BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012
The regular meeting for the Board of Selectmen convened at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room at 29 Thompson Street. In attendance were Dr. Richard M. Smith, Edward A. Maia and Edward S. Harrison. Also present were Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers and the media.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Acceptance of Meeting Minutes:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to accept the meeting minutes for April 10, 2012 – open and executive sessions. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
General Bylaws Public Hearing:
a. New Codification of Existing Bylaws
b. Bylaw Prohibiting Pushing of Snow/Debris into a Public Way (new)
c. Bylaw Regulating Pawn Shops/Second Hand Shops/Junk Dealers (new)
d. Winter Parking Ban (new)
e. Town Election Date – Change to Second Tuesday in June
Assistant Town Clerk/and newly appointed Chairperson of the General Bylaw Committee Mary Watson, approached the Board of Selectmen.
Ms. Neggers noted this public hearing was advertised in the Republican on Monday, April 9, 2012, as well as posted on the Town’s web site for a number of weeks, so the advertising requirements have been met.
Ms. Watson said the General Bylaw Committee consists of six members and explained the research done in compiling this document, noting there are eighteen books in the Town Clerk’s office which were used in this research. The research she undertook started in 1762, where she found there weren’t any real bylaws discussed until the mid 1800’s.
Ms. Watson said there is a five page document of older bylaws to be repealed at the Town meeting as they don’t apply anymore. Some of the interesting bylaws Ms. Watson discovered were; cannons can’t be fired, and you can’t fly a kite on the main common. These bylaws are still in effect today, but won’t be after re-codification.
Ms. Neggers said the bylaws, once approved at the Town Meeting, will be placed on our town web site, and may be published.
Ms. Watson went over the list of the codification of the existing bylaws as well as the bylaws to be added, as attached.
Robert Finnegan, a Finance Committee member who was in the audience, asked who would enforce the violations in the newly proposed bylaws. Ms. Neggers said the bylaw pertaining to pushing snow and debris out into the road as well as the parking ban would be enforced by the police. The pawn shop bylaw is more of a licensing issue rather than a violation issue.
The Board of Selectmen thanked Ms. Watson for coming in and for all of her hard work.
Meeting with Finance Committee Re: Fiscal 2013 Budget:
Finance Committee members James Pennington and Kurt Kaiser approached the Board of Selectmen.
Mr. Pennington said the Finance Committee looked at the Free Cash in a variety of areas, trying to save some of the Free Cash which the town had been too dependent on in the past.
The Finance Committee asked all the departments to submit level service budgets. Mr. Pennington noted the Schools need to be funded and what they are asking for would wipe out all of the Free Cash. Mr. Pennington explained by law the town is required to do Net School Spending, and as a Committee that is what they agreed upon. The school transportation which is part of that budget went out to bid, and the one bid received came back higher than what they are currently running their school transportation program on. As a Committee they decided they would fund the school transportation as requested, and include the funding for two school busses they have had the need for replacing that require the most maintenance and have higher mileage.
Mr. Pennington explained Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School has two different ways for funding. One way is to go with the figure the six towns voted on as a minimum; and the second way is to include the capital Pathfinder has requested for improvements. Last year Monson went with funding the minimum and the five other towns voted on funding the capital. This year, the Finance Committee has agreed to fund the capital, which is approximately $23,000.
The Highway Department, Mr. Pennington said, needs new radios or they won’t be able to communicate with other departments, as the frequencies will be changing in June. This is about a $22,000 priority.
Finance Director Deborah Mahar approached the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Mahar said in the alternate budget 2013 proposal, the total is $22,736,607, and the total available is $22,735,000. Therefore the alternate budget is only $1,000 over, and Ms. Mahar said this is essentially a balanced budget. This budget would fund the radios for the Highway Department, Pathfinder at their capital request, school transportation at their capital request, the Schools at Net School Spending, and all the other departments at level funding. The alternate budget also uses no free cash. Ms. Mahar noted this budget also places an additional $25,000 into the Snow and Ice account. The alternate budget moves the money around for the Maintenance Department but doesn’t give the Recreation Department what they have requested. Ms. Mahar noted
she still hasn’t received anything formally from the Recreation Commissioners on their proposed budget.
There is an article on the Special Town meeting warrant to fund the deficit for the tornado, and Ms. Mahar said one thing Mr. Pennington didn’t mention was the concept of using Free Cash for that as we are looking at roughly $116,000 to $120,000 that isn’t going to be funded from other sources. The Free Cash balance is $163,000. Ms. Mahar reiterated Moody’s Investment Services would like to see Free Cash not used on the operating budget which would be recurring, but rather on one time items instead.
Ms. Neggers explained if this past winter had been a bad winter, the town would probably be looking at cutting $300,000 to $400,000 off of a level service budget because we don’t have a lot of reserves and we don’t have a cushion there. Ms. Neggers noted they have been aggressively cutting the budgets across the board for the past four years without putting anything back.
Mr. Pennington agreed we are in a precarious way based on weather, based on union negations for salary, based on petroleum, and based on the cost of goods, and all of these things in another year could put us in dire strait and he feels the town needs to start thinking about an override for specific things, planning ahead rather than waiting until the last minute.
Mr. Harrison explained years ago there was a capital budget which contained about $125,000 for one time large purchases such as a fire truck, ambulance, etc. and we haven’t put anything into that account for some time. Mr. Harrison said when people think of an override they think that’s going to raise their taxes forever and explained there is more than that one type of override; there’s also a debt exclusion override which is a bond for a number of years (which has been used for new schools) and a third type of override which is used for a single year capital expense item. This type will increase the tax rate for one year for the purchase of the capital item, and then the tax rate goes back down the following year.
Mr. Pennington said he also wanted to discuss the combining of departments and felt a study should be done of other like size towns to see what they have combined that is cost effective that would provide the same services or better, but condensing some things down, perhaps some repetition. Mr. Pennington said he feels the public service areas consisting of the Police, Fire and Highway could combine their services together, starting with management, by having someone who has expertise in those areas overseeing them.
Dr. Smith said most towns go the DPW route, and that is kind of what they are hoping to start with the alternate 2013 budget by combining the Cemetery Department with the Parks portion of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Mr. Maia agreed the town needs to start looking at the consolidation of departments, but felt it needs to be done in a way that is going to impact the public in a positive manner.
Mr. Pennington felt we also should look outside New England for examples of combining departments.
Ms. Neggers explained the town is in the process of developing and formalizing a regional agreement with the Town of Palmer and the Town of Wales for animal control, and expanding this into an IMA Inter-municipal Agreement; and for the past two or three years the town has also been participating in a regional study for emergency dispatch, using state offered funding. Simultaneously, for the last three years the Board of Selectmen have been talking about trying to consolidate the existing maintenance employees of the town, who do similar work, into one department.
Ms. Neggers explained trying to consolidate departments has been incredibly challenging, difficult, and fraught with worry and road block issues, as you have to generate an appetite for it amongst people. Also, you have to get people to open their mind to the concept that things can change and still be good as people are fearful of change, particularly in our workforce where many of them are twenty plus years in their positions and they don’t take to changes easily. In 2006, a Municipal Financial Department was very successfully created and this has been incredibly positive for the town.
Ms. Neggers explained what’s happening now is the Board of Selectmen are trying to work with entities not under their jurisdiction. When you look at the organizational structure of our town, it is chaotic at best, and that’s a very difficult organization to function in, in terms of trying to make changes. Ms. Neggers felt we need to come to terms with that, and the challenges it poses for us.
Ms. Neggers recommend the Selectmen take some actions to bring in the State, and possibly some private consulting firms, to look at our organizational structure and make recommendations, because people are so entrenched in the way it is now they are having difficulty in opening their minds and looking at anything in a different perspective.
Ms. Neggers said an allegation was made recently that Parks and Recreation user fees were being used to provide field maintenance services; that basketball fees were being used to buy lawnmowers, and this was a grave concern. Ms. Neggers explained she conducted an additional research utilizing town reports for a three year analysis and found for field maintenance, Parks and Recreation expended $34,514 over that three year period and re-cooped from tax dollars $30,485; over that same period in user fees $24,169 was collected for use of the field from private organizations. The net gain in field maintenance, after the expenditures were netted from the revenues including the $30,485 in tax dollars over that three year period, was $20,141.
Mr. Harrison said the long term vision is, if we get a Maintenance Department, focusing on the mowing and grounds maintenance. Ultimately, that will migrate into a DPW type situation where some of those people will be able to plow snow in the winter, and do maintenance on fewer machines as they won’t have two sets of machines to work with.
Mr. Kaiser said his understanding was, when it comes time to look at pay increases for the department heads, it was going to be restricted to 2%; however the Water/Sewer Commissioners have put in for a 6% plus increase, and wondered if the Board of Selectmen had seen that in the budget.
Dr. Smith said he wasn’t aware the Water/Sewer Commissioners were now seeking 4% on top of the 2%. Dr. Smith said he remembers sitting at a Finance Committee meeting last year with the Water/Sewer Commissioners in attendance and this issue was discussed. At that time, it was decided all the department heads, including the Water/Sewer Superintendent, would receive a 2% increase, and it was discussed who actually had control over the raises.
Mr. Kaiser said this pay increase comes to $4,133 over the 2% and wondered how the Finance Committee handles something like that on the Town meeting floor.
Ms. Neggers said from the Selectmen’s perspective, because they have many department heads under their jurisdiction as well as many non-union employees and union employees, it’s a question of equity, where they recommended 2% for everybody in order to be fair and equitable.
Dr. Smith said that was his recommendation last year, to keep it equitable.
Mr. Maia noted there are a lot of department heads in this town who deserve more than 2%, especially this year, but the budget is what it is, and from his standpoint if everyone else is receiving 2% than the Water/Sewer Superintendent should too. Mr. Maia felt it would be up to the Water/Sewer Commissioners to stand up and advocate, just like any other taxpayer in town.
Ms. Neggers noted the State law gives the Board of Selectmen the authority to enter into multi-year employment agreement contracts with only four town employees; the Town Administrator, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Finance Director; the Superintendent of the Schools also, under the jurisdiction of the School Committee. Beyond that there are no contracts. They are non-union employees, and if everyone had their own contracts with their Commissioners, it would create chaos and we would be in a real serious legal issue. It was noted on several occasions in the past Town Counsel has stepped in to say this cannot be done.
Mr. Pennington stated the Finance Committee is in favor of the 2013 alternate budget.
Dr. Smith said he is in favor of what the Finance Committee has brought forth tonight with the exception of the 6% increase in pay for the Water/Sewer Superintendent.
Ms. Neggers thanked the Finance Committee members for their work on the budget and for supporting a budget that doesn’t utilize non-occurring revenue to pay re-occurring expenditures.
Annual and Special Town Meeting Warrants – Close Special Town Meeting Warrant:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to place the four articles from the Fire Department, as attached, on the Special Town Meting warrant. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to place the three articles from the Finance Director, as attached, on the Special Town Meeting warrant. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to place the two articles from the Highway Department, as attached, on the Special Town Meeting warrant. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to place the article from the Building Inspector, as attached, on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting warrant. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to place the article from Leslie Duthie to acquire the Quinlin Land Trust for $364,300 and the other article is to appropriate the sum of $21,180 to be put towards that Land Trust from CPA. The other article from CPA is for $83,000 to repair, restore, and preserve the interior of St. Patrick’s Church (which is on the National Historic Register of Property) and the last article would be to appropriate the sum of $16,200 to do vital record preservation on records in the custody of the Town Clerk. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to close the Special Town meeting warrant. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
Disaster Recovery Status
a. Update on Town Office Building Project
b. Update on Federal Highway Reimbursement – Tornado
c. Visioning Process – Next Meeting
d. Update on October Storm FEMA Reimbursement Status
Ms. Neggers explained Reinhardt Associates, an architectural firm, had been doing a preliminary space need assessment and costing out on a new building at 100 Main Street. The final draft provides a cost estimate for a brick building, masonry construction, wood frame, two stories with 26,000 square feet that would house the Police and all the Town offices with some capacity for growth in looking at a long term use of the facility (this is 5,000 square feet less than we currently have, with full accessibility between floors with an elevator and two staircases, shared meeting space, a larger community meeting space for public meetings and hearings for 40 people, a records storage vault to meet Mass. requirements for permanent Town records, accessible restrooms for staff and public, staff lunchroom, full automatic
fire/sprinkle protection, and Emergency Communication/E911 Dispatch Center, an Emergency Operations Center, two multi-purpose Police holding cells and general energy efficient construction and mechanical/HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems.
The cost of the project is $10,335,000. The insurance settlement proposal is $6.9 million, making the cost of a new building $3,433,000 over the settlement.
This report will be posted on the Town’s web site. Ms. Neggers noted she had an individual tell her 30% of the damage to the 110 Building was tornado related and 70% was pre-existing damage and the insurance company won’t repair anything pre-existing.
Ms. Neggers suggested bringing a Debt Exclusion Override to the Town’s people and said she will develop language to place on the annual Town meeting warrant.
Senator Brewer’s office indicated they have been in touch with the Secretary of Transportation at Mass DOT and the funds for the Federal Highway reimbursement in the amount of $519,000 should be coming.
The next Visioning session will be held on April 25th at 6:30 here in the Selectmen’s Conference Room where they will discuss open-space, walkability, and natural features and landscape.
Finance Director, Deborah Mahar has been working on the October storm which totaled $2,913,365 for just Ashbritt and O’Brien’s portion of the debris clean-up. If Federal Highway is reimbursed 100%, our portion of this bill will be around $600,000. Ms. Neggers said the October snowstorm cost is six times more than the tornado.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board of Selectmen:
- Ms. Neggers said Town Counsel provided a summary on the Casino.
- Ms. Neggers said she received an email from the School Committee Chair making an urgent request the Selectmen take action to allow remote participation in public meetings.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to approve as read, and as attached. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 9:05 p.m., Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from open session to go into executive session to discuss non-union contractual strategy – MGL c.30A, Sec. 21 (2), not to return to open session. Mr. Maia seconded and it was so VOTED.
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Edward S. Harrison, Clerk
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