1997-03-26 Board of Selectmen Minutes

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Board of Selectmen Meeting March 26, 1997 The meeting was convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman George Hines, Secretary Bruce MacDonald, Selectmen Dan Ensminger and Sally Hoyt, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, and the - following list of interested parties: Nancy Eaton, Stephen Crook, Kim Honschlager, Jill Flyer, Bob Brown, Jim Keigley, Bill Brown. Approval of Minutes On motion by Hoyt seconded by MacDonald, the Board voted to approve the minutes of February 18, 1997 by a vote of 4-0-0. 'Reports and Comments Selectmen's Liaison Resorts and Comments - Sally Hoyt offered congratulations to the candidates who were elected, and thanks to those who ran. She reported that the Marzilli bill has been referred to committee and the other bill to abolish Middlesex County has been reported out of subcommittee. She feels that we can anticipate that County Government will be abolished by July 1, 1997. Middlesex County will be a model to be followed for other situations within the State. Bruce MacDonald reported that the Police Station Building Committee met on Wednesday night after the Finance Committee. They supported Article 15 to hire an architect for the Police Station. He reported that the Board of Selectmen had met with the Cable TV Advisory Committee in a public hearing on Thursday night. He has a lot of frustration because the great volunteers and good local programming that we do does not have the backing of an appropriately equipped studio. He thanked the Cable TV Committee for the hard work that they do. He was disappointed in the poor turnout on Election Day and thinks we should look at changing the date of elections for local office. Dan Ensminger reported on the Reading Business Park Task Force. There will be discussion later on the Agenda. With regard to informal polling of Town Meeting Members on the Police Station site, he feels that all three options have support and that there is no clear leading proposal. George Hines noted that he was disappointed in yesterday's election with respect to the low voter turnout. The lack of candidates for Town Meeting seats was very frustrating. He felt that the Board would appreciate any feedback on this issue from the public. He asked the Town Manager to look at where Reading's Local Election stands with respect to other communities. He noted that we have a lack of volunteer groups who take good civic government seriously -- like the League of Women Voters and the Jaycees. As an additional item, he suggested that when the Board of Selectmen interview potential appointees to Boards, Committees and Commissions, one standard question should be the question of accessibility; i.e., do they have a listed phone number.