MINUTES
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
September 9, 2008
Present at the meeting that was held at the Town Building were Chairman Thomas Ruggiero and Selectmen Stephen Dungan, Kathleen Farrell, and Jason Robart.
Selectman Ellen Sturgis was absent.
Also present were Town Administrator William Wrigley and Administrative Assistant Susan McLaughlin.
Chairman Ruggiero called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Public Input
None.
Chairman’s Comments
Mr. Ruggiero reminded residents to vote in the upcoming state primary election on September 16.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Wrigley reported on the following topics:
· He met with residents Sharon Brownfield and Arnie Epstein on their suggestion to form a Stow Energy and Environment Committee and subsequently received a more detailed proposal from them. Mr. Wrigley has a working group of Town departments to evaluate energy needs and potential efficiencies and said this is an opportunity for the two groups to work together. The next step is to identify common and independent goals and objectives for the two efforts.
· He is working with other area town administrators, fire chiefs, and hospital administrators to address the rising cost of Advanced Life Support (ALS) Services currently provided by Emerson Hospital. While the immediate fix is to raise the price of services for Medicare calls, a long-term solution is more difficult. One alternative for Stow is to train our own EMTs in ALS.
· He and the COA are making progress on the MART contract and he hopes to have an agreement for execution by the next meeting.
· The Board of Health contract to obtain nursing services from the Town of Acton is in process. This will be a pilot program for the arrangement.
· Mass Attorney General Martha Coakley is holding round-table discussions on winter heating and energy. COA Director Alyson Toole is attending on behalf of the town.
· There has been no movement for six weeks on either the Kunelius or Parker case. Both are waiting for the court’s decisions.
Meeting Minutes
August 26, 2008: Mr. Dungan moved to approve the minutes, as written; Ms. Farrell seconded; and all voted in favor. Mr. Ruggiero, not having attended, abstained from the vote.
Liaison Reports
Master Plan Committee: Mr. Dungan reported that the committee will issue a Request for Bids to complete the Master Plan (cost not to exceed $10,000) and will review responses at its next meeting in early October. The committee will also collect residents’ comments using a town-wide survey.
Public Safety Committee: Mr. Ruggiero reported that the Police Chief received 75 applications for the patrol officer vacancy, of which Chief Trefry and his three sergeants will select four to six. Then a small committee of the Police and Fire chiefs, one Police sergeant, Mr. Wrigley, and Mr. Ruggiero will interview the candidates.
Snow Recreation Project Update
Community Preservation Committee Chairman Bob Wilber gave a report of activities. Since he last visited the Board on June 24th, they hired an engineering firm to begin work. All components voted by Town Meeting will be included and the detailed project budget comes in on or under the amount planned by the Town.
A public hearing by the Planning Board is scheduled for September 23. Decisions on awards of the EOEEA grant are expected by the end of September.
In response to a question about communication among the various parties, Mr. Wilber assured the Board that the implementation team was working together and keeping in touch.
There will be 57 paved spaces for parking plus overflow, bringing the total to 100. The goal is to have no parking on Old Bolton Road.
He said there are no chokepoints that they know of and engineer Dale Harris feels that his plan should be acceptable to the permitting authorities.
Master Plan/Long-term Budget Review
Mr. Robart opened the topic by reminding members that they have had 10 to 11 months of discussion on long-range planning and the necessary human resources to support the work. The work is tied to completing the Master Plan and the Land Use Task Force (LUTF) results. It is also tied to the annual budget process and all implementation is part of the annual budget.
He recommended letting the present efforts play out, e.g., the LUTF will have a preliminary report in November and the Master Plan goal is to be done by Annual Town Meeting in May. As major milestones are met and as part of budget planning for FY 2010, he proposed beginning to define human resource needs and draft a job description, treating it as a budget request from the Board to the Town Administrator. He said they should take a bottom-up approach, letting the Master Plan and Land Use report drive the definition of the job.
Mr. Wrigley noted that he begins budget reviews in January and brings his recommended budget to the Board at the second meeting on March. With enough information from these two initiatives, they could tell what resources are needed.
Following discussion, Mr. Wrigley said the next decision for the Board will be deciding how to use the funds allocated to the Selectmen’s Engineering account.
It was agreed that the LUTF would be asked to visit the Board in October.
At 7:55 p.m., Mr. Dungan moved to adjourn; Ms. Farrell seconded; and all voted in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan McLaughlin
Administrative Assistant, Board of Selectmen
Approved as amended, September 23, 2008
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