Norwell Board of Selectmen’s Meeting
June 20, 2001
Mr. Merritt opened the Board of Selectmen’s meeting and introduced John Mariano and Jim Boudreau. Paul Gaynor was unable to attend tonight’s meeting.
John Mariano said the 7:00 appointment with the Treasurer Collector was cancelled and that a Road Opening Permit for the Water Department had to be added to the agenda. Also, they wanted to discuss the water ban.
MOTION: Mr. Mariano moved the Board approve the agenda with those changes. Second by Mr. Merritt.
Voted.
MOTION: Mr. Mariano moved the Board approve the appointment of Neil Connolly as Special Police Officer in the Town of Norwell for the purpose of working for the town and on private details on an as need basis, effective upon his retirement. Second by Mr. Merritt.
Voted.
MOTION: Mr. Mariano moved the Board approve the appointment of Paul Murphy, currently the Animal Control Officer, as Norwell’s Inspector of Animals. Second by Mr. Merritt.
Voted.
MOTION: Mr. Mariano moved the Board approve a request from the Norwell Water Department for a Road Opening Permit to install new 1” water service to 530 Grove Street. No road cut will be needed. Dig Safe # 20012206159. Second by Mr. Merritt.
Voted.
Mr. Marty Sullivan, chairman of the Sparrell Re-use Committee was in to discuss their findings. The final recommendation of the committee, after a year and a half of meetings and conducting the survey is as follows:
· The first floor be used as the Recreation Department.
· The second floor be used for School Administration.
· The third floor be used for open meeting space, being used by the School Department during the day and at night it can be used by any town committees.
There was further discussion about needs, budgeting, maintenance and construction needs.
John Mariano said his first thought for use of the Sparrell School was as a library, but he sees by the surveys that only 14% of those who responded feels that way. Also, the library has not expressed any interest, saying they would need more staff for their day to day operations.
The Board at first thought moving the town offices over would be a good idea, but upon further investigation realized it was not feasible.
The survey results had 23% favoring the Sparrell School be turned into a Community Center. The School Department needs 5,000 square feet and the third floor of the present town hall has 5,000 square feel available. The space is presently being used for storage and not being utilized in the best way possible. There’s a lot to be said about combining all the town departments into one location.
Marty feels there is a give and take there because it also makes sense to have the school administration within close proximity to the schools as it is presently.
Mr. Merritt said he would like to see that whatever they do from a space planning standpoint be as permanent a solution as we can foresee it being at this point. The combination result of 29% of those responding to the survey say they would like a community center and space for recreation. He would like to see recreation be the anchor of some sort of community center if that be the will of the town. He also feels the School Department would fit nicely in the third floor of the present town hall. He is looking forward to the Master Plan evolving and the community beginning to speak out on what they envision a community center being.
Jackie McClean from the School Committee was present. The School Department doesn’t care where the Central Space is located as long as there is adequate space, handicapped accessible and air conditioned. But she asked if the town has a half million dollars to spend on the third floor.
John Mariano said we obviously need to look at those things, but when the town decides to spend $54M to do the schools, we can’t just sit there and let other buildings continue to deteriorate. To get the best use of the space we have for the cheapest amount of money we have and still maintain the services the town desires, it behooves us to as best we can to try to make that work.
Jackie said she doesn’t understand how they can renovate the Sparrell and the Town Hall at the same time. It would be nice to do everything everyone wants, but……
Mr. Merritt said he doesn’t see it as a real hard sell to get a couple of hundred dollars to put this plan together, particularly with the school’s enthusiasm and over 30% of the people agreeing.
Jackie said she thinks people fill out those surveys as sort of a “pie in the sky”. They would all love an indoor pool and that sort of thing. They fill out the surveys with no regard to money. She finds it hard to say just because 28% of the people would like to see it…..
Marty said the top choice of the survey was Town Hall. That would cost $2-3M, it’s just not feasible. He would like a study of the cost of renovating the third floor.
Further budget discussions ensued.
Rick said we don’t have to decide this tonight, but it makes sense to fully utilize both buildings. He asked the Town Administrator for his thoughts.
Jim Boudreau said the first point he would like to make is that we only have one shot to do this and if we don’t do it right, there’s no chance to come back and fix it. Secondly, the finances. We tend to be focusing on the $700,000 put aside as what we have to spend, as opposed to looking at it as a way to leverage some sort of bonding or borrowing where you could use that to pay the bonds in the beginning or use that to pay a portion of the bonds and alleviate the tax rate. There are some more palatable things to do without impacting the budget in a major way. He said the Sparrell Re-use Committee did an excellent job, did a lot of work and gave us a lot of information. Now we need to sit down with the Board, them and the School Department and sift through it. We really need to see how
we will best be served for the next ten or fifteen years as opposed to a quick fix.
Mr. Merritt thanked the members of both committees for coming in and said the Board will take the recommendations under advisement.
The Norwell Police Department will be holding an Open House to honor the retirement of Neil Connolly, retiring after 30 years of service on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 between the hours of 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
Also, Rick read the notice from the Water Department regarding the water ban beginning Monday, June 25, 2001, urging everyone to conserve.
Finally, the Board expressed their sympathies on the passing of Arthur Tolman at 83 years of age. Arthur worked for the town for 22 years in the Highway department. He was a long time volunteer in the Fire Department. He was chairman of the Norwell Drainage Commission. He was born in Norwell and graduated from Norwell High School in the thirties. He will be missed, it was a tremendous loss.
MOTION: Mr. Mariano moved the Board adjourn.
Voted.
__________________________________________
James M. Boudreau, Town Administrator
jac
| 
