Board of Selectmen Minutes
Meeting date:
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Board of Selectmen Present: Curtis Plante
March 19, 2009 Kenneth F. Troup
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: David Lindsay, Advisory Committee Chairman and Chief Alfano
On a motion made Wysocki and seconded by Troup, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve and execute minutes of January 22 and February 5, 2009. (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – yes)
BOLTON YOUTH BASEBALL LEAGUE
Present: Joyce Sidopoulos
Ms. Sidopoulos met with the Board of Selectmen to request permission for a parade on the opening day for the Youth Baseball League to be held April 25 at 12 noon. The parade will start at Emerson School parking lot; proceed on to Main Street and then Wattaquadock Hill Road to Memorial Field escorted by a fire truck and police cruiser. Chief Alfano approved of this request. A notice regarding this event will be published in the Bolton Common and a message will be placed on the community board at the police station. The Lion’s Club will be providing lunch for the celebration and will receive all appropriate licensing via Nashoba Associated Board of Health. Motorists will also be given notice regarding Route 117 being closed for 30 minutes for the parade via the state message board. On a motion made by Troup and seconded by Wysocki, the Board of Selectmen approved the request for the parade. (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – yes)
REQUEST FOR VOLUNTARY TOLL BOOTHS
Present: Brenda Baum, co-captain of the Relay for Life Team, William Keysor, member of the Lion’s Club, Chief Alfano and Donald Baum
Ms. Baum met with the Board of Selectmen to request permission to hold a voluntary toll booth on Main Street on Saturday, May 2nd or Saturday, May 9th, 2009 to raise money for the event. The firefighters association has agreed to help with the toll booth and legally can direct traffic. The Lion’s Club also requested permission to hold their annual voluntary toll booth on May 9th with the rain date being May 16th. Ms. Baum did not realize that the Lion’s Club had an annual voluntary toll booth on Main Street and was therefore willing to withdraw her request.
The Board of Selectmen informed Ms. Baum that they did not have a problem with her request if she could arrange to hold the voluntary toll booth on a different date from the Lion’s Club. Ms. Baum recommended April 11, 2009 which was fine with Mr. Keysor. Chief Alfano approved of the two proposed voluntary toll booths.
The Board of Selectmen requested that both parties get permission from Murphy Insurance for any staff expecting to use the parking lot during the event. The Board of Selectmen requested that anyone directing traffic be required to wear reflective vests along with the staff collecting money.
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Troup, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve the request of Ms. Baum for the Relay for Life team to hold a voluntary toll booth to be held on April 11th, 2009. (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – yes)
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Troup, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve the request of Mr. Keysor for the Bolton Lion’s Club to hold a voluntary toll booth to be held on May 9, 2009 with a rain date being May 16th. (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – yes)
Mr. Plante suggested that the Board give some thought to a policy being set regarding such events.
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
Present: Mary Ciummo, Public Ways Safety Committee member, James Anker, Moderator
Mr. Anker reported that Caucus was well attended and overall went very smoothly. Nominees were received for every open position and there is one race for the open Selectmen’s slot.
Review of articles: The draft Annual Town Meeting warrant was reviewed and revisions were made to various articles including the means of funding for each article.
Article 3: Stablization Fund: On a motion made by Troup and seconded by Plante, the Board of Selectmen voted to approve this article. (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – yes)
Article 4: Increase in Fees for Municipal Lien Certificates and Article 5: Increase in Demand Fees: The Board of Selectmen recommended that the language in these two articles be revised to read more clearly. They also recommended that the summary be expanded. Mr. Lowe will schedule a meeting with Treasurer Donna Madden to discuss these articles.
Article 8: Replacement of School Zone Flasher Units: Ms. Ciummo stated that the lowest bid for the new school zone flasher units came in at $7,195 and therefore Mr. Brown suggested the article request $7,500.
Capital Planning Committee: Mr. Lowe will ask the Capital Planning Committee how they feel about the capital purchases (Article 7: Purchase of a Wood Chipper & Article 11: To fund an alternative water supply for Emerson School) and if they would like their recommendation published in the annual town meeting warrant.
Presentations: Advisory Committee will do a budget presentation. An email will be sent by Mr. Lowe, Town Administrator, to the article sponsors to see who would like to make a powerpoint presentation, speak a couple of minutes to give a general explanation for the article or just be available to respond to questions if necessary. Ms. Day will collect and provide Mr. Anker with information received.
TOWN WEBSITE AWARD
Mr. Lowe reported that the Town of Bolton has won another e-Government Award from the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government for the quality of the content on our town webpage. The award will be displayed at the town hall.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT
Mr. Lowe reported that he met with the staff responsible for researching the data management strategy project. Two components of the project include installing software to allow us to automate the permitting process and improve record keeping, and a pilot program to scan 3,000 maps of various properties to make staff time more efficiently used. Mr. Lowe is not ready to bring the proposal to the Board of Selectmen but the team is working very hard on this proposal and he will be ready to bring to the Board in the next month or so.
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS
Mr. Lowe informed the Board of Selectmen of the concept of accepting a donation from developers. This is a fairly standard practice in many communities. At the last Planning Board meeting a discussion with the developer related to sidewalks within a development took place and the concept of an account being created that could accept funds as a gift was also discussed. The Planning Board and Ms. Atwood Burney will be invited to attend a Board of Selectmen’s meeting to discuss the specifics of this particular project.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR
The Board of Selectmen has received resumes of two individuals interested in the Emergency Management Coordinator position. The individuals will be scheduled for an interview with the Board of Selectmen.
STEPHENSON PROPERTY, CORNER OF WATTAQUADOCK HILL ROAD AND MANOR ROAD
The Board of Selectmen at a previous meeting approved funds, not to exceed $400, for a certified appraisal of the Stephenson property located at the corner of Wattaquadock Hill Road and Manor Road. An outside agency was contracted to conduct the appraisal although it has not been completed at this time. The Board has since received additional information from the seller which proposes three options for the town to acquire the property. The options included: 1). Due to the economic climate currently being faced with, the owner would be willing to sell the property to the town for a price of $235,000. 2). An abutter may be willing to join the town in the purchase of this property so that he could add a small piece to his current to property size which could reduce the towns’ investment. 3). There may be a possibility to have the town pay a portion of the selling price and defer the remainder against current property taxes. This would allow the town the option of not having to borrow as much money.
Mr. Plante asked the Board members what they would like to do as far as moving forward. After further discussion, the Board of Selectmen recommended that Mr. Lowe contact Mr. Stephenson to see if he is willing to continue negotiations at something less than $250,000. Mr. Lowe will report back to the Board of Selectmen.
TRANSFER STATION STICKERS
Mr. Plante proposed that the Board of Selectmen vote to reinstitute a $5 annual resident sticker for the transfer station. Mr. Plante expressed his concern with the number of non-residents that are using the transfer station and recycling program. It is his opinion that the transfer station and recycling program should be limited to Bolton residents. The more we haul the more it costs the town, and the taxpayers of Bolton should not be paying for non-residents’ recycling. A motion made by Plante for Bolton residents to purchase resident stickers to be mailed with the census annually to all residents was not seconded.
TRI-TOWN MEETING
Mr. Troup reported that discussions have taken place at Tri-Town meetings about cooperation amongst the towns for coordination of senior center activities such as bus trips. Montachusett Opportunity Council sponsors a meal on a daily basis at the Lancaster Senior Center that is open to all for a suggested donation of $2.00. Mr. Troup suggested that our MART van transport the seniors to Lancaster. Mr. Lowe will bring this to the attention of Sheila Chmielowski, Director of COA.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
On a motion made by Wysocki and seconded by Troup, the Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 by roll call (Plante – yes, Troup – yes, Wysocki – 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. The Board announced it would not reconvene to open session.
Respectfully submitted, Linda L. Day