Facilities Steering Committee
Meeting minutes for 8/8/17
7pm at town hall annex
Attending for the committee: Chris Conway, Karen Cruise, Larry Todd, Mary Jo Wojtusik
Steve Mirick was absent
Also attending for the town: Edith Morgan, board of selectmen
Nina Nazarian, town administrator
John Rowell, former ad-hoc steering group member
Karen opened the meeting at 7:01pm.
The minutes of the 8/1 meeting were approved.
We discussed whether the meeting time should be changed to accommodate an upcoming conflict for Nina. We agreed to stay at the current 7pm time schedule and keep Nina informed of all activity of the committee.
We reviewed the evaluation approach to use for the consultants; the Hadley matrix will be more appropriate when the responses have been narrowed down. Nina said there were close to 30 initial responses.
We continued discussion of the review process with some concern about subjective vs. objective reviews. Nina suggested Deb Anderson at the MA Attorney General’s office would be a good contact if we need help in this area.
Mary Jo offered to revise the evaluation matrix Steve Mirick previously sent us. She will go through the RFQ and add additional points for review as part of the matrix.
Nina said she had only received two questions from consultants at this time and nothing of substance.
Chris and John offered to manage the walk through with the consultants on Aug 21 and in their introduction before the tour will stress we are looking for a needs analysis.
The committee briefly discussed the dates some members will be unable to meet:
Mary Jo 9/9 to 9/20
Karen 8/29, 10/10 & 10/17
The meeting was opened to the public at 7:35
Larry told those in attendance he would be unable to record all remarks made and if someone wanted to be sure their comments were noted they should submit them in writing.
Nina passed on a comment from the library that a public meeting space was important.
Could space be available at the light dept ?
Martin Sterman addressed the committee with comments he prepared which focused on the need for a community center and encouraged the committee to be creative in its thinking. He gave a copy of his comments to Nina and they were passed on to each member of the committee.
There were a number of comments made regarding the needs of the various groups using the Princeton Center building, recently closed.
There was a suggestion we need community space for display of historic items.
How can we encourage more people to attend the steering committee meetings; we value their input.
There was some discussion on the use of Next Door. It was suggested social media was not the appropriate way to communicate anything from this committee and Nina suggested the communication should go through regular town channels only.
There was further discussion on how to get the community more involved and how to let the committee know what they think a community center should be used for. Can we use a survey ? There was more discussion on this but no decision made.
More comments re. A multi-use space; what would be the possible needs of the facility, ie. a kitchen, sinks, A/V components.
The senior center requirements need review, including parking and possible garden space. It was noted that Princeton is surrounded by towns with senior centers and we should not limit ourselves. We should consider the community center approach.
It was noted the Princeton Arts Society draws people from many other communities.
The committee commented the consultants should help in setting priorities and communicating to the town.
There was continued extended discussion on what the committee should post on social media and a motion was made by Mary Jo and accepted by all to restrict communication from the committee to the town news/website.
The next meeting of the Facilities Steering Committee will be held on Tuesday, August 15, 7pm at the Princeton town annex.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:54 pm.
Submitted by Larry Todd, secretary
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