BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 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:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of September 10, 2013 – open session. Dr. Smith seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Central Rescue and Rehab – Request for 5K Road Race and Walk to Benefit Palmer Municipal Dog Pound:
Central Rescue and Rehab President Georgina Polverari approached the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Polverari explained the 5K run/walk, as attached, that is scheduled for Saturday, October 26th, starting at 9:30 a.m. for the walkers and 10:00 a.m. for the runners. Fifty participants are expected, and the race/walk should be finished by 11:00 a.m.
Ms. Polverari explained the run/walk will start at River Hollow Family Golf Center on Hospital Road in Monson, go to the Palmer Municipal Dog Pound on State Avenue/Bridge Street and back to the Golf Center, described in more detail in her letter, as attached.
Ms. Neggers noted she received confirmation from Police Chief Stephen Kozloski that he had met with Ms. Polverari regarding police coverage for the run/walk and everything is all set and he gives his blessing to the event. Chief Kozloski suggested Ms. Polverari speak with Fire Chief Laurent McDonald, and she said she would.
Ms. Polverari said ambulance coverage will be provided by both Palmer and Monson since this starts in Monson, goes into Palmer and then returns back to Monson.
Dr. Smith made a motion to approve the Central Rescue and Rehab 5K road race as described. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Municipal Resources – Proposal for Executive Recruitment for Town Administrator:
Alan Gould, Vice President of Municipal Resources, Inc. approached the Board of Selectmen to explain what his firm can do as a consulting service, for the Town of Monson with the Town Administrator hiring process, as attached.
Mr. Gould noted his firm has been in business for 23 years, and mentioned a number of recruitments they have completed over the last twelve months. They have assisted in hiring numerous Executive Directors, Police Chiefs, Public Safety Directors, Town Administrators, Town Managers and Fire Chiefs.
Mr. Gould noted they work closely with their clients to clarify the job expectations. They also work closely with the applicants to help them understand the position requirements and expectation of the appointing authority and to keep them abreast of the selection process. Mr. Gould said they stay actively involved through the final selection and formal appointment, with an objective to initiate and establish long-term, successful relationships.
Mr. Gould explained 20 to 22 SA questions will be sent to candidates. Once they are returned, they will be scored and telephone interviews will be conducted to see if they are sincere in coming to Monson. The top six candidates will be brought in for interviews by the Board of Selectmen.
Mr. Gould stated there is a ten year guarantee. If this person leaves, we get to do it all over again free of charge; however they have never had to do this.
When asked, Mr. Gould said the track record for Municipal Resources, Inc. and his enthusiasm, are some of the reasons to go with his firm.
The time table, start to finish, is 90 days. There is a 30-day run time on the ad.
The Board of Selectmen thanked Mr. Gould for coming in.
MMA Consulting Group, Inc. – Proposal for Executive Recruitment for Town Administrator:
Mark Morse, President of MMA Consulting Group, Inc. approached the Board of Selectmen to explain what his firm can do as a consulting service for the Town of Monson with the Town Administrator hiring process, as attached.
Mr. Morse noted they have been in business for 25 years and gave an overview of the company, stating they are an agency which provides management consulting services to local government, cities, towns, and counties. Mr. Morse explained the procedure, as attached.
MMA Consulting Group also offers a guarantee, which he too stated they have never had to use.
Mr. Morse noted Monson will have to pay a new Town Administrator a lot more than we currently are. Mr. Morse noted the current pay range is between $110,000 and $125,000 but not less than $100,000.
When asked, Mr. Morse said no one does the search that his firm does, as the reason to go with him.
Mr. Morse said the time table would be approximately 90 to 120 days.
The Board of Selectmen thanked Mr. Morse for coming in.
Interim Town Administrator – Review Staff Proposal(s):
Ms. Neggers explained an email was sent to the Department Heads and any responsible staff person in Town to see if anyone was interested in serving as the interim Town Administrator. One response was received from Town Planner Daniel Laroche.
Mr. Laroche approached the Board of Selectmen.
It was noted Mr. Laroche started with the Town as the Disaster Recovery Manager a little over one year ago, moving up to Town Planner last month.
Mr. Laroche stated as Town Planner, he has been involved with the Town Building project, MDC and the casino.
Mr. Maia read Mr. Laroche’s letter of interest into the record, as attached.
Mr. Maia noted this is going to be a longish process to fill this term permanently, and felt right from the beginning Mr. Laroche would be the best person to fill the interim position during this process.
Mr. Maia asked Mr. Laroche to stay for the executive session to discuss the salary.
Dr. Smith asked Mr. Laroche to refresh his memory and the listening audience, on his experience.
Mr. Laroche responded his Master’s Degree is in Public Administration, and he has been working as a Town Planner for 15 to 16 years. Mr. Laroche stated he worked for the Town of Greenfield about 6 years; and the Town of Montague for about 3 years. For two years he worked as the Director of Land Protection for the Mt. Gray Land Conservation Trust.
Mr. Harrison asked Mr. Laroche if he had any desire to take on the position of Town Administrator full-time. Mr. Laroche responded he is interested in throwing his name in the hat for sure.
Dr. Smith made a motion to appoint Daniel Laroche as the interim Town Administrator, pending a successful salary negotiation. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Update On Surrounding Community Agreement Discussions re: Mohegan Sun Casino License Application:
Ms. Neggers said Mohegan Sun placed a telephone call to the Town’s Attorney, Jeffrey Fialkey at Bacon and Wilson, and said they are going to be setting up a meeting. It’s not known if the meeting will be with Mr. Fiakey, the Board of Selectmen or with Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.
Ms. Neggers said Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has been approached by Mohegan Sun, and PVPC apparently entered into an agreement with Mohegan Sun to do the necessary planning research work on behalf of all the surrounding communities from the proposed Mohegan Sun site in Palmer, but she hasn’t seen anything on this. Ms. Neggers said she has raised this as a level of discomfort on her part, and certainly as far as the Town of Monson is concerned, because this is something that was done without Monson’s inclusion; without our participation and without our knowledge.
Ms. Neggers said her understanding of the legislation is, if in fact a casino developer fails to reach an agreement with surrounding communities, that community can partition the Gaming Commission stating we are a surrounding community and we don’t have an agreement, and the application is considered incomplete. In that event, the Gaming Commission becomes the arbiter of that dispute.
Ms. Neggers question is, how can they maintain the objective and independence required to arbitrate a dispute, potentially for anybody in this area, if in fact they’re already meeting to facilitate the regional approach using the Planning Commission, when we weren’t even there? Ms. Neggers stated she has raised this issue, but there really isn’t anyone there who will answer your questions on this; and feels you just need to forge ahead and do the best you can. Ms. Neggers added this is about what happens to Monson, if a casino is built in Palmer.
Mr. Maia said as long as he’s sitting on the Board of Selectmen, Monson will have a seat at the table to determine how Monson’s going to be mitigated for the impacts.
Dr. Smith said he isn’t comfortable having the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission speaking for us. Mr. Maia agreed.
Mr. Harrison said he was under the impression before this whole thing came to pass, Western Mass. Casino Task Force advocated for having the Regional Planning authorities be part of the process, and he was under the impression they would be doing some pare reviews of the information that the casino applicants were providing, so they could see whether or not the traffic studies they did were accurate, and so we would have a second opinion on some of that stuff.
Ms. Neggers said she spoke with Mr. Fiakey today about drafting a stronger letter to Mohegan Sun and the Gaming Commission expressing the Board’s frustration with the process and the outcome, and also if in fact the money that’s allegedly set aside at the State level to pay for the mitigation studies has been committed to the Planning Commission, who is going to pay for ours?
Mr. Maia asked when do we reach the point where we get to see what’s being recommended for our mitigation, and also when do we get the opportunity to provide our input?
Ms. Neggers said the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is the one who is supposed to develop that, and they just got hired by Mohegan Sun. This all has to be done by December 31st.
Dr. Smith clarified we are supposed to be having someone looking out for our best interest, and what they’re proposing is using Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, which is working for Mohegan Sun.
Ms. Neggers said the only one looking out for our best interest is us.
Ms. Neggers said she has spoken with the Town Administrators for the Towns of Wilbraham and Belchertown and the Town Manager in Ware, and everyone is saying “what’s going on?” There’s no common understanding of facts, there’s been no communication by the Planning Commission to any of the surrounding communities about the scope of services, what it is they’re doing, or the role they’re playing. There’s been no communication from Mohegan Sun to surrounding communities, and we are sort of in a void.
Mr. Maia said Mohegan Sun said, once they signed the host agreement they would be in contact with the surrounding communities within two weeks, and that never happened. When they were called on it, they said they were going to be in contact with the surrounding communities by the end of the week. When that never happened, we all of a sudden have this PVPC situation, and now there is no contact whatsoever.
Ms. Neggers said in the newspapers, the PVPC was talking about setting up a meeting sometime in October with the surrounding communities.
Mr. Harrison said the Host Agreement is posted on the Town of Palmer’s web site. There is a summery that is about 5 or 6 pages, and a 47 page Agreement in detail, and he didn’t see the word “surrounding” in any of those pages.
Mr. Maia said there is language in the MGM contract, and in the Hard Rock host agreement, about surrounding mitigation, but not once in Mohegan’s.
Mr. Harrison stated once the vote is a thumbs up in Palmer, if that’s what it turns out to be, they’ll be scrambling with a very, very short window of opportunity to come up with an MOU for 10 to 15 surrounding communities. Mr. Maia responded he thinks that’s what they are banking on.
Ms. Neggers said she thinks it’s fair to point out to the Gaming Commission that it is very late in the game for this type of work. We don’t have any data or any studies, we don’t have any money, we have to petition Mohegan Sun, and then meanwhile they’re going to say they are doing this with the RPA instead. Meanwhile we are expending Monson tax dollars on our legal fees. Ms. Neggers said this shouldn’t have to happen.
Memorial Hall – Electrical Report – Discussion of How to Proceed:
Ms. Neggers reiterated when the Board of Selectmen met with Larry Tuttle from Architectural Insights, they agreed to fund an additional $2,500 out of the Gifts to the Town Account to have the electrical engineer go through the building and describe everything as is, and what needed to be repaired; and this is the document the Board has, as attached.
Ms. Neggers said we don’t have enough money in any Gift account or any appropriated account to do the kind of study and survey that we need, to determine what exactly has to be done by code and to prepare bid specifications for those improvements; put it out to bid and manage the project.
Ms. Neggers said at this point, the Board has delayed the Windows and Doors project, pending how to move forward to get Memorial Hall reopened for public use first.
Ms. Neggers said a Special Town meeting is going to be scheduled and felt the most prudent course of action, given the unknowns, would be to put a Town meeting article on to ask the town’s people to transfer all of the Windows and Doors money into an account with the priorities to be named in the article, to first identify the code issues and correct them with the money, to reopen the building for public use. Any remaining balance would then be put toward the Windows and Doors. Then have the Town go back to CPA for the balance needed for the Windows and Doors project. Ms. Neggers said she doesn’t see any other options.
Ms. Neggers said we need to get a cost estimate, and assuming there’s enough money there, do it and get it done. Ms. Neggers explained the electricity is expensive, the demolition of the M-PACT portion we should be able to do in-house, and the fire escapes are going to be pricy. Most of the expensive repairs are going to be electrical. Only the main floor will be open for public use. The basement is going to be turned back into a basement and will never be opened for public use again, and the GAR Hall and the balcony can be deferred.
Mr. Maia stated the cannon still needs to be roped off somehow. Ms. Neggers said the custodian will do this as soon as he has a chance.
Planning Board Request to Initiate Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Moratorium:
Town Planner Dan Laroche approached the Board of Selectmen and explained the Planning Board would like to change the zoning change process as they are looking at establishing a temporary moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. Mr. Laroche noted last November the voters in the Commonwealth approved allowing marijuana for medical use, and the Mass. Department of Public Health is looking at licensing up to three centers per county. No decision has been made just were these centers will be located.
Mr. Laroche said many communities are putting together temporary moratoriums, allowing it though their zoning bylaws, until the Department of Public Health establishes their own criteria of how they are going to license these facilities and provide the towns with direction on how to regulate the location of them through zoning.
Mr. Laroche said the Board has a copy of the proposed zoning bylaw amendment that would prohibit them, as attached. This defines what a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center is, and then basically in the use table states it is not allowed in all districts.
Mr. Harrison made a motion to send this back to the Planning Board for a Public Hearing. Dr. Smith seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
Special Town Meeting – Discussion of Potential Needs:
Ms. Neggers said Finance Director Deborah Mahar met with her last week and came up with a number of items requiring a Special Town meeting, which the Board of Selectmen had before them.
Ms. Neggers went over the list, as attached.
It was agreed to open and close the warrant on October 8th and to hold the Special Town meeting on November 4, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in Granite Valley Middle School.
Dr. Smith made a motion to approve the above opening and closing date, and meeting date, time and location. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board:
Ms. Neggers announced the Monson Rotary Club is honoring Virginia Midyette as the Citizen of the year with a ceremony at the Steaming Tender Restaurant in Palmer on Tuesday, October 8th at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale in the Collector’s Officer and at the Monson Free Library for $30 each.
Correspondence was read and completed.
At 8:40 p.m., Dr. Smith made a motion to adjourn from open session to go into executive session to discuss non-union bargaining pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A § 21 (2) and collective bargaining pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A § 21 (2), not to return to open session. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was unanimously VOTED.
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Dr. Richard M. Smith, Clerk
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