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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-06-04 Board of Selectmen Minutes BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES June 4, 2001 CALL TO ORDER: James Xenakis called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM. ATTENDANCE: The following were present: James M. Xenakis, Chairman; Rosemary Smedile;William Duffy; Mark Rees, Town Manager. (Donald Stewart was not present, he fell coming into the meeting in the Library and was transported to the hospital by the Fire Department). COMMUNICATIONS,ANNOUNCEMENTS,AND PUBLIC COMMENT Donald Stewart hurt and not participating in this evening's meeting, James Xenakis apologized to the public and announced Donald Stewart would not be participating in this evening's Board of Selectmen meeting as he was transported to the hospital after falling in the Library prior to the meeting. Mr. Stewart serves as Chairman of the Licensing Board and with two public hearings scheduled, James Xenakis will be asking the Board members for a vote to continue the hearing one-week to June 11, 2001,with the location still to be determined. Another item Mr. Stewart would like to participate in is the Water& Sewer Rates FY02 under Public Hearing item B. This will also be continued until next week June 11, 2001. Fire Department Donation from Mr. &Mrs. Leland III ($200). Fire Chief William Dolan stated Mr. Edmund F. Leland, III of 254 Great Pond Road,North Andover presented a donation of$200 to the Fire Chief for any equipment the department could use. The Chief would like to purchase another life jacket and equipment for the rescue boat, which is stationed near the Merrimack River. Chief Dolan stated he would send an appropriate letter of thanks to Mr. Leland. James Xenakis asked Town Manager Mark Rees to also send a letter of thanks to Mr. Leland for his generous donation. Rosemary Smedile made a MOTION, seconded by William Duffy,to accept the donation to the Fire Department from Mr. Leland; vote approved 3 — 0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve the executive session and open session minutes of March 12, 2001; executive session and open session minutes of March 26, 2001; and the executive session and open session minutes of April 2, 2001; vote approved 3 — 0. LICENSING COMMISSIONERS William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to move into Licensing and appoint James Xenakis temporary chairman of licensing; vote approved 3 — 0. St. Robert's Bellarmine Church Retirement Party. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve a One-Day All Alcohol license on June 10, 2001, for St. Robert's Bellarmine Church Retirement Party, Knights of Columbus, 505 Sutton Street; vote approved 3 — 0. Richdale Common Victualler License. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve the Common Victualler's License for Richdale at 4 Main Street; vote approved 3 — 0. Den Rock Liquors and Andover Liquors James Xenakis stated he will be looking for a motion to continue these items for next week given the absence of the Chairman. Attorney Michael Morris stated that his office has served James Xenakis with notice that James Xenakis is in conflict of interest as far as the Vineyard petition is heard. Therefore, you cannot sit to continue the hearing; you can postpone the hearing. To continue the hearing would mean you would have to participate Board of Selectmen Minutes June 4,2001 Page 2 in it. James Xenakis stated that according to Mass General Laws, Chapter 148, Section 19, James Xenakis stated he cannot give his opinion, cannot participate in the discussion regarding the vote, however, he can preside if he chooses over the hearing. Attorney Morris respectfully disagreed that James Xenakis cannot do anything that will affect the outcome of this petition, continuing this vs. postponing this, may affect the outcome of this hearing. There is a very real distinction between continuance and postponement. Rosemary Smedile asked what the distinction was. Attorney Morris stated that if the matter is continued then there is issues whether or not you've heard this in a timely matter. If you postpone it you are implying you have the right to participate in it and you would effect that postponement. Town Manager Mark Rees stated that in the absence of Town Counsel it appears to the Town Manager that the Board has 30 days to act on the applications and the application was received on May 16, 2001, and the Board has the time to continue and move it on to another date. Mark Rees stated he is not an attorney but it seems to be appropriate action by the Board to vote to continue the hearing to next week. William Duffy stated that under the circumstances technical objections are really and he moves to vote. Attorney Michael Morris asked to have his objections be noted for the record. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to continue the hearing on Andover Liquors and Den Rock Liquors to a week from this evening, June 11, 2001;vote approved 2-0-1. (James Xenakis abstained). Michael Kettenbach reiterated what Attorney Michael Morris had to say but also stated he would challenge James Xenakis and his right to vote on the Den Rock Liquor issue based on previous conversations with a member of the judiciary Board prior to your having a motion of consideration before that Board and believe it disqualifies you under the Ethics and Open Meeting Laws. James Xenakis stated he has been in close contact with the Ethics Commission and has been assured by them that he is within his rights. PUBLIC HEARING Massachusetts Electric Company-Pole Petition-David Bouche represented Massachusetts Electric Company and petitioned for three plans to be approved. 1. Plan No W53/440 Waverly Road place one pole 490/467-84 (Waverly Rd&Dewey St.). William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve the petition; vote approved 3-0. 2. Plan No W53/441 Waverly Road place one pole 490/464-84 (Waverly Rd&Dana St). Robert Rafferty of 212 Waverly Road asked if the pole could be moved 25 feet because where Mass Electric wants to install the pole creates a blind spot and the Town took a tree down for the same reason a year ago. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to continue this hearing for one week to let the engineers check out the site; vote approved 3-0. 3. Plan No. A53/442 Abbott Street place underground 15kV cable in duct. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve Plan No. A53/442 Abbott Street placing underground 15kV cable in duct; vote approved 3 — 0. Water and Sewer Rates FY02. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to continue the hearing for one week next Monday June 11, 2001,vote approved 3 — 0. OLD BUSINESS Chapter 30B Determination of Uniqueness. In order to comply with Chapter 30B State Procurement Law, in order to acquire land you have one or two avenues to precede. One is to request proposals and ask for people who meet your criteria to come forward with proposals as to what land you can purchase. The other way to do it is to make a determination of uniqueness, advertise as the registry allows for public disclosure thirty days before the deal is scheduled to close. This deal is scheduled to close on July 13, 2001. If this goes to the Central Registry tomorrow we will make the deadline. Board of Selectmen Minutes June 4,2001 Page 3 The criteria for uniqueness is: 1. It will protect our drinking water supply since it drains into the Town's sole source of drinking water Lake Cochiewick. 2. Expansion of existing conservation land that it abuts 104 acres of already existing Town owned conservation land and 40 acres of farm land that is permanently protected by a conservation easement. 3. It has uniqueness for its beautiful hill top views. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,that the Board determined that advertising would not benefit a governmental bodies interest because of unique qualities near the location of the property to be acquired because of the following: 1. It will protect our drinking water supply since it drains into the Town's sole source of drinking water Lake Cochiewick. 2. Expansion of existing conservation land that it abuts 104 acres of already existing Town owned conservation land and 40 acres of farm land that is permanently protected by a conservation easement. 3. It has uniqueness for its beautiful hill top views; vote approved 3 — 0. NEW BUSINESS Financial Task Force Appointments. At Town Meeting there was quite a bit of discussion concerning long term financial planning and as part of the negotiations/discussions with the School Committee and Finance Committee the Memorandum of Understanding was passed that all three parties agreed to. The primary purpose was to look at the financial projections of the Finance Director to determine if there is validity to those assumptions and proceed to the next phase of the project to come up with possible resolutions to the anticipated financial needs of the Town. The organization structure for the task force is thirteen members of whom 2 members will be from the Board of Selectmen and one member from the general public, voted by the Board of Selectmen. The Task Force is scheduled to meet in the very near future so a decision on who will serve on the committee needs to be made in a timely fashion. Water and Sewer Abatement/Adjustment Policy. Requests for water and sewer abatements and bill adjustments are usually being handled at the DPW on an administrative level. There should be in place a policy that formalizes how abatements/adjustments are handled and which puts in place an appeals process for those customers who are not satisfied with the decision of the DPW staff. Mark Rees drafted a policy that provides for a three-step process: 1. If a person feels there bill is incorrect,they can go to a staff person at the DPW and it can be handled at that level. If there is a continued disagreement it will be kicked up to the Director of the DPW for a review with a timeline for his response. If there is still a disagreement it would go to a Board consisting of a member of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Director and a member of the public to act as an independent review Board. That Board will make the final determination. There are also provisions that once you have applied for abatement or an adjustment interest will stop accumulating. You also must be current in all your other bills except the one in dispute. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to accept the draft copy of the Policy on the abatement or adjustment of water and sewer charges; vote approved 3 — 0. Future Meeting Schedule. James Xenakis asked if the Board would plan accordingly and submit any vacation time to the Town Manager, as Public Hearings have to be advertised and scheduled. Refuse Collection Contract. The contract to service the Town's waste collection and hauling needs is currently out for bid. These bids have been opened and the following companies have responded: Waste Management, Casella Waste Management Inc./Atlantic Waste Systems North Inc., Browning Ferris Industries and F.W. Russell & Sons Disposal Inc. The lowest bid came in at$463,000. The fiscal year 2002 budget for this service is $360,000,thus presenting the Town with a budget shortfall of$103,000. There is however MRIP grants of Board of Selectmen Minutes June 4,2001 Page 4 $8,000 available to offset this increase cost leaving the Town with a net budget shortfall of$95,000. Town Manager Mark Rees recommends a combination of Options 2 &4. Option 2. Take no current action-The Town could wait until the fall Town Meeting and see if other funds become available to cover the shortfall, i.e. Free Cash,New Growth. This would not be a recommended approach for the fact that this would require us to utilize one-time revenue reserves to fund operating expenditures and this would not be a proactive attempt to solve this problem. Option 4. Fee for service-This would create a revenue stream to cover the additional cost of this contract. There are two possible methods to achieve this goal. a. Pay as you throw-This would involve the use of required bags or stickers for use on trash day. The users would have to purchase these bags or stickers. This option would have a long implementation time and would have an ongoing cost of supplies (bags, stickers). This additional cost would also have to be recovered in the fee,thus requiring a higher fee. b. Set fee per household-This method would require the billing of all locations that receive trash pickup (approx. 6,800). This would have little lead-time and not incur the additional cost of supplies. The cost per household to recover the $95,000 shortfall would estimate to $13.97. This would appear to be the most strait forward approach to address the budget shortfall. William Duffy commented that in Option 4,twice overrides have been argued to avoid trash pickup fees. It would be hard to go back to the voters after substantially increasing taxes to prevent this from happening only to bring it up again. William Duffy stated people have to get serious about fiscal discipline. Rosemary Smedile stated her feeling was Option 2-Take no action and see if we can come up with the money elsewhere. Sam Ameen asked if we could go get other bids and asked how we got into this and could it have been avoided. Mark Rees stated we did receive four bids and Waste Management was the lowest. Sam Ameen stated he could see a 10%to a 15%increase but were there signs that we would have about a 40%increase. Mark Rees stated budgets were put together in May or June and price increases of gas and oil that were not anticipated even 6 months ago to go as high as they have gone. Mark Rees is recommending the Board sign the new contract as there is sufficient funding in the DPW total budget to encumber the funds for this contract. If you don't sign the contract you will not have trash pickup. There is an existing reserve. Rosemary Smedile made a MOTION, seconded by William Duffy,to take no action at this time; vote approved 3-0. Request to Close Town Street(Buckingham Road). Resident Tasha Agreste of 41 Buckingham Road requested permission to have the 5t''annual block party on June 9,200 1, with a rain date of June 10, 2001. They would like to block the road from Buckingham to Chapin Road. William Duffy made a MOTION, seconded by Rosemary Smedile,to approve the block party subject to the Police and Fire Department signing off with their consent; vote approved 3-0. TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT: Mark Rees received notice that construction has started on the GLSD fertilizer plant. One of the seminars the Town Manager attended last week talked about school reimbursement programs and the State reinstituted the program of funding repair work that was not being funded and boiler replacement system in one or the elementary schools could fall under this, Mark will be in touch with the superintendent to file for reimbursement of the replacement boiler. Board of Selectmen Minutes June 4,2001 Page 5 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Rosemary Smedile made a MOTION, seconded by William Duffy,to move into Executive Session to discuss legal matters in regards to Mesiti Development Corporation, Maritimes Pipeline and a new item on the agenda Collective Bargaining; vote approved 3— 0. The Board of Selectmen was individually polled and each voted to move into Executive Session. Chairman Xenakis stated the Board would not be returning to Open Session after the Executive Session. Kathleen O'Neill Administrative Secretary Rosemary Connelly Smedile, Clerk of the Board