MINUTES
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
August 8, 2006
Present at the meeting that was held at the Town Building were Chairman Janet Wheeler and Selectmen Stephen Dungan, Carole Makary, Jason Robart, and Thomas Ruggiero.
Also present were Town Administrator William Wrigley and Administrative Assistant Susan McLaughlin.
Chairman Wheeler called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Public Comments
George Dargaty of Barton Road said that the Board’s review of past meeting minutes was too long and boring, that it took 45 minutes at the last meeting. He asked the Board to schedule the topic at the end of the meeting, in consideration of the Stow TV viewing audience.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Wrigley reported on the following activities:
· The emergency electrical generator at the Fire Dept, old and damaged by several lightening storms, is being upgraded for better reliability, probably paid by our insurance. If possible, will include a tie-in to the Town Building to provide back up here.
· Mr. Wrigley is helping the School Building Task Force conduct a pre-proposal briefing on the conceptual design RFP, which should help design firms write their proposals.
· He organized the Stored Assets working group; members include Steve Dungan (Selectmen), Jean Lynch (Capital Planning), Charles Kern (Finance), and Mr. Wrigley to develop a stored asset use policy to propose to Town Meeting.
· The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has scheduled a Sept 15 pre-hearing briefing on a former employee’s sexual harassment case, at which a possible settlement will be discussed.
· The Department of Housing and Community Development did not fund the tri-town application for a Community Development Block Grant for housing rehab loans, applied for last March. At Mr. Dungan’s request, Mr. Wrigley said he would try to find more information on why the application was not accepted.
Meeting Minutes
July 25, 2006 open session:
Mr. Dungan submitted minutes for the July 25 meeting that he had written in Ms. McLaughlin’s absence. Ms. Wheeler said these minutes were done in a new format the Board wanted used for recording votes.
There was a brief discussion on several minor points.
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To accept the meeting minutes as amended.
July 25, 2006 executive session:
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To accept the meeting minutes as written.
July 25, 2006 executive session release to public record:
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To release the executive session meeting minutes of July 25, 2006.
School Building Task Force
Ellen Sturgis, chair of the School Building Task Force, reported the group’s activities and progress toward its recommendations to Town Meeting, as follows:
· Reviewing all the building options that the former SBC had done -- what the options contained and how they compared to the task force’s newer view.
· Advertised the conceptual design RFP at the end of July and had 30 requests for copies. A briefing is scheduled for Aug 9. Mr. Wrigley helped write the RFP, which includes “green” construction and pre-fab (less expensive) buildings. They are forming a subcommittee to review the proposals, with the goal of having a designer hired by the end of September.
· Understanding the MSBA guidelines. These are not yet final; the communities, including Stow, sent input. The MSBA is accepting statements of interest (needs), which the NRSD superintendent and facilities people are writing. This will need approval by the Board of Selectmen and sign-off by the Town Administrator. The submission deadline is July 31, 2007. Stow will receive this document soon.
· Defining criteria (requirements) for a new or renovated school and applying them to building options, for example, more specific than “a gymnasium of this size.” The task force finished this work and will give the criteria to the designers to apply to their conceptual proposals.
· Started an outreach program – bi-weekly newspaper articles, up-to-date website, monthly live Q&A on Stow TV.
Mr. Dungan asked whether the task force was preparing an a-la-carte menu of options and costs, to help voters make choices at Town Meeting. This was suggested when the task force was formed. He said there are functional options and economic options and it would be helpful to voters to combine the two, for example, “For $10 million, you can get this much done.”
Mr. Ruggiero asked whether the MSBA criteria were weighted, for example, overcrowding vs. building safety. Ms. Sturgis said they are, and they include future, as well as present, conditions.
Chapter 70 School Spending Workshop
Ms. Makary and Mr. Ruggiero were interested in attending. It was agreed that those interested would register.
Signing Documents
The Board signed the Rail Trail Option to Purchase Easement, to be recorded at the Registry of Deeds and the Town Clerk notarized the signatures.
The Board signed the three street Orders of Taking approved at Annual Town Meeting: Farm Road, Militia Circle, and Whispering Way, and the Town Clerk notarized the signatures. These will be recorded at the Registry of Deeds.
The Board signed the state election warrant for the Town Clerk to post.
Municipal Land Bank RFP/Land Banking
Mr. Dungan said the RFP notice would be published in Aug 9 edition of the Central Register.
He drafted a RFP notification letter to send to a list of property owners, which Town Counsel had reviewed. The list is composed of the property owners the former SBC worked with, with some additions. It was agreed the letters would be sent.
Mr. Ruggiero asked if it was a problem to send the letter to a specified list without going to the Assessors to find eligible property owners or otherwise opening it up to others. Mr. Dungan said it was acceptable as long as it was not a small select group and this list had 16 people.
Mr. Robart asked if there were other potentially viable properties that had not been considered by the SBC. Mr. Dungan and Ms. Makary said the parcels had not been evaluated at that level of detail. Mr. Ruggiero said his concern was that the list had been culled, but he approved of it based on Town Counsel’s approval.
Cable License Advisory Committee
Lew Halprin, chair of the Cable License Advisory Committee, requested that the Board send letters to the Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) to initiate the licensing process and request waivers to expedite the process.
Mr. Halprin reviewed the results of a meeting between the Cable License Advisory Committee and a Verizon representative regarding Verizon’s installation of fiber optic in Stow. This technology not only improves telephone service but also provides high-speed Internet and cable TV services.
Licensing for different services is handled at the three different levels of government: federal, state, and municipal. Verizon’s position is that both telephone and Internet are considered data services, so they can offer high-speed Internet without additional licensing. Cable TV, however, requires a license from each town. Verizon is currently negotiating with 90 towns and already has agreements with 12. It would be two years before all of Stow would be covered for cable.
In response to Stow’s concern about possibly losing local access channels, Verizon said it would provide 1) three local channels, 2) payments for equipment and operations, and 3) connections to town buildings, similar to what Comcast provides. Local access programming would then be broadcast over both Comcast and Verizon.
Mr. Halprin said the process for local licensing, following the DTE letters, would begin with the Town soliciting cable applications, which Verizon, and possibly others, would respond to. Stow’s cable committee would negotiate with Verizon on the Town’s requirements. The Town would then hold a public hearing on the proposed services and, if acceptable, the Town would issue a license to Verizon.
It was on motion by Ms. Wheeler, seconded by Ms. Makary, unanimously
VOTED: For the Board of Selectmen as the issuing authority for the Town to initiate the cable licensing process, pursuant to 207 CMR 3.02(1)(a).
Ms. Wheeler read the Mr. Halprin’s letter requesting waivers to the licensing process, after which she requested a motion to send the letter.
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Robart, unanimously
VOTED: To accept this letter.
Appointment of Special Police Officers
Ms. Wheeler read Police Chief Trefry’s request to appoint four Special Police Officers, one as a promotion from the rank of Auxiliary Officer and three new appointments. Chief Trefry also submitted a disclosure statement that one of the candidates, Jeremy Trefry, was his second cousin.
Mr. Dungan asked if these were additions to staff. Mr. Wrigley said these are on-call officers – fill-ins, not permanent police officers. It is advantageous to the Town, as an employer, to have as many Special Officers as possible. On-call officers provide a budget savings to the Town in certain circumstances because they do not cost the Town time-and-a-half.
It was on motion by Mr. Dungan, seconded by Ms. Makary, unanimously
VOTED: To approve the promotion of Jeremy Trefry to the rank of Special Police Officer and that we appoint Michael A. Smith, Richard A. Hodgson, and Edwin Grierson to the position of Special Police Officer.
Ms. Makary asked why there was no background check listed for Jeremy Trefry but the three others were listed. She said he is related to the Chief and asked if this implies that there was not a background check done. Mr. Wrigley and Mr. Ruggiero said that, as a current employee, he would already have had a background check done.
Annual Conservation Trust Ride for the Woods
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To permit the Stow Conservation Trust Ride for the Woods on Sun Aug 27.
Annual Wash the Fire Truck Day
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To close Crescent Street for Wash the Fire Truck Day on Aug 13 from 10am to 2pm.
Recreation Commission Member Disclosure of Financial Interest
The Board noted receipt of a financial disclosure form for John Sangermano as a member of the Recreation Commission. Mr. Sangermano is paid for occasional maintenance work he does for the Commission.
It was on motion by Ms. Makary, seconded by Mr. Dungan, unanimously
VOTED: To approve the exemption of John Sangermano as a member of the Recreation Commission and as a recipient of contract work for the Recreation Commission.
Ms. Wheeler signed the disclosure form for the files.
Liaison Report – Gleasondale/Sudbury Roads Triangle
Mr. Ruggiero said he received the public safety advisory committee’s recommendation for the Gleasondale/Sudbury triangle, as had the Board, and, following the procedure agreed on, copies had been sent to Mr. Fischer, as the resident representative, and to Mr. Byron, an interested resident. Mr. Ruggiero plans to sit down with the residents in an open meeting on Tuesday, Aug 15, to discuss the recommendation.
Mr. Ruggiero said that after the residents and the public safety advisory committee discuss it, the next step would be to bring it forward to the whole Board. Mr. Wrigley recommended that if a quorum of the Board attended the meeting, it might be advantageous for them to discuss the details of the recommendation and to give the public safety advisory committee and the neighborhood some sense of where the Board is on the matter before the Board’s meeting on Aug 22.
Mr. Wrigley said the role of the Board will be to either accept the recommendation or formulate its own based on the input from the public safety advisory committee.
Correspondence
Ms. Wheeler listed the pieces of correspondence the office received, from the agenda.
Mr. Robart asked where the supplemental Chapter 90 funds from the Commonwealth would go and Mr. Wrigley said they would be added to the annual budget for C.90 roadway improvements that was approved by Town Meeting.
There was more discussion on the cost of attending the Chapter 70 School Spending Workshop. Mr. Wrigley said that the Selectmen’s Office has $515 budgeted for the year to cover the conference needs of the Board and the administrative assistant. The workshop costs $250.
At 8:25 pm, it was on motion by Mr. Dungan, seconded by Ms. Makary, unanimously
VOTED: To adjourn.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan McLaughlin
Administrative Assistant, Board of Selectmen
Approved as amended, August 22, 2006
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