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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-06-01 Board of Selectmen MinutesJU E 1 ............. 389, The Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on this date with all. membe: present; Selectmen Charles A. Salisbury, John W. Graham; Ralphf~R. Joyce, R. Louis DiFruscio with Chairman Thomas J. McEvoy presiding. The minutes and warrant were approved as submitted, JURORS: The following persons were dra%ra for Jury duty, July 6 Thomas J. DeStefano Laura Medolo Linda ~ravota John Chaisson Karen'Funari - Newburyport - Salem -- Salem - Salem - Salem Sitting: STOP SIGNS: Letter from Police C]~ief Donnelly recou~,,ended Stop Signs be installed at various intersections of Putnam Rd. (Young and Lyman) He also stated that many accidents had occurred at the intersection of Putnam Rd. and Miflin Dr. and recommended that a Stop Sign be installed at that intersection. It was so voted. TELEPHONE POLES: Bud Cyr, Highway Surveyor, appeared before the Board once again to discuss th~ problem of abandoned poles not being picked up by the telephone and electric companies. Cyr states he cannot repair roads because of these poles. He stated that ~he triangle at Chestnut and Andover Streets could not be rede,=~ signeduntil the pole there is relocated. After further discussion, it was voted~'~o ask Town Counsel what procedure to follow to insure the removal of old Poles. It was also voted to send a Ietter to the heads of the telephone and electric companies with the complaint. jUDGE.MITCHELL: Accepted.for the files was a letter from Governor King replying to our request t~at~Judge Mitchell's actions be investigated, HAZARDOUS WASTE COMMITTEE: Letter received from Fire Chief, William Dolan, requested that a committee be established to have a better system formed of hazardous waste control in the community. He said that the committee would asses the Town's probable hazard6us waste and would pre-plan for storage in the future. The committee should consist of the Fire Chief, a policeman, chemist, membery, f~om the water, Conservation Commission, Selectmen's dept. Also Phila Slade, Local Committee, the Town Planner or Assessor and a lawyer. At first, it was ed to advertise for members of the committee. It was not voted on as the Fire Chief:offered to submit a list of names for the Selectmen's approval. It was anrUnanimous vote to endorse the formation of the committee and to have the Fire' Chief submit a list of names. GR. LAWRENCE SANITARY DISTRICT: Letter received from Donald George, Director of G.L.S.D. requesting a letter of suPport for legislation which would allow the Sanitary District to accept wastewater from outside the District and Commonwealth. The legislature bill will allow Salem, N.H. to send its waste to the Sanitary District Plant. It was~unanim~usly voted to send a letter of endorsement of the Bill to the Dis- trict. SPECIAL fPOLICE OFFICER: James. Nutton, who is very helpful in enforcing the rules and regulations con- cerning~Lake Cochickchewick, was re-appointed a Special Police Officer. STREET LIGHTS: It was unanimously voted to request the following changes in street lighting: Marbleridge Rd.: Turn on light, Pole #4674 Turn off light, Pole #4672 Salem Street: Turn on light, Pole #~434 Turn off light, Pole #2433 390 JU E 1 1982 (continued) BO~RD.OF FIRE ENGINEERS: TThe appointment to fill the vacancy on the Board of Fire Engineers, tabled from last meeting, was discussed. Selectman DiFruscio advised the Board that at the last meeting the Board discussed the possibility of a Selectman serving on the Board of Fire Engineers and he had been willing to represent them. Since then he had talked to Fire Engineer, Dana Fisher and Fize Chief William Dolan on the matter. DiFruscio stated?thatl;.~:as a result of this meeting, he was of the opinion that he, or any Selectman, should not serve. on the Board of Fire Engineers for three reasons: 1.) Safety factor' 2.) Conflict - Selectman had to sit;~ negotiations of the union. 3.) Not qualified. At this time, he said he would like to publicly thank Dana Fisher for his dedicated and high qualit~ service to the Town over the past years. A motion was made and seconded to set up interviews for the three candidates who applied for the vacancy. Vote unanimous. ACCESS ROAD: Chairman McEvoy reported to the Board that he, Brian Sullivan, Steve Erka Engineer from the DPW, John Connors and other officials of Western Electric attended a meeting to discuss the access road for the solid waste facil'ity. W.E. suggested that the railroad be used with a sgur offlthe regular track. Audi Audio stated that it would be too costly, that ,~. ektra¢.ch~r~esq~ould have to be made to towns. He Ytated the matter was not resolved at~ the meeting, that We would be in trouble if Western Electric threw their weight against the access road. CONSERVATION COMMISSION: Brian S. advised the Board that the Conservation Commission had seht a letter advising that a resident had offered a lot of land to the Town. The Board voted to table it until next meeting, June 14th, if there wasn't, any urgency. It was so voted. PERSONNEL BOARD: Members of the Personnel Board appeared before the Selectmen to protest the recent vote of the Selectmen requesting the resignations of all members of the Personnel Board. Present were Michael Leafy, Chairman, who'had sub- mitted his~Tresignation before the Selectmen's vote was taken at the May 17th meeting, William Blackstock, Cecelia Landry, Robert F. Johansen and Anna : Donahue. A letter submitted by* Michael Leafy was read to the Board by the Chairman. Mr. Leafy stated in his letter that after reading recent articles in bothe the Tribune and the N.A. Citizen concerning the actions of the Personnel Board and more sDecifically his performance as Chairman of:the Personnel Board, he felt compelled to write and correct what seems to be inaccurate information. He corrected the amount that was returned.to .the Town at Town Meettng...instead of $10,000 as reported in the papers; it was $15,681. This amount was to have funded a new, proposed, amended By-Law, a full time Secretary and Personnel Office. When Town Meeting vote rejected all three, the Personnel Board's budget was overfunded by this amount and Chairman Leafy, at Town Meeting, proposed to return the amount to,the Town and it was so voted. Secondly, he stated in his letter, he resigned from the Personnel Board at the end of his three-year term because of family.and business committments which would take up all his time. In the paper articles, it was inferred that he resigned because of poor performance, dissension,.and lack of communication. Mr. Leafy took exception and resented these reports. He went on to say that, as Chairman of the Personnel. Board, he took full responsibility for what his Board did or did not accomplish at Town Meeting or during the past year. He enclosed a copy of the Personnel Board's budgets for the Selectmen's review and they could decide if his "eleventh" hour request" at Town Meeting was in order. He went on to say that he felt strongly that his Board had been done a disservice by the Selectmen's re-' cent actions and subsequent publicity. On a personal level, he requested clarification of the Selectmen's objections with his 9erformance Meeting. It would be to everyone's best. interests to clarify the situation of the P~sonnel Board immediately. Letter of resignation received from Connie Connors, a decision she had made prior to Town Meeting. She stated that the increased workload of the position warranted a full time Secretary which she did not have the time to apDiy due to family, personal and another job.committment. JUNE 1, 1982 (continued)'. 39]. ~, PERSONNEL BOARD (continued) Letter also received from Anna Donahue re the request for her resignation fro the Personnel Board. She stated she was disturbed that the Board d~d not the courtesy and judgment to first contact the Personnel Board members regard. lng any matters the Board were concerned with before making their decision. She~went. on to say that it is important that the remaining three members re- mezn on the Board, mainly because of the upcoming survey that was voted at Town Meeting. She feels that they had worked hard to accomplish this study and these same members should be a part of the implementation of the survey. She said that she had performed properly, honestly and in the best interests of.the Town and therefore she would not resign from the Personnel Board as requested by the SeleCtmen. Two letters received from Town Counsel in answer to inquiries sent to him by the Selectmen. The first letter advised the Board that they could not dis- charge a member of the Personnel Board unless they had just cause. In order for the Board to discharge any present member whose term has not expired,they must?find cause. To determine cause, the member would be entitled to a hearing in this regard. Failure to attend meetings may in and of itself, constitute sufficient cause for dismissal as it would constitute dereliction of~duty,. . and under most circumstances, dismissal for this cause could be sus- tained. The second letter concerned the status of Personnel Board member, Wiil~'am.Blackstock, whose wife is a secretary to the police chief and comes under the Personnel By-Law. Town Counsel's letter stated that he had no knowledge of the person to whom the Selectmen was referring to in their in- quirY. However, General Laws, Ch. 260A, Sec. 19, provides that "no municipal e~plOyee ~ho participates as such an employee in a particular matter in which to his knowledge he, his immediate family has a financial interest." The Board's indication that a member of the Personnel Board sits and acts on questions of salarY or benefits to his wife clearly comes within the prohibi- tion of the statute. Chairman McEvoy asked Mike Leery to explain the Personnel Board budget as presented which he did. Chairman McEvoy told Mike that the Selectmen expecte~ the Personnel Board to go into Town Meetin§;united, to back the new Personnel By?L~w that the Selectmen had endorsed at a previous meeting but the members of the Personnel Board did not do so. Mike replied that the?Chairman was correct," that the Personnel Board members did not back the new By-Law. Chairman McEvoy went on to say the Selectmen appreciated the work done by volunteers on Town Boards and their action re the members of the present Per~ sonqe!.B0ard wasn't any particular "rap" to any one person, that as far as he was concerned Chairman Leery had done a fine Job. But therSe~ectm6neth~.ught M~kebs actions at the end of the Town Meettng...turning the money back that was a~%Otted to the Personnel Board, was "off center,"but in no way had.he infO,red that Mike had not done a good job. I{e had read the account'in the p~Per and 6ften things are printed that the Selectmen did not say, that they ~t~t what others tell them, not the Board. The reason the Selectmen re- quest.ed the resignation of the present members of the Personnel Board is that they thought a whole new Board would function better with new ideas, otc,He then said that a letter from Town Counsel sta ted that they could not ask for any"res, ignattons unless there was "Just" cause, and the Selectmen will act accOr~ing tb Town Counsel's ruling. The Board will replace only members that retire'andcanyone that comes up for reappointment. Mike still wanted clari~ cati°n~0f the Board's feelings on his action at Town Meeting in withdrawing the. fdnds, of the Personnel Board. At this point, Ted Phelan, stated that the Persohnel Board had done a good job the past three years. Selectman DiFrusci~ t~an addressed the Chairman and said that the Selectmen owe the members of t~e Peksonnel Board an apology, that the way everything has been blown up ou~, Of proportion in the newspapers and press he honestly believes an apology is due, despite Town Counsel's letter and the f~ct that he voted for the resignations. He said the Selectmen owe them a meeting to Sit down and dis- cu~s~matters, that the SeleCtmen made a mistake, that they are a volunteer Board and whether they get~alon~ or not shouldn't have anything to do with it e personnal~y apologzzedf~e Board and said he would like to meet with them Selectman Graham asked DiFruscio if he disagreed with the way the Board did tt.~r what they did? Selectman DiFruscio said both. The way the Selectmen handled the matter was wrong and he doesn't know whether or not he would vote the same way again. 392 JUNE 1, 1982 (continued) PERSONNEL BOARD (continued) He went on to say that he thought it only fair thatthe Selectmen hear both sides of the story, they have only heard one side. At this time, Bud Cyr wished to express his opinion of the Personnel Board. He said they had done a good job and he had had a':.good relationship with them at all times. Robert Johansen stated he objected to getting the news second-hand through a phone call from the newspaper.', Selectman Graham said he would like to clarify the fact that the Personnel Board .members keep saying that the Sele6tmen told them they were through...they were asked to resign and there is a difference. They don't have to resign if they don't want to. This was not a "for6e" situation. Graham agreed with DiFruscio that he agreed that the Board did not handle the basic approach to the problem correctly, that Mr. Johansen was correct, that the members should have been called before the vote"~as taken to request their resignations. But, Selectman Graham, in his opinion. the basic approach in the matter was incorrect, the end result was correct. William Blackstock asked why Town Counsel sent th~ letter to the Selectmen re resignation requests. Chairman McEvoy advised him that Town Counsel's., opinion was asked and the answer was contained in the letter. Blackstock protested also that he didn't like being informed by a phone call and.the papers that he was being asked to resign, and asked Selectman Graham what he meant by saying the end result was correct. Selectman ~raham replied that, in his opinion, the Pe~sondethBo~rd?ptay§ ther~olet~ management operation in Town, that workers in Town Hall have a representative, 9resently Anna Donahue...he had no problem with that...but he looks for a strong management operation to come out of the Personnel Board..that is what he looks for in the Personnel Board. Maybe other members of the Board/disagree with me but that is my opinion what the Board should represent. He expects the Personnel Board,at a Town Meeting, to get up and support their issues, for example, the strength of the arguments behind the new personnel by-law was not there at the Town Meeting, perhaps because of disagreement ~nd dissension among the Personnel Board members. That there was something wrong when an issue coming from the Personnel Board is not supported by the Personnel Board. He asked if the new ~y-law was supported by the Board and Mike Leafy stated that the whole package was supported by a majority of the Personnel Board...Everyone on the Board agreed on every aspects.of the whole package. Graham asked if a vote had been taken and the answer "Yes? it was unanimous to support the whole package. Bill Blackstock WaS ~ stated that if he knew he was supposed to be pro management, he wouldn't.. be on the Board. Selectman Graham asked him what.he thought his role should be? Blackstock said he represented the workers and the by-law. Bill, Black- stock protested that h~ahadn'tyhhd:~,time to look over the new by-laws., that 'he didn't have anything to do with it. Selectman Graham said that was the Chairman's obligation, that the by-law package should have been distributed to the members in enough time to read and digest it. Blackstock.stated that Brian Sullivan had a lot to do with the new by-law. (Brian and Mike Leafy gave a lot of hours to have the much-needed amended by-law ready.for' Town Meeting) Celia Landry stated that dissension started when it. was pro-. posed that a part-time Secretary who had been'given quite a few duties, ~.e. Parking Clerk and charge of Civil Service workers under Brian (Public:Works Highway Dept. and Tree dept.) was placed in S-~, which was approved by the Selectmen. Members of the Personnel Board did not agree on that issue. stated that it was not S-P, but S-6, which position was approved by Town Meeting. Celia stated that is what they didn't agree on. She went. on.,to say that Mike Leafy had been a very good Chairman. She did not bring up the fact that the members of the Personnel Board did not support the new by-law at Town Meeting. Ted Phelan stated that the Personnel Board.had done a good job. Blackstock requested the minutes of the May 17th.meeting, be read in regard to the reasons given for the Selectmen's vote to request.... the resignations of the Personnel Board. Chairman McEvoy read them. Black- stock then stated that Connie Connors had been a super secretary and that /was. . she resigning because of other commitments. We will have to come up with another Secretary, pronto. Chairmsn HcEvoy stated that he appreciated the Personnel Board me6oers coming to the meeting and voicing their concerns and the other departments sticking their oar in and having their say, but this was the decision of the Selectmen even though £t was disagreed with.~ It is evident that we cannot do what we wanted to do because of Tow~ Counsel's advise so the Board will proceed to fill the vacancies?of the Personnel Bd. Leafy and Laudry. PERSONNEL BOARD (continued) Selectman Joyce then stated that he couldn't sit there without saying anything out of an obligation of the people that are here and simply because I am in- volved with it as well. What the Selectmen did was to ask for the resignation~ of the Board. The way it came out in the paper, was that they were fired. It was not his intent to fire Board, in fact, I would vote to reappoint some of the members I was asking resignations from, tonight. But in the discussion tonight and in my private discussions,with members of the Board,I am thoroughl convinced that the composition of the Personnel Board should be entirely organized and more representative from a management vs labor attitude. That within the rank and file of the Board in my private conversations with the members, pre and pro the Selectmen's actions, he has noted dissent and dissent with Bill Blackstock's statementre his lack of imput in the new by-law. He went'on he'had noted lack of communication in the Chairman's actions in re- turning the budget at the last minute at Town Meeting. He still would, tontgh' vote to_ as the resignation of all the membersoof the Personnel Bd. to put the idea that it is the opinion of the Selectmen that the P.B. should be re- constructed. What we did wrong was doing, it without sensitivity to the imput that you people have put in without sensitivity to the voluntee work you have done, without sensitivity to you as individual people...for that I apologize to you alon~ with Mr. DiFruscio. But I would still vote tonight to ask for your resignations because, it is my opinion that there are p~oblems'among~ members of the P.B., that some members have. individual problems, that there was lack of communication on the Board, that the P.B. should be reworked and reconstituted. Mike Leafy then asked Joyce how he would have handled the money situation. Selectman Joyce said that his problem with Mike was that after Town Meeting he had conferred with each and every member of the P.B. and asked if he or she was aware that Mike was going to turn back the money allotted to the P.B. in their budget. The answer was, "No." You returned funds for what was esta- blished ss a full-time secretary and other.areas of funding were returned. He thought the plan of the P.B. had made significant steps to making on line the force they needed, the clerical help they needed to affect the kind of things they wanted to accomplish. Joyce was upset with Mike for doing so. Mike said that was Joyce's opinion and he was entitled to it but he thinks they Should disect what was turned back. Mike stated that Town Meeting voted agaihst any changes in the by-law, that he wanted changes, in fact the Town must make some changes if they are to grow. The only money given back was money to fund the changes. A lengthy discussion followed on what was voted on at Town Meeting re the new positions On the Personnel Board. Mike went on to say that the Selectmen were dealing with voluntary people and as far as he was personnally concerned, they were dealing with his reputation and,frankly, he.d~d not like it. Some of the things that were printed in the paper whether they were verbage from the Board of Selectmen of interpretations by reporters here, directly affect me and affect my family, abdfhe~said he did not appre- ciate that at all. That, he said, was why he was present at the meeting. He, said if there was one thing wrong with the P.B. budget, he would like to see it, and .as Chairman he would take responsibility for it. He returned every n~ckel that this Board or the next Board would not use and, in his opinion, he did the only prudent thing to do. After further discussion, he 'stated that the big problem in Town is that no one knows what the other Board is doing, that it is going to cost the Town money, that from his limited ex- perience on the P. G. he can quarantee it. In reference to the new Personne By-Law, he,personnally, and members of the P.B. could never have the time to put together a 22 page by-law, word by word, and they relied on Brian Sulliv He relied on him very heavily to take the old by-law which has existed for years in Tow-a and translate it into something useful for the 1980.'s. They studied by-laws from surrounding towns who had already done the research work to put together a new by-law. The end result was nres~ted to the Personnel Board, and, he disagreed with Blackstock's statements, and they went through the new by-law, word by word, and if anyone had any problem, it was brought uT If any member wanted a change that night, it was done immediately, if it was a mejority of the Board who wanted the change. No member of the P.B. could refute that. If he hadn't had full support of his Board, he never would have brought it before the Selectmen or asked the Advisory Board for $45,000 to fund the by-law if he hadn't had the full support of his Board. 89 UNE 1, 1PS2 (continued) PERSONNEL BOARD: (continued) At Town Meeting, a lot of misinformation was going around as to what the new by-law was to do. In his mind, the purpose of the new by-law was .to BxfRgxwa~¥,very simply, - bring the Town up-to-date and help it.so it can grow. After further discussion, Selectman DiFruscio made a motion to offer a formal apology to the members of the Personnel Board for the way the Selectman handled their request for the resignations of the Personnel Board. Selectman Salisbury seconded the motion with comments the Board should do some more thinking on the matter. Selectman Graham asked Mr. DiFruscio just what is motion was...was it an apology re the manner in which the Board acted or an apology for requesting the P.B's resignations. He stated that he would vote for the apology re the method but he still requested the resignations of the remaining members of the P.B. DiFruscio stated he meant both, that if they had had a meeting with the P.B. before action was taken, he may have changed his mind about the resignations. After further discussion, Selectman Joyce made a motion to apologize to the members of the Personnel Board for not talking to the members before they voted for their resignations and for the Board's insensivtivity of the Personnel Board member's feelings and pride.in their imput=on',the Board. .The vote was unanimous. LICENSING COMMISSIONERS: APPROVED: (as recorded) 4th df July Committee 3 one-day beer licenses, July 2-3-4 and. Common Victualer license. Unanimous vote, Punchard High,Class '37 - 1 day liquor license, June 5, at the BU Conference Center, police required. 3-2 vote. Merrimack Alumni Associ:.- 1 day liquor licenses, June 4-5. Unanimous vote. Firemen's Association: 1-day beer license, Town Farm, August 8. Police Officer required. Unanimous vote. Rain date, 8~t$. Elizabeth Korn 1-day liquor license for wedding, Aug. 7,:1982, at B.U. Conference Center. Vote: 4-1. Borden Chemical - Hearing: Application to store underground30,d60 · gals. hydrocarbonester at Borden Chemical.Co. Unanimous vote. Coastal Connections - Shel%ey Boron applied for a license to sell seafood from a Van to be stationed in front of Butcher Boy Meat Market, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. She permission from Thomas Yameen, Board of Health and State permits. Chairman DiFruscio requested that the license be tabled until next meeting, ~une 14th, . to enable the Board to discuss or determine how many common victualer licenses r~ van sales should be allowed in Town. After discussion, Selectman Salisbury motioned the license be granted with the stipulation, the van remain on Butcher Boy premises. It was seconded but no vote was taken. Selectman Joyce brought out the fact that said business would take away from Town business who pay taxes and that some thought should be given on the matter.' After discussion, motion was made and seconded to table application until next meeting. Vote 3-2 t6 table. "'Chairman DiFruscio read two letters requesting 1) permission to close off Osgood Street, from Mass. Ave., to Andover St., June 5th for outing (scout) from Dan McRobbie. Police and Fire Chiefs notified. Unanimous approval. 2) Permissior for Scout Troup 87 to use Town Farm area for camping weekend, June 11-13 Unanimous approval ,....~ .... ~¢DONALDS: Selectman Joyce advised the Board that he had asked Brian for a status re- port on McDonald's. Brian noted that he had talked with Steve Erka~ DPW engineer who had met with an engineer from McDonald's re plans for a.turning lane on Rt. 125, but there wasn't any discussion of a traffic light. Select- man Joyce stated he wanted the Board to be informed of any plans in the making before they were finalized and made a motion to authorize the Chairman appoint two members of the Board to discuss all plans in the making with the DPW and McDonald's engineers. It was so voted and the Cha~-~an appointed AliceM. Letarte, Secretary