BOARD OF SELECTMEN
JULY 23, 2013
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 Edward A. Maia, Edward S. Harrison and Dr. Richard M. Smith. Also present were Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers and the media.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Acceptance of Meeting Minutes:
Dr. Smith made a motion to accept the meeting minutes for July 9, 2013 – open and executive sessions. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Bylaw Committee – Update on Status:
Mary Watson, Chair of the Bylaw Committee, approached the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Watson noted the committee received a copy of the letter addressed to the Board of Selectmen, which they previously agreed to forward to the Bylaw Committee, from resident Patricia Schonback regarding adopting the same proposed “Good Neighbor” bylaw as South Hadley is considering. Ms. Watson said she spoke with Ms. Schonback and informed her, the committee hasn’t met since receiving her letter, but she would let Ms. Schonback know when a meeting is going to be held. Ms. Watson noted the Bylaw Committee now has a meeting scheduled for August 7th.
Mr. Maia said there are other towns also that have something similar to the “Good Neighbor” bylaw, and felt it might be worth investigating.
Dr. Smith said the last time the Board met with Ms. Watson, the bylaw regarding pawn shops was being sent back to the committee to be reworked, and wondered about the status on this. Ms. Watson replied this is also on the agenda to be discussed at the August 7th meeting of the Bylaw Committee. Ms. Watson said Bo Schneider who expressed concerns during the meeting with the Board of Selectmen will also be invited to attend the Bylaw Committee meeting.
Dr. Smith said there was also the request for appointing Finance Committee members between meetings. Ms. Neggers said she wasn’t sure if Ms. Watson had received a copy of this, requesting consideration of a bylaw where it would be the Chairman of Board of Selectmen, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, and the moderator who would make interim appointments. Dr. Smith thought Mr. Guertin had a different version of the appointing group as well. Ms. Neggers said she would find it and provide Ms. Watson with a copy.
Mr. Maia noted Valerie Beaudoin also had some pretty good suggestions and suggested Ms. Watson reach out to her to see if she would like to participate in the discussion regarding the Fin. Com. bylaws.
It was agreed a change has to be made and Mr. Maia added he wants to make sure the taxpayers are being represented by Fin. Com. and that Fin. Com. is not just doing what the Finance Committee thinks is the best thing, but that they are serving the taxpayers in the best way.
Ms. Neggers said another thing the Bylaw Committee should consider is the number of members on the Finance Committee and if it should be reduced from thirteen, or not.
Approve Solar Net Metering Agreement with Urban Green Technologies:
Ms. Neggers said for quite some time, she has been in discussions with various solar companies regarding the town, and noted this is separate from solar generation. Ms. Neggers explained this is an agreement where private companies develop solar power facilities and get credits at the state level, and then sell the credits at a discount in order to get financing for their project; before they start to build, they have known customers. Ms. Neggers said a number of municipalities have entering into Net Metering Agreements as well as a fairly large number of state facilities.
Ms. Neggers said she utilized a consultant, Todd Bard, who is President of the LEE Energy Group, and working closely also with the town’s attorney Jeff Fialky of Bacon Wilson, in terms of reaching the final legal agreement.
Ms. Neggers stated Urban Green Technologies has a “shovel-ready” project in Oxford, Mass. that is going to be generating approximately 3.5 megawatt-DC power, they have executed an interconnection with National Grid and the state has allocated a reservation of Net Metering credits to the project. Urban Green Technologies is also registered with the DOER and they have their land lease signed and executed, as well as having all their special permits in place at the local level. They intend to begin construction in the third quarter of 2013.
Ms. Neggers said she has been negotiating with Stuart Beckley, the Town Manager for the Town of Ware, Mass. cooperatively, because of the level of savings that can be achieved. This particular agreement would be for twenty-five years and Urban Green Technologies is offering a 25% discount. Essentially, it would be for 1.6 million kilowatt hours per year. For example, we would be paying Urban Green Technologies $75,000 to buy credits and National Grid would then apply $100,000 in credits to our municipal electrical accounts however we set them up under what is called a Schedule Z, which is filed with the Commonwealth. Monson would be the Host customer, and we would in turn push it back to the Town of Ware, as there can only be one Host customer per project. The Towns of Monson and Ware don’t have
enough consumption to buy all the credits for this project, but when done together, we do.
Ms. Neggers said the savings in the first year for the Town of Monson would be $57,260. Ms. Neggers said she aired on the side of caution as you don’t want to buy credits you can’t use, even though they are retained in perpetuity, you want to buy them as you use them and not three or four years later, as you wouldn’t re-coop your savings as quickly.
Ms. Neggers said we have 30 months from the date the agreement is signed to back out of the deal. Ms. Neggers also noted we would pay monthly, and the payments will begin after they start generating power.
Ms. Neggers explained when she spoke with the DOER, they said the biggest risks are; you could get your consumption level wrong, you set your floor too high, or you go with a project that isn’t going to be built.
Mr. Harrison asked about the recently approved Cornerstone Power LLC solar project at the Arooth farm on Upper Palmer and Macomber Roads, which is the town’s first solar project. Ms. Neggers responded that company did not offer to sell any credits to the town for electricity, and added that construction also has not yet begun and they are not shovel-ready.
Dr. Smith made a motion to approve the Solar Net Metering agreement with Urban Green Technologies. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Approve Invitation for Bid for Ambulance Billing Services:
Fire Chief McDonald approached the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Neggers noted they have been working on this since at least February. Ms. Neggers explained a lot of cities and towns use an external billing service, outsourcing it, and this invitation to bid is just to find out what the savings would be for Monson.
Chief McDonald said he did some background research on this before he went through this process and explained many cities and towns found they can capture more revenue by outsourcing it for several reasons. First and foremost, they have several people who do this on a full-time basis that are trained and go through continuing education, as the laws with health care change quite often, and with the Affordable Care Act change even more. Chief McDonald said his department doesn’t have the funding to keep up with the training and continued education. Chief McDonald said it’s also cheaper to do everything electronically rather than send bills out and added we won’t know what that comparative is unless an analysis is done, to make sure it’s cost effective and in the best interest of
the taxpayers.
Chief McDonald noted when he was the Fire Chief in Dudley, they did a similar analysis and found it was better to outsource it, and ended up increasing the ambulance revenues from 75% to 92%.
The Board of Selectmen said they will be interested in seeing the results and thanked Chief McDonald for coming in to discuss this. Ms. Neggers said it would probably take about a month or so, and once the bids are in it will be brought back before the Board of Selectmen.
Dr. Smith made a motion to approve the invitation for bid for ambulance billing services. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board:
- Mr. Maia explained a letter was received from the Board of Health stating they would like to hold a Hazardous Waste Day this fall for Town residents. The last Hazardous Waste Day was on October 22, 2011. The Board of Health is asking the Board of Selectmen to consider using funding from the Gifts to the Town Account in the amount of up to $10,000 to cover the expenses.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to allocate up to $10,000 from the Gifts to the Town account for a Hazardous Waste Day in the fall of 2013. Dr. Smith seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
- Ms. Neggers noted the Board of Health is currently down to two members out of five, and announced anyone wishing to serve on the Board of Health should contact the office at 267-4107 for more information.
- Ms. Neggers said the Building Committee met last night and they are on track, and on budget, for bids to be released for the Town Hall/Police Station project on August 7th, with a bid opening happening the first week of September to award a contract and hopefully break ground shortly thereafter.
- Ms. Neggers noted Larry Tuttle, of Architectural Insights, is hoping to deliver the package of materials, with the reports and estimates regarding the Memorial Hall repairs, to her this Friday.
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 7:45 p.m., Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from open session to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A § 21 (2) and non-Union bargaining pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A § 21 (2), not to return to open session. Dr. Smith seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
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Dr. Richard M. Smith, Clerk
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