Town of Princeton, Mass.
BOARD OF SELECTMEN --- April 8, 2013
Open Meeting
6:00 PM The meeting was called to order in the Town Hall Annex. Present were Chairman Edith Morgan, Stan Moss, Neil Sulmasy and Town Administrator John Lebeaux.
Warrants and Minutes
Review and Approve FY13 Vendor and Payroll Warrant # XX
6:10 PM Reviewed minutes of March 25, 2013 and voted all in favor to accept
Scheduled Meetings and Hearings
6:12 PM: - Betsy Beth representing Princeton Historical Society was in to request use of Mechanics Hall for East Princeton Walking Tour event Sat. May 4 at 1 PM (rain date May 5). The building will be the starting point of a walking tour of historic buildings and mill sites, led by Alex & Marc Fiandaca. Stan M. moved to grant the request subject to any conditions from the police or fire chiefs and board voted all in favor.
6:15 PM: Glenn Lyons, superintendent of Highway Department came in to discuss snow and ice removal budget requests and request for adding seasonal help, as crew takes vacations only from April to November and department is short-staffed in summer.
Some discussion ensued around contract snow removal by Conway Construction—which accounts for a $20,000 request in the DPW budget. Glenn said the contractor is on call and paid an hourly rate. Stan told him the selectmen would take the extra staffing under advisement. John L. explained a warrant article being proposed that would set aside the funds received annually from the school district for snow removal and other grounds maintenance. Those funds would go into DPW’s Snow and Ice Control rather than the current practice in which it goes to the General Fund. In FY 13 that amount was $25,870.
6:40 PM Sen. Harriet Chandler came in after concluding her in-town office hours. Rep. Kimberly Ferguson was scheduled but got held up in Boston debating the Transportation Capital Projects Bond Bill filed jointly by the House and Senate. Ms. Chandler spoke at length about MBTA commuter trains and RTA bus service in communities outside train-served areas. Advisory Board members noted disparity of funding, with MBTA operating with a huge deficit even though residents outside Boston are supporting it. She reported that toll takers would be eventually eliminated and replaced with transponders (an EZ Pass system) and automatic billing. The group talked about tolls, gas taxes and the governor’s plan for raising state income tax by one point while lowering sales tax. Chandler described an alternate which she supports, that adds 3%
to the gas tax and $1 more excise tax on tobacco products—noting that the state’s cigarette tax hasn’t changed since 1991, and at $4 is lowest among surrounding states.
She also announced that the annual “cherry sheet” numbers from the House Ways & Means Committee for state aid to municipalities and school districts would be available on Wednesday the 10th.
7:10 PM Mick Splaine and Kevin Toohey came in for the Road Advisory Committee to renew its request that road reconstruction funds be increased from $175,000 to $225,000. Mr. Splaine notes that they’ve been losing ground at the current funding level. The committee formulates a priority list for road improvements which weighs in a variety of factors. Group discussed East Princeton project and the Keyes Brook bridge that need repair. Included in the draft Annual Town Meeting Warrant is an article to fund all or a portion of the remaining engineering work the town must contribute for the project to receive 100% state/federal funding. After some discussion about the committee’s priority list, it was reported that road complaints have not increased and that road conditions have been improving overall. The selectmen said they
would take the budget increase under advisement.
7:45 PM Proposed Warrant Article 33 concerns the Fire Department and the chief’s position. John L. described MGL Chapter 48, section 42 and 42A. These are the statutes defining a town’s fire chief. Sect. 42 is known as “strong chief,” which is used in Princeton; the 42A is known as “weak chief” and selectmen are considering a switch, which would require a Town Meeting vote. John L. explained that some communities have switched from 42 to 42A, as it makes the fire chief accountable to selectmen for policy-making and staffing. Stan and Neil attested that they had served on Public Safety Committee and had spent “1,000 man-hours” on this issue. Stan said that unlike other department heads, a strong chief answers neither to the electorate nor to the selectmen, and that town has had seven
chiefs since 1992. The town’s police chief is under the “weak chief” provision. He noted that a contract would be crafted under either provision, but it would be more specific that previous contracts. He also contended that the strong chief was originally created to keep politics—and selectmen influence--out of the operation of the fire department.
Acting Chief John Bennett was present with five of his staff and they all indicated favoring the strong chief provision. Bennett agreed with the rationale of keeping politics out of the fire department and advised that selectmen tighten up the contract with more precise job measurements and performance standards. He described a public safety department as para-military, adding that the strong chief provision allows for a primary leader to take charge of all town departments in an emergency. Capt. Andy Dufresne described working for both strong and weak chiefs. The day to day operations were not very different, but he had witnessed a selectmen in a weak chief community at a fire scene, telling the fire chief how to do his job—this was very unsettling.
The firefighters beseeched selectmen to keep the strong chief provision—with a tighter contract—and Edith re-iterated that this was just an exploratory process.
8;30 PM Selectmen went through the latest draft of the 33-article ATM Warrant, along with Advisory Board members David Cruise, Joe Lotuff, Jim O’Coin, Jim Comer and chairman John Shipman. Numbers from the WRSD budget are pending but school committee representatives will attend the next BOS meeting April 22 for budget talks. Selectmen explained that they didn’t want to make any decisions on individual articles until all numbers were in and then they could consider the warrant as a whole. The total estimated town budget is $7.812 million and 79 percent is from real estate taxes; only about 7.4 percent is state aid. John L. said that he will meet with the Advisory Board after the cherry sheet report arrives on Wednesday, as their input needs to be added to most warrant articles.
Other Business
9:30 PM Selectmen received a request from Holden selectmen to join in a rally for a state audit of WRSD. Selectmen voted all in favor to send letter of support for a state audit.
Respectfully submitted, Marie Auger, administrative assistant
Referenced Documents: Road Advisory Committee priority list and budget figures; DPW/Highway Department budget materials and proposed warrant articles with descriptions, draft of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant; letter from Holden BOS.
Marie Auger
Administrative Assistant
Planning Department
978-464-2100
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