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10/17/2017 BOS Meeting Minutes

                                           Minutes Accepted and filed with the Town Clerk on 11/7/2017 by a vote of    4-0-1
                                                                                             Selectman Plante absent from 10/17/17 meeting
7:00p.m. – October 17, 2017
                                        Sutton Town Hall, Selectmen’s Meeting Room
Members in Attendance:                           
      Chairman Jesse Limanek, Vice Chair John Hebert, Clerk David Hall and Selectman Michael Kenney
(Selectman Ray Plante Jr. absent)      
      Town Administrator James Smith & Deb Jacques, secretary  
 
Chairman Limanek calls the meeting to order at 7:00pm followed by the Pledge of Allegiance  

Selectman Hall motions to accept as presented the October 3, 2017 meeting minutes, Vice Chairman Hebert seconds passes 4-0
                                                                                                   
Public Forum:  N/A

Ratification of new Police officers: Present is Police Chief Dennis Towle, Bryan O’Rourke and Brian Hull. TA Smith introduces the two new Police officers and asks for the BOS to ratify the appointments. Bryan O’Rourke is a Sutton resident, went to BVT and Bridgewater State. Bryan Hull is a Dudley resident, went to Bay path and the academy. Both appreciate the opportunity to work for the Town of Sutton. Vice Chair Hebert congratulates both and says it is an honor to work for the Sutton Police Dept. and the boss is a heck of a guy. The Sutton Police are one cut above.  Selectman Hall is happy that these two hires now round out the force. There are four new young officers, with great leadership ahead of you it will allow you to build a great foundation. Selectman Kenney congratulates them and is glad the dept. is back to full speed. Chairman Limanek says they are joining an auspicious team, the town of Sutton love our Police officers we have pride in our dept. We look forward to you both growing into these rolls. Vice Chair Hebert motions to ratify the appointment of Bryan O’Rourke to the position of full time Police Officer, Selectmen Kenney seconds passes 4-0. Vice Chair Hebert motions to ratify the appointment of Brian Hull to the position of full time Police Officer, Selectman Hall seconds passes 4-0
At this time, Chairman Limanek swears both officers in.    

MRA Sport update: preset is Alex Rogozinski to present a check for the Food Pantry in the amount of $930.00 and a check to the town for $1550.00. Alex saw a decrease in participation this past year and is hoping to attract a larger group next year. When asked if there is anything the BOS can do to help raise the participation Alex replies, get the word out. Next year Alex is looking to change the dates for the two big events. The 6th annual Summer Solstice will be held on June 8th and the 5th annual BVO triathlon will be later on September 16th. Alex would like to see more community involvement along the route. The Board thanks Alex for all he has put into these events. They all commend him on leaving the area clean after the events. These events bring value to our community as well as donations to the Mike Chizy Food Pantry. Alex will be back in April of 2018 to review the schedule for the 2018 season.

Police Station Contract: TA Smith is looking for the BOS to support him in signing the general contractor for the Police Station project. The lowest bidder is NELCO Inc. This company is fairly new to Massachusetts and this would be the 1st public safety project for them and their DCAM rating shows it. Chief Towle did due diligence by making many calls. There were no flags to disqualify them. TA Smith says the project is slightly over budget. Sub bids came in $600,000. Over so they went back out to bid. They came back in lower at $300,000. over budget. In order to reduce even lower, they plan on removing the fiber out of the Police project and present it at the May Town meeting as a Capital item and include in the request simulcast antennas. The reasoning behind this is it is for public safety in general not just the Police dept. Also discussed is to reduce the contingency to 2 ½% of the cost of the project. Typically contingencies are 4-5%. We would like to sign the contract and value engineer to reduce some of the costs. Vice Chair Hebert has confidence in the Police Station Building Committee, checks and balances have been done. Selectman Hall is more at ease knowing the issue with low DCAM is just that they are new to MA. they are experienced they are just new to our state. Dave asks if the contract has been vetted by town council. TA Smith replies it is currently being reviewed. Selectman Kenney watched the last Police Station Building Committee meeting and felt uneasy not really knowing why NELCO scored low with DCAM but after listening tonight feels better the reason is that they are new to MA. Chairman Limanek says that communication issues has been a long standing issue in town so moving this out of the project and into the Capital Plan makes sense. Selectman Kenney motions to authorize the Town Administrator to sign the new Police Station contract with NELCO Inc. as the General Contractor, Vice Chair Herbert seconds passes 4-0
Appointments to Cultural Council: TA Smith has 3 appointments to the Cultural Council, they are Pam Nichols, Leslie Graff and Paige Thayer. This is a 3 year term and these names have been forwarded to the BOS by Chairperson of the group Betty Bryson. This group receives annual grants from the State and disseminates them to local agencies. The entire BOS thank all 3 for volunteering their time. Selectman Hall motions to appoint Pam Nichols, Leslie Graff and Paige Thayer to the Cultural Council with a term to expire 6/30/2020 Vice Chair Hebert seconds passes 4-0
   
TA Update:
  • Budget Process FY19- May Town meeting will be 5/14/18, the budget process begins within the next few weeks. A copy of the schedule is attached.
  • Standard & Poor’s visit: took place earlier today, we are going through this bond rating for the Police Station project borrowing. We are currently a AA Stable and are looking to move to an AA +. TA Smith thanks all involved in today’s tour and discussions.
  • Police station- 13 bidders for general contractor, the low bidder was NELCO.
  • Golf Tournament- the annual Charity event for the Mike Chizy Food pantry took place on Oct. 6th. The town raised $3000.00. Mike Kenney’s team came in 1st place. Jim thanks Laura Caruso and Donna Wood for organizing.
  • Fire prevention week: open house was held on Tuesday Oct 10th at station 1. Thank you to Papa Ginos for donating 50 pizzas and Whittier Farm for donating Cabot cheese.  
Michelle Edelstein recently took a course at BU in the behavioral health program. We thank her for her dedication to seniors in Sutton.
  • Marion’s Camp annual cookout to take place Saturday Oct 21 11-3.
Selectman announcements/Correspondence/Round table
  • Selectman Hall sad Waters Farm Days this past weekend was a great event with good weather. There seemed to be a lot more offered this year and there was a good size crowd. All the Selectmen were there.
  • Selectman Kenney says it is fantastic that the golf tournament brought in $3,000. for the Food Pantry. Mike also comments on Waters Farm Days - it was a fun time.
  • Chairman Limanek would like to thank all the residents that attended the Annual Fall Town meeting, almost 700 people attended. Jesse reads the list of some of the needs for the food pantry.

Vice Chair Hebert motions to adjourn, Selectman Hall seconds passes 4-0                         meeting adjourned 8:30 pm