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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-12-13 Board of Selectmen Minutes4~_~CEMBER 13, 1982 The Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on this date with all members present except Selectman Graham who was ill. Warrant and minutes approved as submitted. TOWN WARRANT: The Selectmen opened the warrant to receive articles for the Annual Town Meeting on this date and voted to close it on February 14, 1983 INSURANCE RATING: Letter received rating service insurance company advising the Board that the Town's new classification had gone down from 5-C to 4-B which would decrease the protection costs of all Town commercial and residential properties. This decrease in cost will become effective December 1, 1982. The Board voted to accept letter and send copies to Joseph Borgesi, Fire Chief William Dolan and the Insurance Committee. LICENSING - HEARING: 7:30 P.M. - A hearing was held on the application of Donald Christiansen d/b/a The Two Sisters, 200 Sutton Street, to transfer said license to Ralph Pasquale, same address. Affirmative letters were received from Police Chief, Board of Health and the Building Inspector. Mr. Pasquale requested that he be allowed to stay open on Friday nights, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and 6 to 12 on Sundays. It was so voted to transfer the all alcoholic restaurant license to Mr. Pasquale. THE LOFT DECISION: ' The Licensing Board received a letter from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission that their decision was upheld to suspend The Loft liquor license for three days for a violation in October. It was an unanimous vote to suspend' their liquor license three days, December 23-24-26; the owners will be so notified by certified mail. BUTCHER BOY MEAT MARKET, INC. Application received for a Retail Package Goods Store, All Alcoholic license from the Butcher Boy Meat Marktet, Inc, 1077 Osgood Street, Evon Yameen, Manager. They presently hold a wine and beer license. A hearing was set for December 27, 1982, at 7:30 p.m. for the applica- tion. The Board then voted to go back to the .Selectmen's meeting. MILEAGE RATE: The Board voted to increase the mileage rate from 17¢ to 20¢ per mile for employees usin private vehicle for Town business effective, July 1, 1983. This 20¢ rate applies to the first 15,000 miles per year. Thereafter, the ra.~e is~per, mfle~ All Departments and Committees will be so notified. ELDER SERVICES: Let~e~ received ~om ~he Sen~on Cente~ p~ect. He ad%~sed the Bo~d tha~ he had ~so written ~o B~on Matthews ~ regard to this p~ject. NESW C: Brian Sullivan explained that the Town of Boxborough expects to sign up 1500 tons a year but, like other communities, the committmant must wait for Town Meeting action. The Town of North Andover's tonnage is Iow and we have been asked to up our tonnage 1000 tons making a total of 7000 tons. Bud Cyr states this can very easily be done due to his weigh-ins. }Brian reminded the Board that the revenue received is based on the tonnage committed and this should be an incentive to increase the Town's tonnage from 6000 tons to 7000 tons. He also advised that UOP is accepting the fact that Peabody is picking up the tonnage that Amesbury was going to commit. Chairman McEvoy asked Skeets Scanlon if he was at the Amesbury meeting and asked him why Amesbury changed their mind. Skeets said they received a letter from the Town of North Andover giving them the wrong information and when a letter like that is received from the host community, a Town has second thoughts. Chairman McEvoy then asked Bud Cyr, Highway Surveyor, about his thoughts on the increased tonnage and Cyr replied that there would be no problem and went into detail of the trash picked up in Town. Skeets Scanlon also reminded them that the Town had ceased their garbage pick-up and said garbage was being added to everyone's trash. It was voted 4-1 that the Town of North Andover increase their tonnage from 6000 tons to 7000 tons. DiFruscio abstaining. The second motio~ which was to approve an amendment to aliow,,Peabody to pick up Amesbury's tonnage, UOP accepting the liability, was taken under advisement until the next meeting. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Elizabeth Ruben appeared before the Board to discuss the status quo of the Community Development 1980 grant. A request for an extension ha.s been made to HUD which would extend the programito July S1, 198S. Although HUD has not responded to this request, it is expected that HUD will grant the extension. HUD is concerned about the lack of personnel in the C.D. office and has recommended-that the Town advertise for the positidas of Diw~ctor Housing Rehab Specialist and Rehab Housing Agent. Lisa stated that the $61,000 grant might possibly be in jeapordy if the personnel r.ecommended is not hired by th.e Town.. Lisa. proceeded to outline the present grants and thezr status quo. It was voted ~o go aiong,..w_.itn the recommendation but, on the hiring of a proposed consultant, it was voted down., 2 December 13, 1982 (continued) 457 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (Gay~on Osgood) I. ~ (Thomas McEvoy~ A memorandum was sent to the Board of Selectmen from Town Counsel, John J. Willis which suggested a procedure to take regarding complaint from Gayton Osgood of the Selectmen. 9. uote, ,, I have been advised by Town Counsel that Some of the activities of our Board leading up to the action taken on November 18 regarding Mr. Osgeod, may have been technically improper. The meetings which were held were not posted and two of them were not held in a public building. Town Counsel suggests that our Board reconstruct these meetings so that the public would be aware of the discussions involved, the persons present, and what, if any, action was taken. For this purpose therefore, he advises me that ou Board should reconvene a meeting and take whatever action the Board desires with respect to the vote taken on Nov- ember 18." Chairman McEvoy stated that the Board would do what Town Counsel directs very shortly. Lisa then asked the Board to go into executive sessio~ a matter of land · taking. Alice M. Letarte, Secretary ***********************__***** DECEMBER 20, 1982. The Board of Selectmen met on this date for a .hearing,:on~ the C,.ommunity Development Director. The warrant ~as approved as submitted and minutes approved~§ubmitted. . . Chairman MeEvoy opened the meeting by making the 'remark that at the last meeting he had read a letter from Town Counsel that the Selectmen had held two meetings that were against open meeting law. The Chairman stated that he would take full responsibility and that he explain their actions at this meeting. The m~etings had not been posted previous to the meetings and minutes had not been taken. It all started on November 3, when Selectman Joyce, Selectman DiFruscio and Brian Sullivan met in Byron Matthews office ',: The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Town's request for additional funds. At this time, Matthews expressed his concern that the figures for the Senior Center were out of line and he also ex- pressed his concern o~ithe progress of other projects. It was clear from the conversation Secretary Matthews was not going to grant the additional funds requested and indicated that the Town should go back to the drawing board on these projects. Selectman DiFruecio inter- rupted to say that Gayton Osgood, Randy Jones,. Char]esMatsis and Rep. Joe Harmann were in the office building. He stated that Matthews asked if the Board was representing the Tow~ or just a few people, that for the amount of money the Town was spending they could build housing for the Senior Citizens, not a Center. Difruscio asked Matthews if he had a problem with the Town's Community Development Department and Matthews replied that it was not his problem but the Selectmen,s. On November 3rd, Selectman Joyee and DiFruseio met in Select- man Joyee's office to discuss their interpretation of Mr. Matthew's remarks and they both con- eluded that the matter requi~ed immediate attention so they contacted me to meet at 8 a.m. the next morning. DiFruseio interposed saying that Gayton Osgood had been in Selectman Joyce's office prior to his meeting with Joyee. Gayton did not speak to him. We met for coffee and went to Selectman Joyee's office to discuss the results of the meeting with Matthews and agreed to hold a Seleetmen's meeting as soon as possible. DiFruseio said both Ralph Joyce and he offered their offices and his office was chosen. On November 6th, a rreeting was held in Select- man DiFruseio,s office. The meeting was not posted due to an oversight. Ail members were present. No minutes were kept of the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the alternatives available to the Board relative to the Senior Center project in ',dew of Secretary Matthews comments.. There were a few remarks re Gayton Osgood's performance as the C.D. Director but the major topic was the Senior Center. It was agreed to discuss this further with Gayton Osgood to discuss with him the alternatives available to the Board. No further action was taken. On November ?, a meeting was held in the Seleetmen's office with all members present with Gayton Osgcod. As this meeting was set up the day before there wasn't enough time to post it.and no minutes were kept of the meeting. Again the main purpose of the meetin was to discuss the problems of the Senior Center and the alternatives available to the Board. The Board also reviewed the progress of the other C.D. projects and Gayton Osgood's perform. anco. No action or votes were taken. Selectman DiFruscio then stated that afte~ Selectman Graham and Chairman MeEvoy had left this meeting, he personally advised Joyce and Osgood that he wanted Osgood's resignation and if he submitted his resignation he would get letters of recommendation. If no resignation was forthcoming, he wanted the 1980 rehab grants spread for public viewing. Gayton stated that these grants were not for public viewing. DiFruscio stated that he would go to court to make them the public's business, if he had to. Osgood said that he would have to. One of the reasons DiFruseio was concorned about the rehab plan was that the total amount expended, $284,000, $98500 was was spent on overhead and salaries. This was way out of proportion that what it should have been. Ch. MeEvoy stated that on November 11 a meeting was held in the Seleetmen's Office With all members present except Mr. Graham who was on a trip for his company. Also present were Gayton Osgeod and Randy architect . The main object of the meeting was to discuss the alternative of reducing the costs of the Senior Center project. This was the only topic discussed at the meeting. On November 13, we met in Danvers at the MMA meeting and again discussed with See. Matthews the Senior Center project. Matthews expressed again his concern about the cost of the center but said he would come to North Andover to see for himself what could be done. November 15th was the regular Selectmen,s meeting. November 17th , See. Matthews came to North Andover and re- viewed the project site for the Senior Cert~'r and also viewed the other projects in the Town. At that time he informed the Board that ke coul~i not agree to grant additional funds to the Town for the Senior Center project. On Nova~.~ber 18th, the Selectmen met in the Selectmen's Offico. Meeting was posted and minutes ~,~ere kept.