t feel this could be done with fewer employees. Mr. Goodrich said he felt it’s
more the administration fees that could be reduced with a savings to the town.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to send a memorandum asking Parks and Recreation, the Cemetery Department, Council On Aging and the Library to make cuts of 15%, 20% and 30% in their budgets and to state what impacts the cuts would have, and have them returned within the first couple of weeks in July. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Request to Increase Municipal Lien Certificate Fee:
Ms. Neggers explained the Town Collector Dorothy Jenkins has requested an increase in the Municipal Lien Certificate fees from $25.00 to $50.00 effective on July 1, 2009. All the Municipal Lien Certificate fees collected revert back into the town’s General Fund.
Ms. Jenkins approached the Board of Selectmen and explained an article was placed on the warrant at the last annual Town Meeting giving permission to increase fees under MGL Chapter 40 Section 22F.
Ms. Jenkins explained the municipal liens are done whenever a house or property is sold or refinanced and must be completed within ten business days from the date of the request. The Municipal Lien Certificate is a written application by a person, attorney, banking institution, mortgage company, etc. requesting a lien search for any and all taxes, and other assessments including water, sewer and trash charges, owed to a municipality from the property owner. Ms. Jenkins explained this process takes a considerable amount of time and research on the part of the Town Collector’s Office, with accuracy being very important. Last year Ms. Jenkins said her office processed 577 Municipal Lien Certificates.
Mr. Goodrich made a motion to increase the Municipal Lien Certificate fees to $50.00 effective July 1, 2009. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Request to Increase Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Fees:
Ms. Neggers presented the Board of Selectmen with a spreadsheet comparing the current fees charged by the town with fees charged by neighboring towns on the Alcoholic Beverage Licenses, and explained Monson has not increased the fees since 1991.
Ms. Neggers explained Monson has the lowest fees around for the All Alcoholic License at $750.00, with $800.00 being the next lowest fee charged by the Town of Palmer. The All Alcoholic License fees go as high as $2,700.00.
Monson has the lowest fee on the Wine & Malt License at $300.00, with the next lowest fee of $500.00 being charged by the Town of Ludlow and going as high as $1,400.00.
Monson also has the lowest fees on the All Alcohol Package Store license at $500.00 with the next highest being $665.00 and the highest being $2,000.00.
It was agreed to have Ms. Neggers develop a list of prices for the next meeting. Ms. Neggers noted the licenses are not up for renewal until December 31st.
Reappointments Effective July 1, 2009:
Mr. Harrison read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals on page one as attached. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals listed on page two as attached. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals listed on page three as attached. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Goodrich read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals listed on page four as attached. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Goodrich read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals listed on page five as attached. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Goodrich read into the record and made a motion to appoint the individuals listed on page six as attached. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board of Selectmen:
- Mr. Goodrich read the Charge and Organization for the Monson General By-Law Committee which he drafted into the record as attached.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to create a General By-law Committee as just presented. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
- Mr. Harrison said there will be a concert series at Dave Grieve Park sponsored by the Monson Rotary Club on the third Tuesday for the months of June, July and August. The concerts are free, however everyone is encouraged to bring a canned good donation for the Open Pantry. The concerts are from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. with food available earlier and attendees should bring their own chairs.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to allow the concerts at the Gazebo in Dave Grieve Park as just described. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 9:00 P.M., Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from open session to return to executive session for the purpose of a discussion of collective bargaining, not to return to open session. Mr. Goodrich seconded and it was so VOTED.
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John F. Goodrich II, Clerk
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