Board of Selectmen Minutes
Meeting date:
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Board of Selectmen Present: Kenneth F. Troup
November 12, 2004 Richard H. Heaton, Jr.
Stanley M. Wysocki
The Board of Selectmen met at the town hall at 7:00 a.m. to discuss the following:
1.~~~Status of irrigation system project
2.~~ Discussion regarding field maintenance
~~~~~~~ - mowing
~~~~~~~ - fertiziling
~~~~~~~~- maintenance of irrigation system
3.~~ Proposed new softball diamond at Memorial Field
Present for the Meeting: David Lindsay; Park/Rec members Ed Sterling, Marty Fitzgerald; Harold Brown, Shelly O’Toole, DPW; Little League member Chris Collins; Soccer League members Rick Hoffman,
Status of irrigation system project: The work for the Irrigation System has begun at Forbush Mill Road and there weren’t any other questions regarding this matter.
Discussion regarding field maintenance: Last proposal was to contract out the mowing that would be administered by Park/Rec to handle at least weekly mowing of the fields.
Mr. Brown stated that the problem with mowing was because of major cut in the budgets. Also, with 18 nets to be moved on and off the field for the mowing and the negative response from the Soccer Association to move the nets he came up with the proposal to sub the mowing out. He provided a cost analysis as follows:
hiring a new person; subcontractor to mow under prevailing wage;
if overtime was put back in budget for the mowing;
Mr. Brown did not agree with the quotes provided by Mr. Pokorney. Mr. Brown said he could fund the mowing this year with the Forbush Mill Road article if we did not contract out and kept in house. He stated it takes 24 man hours to mow Forbush Mill Road.
Mr. Brown stated that if the mowing were contracted out he would have to cut $6,000 from his budget which would eliminate the EMT’s working for him during the summer.
Based on the information provided by Mr. Brown and Park and Recreation it was clear that their figures were calculated using different criteria. i.e. Park and Recreation based their figures on 30-40 mowings per season as Mr. Brown based his on 23 mowings per season. In order to do a fair comparison both departments needed to calculate the cost based on the same number of mowings. If Park and Recreation felt more mowings were necessary than DPW could provide then the Board of Selectmen would need to consider alternatives.
Mr. Sterling felt that contracting for the mowing would give Mr. Brown more labor times for his crew to do other things. He also suggested that user groups participate in the cost of services. A cost associated with requested services could be determined and user groups could be asked to participate in costs of mowing.
Bottom line is the Park and Recreation is asking for more services of the DPW than DPW feels are necessary and DPW can provide. The Selectmen need to determine if town needs to spend more money on mowing.
Park/Recreation needs to get specific details (fertilizing, etc.) to Selectmen in terms of service. The cost could then be identified and an assessment made as to whether or not users would pay the difference. An advantage to having the user groups pay is that we would not have to do at prevailing wages.
Rick Hoffman, President of the Bolton Youth Soccer Association, stated for the record that if it comes to soccer association and other user groups contributing for some of the services he wanted to make sure the fees were reasonable. He also stated that in an effort to make moving the nets on and off the field easier wheel bases were added to the nets. They also went around and timed the removal and it literally took 10 minutes. Last spring they were asked to pay $100 a week to remove the nets to offset the cost of the DPW for this service. They paid $400 directly to DPW for the last four weeks of the season. Although they are glad to contribute would hope the request would be reasonable.
Park and Recreation agreed to prepare a detailed document of the services required and Mr.Brown, DPW will review and explain how he will get the job done.
Proposed new softball diamond at Memorial Field:
Mr. Pokorney presented the Memorial Field Softball Diamond Proposal to the Board of Selectmen.
Marty Fitzgerald expressed concern with three diamonds being used that would all be using the same outfield. She also stated that the field would interfere with the net area of the soccer field. She proposed that the sheep field would be a better location and much drier area. She suggested that they wait and do it in the right place. They could use as is for the coach pitch now.
Mr. Pokorney stated that Memorial Field has not been used as a full soccer field and therefore the net area would no longer be used for soccer.
On a motion made by Heaton and seconded by Wysocki the Board of Selectmen approved the request for the softball diamond at Memorial Field for Little League contingent on meeting the requirements of the Conservation Commission. (Troup – yes, Heaton – yes, Wysocki – yes)
Parks and Recreation and DPW will continue discussions over the next several months regarding management of the fields being transferred to Park/Recreation and the impact it will have on the DPW budget who is presently responsible for the fields at this time. Once they have met another joint meeting will be scheduled with the Board of Selectmen. Selectmen encouraged the Park/Recreation and DPW to meet and discuss in detail. They would also like to understand the pros/cons; the requirements versus the ability to provide the service.
Park/Recreation also noted that they have operated without a charter which they felt has caused some conflict. At the suggestion of the Board of Selectmen they will also take on as a task to determine a charter for discussion with the Board of Selectmen some time in February of 2005.
Park/Recreation was also informed that the Master Planning Committee will be contacting Park/Recreation in the near future to discuss long range planning.
BANNERS APPROVED
The Board of Selectmen approved the request of Chris Collins, President of Little League for a banner to be hung across Route 117 announcing their registration period.
The Board of Selectmen also approved the request of Tom Pokorney, President of Bolton Youth Soccer Association for a banner to be hung on the fence along Route 117 announcing their registration period.
WARRANT
#05-10 $85,387.79
#05-10a $ 65,860.68
RANGER, VAUGHN HILL ROAD
Mr. Brown informed the Board of Selectmen that the Rangers were opposed to his request for permission to put the pipe in on their property to divert water run off. They requested engineering plans.
Mr. Brown will draft a letter to be sent to the Rangers documenting his request for a pipe and their opposition. The letter will be drafted and forwarded to the Board of Selectmen for review.
SUGAR ROAD
Mr. Troup asked Mr. Brown to contact Cia Boynton, Public Ways Safety Committee regarding the request for a Caution Children Sign along Sugar Road. Mr. Brown stated that he has the money within his budget to put this sign up.
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING
Mr. Troup will be giving a presentation on the Smith Property.
MASTER PLAN RFP
Mr. Heaton requested that the time for submittal of the RFP’s be extended to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 12, 2004. Town Administrator Jodi Ross stated that this was not possible as it had already ben advertised as being due at noon time.
PLANNING BOARD ARTICLE 15
Mr. Heaton expressed concern with Article 15 on the Special Town Meeting warrant related to the Schedule of Types of Uses - Special Permit Process. He had some questions that he will pass on to the Planning Board related to the responsibility for approving proposals for business from Board of Selectmen to the Planning Board and why it wasn’t explained better in the summary of the article.
Meeting adjourned.