Board of Selectmen Minutes
Meeting date:
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Board of Selectmen Present: Curtis Plante
June 9, 2011 David Lindsay
Stanley Wysocki
Don Lowe, Town Administrator
Linda L. Day, Town Secretary
The Board of Selectmen met at the Town Hall at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Randy Dinjian and Terry Abdalian, Advisory Committee members
POLE HEARING – WATTAQUADOCK HILL ROAD
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen voted to continue the pole hearing to Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
UNLICENSED DOGS
Present: Susan Latham, Animal Control Officer
As of June 1, 2011 there are 23 dogs in Bolton that have not been licensed. Certified letters will be mailed to the households, followed by a citation of failure to license, in accordance with the town bylaw, before a complaint is filed with the district court.
Mr. Plante outlined the dog licensing procedures for the general public and applauded the Animal Control Officer and Town Clerk for their efforts to contact all delinquent licensees before filing a complaint with the district court.
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen voted to sign the warrant for the unlicensed dogs and authorize the Animal Control Officer to proceed with the next step of the process. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
ALPACA SUMMARY
The Board of Selectmen deferred the discussion regarding the alleged alpaca attack on Wilder Road to their meeting on June 30, 2011. This will allow time to receive additional information from the Police Department as part of the investigation.
BANS
On motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen voted to sign a one year BAN for $545,620 at 1.10% from Eastern Bank for various projects. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes) The projects included land acquisition, Emerson School well, defibrillators, DPW truck, hazardous waste facility, chipper, final pay downs on two DPW trucks, copy machine, public safety computers and sidewalks)
BRING YOUR OWN BEVERAGE (BYOB) POLICY
Bruce Slater, owner of Great Brook Farms has approached the Town regarding the practice of allowing businesses to provide a BYOB service to their customers. Mr. Lowe informed the Board of Selectmen that unless a town has a policy prohibiting BYOB, a food establishment has the right to offer the practice as long as they conform to all applicable Massachusetts General Laws.
Mr. Lowe asked the Board of Selectmen if they would like him to proceed with drafting a BYOB policy which would allow the town to retain some level of control over the practice.
Mr. Lindsay stated that under normal circumstances he would be opposed to allowing BYOB, but given the present circumstances with Great Brook Farms being denied a liquor license by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC), he would be willing to consider BYOB since this would be the only alternative for Great Brook Farms. Mr. Lindsay would like to defer the discussion until the Board of Selectmen has received, and had the opportunity to review, the written documentation from ABCC regarding the denial of the license for Great Brook Farms.
Mr. Slater arrived at the Selectmen’s meeting after the Board of Selectmen discussed the options related to BYOB. He was informed that unless a town has a policy prohibiting BYOB, a food establishment has the right to offer the practice, as long as they conform to all applicable Massachusetts General Laws. The Board will discuss a BYOB policy at a future meeting.
POST ANNUAL TOWN MEETING DISCUSSION
Present: Ken Troup
Mr. Troup met with the Board of Selectmen to discuss his concerns regarding the May 2, 2011 Annual Town Meeting, specifically related to the warrant and not with the town meeting process. Mr. Troup complimented the Advisory Committee on their statement in the annual town meeting warrant and the presentation given by Advisory Committee member Bob Czekanski.
Mr. Troup’s main concern was that it was not clear from reviewing the warrant if a budget was actually cut or if funds had been transferred to another budget. Typically, the intent of the “requested column” was to reflect the department's requested budget and the “Advisory approved” column reflected what the Advisory Committee approved. This year, the “requested column” reflected the cuts that were made by the Advisory Committee.
Mr. Troup suggested that it would be helpful to have a summary printed in the warrant explaining the action taken, or for each department to give a two minute narrative of their budget at town meeting. While everyone understood the concerns, they were not sure this information was important to those attending town meeting and to have the budget process restated at town meeting would call for a very lengthy meeting.
Mr. Troup also recommended that a wireless microphone be available for people that were trapped in the middle of a row and not able to approach the microphones in the aisle. Mr. Anker was not available to attend this evening’s discussion, but Mr. Lowe had the opportunity to meet with him to discuss town meeting. It was Mr. Anker’s opinion that town meeting went very well although it was long. Everyone did a great job with set up and check in. Mr. Anker was concerned about the length of time it would take for each department to give a summary of its budget, and he did not feel that this was necessary. Mr. Anker was not in favor of wireless microphones versus stationary microphones. It was his opinion that if people started to migrate toward the stationary microphones, they would not miss the opportunity to speak.
Mr. Merrill recommended that the microphones be turned off during voice votes so that the voices were not amplified.
The Board of Selectmen and Advisory Committee took Mr. Troup’s comments under advisement and will certainly work on improving the procedure for the upcoming budget process for next year's town meeting.
BATCO
BatCo Lease: The Board of Selectmen will review comments provided by Mr. Troup regarding the draft least for BatCo and therefore deferred discussion until their next meeting.
ASCAP license agreement: Mr. Troup recommended that the Town of Bolton obtain a municipal blanket license from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) that would provide permission to cover musical events and protect any copyright concerns. BatCo agreed to pay for the annual license fee of $309.00 from the Public Education Government (PEG) funds received from Comcast. Mr. Lindsay stated that according to the Comcast contract, funds received from Comcast can only be spent on TV Access and therefore recommended that the license be paid for with Town funds. It was Mr. Plante’s opinion that the license should not be paid for with Town funds.
On a motion made by Lindsay and seconded by Wysocki, the Board of Selectmen voted to obtain the municipal blanket license from the ASCAP, with Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Wysocki agreeing to fund the cost of the license out of their salary line item. ($154.50 each) (Plante – abstained, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
JULY 4TH PARADE
Ms. Teague met with the Board of Selectmen to request permission to have a parade and family festival on July 4th. The parade will start at 11:30 a.m. and end at the Memorial field for a family festival. There will not be any fireworks this year. Chief Alfano was in support of the event, and his department is available to assist. Main Street will be closed for approximately 20 to 30 minutes for the parade, and the closure and detour route will be well advertised. The Parks and Recreation Commission have approved the use of the Memorial field. The Selectmen were asked to volunteer for the dunk tank. On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen approved the event. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
The Board of Selectmen thanked the Bolton Celebrates volunteers for their efforts in planning this event.
BROWNFIELD’S REDEVELOPMENT FUND
Present: Robert Held and Robert Roemer Rob
Mr. Plante made a disclosure that he had a potential conflict of interest because of family member that had some possible interest of abutting land and left the meeting during the discussion.
Mr. Held and Mr. Roemer met with the Board of Selectmen to request the Town’s involvement in seeking grants to fund a site assessment of the Smith property.
Mr. Lowe said that he had attended a meeting with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) with Roland Oschenbein to obtain information regarding grants that are available for the town to apply for to use toward a site assessment for the Smith Property on Main Street. The DHCD has grant funds available that could pay up to $100,000 for a licensed site professional to do an independent analysis of the property. The key is that there is no liability on the Town’s part unless we were to purchase the property and even then certain expenses going into the acquisition of the property can be reduced, as well as some cost for the clean-up. Receiving the grant would require an end-use plan for the property. The funding would not allow for the property to remain green space. The owners have granted approval through their attorney to allow for the analysis.
Mr. Held stated that there is a citizen’s group of approximately 12 people that have been meeting on a weekly basis. Their intent is to solve what they think is a problem for the town and come up with a solution that they can convince the town is desirable. They propose an article for a fall Town Meeting.
Mr. Wysocki was in favor of the proposal while Mr. Lindsay requested more time to better understand the matter before making a decision. Discussion was deferred to the next Board of Selectmen’s meeting on June 30, 2011.
REQUEST FOR SIGNS FOR THE TYRODS CLUB
On a motion made by Lindsay and seconded by Wysocki, the Board of Selectmen approved the temporary signs for the Ty-Rods Annual Old Times Reunion to be held at the Bolton Fairgrounds in Lancaster on September 11, 2011. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
The signs will be located at Route 495 North at Exit 27 – Route 117 off ramp; Route 495 South at Exit 27 – Route 117 off ramp; Route 85 at intersection of Route 117; Route 110 North at intersection of Route 117; and Route 110 South at intersection of Route 117.
DAYLILIES
The Board of Selectmen received a letter dated May 31, 2011 from Mrs. King stating that she will be placing directional signs for the selling of the daylilies for the June 2th - September 18th, 2011 selling season.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
Public Safety Personnel: Mr. Lowe acknowledged the exceptional job the public safety personnel did in preparing for and handling the recent serious weather that combed the region. The Board of Selectmen agreed with Chief Alfano’s suggestion that the fire station siren be reactivated to alert residents of a weather emergency. Mr. Lowe will look into the cost to do this.
Sponsorship of the Full Time Officer Training Academy: Chief Alfano recommended that the Cassandra Ela be sponsored by the Town of Bolton Police Department in the full time officer training program offered through the Massachusetts Police Training Academy. The sponsorship would be of no cost to the Town and Ms. Ela will be responsible for financing the program. Ms. Ela was appointed as a Reserve Officer for the Town of Bolton on July 8, 2010 and has done an outstanding job. On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen approved the recommendation of Chief Alfano to sponsor Ms. Ela. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
Public Safety Building – Oil Leak: The May groundwater testing at the Public Safety Building showed negative results. If test results in August come back negative, we should be able to issue the final report which will be submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection in December.
Events: Reverend Jones met with Mr. Lowe and Ms. Day to discuss planning a commemoration for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Plans include holding the commemoration at the Memorial Field on Wattaquadock Hill Road, with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. Various organizations in town will be asked to participate in the commemoration.
Reverend Jones also suggested that the Town begin planning an event to celebrate Bolton’s 275th Anniversary.
Policies for Animals in Town Buildings and Vehicles: The Board of Selectmen reviewed the draft Policy for Animals in Town Buildings and Vehicles, and the Service Animal Policy. Mr. Plante was not in agreement with the policy related to therapy dogs applying to both employees and visitors. The Board of Selectmen authorized Mr. Lowe to contact town counsel for opinion regarding the draft policies.
BOARD OF SELECTMEN BUSINESS
Transfer Station Stickers: On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Plante, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve free stickers in the amount of $100, for seniors (head of household member – 61 or over). (Wysocki – yes, Plante – yes) Mr. Lindsay recused himself from this discussion.
The Board of Selectmen suggested that Ms. O’Toole meet with them at their next meeting to discuss the costs for trash disposal before deciding whether or not there should be a change in the cost of transfer station stickers.
MART Advisory Board Appointment: On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen voted to appoint Kenneth F. Troup to represent the Town of Bolton on the MART Advisory Board, term expiration June 30, 2012. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
Municipal Roadway Vegetation Management Plan: The Board of Selectmen executed the Municipal Roadway Vegetation Management Plan for 2011.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
On a motion made by Lindsay and seconded by Wysocki, the Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 by roll call (Wysocki – yes, Plante – yes, Lindsay - yes) to enter into executive session under the authority of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 39B, Section 23B (3) at 9:30 p.m. to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and contract negotiations. The Board announced it would reconvene to open session.
DPW CONTRACT
On a motion made by Lindsay and seconded by Wysocki, the Board of Selectmen voted to execute the Memorandum of Agreement between the Town of Bolton and the AFSCME Bolton DPW, effective July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014. (Plante – yes, Lindsay – yes, Wysocki – yes)
EXECUTIVE SESSION
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Lindsay, the Board of Selectmen voted to adjourn at 10:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Linda L. Day