Town of Rutland, MA - April 13, 2015

April 13, 2015

TOWN OF RUTLAND

BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING

RUTLAND TOWN LIBRARY

April 13, 2015

6:00PM

Present: Joseph Becker Vice Chairman, Wayne Walker, Sheila Dibb, Diane M. Cook, Administrative Secretary, Michael Pantos, Chairman arrived 6:10pm. Mr. Clark absent.

6:00pm Mr. Becker opened the meeting

Mr. Walker made a motion to accept and sign Treasury Warrant #21 and Payroll. Ms. Dibb 2^ndthe motion. Vote unanimous.

OPEN SESSION: Senator Anne Gobi and Representative Kim Ferguson

Kim Ferguson, State Representative reported that the Governor’s budget is being reviewed. The state budget will be released on Wednesday. Budget debate in the House starts April 27^th. They continue to push for additional funds for the towns. Rutland is slated to get $375k in Chapter 90, and $56,310 for pothole money. All should be concluded by June 30^th. Recommendations will be made by end of June for areas to be worked on. Cannot make changes all at once, but will focus on key areas first.
Senator Ann Gobi reported that the House has already passed an early retirement package. The Senate will be coming out with theirs on Friday. The savings from the retirement packages have already been built into the governor’s budget. Senate will come out with their budget at end of May.

The Senate is preparing for committee assignments. Committees have not all met yet. Some action should take place on Wednesday.

Mr. Becker thanked both the Senator and Representative for their actions working towards assisting Rutland and in particular towards trying to move the reimbursement to the town from all outstanding e911 grant funds.

DISPATCH: Nick DaDalt

Mr. DaDalt reported on the intentional Charter internet cut-off because of non-payment of a bill. It’s definitely not usual for services to be shut-off to critical departments. The overdue amount was a total of $49. Nick told them during a phone conversation but also followed up with a written request that our services not be cut-off, before adequate notification and contact has been made. If another intentional cut-off is made, we will take our situation to the state level. The response from Charter was immediate.

There is no back-up for surveillance. We are responsible for other towns in our regional area. Important to note that radio services are completely independent from the internet.

Mr. Becker made a motion to send a sternly noted letter from the Board of Selectmen, both to Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cohan, to request that the Town of Rutland’s services not be turned off before proper notification. Ms. Dibb 2^nd the motion. Vote unanimous.

NEW BUSINESS:

Ms. Dibb read the letter from the Recreation Department requesting Pam Chenevert to be appointed as the Recreation Director.

Ms. Dibb then made a motion to appoint Pam Chenevert as the new Recreation Director at a maximum of 19 hours per week at MTP 1, Step 3 $20.19 per hour as of the next pay period. Mr. Becker 2^nd the motion. Vote unanimous.

POLICE: Chief Haapakowski

Junior Girl Scout group #11578 approached the Police Department to see if they would work with the group towards earning their Bronze award. “Happy Hugs” is the name of the program. The group collected donations towards the purchase of 5 bags of little stuffed animals that are to be placed in cruisers and other emergency vehicles to hand out to kids in emergency situations. Pictures were taken with the kids for FaceBook and it was a nice event.
Chief Haapakowski attended a meeting last week with representatives from Devereux to discuss increased call volume of calls to the Police Department. They are aware of the increasing problems. They indicated their plan to make another donation as they did last year. There were 210 calls last year- with court costs and attorney fees costs the cost is about $48k for last year which increased from 108 calls in 2010. This is the salary of a full-time police officer.

DPW: Gary Kellaher, Superintendent DPW

Mr. Kellaher stated that residential street sweeping, at least the street side, will start the Monday after school vacation April 27^th. The flag pole in front of the Town Hall is being refurbished.
Dirt Roads – The dirt roads are terrible as they are every year at this time, except they are worse this year and several complaints have been received. Mr. Kellaher would like to put the paving by-product on Irish, Barrack, and Bushy #3 Streets, first. Then work on the others. Mr. Pantos stated his belief that it is our obligation and duty to communicate with the citizens. Mr. Becker agreed that notification should be made. An informational session will be scheduled on Monday, May 18^th, at 7:00pm with a notification letter sent.
The DPW Received $56,300 from the WRAP program. Spent about $39,000 on pre-purchases for road paving and street signs. Discussion ensued as to the proper course of action and the need to spend the money.
Mr. Kelleher has been told that we can use the old town dump as a solar farm. A gentleman has approached the Solar Committee in this regard. The Board of Health should be kept in the loop as the property is managed by them.

CORRESPONDENCE:

Wachusett Region Lease/Maintenance Agreement – It was agreed that there are a lot of items that need to be discussed. The document should be provided to town counsel. The Board will communicate back to the school district indicating that we will need more time for review. Mr. Kellaher should begin his review now.
Fiscal Year Audit Letter – agreement with MelansonHeath

Ms. Dibb made a motion to have the Chair sign the engagement letter with MelansonHeath for the fiscal year 2014 for the audit. Mr. Becker 2^nd the motion. Vote unanimous.

Mr. Pantos reviewed requests for copies of Executive Sessions. The most recent was referred to Town Counsel for direction.
Mr. Pantos announced that the Wachusett School District has provided PEC agreement to all towns involved.

NEW BUSINESS: CPIC – Capitol Improvement Planning Committee

– FY 2016 Recommendations, Mr. Redfield and Mr. Sechman

Addison Redfield and Harry E. Sechman reported that long term debt structure has gone down over the last five years and other long term debts will fall off over the next few years.
They are not including future infrastructure in their forecasting plans because they are not kept in the loop on future construction and other projects. Ms. Dibb made reference to the incoming Town Administrator and that the CPIC will be able to work with the TA towards better communication. 92% of long term debt is school related. Over the last years, their forecast has been reasonable and so expect that the forecast going forward will be in line as well.
Ms. Dibb asked about a capital improvement stabilization fund. Mr. Sechman stated that this is part of their future forecasting plan. They are working with Ms. Tuttle in order to obtain figures needed to move forward with this.
Ms. Dibb asked if Mr. Sechman felt that the departments were all participating. They send out about 35 requests for information from the departments each year. They receive only about 5 responses yearly. The items must be over $10,000 and have a life of over 5 years. Perhaps the new TA can help with this flow of information. There used to be follow up letters as well as phone calls, with no further response. Track record is good in fulfilling the requests on the capital plan. Larger projects are on the list and will need to be addressed.
Mr. Redfield mentioned that they have had difficulty in obtaining up to date asset inventories from the departments. The Board said that they would provide the MIIA inventory which should be helpful. Julie at Wachusett is now involved with the CPIC and is a great help in planning for the schools. Every meeting with the school has been very productive.
Mr. Sechman stated that Chief Haapakowski has done a good job of taking care of his infrastructure so the CPIC has been able to focus on other items.

OLD BUSINESS:

Final discussion on ballot questions: Gary Kellaher, Superintendent of the DPW is requesting the Board of Selectmen to consider putting the article to request the replacement the dump truck ($150,000) back on the ballot. Mr. Pantos feels the citizens should be given the chance to give their opinion. Discussion was held in this regard. The Board understands the need for the truck - the question is how it should be funded.

Mr. Becker made a motion to sign both the annual town meeting warrant and the special town meeting warrant for May 9^th. Mr. Walker 2^nd the motion. Vote unanimous.

Cable Advisory – Mr. Matteson stated that they must be out of current facility by June 1^st. They may have to shut down if a decision has not been made. Mr. Pantos asked about the basement of the town hall. Ms. Dibb asked when the room in the library will be completed. Mr. Matteson said that it is anticipated to have a cable room by end of June. Mr. Kellaher said that there are couple of minor repairs that Charter has been willing to make to the current building. He believes that they might be able to extend the allowance for use of the current space until end of June when the library room might be completed. Mr. Matteson said he would bring an update back to the board.

Town Administrator contract negotiations are going well. Collins processed the background check and all is good.

Ms. Dibb made a motion to go into executive session for EXECUTIVE SESSION for Reason#2: To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel – Town Administrator contract negotiations, and, EXECUTIVE SESSION for Reason #3: To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares – Rutland Police Sergeants Union Contract, only to return for the purposes of adjournment. Mr. Walker 2^nd the motion. All Aye. Vote unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,

Diane M. Cook, Administrative Secretary

Board of Selectmen - Town of Rutland