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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-01-22 Board of Selectmen Minutes BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES January 22, 2002 CALL TO ORDER: Rosemary Smedile called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. ATTENDANCE: The following were present: Rosemary Smedile, Chairman; James Xenakis; Donald B. Stewart;William Duffy; Susan Haltmaier; Mark Rees, Town Manager. EXECUTIVE SESSION: James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Susan Haltmaier,to move into Executive Session to discuss labor negotiations, pending litigation with GLSD and pending litigation with Kevin Stack; vote approved 5-0. The Board of Selectmen was individually polled and each voted to move into Executive Session. Chairman Xenakis stated the Board would be returning to Open Session after the Executive Session. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In the minutes of the Board meeting of December 17, 2001, it was not clear which two selectmen were appointed to a subcommittee to assist the Town Manager in the filling town board vacancies. Susan Haltmaier was one of the selectmen and the second was unclear. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to appoint Rosemary Smedile as the second selectman to assist the Town Manager; vote approved 5-0. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to approve the Executive and Open Session Minutes of December 17, 2001; vote approved 5-0. COMMUNICATIONS,ANNOUNCEMENTS,AND PUBLIC COMMENT Polling Location Changes and Appointment of Election Officials. The process of redistricting and reprecinting as mandated each ten years is complete. With the cooperation and support of the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office the Town has converted from six to eight precincts and State Representative and State Senate Districts have been established. Town Clerk Joyce Bradshaw request that the following be established by vote of the Board as the designated Polling Locations for the Town of North Andover: Precincts 1 and 2 North Andover Middle School Precincts 3 and 4 Atkinson School Precincts 5 and 6 Franklin School Precincts 7 and 8 Sargent School James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to adopt the recommendations of the Town Clerk; vote approved 5-0. Chairman Rosemary Smedile thanked Town Clerk Joyce Bradshaw for all her hard work and also of her staff. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to move item VII-B "Lawrence Airport Enterprise Commission"to Communications, Announcements, and Public Comment; vote approved 5-0. Lawrence Airport Enterprise Commission. On January 17, 2002, Selectman Smedile, Finance Director Chuck Benevento and the Town Manager attended a meeting of the Airport Enterprise Commission with the Mayor of Lawrence,the City Council President and the Finance Director of the City of Lawrence. Currently, most of the local permits have been approved and the committee is hoping to move forward soon with putting in the infrastructure for the industrial park, subject to a resolution of the ongoing lease vs. sale question. This item is on the agenda to bring the full board up to date as to where this project stands and what is needed to move the project along. Mark Rees will be going to Washington January 23, 2002 to meet, along with the Mayor of Lawrence, with the FAA Commissioner to discuss the lease vs. sale question. Board of Selectmen Minutes January 22,2002 Page 2 Early on in the process the Enterprise Commission,through an RFP process, hired an economic consultant to review the sale vs. lease option and came back with the finding that the sale option was most advantageous not only for the City of Lawrence but for the Town of North Andover and the Airport Commission. Subsequent to that, another group calling themselves the Airport Advocacy Group, reviewed the numbers and came forward with their own economic proposal that indicates that a lease option is the most advantageous. The biggest difference under a lease operation,the value of that lease money goes to the airport and not to the cities and towns. Under the sale operation,the value of the unimproved land goes to the airport in a lump sum payment and the value of the land and the buildings is taxable and is spread 50150 to Lawrence and North Andover. Under the lease scenario it is only the value of the personal property value of the buildings that is split 50150. The Town Manager's personal opinion is the sale is still in the better option for North Andover. CONSENT ITEMS: Donna Dierkes request permission to hold St. Michael's Walkathon on March 16, 2002. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to approve the St. Michael's Walkathon on March 16, 2002; vote approved 5-0. OLD BUSINESS: Request to revoke Civil Service status for School Custodian and Food Service Workers. In 1999 Town Meeting petitioned the legislature for a special act to exempt school department custodians and food workers from the state civil service system. To date,the legislature has not taken action on this request. In order to move the process forward, Representative David Torrisi intends to request that the Governor resubmit the bill under her sponsorship. Before that occurs he would like to have reaffirmation from the Board of Selectmen that the Board is still in favor of this change in civil service status. The School Committee has voted their reaffirmation. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to have the Town Manager send a letter to Representative Torrisi reaffirming the Boards previous support in reaffirming to exempt school department custodians and food workers from the state civil service status;vote approved 5-0. Department of Public Works Management Study. The Town Manager embarked upon this course of action after reviewing the results of the citizen survey that indicated public concern over some of the services provided by the DPW. The three areas of concern were: street maintenance, snow removal and general maintenance of the town. Mark Rees is concerned that the town is asking the Department of Public Works to do too much given the limited resources. One of the purposes of the study is to look at other communities and see the amount of support they give to their departments. The Town Manager is also concerned that perhaps the department may not be organized in a fashion that is most amenable towards efficient and effective operations. A third person looking this over could be beneficial. This is viewed not as a critique of the DPW but as an attempt to provide guidance as to how it can be approved. The money will come from an appropriation the town had for consultant services and is estimated at$15,000. William Duffy stated that he was surprised that there was not a vote of the Board authorizing a Management Study even before the scope of service point and policy issues are involved with a comprehensive study as suggested. The short comings are primarily a function of lack of funding. Town Manager Mark Rees agreed and stated that was a subjective comment and he is trying to develop that into an objective analysis that will either confirm it or not. William Duffy stated he is not against management studies but there is an appropriate time and Mr. Cyr has been doing the job for about a year and remedial action has been taken with the snow removal. Bringing in an outside consultant will divert time from them and make middle management uncertain with their future. Mr. Duffy wished these things were debated back at the meeting he did not attend and wishes the Board had gone on record one way or the other with a vote as to whether it was appropriate to have a management study. Town Manager Mark Rees stated the Board was supportive of the management study but there was no vote. William Duffy would have been prepared to vote no then and will vote no now. Board of Selectmen Minutes January 22,2002 Page 3 James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Susan Haltmaier,to defer the engagement and services until the RFP's are reviewed and brought back to the Board to see what direction the consultants are proposing to take to help improve satisfaction to the residents; vote approved 4-1 (William Duffy opposed). Sam Ameen stated management studies can be very helpful to those who are new to the management role. It can be beneficial. A management study done right can be a big help. It is not easy to make the transition from an engineering discipline to a management discipline dealing with personnel issues. Mr. Ameen also mentioned an Eagle Tribune article that stated Andover spends $4.9 million and North Andover is spending $2.6 millions but considering Andover has 235 miles of road to deal with and North Andover has 133 miles. North Andover would need about$220,000 more to get the degree we need to get services where they should be. NEW BUSINESS: FY03 Recommended Capital Budget. Division Directors submitted requests to the Town Manager and Finance Director. These requests were prioritized projects based on a weighted criteria schedule that takes into account the urgency for maintenance, if grant money is available or if something is mandated. Once capital requests are prioritized then the next thing is to dovetail that into the Town's fiscal policy regarding how much money you can incur with going into debt. This is a work in progress and will be presented to the Finance Committee. Quarterly Financial Reports. Town Accountant Lyric Savage updated the Board with a summary of the revenue and expenditure reports for quarter ending December 31, 2001. Investment income is still running low due to the low interest rates at this time. Over all,the total revenue collect appears to be in line with the target percentages. On the expense side there have been higher expenses in the Town Managers expenses,the Town Accountant's office because of the purchase of W2's and 1099's, DPW administration expense, DPW Solid waste salaries DPW structures &Ground Salaries and Health Expenses. Memo's have been sent to all above departments requesting explanations. The DPW indicated the salaries were high due to summer help. The salary percentages should start to level out at this point. Proposal for Temporary Town Hall Office Space. With the anticipated renovation of the Town Hall,the location of temporary office space is of critical importance. Due to the generosity of Lucent Technologies,they have donated to the Town an almost new office trailer to be used. The Fire Chief has been scouting for different locations to locate the trailer and has come up with two possible sites. One would be on school property between the Atkinson and Middle Schools and the other would be on Housing Authority property on Fountain Street. The former has the advantage of greater visibility but the disadvantage of higher connection fees but a fee of$42,000 to bring water and sewer,the latter has the disadvantage of less visibility but the advantage of lower hook up fees. The school superintendent and Police Department have favorable action on the site on Route 125 between the Atkinson and Middle Schools. Request for MGL C. 268A, s20 exemption: Chad R. Lawlor. Chad R. Lawlor, a Police patrol officer has an ownership interest in a company that wishes to provide plowing services to the DPW. Under state ethics laws, Officer Lawlor needs the approval of the Board of Selectmen in the form of granting him an"exemption of his interest from this section", in order for his company to do the work. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to table this issue until the next meeting and see if Chad Lawlor's services have been engaged,what the process is and what the priority list for calling people to plow and sand; vote approved 5-0. Acceptance of Conservation Land-Salem Forest IV-Subdivision. Per state law, Town Meeting approval is not required when accepting land for conservation purposes, however, both the Conservation Commission and the Board of Selectmen must authorize acceptance of conservation land. This parcel of land in the Salem Forest IV subdivision,the Conservation Commission Board of Selectmen Minutes January 22,2002 Page 4 has already voted to accept the land and all that is necessary for the land to be transferred to the town is the Board of Selectmen's approval. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to accept the land at Salem Forest IV subdivision; vote approved 5-0. Request to transfer surplus property (ambulance)to Emergency Management Services. Susan Haltmaier made a MOTION, seconded by James Xenakis, to approve the request to transfer ownership of a used 1991 ambulance worth approximately $7,500 to The North Andover Emergency Management Services; vote approved 5-0. Parking on Church Street. Chairman Rosemary Smedile passed the gavel and will not be participating in this discussion. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to post two-hour parking signs from 61 Church Street back to the intersection of Cross Street on both sides of Church Street and no parking signs on either side of the parking lot at Church and Water Streets; vote approved 4-0. TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT: Annual Town Report. James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Donald Stewart,to have the Town Manager work with Rosemary Smedile to draft the Annual Report; vote approved 5-0. Town Engineer. Since the position of Town Engineer is considered a department head position,the Town Charter requires that the Town Manager's appointment for this position must be confirmed by a majority of the Board of Selectmen. It has been the practice of the Board to assign two members of the Selectmen to meet with the Town Manager's selection and report back to the full Board. Donald Stewart made a MOTION, seconded by Susan Haltmaier,to appoint James Xenakis and Rosemary Smedile to interview the candidate for Town Engineer; vote approved 5-0. Net School Spending. As indicated in FY02,the Town was $1,355,385 or 5.6%over net school spending requirements and in FY03 it is anticipated being $2,343,295 or 9.3%over the net school-spending threshold. Mr. Paul Blain resigned from Lake Access Committee. Mr. Blain resigned from the Lake Cochichewick Access Committee due to possible conflicts of interest since he is an employee of the Dept of Environmental Affairs, which regulates water supplies in the Commonwealth. ADJOURNMENT: James Xenakis made a MOTION, seconded by Susan Haltmaier,to adjourn the meeting at 9:40 PM; vote approved 5 — 0. Kathleen O'Neill Administrative Secretary James M. Xenakis, Clerk of the Board