BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013
The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen convened at 7:00 p.m. in the conference room at 29 Thompson Street. In attendance were Edward A. Maia, Dr. Richard M. Smith 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 of February 21, 2013 – open and executive sessions. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
Town Office/Police Station Building Committee:
- Request to Award Demolition Contract
- Conceptual Drawings and Status of Building
John Goodrich II approached the Board of Selectmen on behalf of the Town Offices/Police Facility Building Committee.
Mr. Goodrich explained the Committee was formed with the responsibility of hiring the Owners Project Manager (OPM), the architectural design firm, and then overseeing the process.
To date, they have an OPM, Daedalus; and a design firm, Kaestle Boos, who has been on board since approximately September 2012.
Mr. Goodrich noted they have had working sessions with Kaestle Boos to develop space needs requirements that are more accurate than they had been originally; these have been compiled and the needs have been assessed.
Mr. Goodrich explained at last weeks’ Building Committee meeting, the Committee voted to authorize the most recent floor plan, to go into the budget stage. Mr. Goodrich said Kaestle Boos’ own estimating department will track to see if we are remaining on budget or not.
Mr. Goodrich further explained at the current time, construction of the Town Office/Police Facility will be a steel structure with masonry facades. The building will be pulled forward toward Main Street, pushed left toward State Street, and brought up level with Main Street. Mr. Goodrich showed pictures and explained the proposed building; outside front and back, and inside the main level and the lower level, as well as the Police Station. Mr. Goodrich noted they are aiming for a two-tone red and gray brick exterior with possibly very little Monson granite accents, to keep it with the Monson heritage of granite, but nothing extravagant, as they are very budget conscious.
Mr. Goodrich noted the site plan developed shows there is a separate primary entrance and exit for the Police and emergency vehicles, which at this point is being proposed as a gated parking area.
Mr. Goodrich noted they have invited the Parks and Recreation Commissioners to their next meeting to discuss the location for the Parks and Recreation storage shed.
Mr. Goodrich explained they originally started out with a floor plan that was a little over 30,000 sq. ft. Currently they are down to 27,500 sq. ft. and they are hoping to get down to 26,000 sq. ft., but that will require some significant concessions, which is why they decided to send it to the estimating department, to see where they are at before they impact significant program space.
Mr. Goodrich said the budget is very, very tight. Ms. Neggers added there is no capacity for growth and Parks and Recreation storage will be moved off site, whereas they use to have the athletic equipment storage onsite. Ms. Neggers said they will be turning space in the Memorial Hall basement into storage for them. The offices are all very small compared to current space, but she believes this will work as everyone is committed to making it work. Mr. Goodrich said the spaces are being designed for the jobs that will be done in them, and they are very optimistic the square footage is going to be compensated with efficiency.
Dr. Smith inquired how much green construction has been incorporated. Mr. Goodrich replied they are not to that point in construction yet. Mr. Goodrich noted they do have a verbal pledge for some green funding, but no promises and not as much funding as he would like to see. Ms. Neggers said the building is being built to the stretch code, which is green.
Mr. Goodrich noted $7.3 million has been allocated for the building construction; the total project is $10.6 million. Ms. Neggers noted it’s going to cost between $75,000 and $100,000 to move the electricity for the Police Department. Mr. Goodrich noted the biggest hurdle is the mandated prevailing wage which escalates significantly. Ms. Neggers said she calculated the mandated wage at 40%.
Mr. Goodrich said at this point, the roof is a truss construction and it’s a dead space. The insulation is at the main floor ceiling level, and the attic space is not a heated space. The actual roofing materials have not been decided yet, nor has the inside interior finishes been discussed.
Mr. Goodrich said their intention is a to have an energy efficient building with low maintenance, and to try to incorporate some architectural features so this building will be an anchor on our downtown area, and something we can be proud of, with at least a one hundred year lifecycle.
Ms. Neggers said the demolition will have eight weeks, after the contract is signed, to complete the process. They are hoping by early summer to be out to bid on the construction. Mr. Goodrich said he would like to have the contracts awarded and see the construction begin by the end of the summer; they are expecting occupancy in the fall of 2014.
Mr. Goodrich noted he is working with a very dedicated committee, who don’t miss any meetings, and added it’s really been a good experience so far. Ms. Neggers gave the committee credit as it’s been a very difficult experience.
Mr. Goodrich said the bids were opened for the demolition of the 110 Main Street building and had a contract for the Board of Selectmen to sign. Associated Building Wreckers came in as the lowest qualified bidder at an amount of $283,300.
Dr. Smith made a motion to award the demolition contract for the 110 Main Street building to Associated Building Wreckers in the amount of $283,300. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Mr. Goodrich noted approximately twelve bids were received for the project ranging from the low bid to a high of a little over $800,000. Some of the bids were disqualified as they didn’t meet the required standards.
Mr. Goodrich said the new Town Office/Police Facility building isn’t anything fancy, but it’s going to be durable, it’s going to look nice, and it’s going to last.
Mr. Goodrich said in the event they have to reduce more square footage, the Building Committee will have to make some difficult decisions and will need to meet with the Board of Selectmen for their input on things and getting priorities set. Mr. Goodrich noted the Building Committee is hoping to have the estimates in for their meeting on Monday night. Mr. Maia asked Mr. Goodrich to forward the estimates to Ms. Neggers.
Town Clerk Nancy Morrell – Discussion of Special Elections:
This item was tabled as Ms. Morrell was unable to attend the meeting.
Approve E-911 Regional Dispatch Consulting Agreement:
This item was tabled as Police Chief Stephen Kozloski was unable to attend this meeting.
Request for Match for Regional Stormwater Management Grant/Activities:
Ms. Neggers said the town participated in a successful regional application for stormwater management assistance with 30 other communities. The grant was successful, but the budget that was asked for was $200,000, and it was reduced to $115,000 through the little mid-year cuts that the Governor and legislature made.
Ms. Neggers said an email was sent to each town stating, if each town could try to match $2,833 they would be able to make up the difference, and most of the towns are saying absolutely, they would be willing to do that. Ms. Neggers is asking the Board to consider funding $2,833 out of the Gifts to the Town Account. Currently the Gifts to the Town Account contains in excess of $50,000.
Disaster Recovery Manager Dan Laroche approached the Board of Selectmen, as he has been working on this. Mr. Laroche explained he will be attending a meeting tomorrow with the other 30 towns to discuss how they will move forward. There are mandates from the EPA for stormwater protection based on some watershed areas that need to be protected, and Monson is one of those. Plans have to be put in place for the EPA to deal with stormwater and the idea is since every town has to do a similar plan, why not get together, produce the materials and basically adopt it, doing it as a group effort rather than each town doing it individually. Mr. Laroche added the grand was awarded about three weeks ago.
Ms. Neggers said this will provide savings in the long run, as we are currently paying $5,000 a year to file the report.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to take $2,833 out of the Gifts to the Town Account as the matching fund for the grant for the regional stormwater management. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
The Board of Selectmen thanked Mr. Laroche.
Mohegan Sun Palmer Casino Proposal – Impact on Monson as Abutting Community – Process:
Mr. Harrison said not much has been going on recently. The Casino Task Force Committee has been awaiting the Mass. Gaming Commission to come out with some guidelines for them to apply for funding to hire a consultant and/or legal expertise to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with Mohegan Sun.
Mr. Harrison noted Mohegan Sun is now proposing an $800 million project, instead of the original $600 million project, to be more competitive with Hard Rock, Penn National and MGM proposed for the Springfield area.
Mr. Harrison encouraged everyone to go on the internet and look at massgaming.com, which is the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s web site where they have all of the latest information; meeting minutes, press releases, and videos of the actual meetings taking place.
Mr. Harrison added the Gaming Commission very much wants to hear from the general public, municipal officials and businesses on what they are looking for and what their concerns are, as an outreach to the people. In the meantime, Mr. Harrison said they will wait for the direction from the Mass. Gaming Commission.
Ms. Neggers said she isn’t comfortable waiting to produce a documented record that the Town of Monson has concerns and wants to be included in these discussions. What Ms. Neggers said she is asking the Board to consider doing is to instruct Town Counsel to contact the Mass. Gaming Commission and ask for a copy of the application submitted by Mohegan Sun, and upon receipt of that send a letter to whoever submitted it stating we are here and we want to talk.
Ms. Neggers noted there are no details on what Mohegan Sun is proposing, therefore we can’t evaluate the impact on Monson. Ms. Neggers said we don’t even know if we are going to be counted as a surrounding community, and feels we need to stand up and say we are a surrounding community, we want to be included, and we expect the impact of this development to be mitigated if it should come to pass; and this way we will have a documented record that we have concerns.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to have Town Counsel prepare a letter seeking a copy of the application filed by Mohegan Sun to the Mass. Gaming Commission. Upon receipt of that, to file a letter to whoever is designated as the applicant, requesting Monson be designated a surrounding community to the Town of Palmer on Mohegan Sun’s application. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
Approve Solar PILOT Negotiating Team:
Ms. Neggers said at last night’s Town Meeting, the voters approved the Town to commence negotiations with Hecate Energy on a proposal for a solar farm on land located at the intersection of Macomber and Upper Palmer Roads. Ms. Neggers reiterated, previously the Board of Selectmen approved the hiring of Bishop Consulting.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to have Roy Bishop of Bishop Consulting, Town Counsel, Ms. Neggers and a designee chosen by the Board of Assessors, serve on the negotiating team to come up with an agreement between Hecate Energy and the Town of Monson in regards to the solar panel farm. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
Memorial Hall – Use Guidelines:
Ms. Neggers said she and Tod Beal of the Monson Arts Council have been exchanging emails, and the Arts Council has been pretty active in trying to figure out different things to pursue. Ms. Neggers said at this point, she is working on tweaking the existing policy.
Ms. Neggers also said the position of the Building Use Facilitator which Richard Guertin held for many years, she feels most of those tasks should be passed on to our facility guy which is Paul DeMaio. This would include inventory of the keys, issuing keys, removing trash, repairs, monitoring and just doing a lot of the troubleshooting, which Mr. DeMaio has been doing a lot of right along.
Ms. Neggers said she would like to continue working independently with the Arts Council and bring back a finished agreement.
Mr. Maia said he wants to make sure a pre-use and a post-use inspection goes into the document, and have the people sign off on it.
Mr. Harrison wondered about security deposits. Ms. Neggers noted we do require insurance certificates naming the town any time Memorial Hall is used for private functions.
Ms. Neggers also said we are going to have to shift our storage to Memorial Hall, and she has asked Mr. DeMaio to construct appropriate storage by purchasing shelving units, etc.
Fiscal 2014 Budget Development Status:
Finance Director Deborah Mahar approached the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Neggers said she would like to get a proposed budget to the Board of Selectmen for their March 26th meeting for review, and hopefully approval. If approved, it would move on to the Finance Committee to essentially give them the month of April to discuss it. Ms. Neggers said a special joint meeting could be set up at that time between the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee if there is any necessary discussion between them that needs to take place.
Ms. Neggers said she is hopeful a decent budget can be put together without using reserves, and to continue to fund Capital needs.
Ms. Mahar noted the departments submitted level service budgets. She has the Governors numbers, but that is predicated on his tax increase, so she has gone more on the conservative route and level funded state aid, hoping we will be at that point.
Ms. Neggers said we also don’t have contracts with the Police union the IBPO, or AFSCME the employees union, and these won’t be resolved in time for the Town Meeting.
Ms. Neggers said it’s important the residents recognize the town budget is a fluid, dynamic process that continues from Town Meeting on throughout the year, constantly changing.
Ms. Mahar said she did receive notification from the GIC about the insurance rates for next year, which went up 3.75%, over all of their products on average. Health New England, where most of the employees are, had a 3.2% increase.
Ms. Neggers said they are looking at the short term debt relative for the October 2011 snowstorm clean-up in regards to the Federal Highway, we signed the contracts and sent them in, but we don’t know when we are going to get the money. The state allegedly is going to send us some money, but we don’t know how much. Ms. Mahar noted the temporary bond for that is due next week.
Fire Chief McDonald – Request to Amend PT EMT Benefits to Include Ambulance Subscription on Annual Basis:
Dr. Smith made a motion to authorize all part time on-call employees of the Monson Fire Department, be enrolled in the ambulance service subscription program at no cost to them. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Approve National Grid Easement for 110 Main Street:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to approve National Grid’s request for an easement for 110 Main Street, as described in the documents presented to the town by them. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
Approve Snow and Ice Deficit Spending Authorization:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to approve the expenditure applied for by the Monson Highway Department, in excess of available appropriations, in the amount of $75,000 for snow and ice removal, as allowed under M.G.L. Chapter 44 § 31D. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board:
- Ms. Neggers said an email was received today from First Church of Monson regarding a bike blessing on Saturday March 23rd. First Church would like to do a small detour similar to what they do for the Pumpkin Festivals. Both the Police Chief and Highway Surveyor responded they have no objections to it, assuming they follow the same guidelines that they do for the Pumpkin Festivals.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to approve the detour as requested. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
- Mr. Harrison made a motion to table items #3 Town Clerk Nancy Morrell – Discussion of Special Elections; and #4 Approve E-911 Regional Dispatch Consulting Agreement; and for them to be rescheduled at possibly the next meeting. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 8:25 p.m., Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from open session to go into executive session to discuss collective bargaining pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30 A § 21 (2), and pending litigation, not to return to open session. Dr. Smith seconded and it was so VOTED.
______________________
Edward S. Harrison, Clerk
| 
