Town of Princeton, Mass. – April 11, 2016 – 4:30 PM
BOARD OF SELECTMEN – Regular Mtg. Minutes
4:35 PM Meeting was called to order at the Town Hall Annex. Present were Stan Moss & Jon Fudeman, with Chairman Edith Morgan arriving at 4:39 PM, also T.A. Nina Nazarian. Advisory Board members came in after 5:30 PM with George Handy, John Shipman, Wayne Adams, Don Shoeney, Bill Lawton and Jim O’Coin in attendance.
4:37 PM Selectmen went into executive session. Selectmen voted to enter into executive session to discuss salaries for non-union personnel, and reconvene into open session. Stan M. made a motion: “I move to enter into Executive Session pursuant to MGL Chapter 30, Section 21, to discuss town employee salaries and not to reconvene into open session” and Jon F. seconded the motion. Stan M. called for a vote and in roll call Jon F. voted “Aye” and Stan voted “Aye.”
See separate Executive Session minutes
5:05 PM Selectmen returned to regular session after adjourning from executive session. Representatives from Monty Tech were in to explain their budget, with Princeton’s School Committee Rep. John Mollica; School Supt. Dr. Sheila Harrity and Bus. Mgr. Tammy LaFalam presenting overview with a PowerPoint handout. The school has created partnerships with local firms, including Workers Credit Union which has a branch office at the school and has students working as tellers. They’re adding an EMT certification that supplements their CNA, CPR and First Aid programs. A partnership with Becker College and fundraising efforts will result in a new veterinary technician program, with construction of a 75,000 sq. ft. clinic with classrooms on the tennis court site.
Goal is to lease Chrome Books for all students, expected to cost less than purchasing, and having co-op students do repairs.
The school has 1,416 in-district students and 62 school choice. About 61 percent of graduates go on to continued education. Princeton has 23 students at the school this year and pays an assessment of $13,612 each. A year ago it was 21 students and two years ago it was 18. Advisory Board members questioned the big jump in Princeton’s assessment in FY’14 and Tammy offered to investigate the details and forward an explanation. They also will receive the step-increase chart for staff salaries.
Big news is that total budget of just over $26 million is only 0.55 percent up from previous year, owing to prudent spending with cuts in supplies and materials.
5:45 PM The Monty Tech group left and Planning Board members Tom Daly and John Mirick were in to present zoning articles. John M. explained that MGL Ch. 40 Sect. 9A allows regulation of “adult entertainment” operations. The proposed bylaw would limit these operations to the two areas in town zoned “Business-Industrial” and sets limits similar to ABCC regulations, with owner-operator responsibility and renewal of special permit every two years. John M. then explained the three “housekeeping” articles and some discussion resulted over the addition of “mobile” to food service operations in the business zone.
6:10 PM Nina discussed actions during the executive session and the board voted all in favor to add a 2 percent COLA increase for all employees excepting union and contract, unless such contracts address terms of a COLA increase.
Advisory Board members and selectmen looked at the wide swings in tax rates over the years, and decided it was average tax bills that are important, and the rate alone is meaningless since property appraised values can vary so much and impact the tax rate every year. George H. and Jon F. asked for a lesson in the intricacies of “free cash” and they will meet informally with Nina N. in preparation for the next budget meeting. The two boards debated the levy limit, with the Advisory Board making a case for cutting spending and avoiding more debt accumulation, while Nina insisted the town must raise taxes up to the levy limit—which hasn’t happened in recent years, if ever—to catch up on facilities maintenance. Jim O.
presented a chart outlining cuts that could be made, including engineering/design for a complete renovation of Bagg Hall and cutting out purchase of a new police vehicle this year.
John S. noted that when Prop. 2 ½ was instituted the inflation rate was over 3 percent and today the inflation rate is almost nothing. Stan reminded group of the town bylaw description of Advisory Board duties, and Nina stated that the two boards could disagree on support of specific spending articles at ATM, but no one preferred that option.
The two boards began an overview of the ATM warrant articles. Stan noted that Art. 2 could be worded to clarify the BOS stipend by being listed as individual payment figures.
7:05 PM Selectmen agreed to meet Thursday, April 14 at 3 PM in the Annex for ATM budget discussion with an executive session afterwards to consider non-union/non-contract employee salary adjustments.
Group continued through each article, getting to #25 before agreeing to resume the overview next week.
7:45 PM Selectmen voted all in favor to appoint Jenny Lin as town accountant effective as of April 14, contingent on CORI check. They also voted all in favor to authorize the T.A. to execute the contract and spend the necessary funds for eight defibrillators for the Fire Dept. Selectmen voted all in favor to approve minutes of April 4.
7:52 PM Voted all in favor to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted, Marie N. Auger, administrative assistant
BOS Referenced Documents: Monty Tech Budget materials; Summary of FY17 Budget Requests/Draft Revenue Projections; FY17 Capital Items List; Draft May 10, 2016 ATM Warrant
Marie Auger
Administrative Assistant
Planning Department
978-464-2100
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