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Home My WebLink About2020-11-16 Board of Selectmen Minutes BOARD OF SELECTMEN November 16, 2020 Call To Order: Chairman Chris Nobile called the meeting to order at 6:00PM. In accordance with Governor Baker’s Executive Order issued on March 12, 2020, suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency, this meeting took place via conference call. All Board members and staff participated in this meeting remotely. ATTENDANCE: Laura Bates, Phil DeCologero, Rosemary Smedile, Richard Vaillancourt and Chairman Chris Nobile. Town Manager, Melissa Murphy Rodrigues, Deputy Town Manager, Denise Casey and Director of Administrative Services, Laurie Burzlaff were all present. EXECUTIVE SESSION Chairman Nobile stated the Board will enter Executive session to discuss strategy with respect to litigation for Recreation Complex and declared an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the Board. MOTION: Richard Vaillancourt motioned the Board of Selectmen move into Executive Session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A, Section 21(a)(3) to discuss strategy with respect to the Recreation Complex litigation. Phil DeCologero seconded. Roll call vote: Bates- yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes, Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion approved 5-0. The Board returned to Open Session at 7:00PM. Chairman Nobile read the following statement: Pursuant to Governor Baker’s March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §18, and the Governor’s March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the North Andover Board of Selectmen will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and/or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town’s website, at www.northandoverma.gov. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to watch the meeting may do so on their televisions by tuning to Comcast Channel 8 or Verizon Channel 26 or online at www.northandovercam.org. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time, via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on the Town of North Andover website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. PUBLIC HEARING- TAX CLASSIFICATION William Mitchell, Chief Assessor, gave a presentation on the FY2021 classification hearing. Mr. Vaillancourt asked why there is a discrepancy between actual raised and actual estimate. Mr. Mitchell explained what is determined is what actually needs to be raised budget wise which had been determined in January earlier this year taking into account estimated receipts and knowledge of other sources of income. Mr. Mitchell stated it is almost impossible to raise to the exact levy limit each year. You need to estimate what will be needed to run the Town and the estimate of the receipts the Town will take in for the year to determine how much is needed. MOTION: Mr. Vaillancourt motioned to open the public hearing in accordance with General Laws Ch.40 Sec.56, as amended, to determine the percentage of local tax levy which will be borne by each class of real and personal property, relative to setting the FY2021 tax rate. Ms. Smedile seconded. . Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion passed 5-0. Mr. Vaillancourt asked what the rate was last year. Mr. Mitchell stated 1.28. Mr. Mitchell stated the recommendation from the Board of Assessors to the Select Board is 0.955133. Mr. Vaillancourt stated he would be in favor of 1.3, similar to last year. Ms. Smedile agreed with Mr. Vaillancourt. Ms. Bates stated in agreement and noted that the tax dollars from Amazon will not be seen until FY23. Ms. Rodrigues explained she and Ms. Casey have been working on a comparison of similar communities. Mr. Vaillancourt asked Ms. Rodrigues if Andover is a part of the comparison study. Ms. Rodrigues explained that their budget is close to twice as much with more employees as well so they would not be a like community. Ms. Rodrigues read a public comment from Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce regarding the tax rate. Mr. DeCologero stated the need to share the tax burden with both residential and commercial especially during this time with COVID-19. Mr. Nobile asked Mr. Mitchell when referring to values, what the value is based on today for recertification. MOTION: Mr. Vaillancourt motioned to close the public hearing in accordance with General Laws Ch.40 Sec.56, as amended, to determine the percentage of local tax levy which will be borne by each class of real and personal property, relative to setting the FY2021 tax rate. Ms. Smedile seconded. . Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion passed 5-0. VOTE TO SET PROPERTY TAX CLASSIFICATION FOR FY21 (out of order) MOTION: Mr. Vaillancourt motioned that the Board of Selectmen adopt a residential factor of .095513 for the purpose of classifying the FY2021 North Andover property tax rates. Ms. Bates seconded. Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion passed 5-0. UPDATE ON COVID-19 Ms. Rodrigues gave update of 70 active cases to which 7 are at Merrimack College, 708 total recovered or out of quarantine and 45 deaths. Ms. Rodrigues explained the new metric issued by the governor which now puts North Andover as a yellow color code, down from the previous red high risk status. Ms. Rodrigues went through each of the new executive orders put into place by Governor Baker. MASTER PLAN IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE PROGRESS REPORT Chairman Kelly Cormier and Vice Chairman Stanley Limpert were present representing the committee. Ms. Cormier gave an update on the committee. Mr. Limpert spoke about ranking each of the strategies and reaching out to the town departments to help with determining rankings. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE REGARDING LIQUOR LICENSE FEES FOR 2021 Ms. Rodrigues gave a summary of the current liquor license fees. Ms. Rodrigues stated that there are revenue losses in other areas currently due to COVID-19 so reducing or eliminating these fees would not make sense at this time and suggested a meeting of the Town Manager Business Reopening Advisory Committee to brainstorm a small business incentive program using the Colombia Gas settlement funds. APPROVAL OF OPEN SESSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 2, 2020 MOTION: Mr. DeCologero motioned the Board of Selectmen approve the Open Session minutes of November 2, 2020 as written. Ms. Bates seconded. Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion approved 5-0. CONSENT ITEMS Ms. Rodrigues gave a summary of both consent items, the request of the School Department to surplus vehicles and Winter Snow Emergency Regulations. Mr. DeCologero asked why the Town is doing a surplus of their vehicles. Ms. Rodrigues explained that anything over $50 the Town needs to surplus, both vehicles value needs to be determined before eliminating. MOTION: Mr. Vaillancourt motioned to approve and accept consent items. Mr. DeCologero seconded. Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion passed 5-0. OLD BUSINESS None TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT Ms. Rodrigues gave the following report: - Covid-19 Small Business Grant opened on November 17, 2020 - Thanked the Town Clerk and the Election Workers - Thanked Joe LeBlanc, Director of Veterans Services, for the virtual Veterans Day special - Downtown Improvement Master Plan meeting is set for December 12, 2020 at 6:30PM - Library is currently open by appointment only - Conducting the second round of interviews for the open IT Director position ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Ms. Smedile made a MOTION, seconded by Mr. DeCologero to adjourn the meeting at 8:10 PM. Roll call vote: Bates-yes, DeCologero-yes; Smedile-yes; Vaillancourt-yes; Nobile-yes. Motion approved 5-0. Respectfully submitted, Jillian A. Brothers Executive Assistant _______________________________ Richard Vaillancourt, Clerk of the Board Documents used at meeting: FY2021 Property Tax presentation Master Plan Committee presentation Liquor license fees documentation