BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 18, 2006
Present:
Hal White
Ted Goodwin
William Emrich
Steven Halterman
James Malloy, Town Administrator
The Chairman called the
meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. following the Pledge of Allegiance.
A.Wilson announced that
September 19th is Primary Election Day, and polls will be open at
A.Wilson announced that on
Wednesday, Sept. 20th he will attend a meeting regarding paramedic
service.
A.Wilson announced that the
summit meeting in
A.Wilson announced that
Public Lands Day will be held at Westville on September 30th.
A.Wilson announced that
Tighe and Bond will attend the work session on October 10th relative
to the wastewater management plan.
Pole Hearing –
Sue Payne from National Grid
appeared before the Board.
MOTION: To approve the pole petition to remove
the existing pole #P166/E26 and to install a new pole #P166/E26 at a point
approximately 820 feet southwesterly from the centerline of Charlton Road at
the intersection of Hall Road, and to install a new pole #P166 ½ /E25 ½ to be
placed at a point approximately 904 feet southwesterly of the intersection of
Charlton Road and Hall Road, and further that the poles be placed as far off
the right-of-way as possible, by H. White.
2nd: S. Halterman
Vote: All in favor.
MOTION: To
close the public hearing, by H. White.
2nd: S. Halterman
Vote: All in favor.
Mullin Rule
J. Malloy submitted to the
Board a memorandum from Town Counsel regarding the Mullin Rule (copy on
file). In summary, it is not possible
for a board or committee member to vote on an application before them if they have
missed a session of a public hearing. On
many planning and zoning applications, the public hearings are extended over a
period of months, and as some members may miss meetings, there have been times
when a majority or super-majority on some issues is no longer available. The acceptance of this statute provides the
opportunity for members to vote if they have missed one session of a public
hearing and they review the video recording of the meeting. J. Malloy recommended that the Board place it
on the next Town Meeting warrant, as it would ease some of the pressure placed
on Planning and Zoning Board members on complicated applications that have
public hearings that extend over a long period of time.
A.Wilson suggested getting
input from all boards and committees that may be affected. J. Malloy said that he would send out a memo
asking boards and committees to comment on it.
Mary Blanchard said that the ZBA had discussed it and no issues were
raised.
Veolia
J. Malloy said that Veolia
Water North America, the private contractor for the Town’s Water and Wastewater
systems, terminated the Regional Manager, who was the last person in the firm
who had extensive knowledge of Sturbridge’s systems. Over the past year, Veolia has removed
several upper and regional management staff, as well as some local staff. During this period, the Town has gone from a
situation where there was staff with a combined intimate knowledge of the
system from approximately 45 years to about 4 years. Given the complexities of Sturbridge’s waster
and wastewater plants, as well as the water distribution system and wastewater
collection system, J. Malloy indicated that he and Greg Morse, DPW Director
discussed their reduced level of comfort and confidence in the contractor. The Town is approaching the end of the five-year
contract with Veolia. The original
contract was a five-year term with two additional five-year extensions as
approved by Town Meeting several years ago.
The contract will expire in mid-June 2007. J. Malloy suggested that the Town begin reviewing
its options prior to automatically extending the contract with Veolia. He recommended conducting a financial and feasibility
analysis of bringing the operation of the water and wastewater systems back
in-house and eliminating the private contractor. If it turns out to not be feasible from a
financial or practical sense, then J. Malloy recommended that the Town place
the contract operations back out to bid to consider other private alternatives.
J. Malloy informed the Board
that he had expressed this to Veolia, and on Sept. 25th the president
of Veolia will meet with him. He met
with James Galipeau of Veolia, who indicated that he “has a general concept of the
Sturbridge system.” J. Malloy considered
that to be unacceptable.
A.Wilson said that one of the
reasons the Town had gone with a private contractor, a world-wide,
knowledgeable company, was that they have expertise, and it worked in the short
term. He suggested that J. Malloy ask
the president of Veolia to meet with the Board to convince the Board to stay
with them. He suggested talking to other
towns to find out what they are doing.
S. Halterman said that the
town needs to have a high level of comfort with whoever is responsible for
fixing problems that may arise with the system.
H. White noted that the Town will have to live with the economic impact
of these decisions. J. Malloy said that
he would like to take a look at bringing the operation back in house
first. He said that he would talk to
Greg Morse, DPW Director before putting it out to bid.
H. White noted that four
licensed operators are gone, and now Veolia is back to being short
staffed. S. Halterman asked about DEP’s staffing
requirements. J. Malloy will provide the
staffing plans at the next meeting.
Correspondence
It was the consensus of the
Board to send a congratulatory letter to Lorraine Murawski for having achieved
the designation of Master Municipal Clerk.
Regarding the letter from
Richard Callaghan, Chairman of the Library Board of Trustees regarding sick
time benefit for a part-time employee, H. White noted that the Personnel
Committee and the Board of Selectmen had discussed what the number of hours
should be for part-time employees to receive benefits, and had decided that it
should be 20 hours/week. He suggested that
the Personnel Committee review the matter first.
A.Wilson said that the Board
has been asked about running the sewer line from Tantasqua to Route 9, and
while the Board has always been interested in working with fellow towns, he did
not think that the Board was ready to take this request under
consideration. W. Emrich said that the
Brookfield Board of Selectmen had suggested getting the state reps involved,
and commented that the project would be difficult and complicated. J. Malloy said that G. Morse, DPW Director,
will provide a memo on the technical issues.
He noted that it is a low pressure sewer line in Rt. 148 and to extend
it may require replacing this line and a major upgrade to the Tantasqua pump
station. He said that in order to
accommodate another town, Sturbridge would have to build a much larger plant
than has been discussed. A.Wilson
suggested that the Board discuss the matter at the October 10th work
session. J. Malloy said that he would contact
the Town of
Old Business
S. Halterman asked when the
Stallion Hill water tank was last inspected.
J. Malloy said that the Town has the tanks inspected regularly by
Underwater Solutions, and that particular tower will need some work in the near
future. J. Malloy will provide copies of
the last tank inspection for the Board to review.
W. Emrich asked about the
status of the
W. Emrich asked whether
anyone from the Community Preservation Committee had volunteered to serve on
the OSV land ad hoc committee. J. Malloy
said that he has not heard from the CPC or Conservation Commission. He will notify them that they need to have a
representative on that committee.
A.Wilson noted that the open
space brainstorming session had been held on Sept. 11th, and said
that he would like to be prepared at the next meeting to make a decision on the
next step forward, based on everything that was heard at the session.
New Business
A.Wilson asked J. Malloy for
a report about the ICMA Conference that had been held in
A.Wilson suggested that the
Board review the Town Administrator’s goals and objectives with J. Malloy at
the next meeting.
A.Wilson requested an update
on litigation cases. J. Malloy said that
he would provide an update for the Board.
Ask the Selectmen
T. Goodwin received a call
from Ginger Peabody regarding the Mullin Rule, who indicated that the Zoning
Board was very much in favor of it.
MOTION: To convene in executive session under MGL
Chapter 39, Section 23B, Paragraph #3:
To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation;
and Paragraph #6: To consider the
purchase, exchange, taking, lease or value of real property; not to reconvene
in open session, by T. Goodwin.
2nd: H. White.
Roll
call vote: All were in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy
Knowles
____________________________
BOS Clerk Date