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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-04-11 Adjourned Annual Town Meeting Minutes1 a'� ADJOURNED ANNUAL TOWN MEETING FIRST BUSINESS SESSION Reading Memorial High School April 11, 1983 The meeting was called to order by the Moderator, John W. Faria, at 8:00 P.M., there being a quorum present. The invocation was given by the Rev. David W. Reid of the First Baptist Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. The oath of office was administered to the newly elected Town Meeting members by the Moderator. The Warrant was partially read by the Town Clerk, when on motion of John H. Russell it was voted to dispense with further reading of the Warrant except the Officer's Return which was then read by the Town Clerk. ARTICLE 2. The following State of the Town address was presented by John H. Russell and was accepted as a report of progress. State of the Town As we once again begin our Annual Town Meeting, I would like to share with you, on behalf of the Board of Selectmen, a review of our activities over the past year and our view of the state of the Town. In March of 1982, the Board of Selectmen expanded from three to five members. The practice of assigning selectman liasons to major boards and committees was continued. The five - member Board reduced the number of assignments per member and allowed increased attention to each assignment. In my opinion the five - member Board has worked well. While local editorial opinion disagrees and while the two selectmen who served on the previous three -man Board might not admit it, I feel that the inherent advantages of a five - member Board such as broader representation and a wider viewpoint were achieved with no loss in efficiency. Except in times of peak activity, the regular Selectmen's meetings were reduced from twice to once a week. This year, we had a four -man race for two seats on the Board which shows that there is interest in serving on the five -man Board -- an interest which was not evident in many of the uncontested town -wide and town meeting races. In spite of the Selectman's race and a very intense contest for a Board of Health seat, once again voter apathy prevailed and only 16% of the registered voters bothered to vote. Fortunately, this attitude did not extend to the many citizens who volunteered to serve on the Town's numerous appointed committees. In most instances, there have been more volunteers than open positions available. To help sustain this interest, the Board of Selectmen has adopted a policy of appointing associate members to those boards and committees where the additional citizen time and talent offered can be put to good use. The Board issued the usual number of licenses and permits during the past year. More significant was the rescinding of several temporary licenses for video ganes and the establishment of a policy to prohibit coin - operated video games in public establishments. This action, which is still being challenged in the courts, was in response to parental concern that public video games presented an unnecessary temptation for our children to waste large amounts of time and money. Last Fall, the Town's Affirmative Action Program was approved by the State. This action cleared the way for Reading to reaceive more than 1 million dollars in reimbursement for the water treatment plant expansion and preserves our eligibility for future State and Federal grants and reimbursements. In the Fall of 1982, the Town's new data processing equipment was installed under the watchful eye of the Data Processing Committee. The Selectmen appointed Beth Klepeis as the Data Processing Coordinator and formed a Data Processing Advisory Board made up of representatives of all the user departments. The data processing installation is now operational and is currently handling the payroll and accounts payable for both the Town and the schools and the collection of Motor Vehicle Excise tax bills. By the end of June, the Town Accountant's general ledger, the Town Clerk's voter registration and census records and the B.P.W.'s water and sewer billing function will be added. During the summer, the Assessors' records will be added and next Fall's tax bills will be processed by the Town's equipment. At the present time, more than 4200 homes (about 54% of the Town) have been hooked up to the new cable TV system and have enjoyed the start of local access broadcasting -) -! A .i - 1 Adjourned Annual Town Meeting April 11, 1983 including such public affairs features as the "Our Town" series, Candidates' Night, and the televising of Town Meeting. Public reaction to these features has been most positive. The Cable TV advisory Committee was reorganized and revitalized furing 1982. In cooperation with Continental Cablevision, they are working toward increasing the number of trained volunteers to allow the expansion of local access programming to include coverage of major board and committee meetings, public hearings, local sports events and other happenings of community interest. The conversion of the Highland School to the new library proceeded smoothly through the design, bidding, and contract award stages under the guidance of the Highland School Building Committee. Actual conversion started last week and it is anticipated that the new library will be opened for business by the end of this year or very early in 1984. Also during the past year, Peter Sanborn Place, an elderly housing development of 73 units, was constructed off Bay State Road under the leadership of the Congregational Church. This new complex augments housing already available in Cedar Glen and at Tannerville for Reading's senior citizens. During the last year, Reading was shocked and saddened by an unusually high number of accidental deaths among our young people. In order to do more to instill good safety practices in our youth and, indeed, in citizens of all ages, the Board of Selectmen has recently established a safety awareness committee. The charge of this committee is to coordinate safety education and awareness efforts on a town -wide basis and to initiate new approaches and activities to enhance our current safety programs. In September of 1982, the use of civilian dispatchers was initiated in the Fire Department. This has had and will continue to have a significant impact in reducing Fire Department overtime while allowing better utilization of trained firefighters. Labor contracts for all the Town unions, with the exception of the newly- formed Town Hall clerical union and the D.P.W. engineers' union, have been negotiated and are in effect for fiscal years 1983 and 1984. Hopefully, agreement will soon be reached with the two new unions. From this review of the activities over the last year, we have a picture of a town where government is working well -- not perfectly, but well. There are, however, several concerns facing the Town which I hope you will keep in mind as we proceed to do Town Meeting's business. The financial state of the Town is solvent as we approach the end of fiscal year 183. Thanks to the wisdom of Town Meeting in adding to the stabilization fund in 1981, we should also be in reasonably good shape at the end of fiscal 184. However, we cannot continue to give six or seven percent raises, purchase present levels of equipment and services, and pay the ever - increasing "fixed" obligations of medical benefits, indemnification, retirements, etc., and stay within the restrictions of Proposition 254. The Town faces some hard decisions in fiscal 185 and beyond. Town Meeting must be prepared to set priorities on the many Town services currently offered and decide which ones are to be maintained, which ones must be reduced, and which ones must be eliminated completely. The Board of Selectmen, the other Town boards, and the FinCom will make recommendations but it will be up to Town Meeting to say which way the Town will go. What Town Meeting does, in a large part, affects the character of the Town. Back in 1976, the Growth and Development Policy Committee defined the character of Reading as "...an attractive, moderately populated, primarily residential community with adequate open space, sufficient services, voluntary and open government, good schools, broad social and athletic activities, minimum industry, and well - maintained homes ... in general, an attractive place to live... ". Although this picture is, for the most part, still accurate, the Town is changing, in spite of all our past actions to maintain the status quo. The FinCom Report contains some demographics which indicate several areas of change -- fewer children, more elderly, for instance. We are tending to become a more middle -aged, slightly more affluent community. This Town Meeting has some choices to make which will affect the future character of the Town, and they should be considered in that light. Your actions on the Zoning By -law Articles will directly or indirectly affect the ability of the young and the elderly to remain in Reading. Your actions on the Articles relating to the sale or use of Town buildings and land may affect the ability to provide services in the future. The space for Town Government is a particularly thorny problem which will not only require close cooperation between the Town boards but also patience and wisdom on the part of Town Meeting. In all of these questions, there are no right or wrong answers. From a number of alternatives, intelligent choices must be made. And finally, I would like to comment on the state of Town Meeting itself. Town Meeting has become long and gruelling. Numerous procedural changes have been suggested to streamline it, some of which will be acted on by this session. I feel that in addition to procedural changes a change in attitude would go a long way in improving the process. Adjourned Annual Town Meeting April 11, 1983 i i J We should keep reminding ourselves that Town Meeting is the legislative branch of Town govermmnent and as such, is concerned with setting broad policy, enacting by -laws, and setting the budget. We should not get bogged down in implementation details which should be left to the Town boards and committees. We should all come prepared -- both the boards and Town Meeting members: the boards, to make clear, complete presentations of the issues; and Town Meeting members, to make brief, clear, and thoughtful statements of their views. In this way, the number of questions needed for the clarification of issues or the education of unprepared Town Meeting members will be reduced. We should not limit debate, but debate should be restricted to the real issue at hand. And lastly, we should all remember that everyone here is doing his best to serve the Town. If we approach the issues in a friendly, cooperative, and businesslike manner -- if we maintain a sense of purpose, a sense of neighborliness, and, above all, a sense of humor -- then Reading's Town Meeting may continue to survive as an example of, to quote de Tocqueville, "the purest form of democracy ". John H. Russell Chairman, Board of Selectmen ARTICLE 2. On motion of John H. Russell it was voted to lay Article 2 on the table. ARTICLE 3. On motion of John H. Russell it was voted to lay Article 3 on the table. ARTICLE 4. On motion of Paul C. Dustin it was voted that the sum of Four Hundred Dollars ($400) be raised from the tax levy and appropriated for the care and lighting of the Old South Clock. ARTICLE 5. On motion of Robert I. Nordstrand it was voted that Article 5 be indefinitely postponed. ARTICLE 6. On motion of Elizabeth W. Klepeis it was voted that the Town authorize the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of the revenue of the Financial year beginning July 1, 1983, in accordance with the provisions of the General Laws, Chapter 44, Section 4, and to issue a note or notes therefor, payable within one year, and to renew any note or notes as may be given for a period of less than one year in accordance with the General Laws, Chapter 44, Section 17. ARTICLE 7. On motion of Paul C. Dustin it was voted that Article 7 be indefinitely postponed. ARTICLE 8. On motion of Stanley M. Nissen as amended by William C. Brown it was voted to amend Article I of the General By -Laws by amending Section 2 and Section 4 by changing the meeting time from 8:00 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. in three places, so that Section 2 shall read in part as follows: "Section 2. All business of the Annual Town Meeting, except the election of such officers and the determination of such matters as required by law to be elected or determined by ballot, shall be considered at an adjournment of such meeting to be held at 7:30 P.M. on the second Monday in April except if this day shall fall on a legal holiday... ". and so Section 4 shall read as follows: "Section 4. Adjourned sessions of every Annual Town Meeting, after the first such adjourned session provided for in Section 2 of this Article, and all sessions of every subsequent Town Meeting, shall be held on the following Thursday at 7:30 P.M. and then on the following Monday at 7:30 P.M. and on consecutive Mondays and Thursdays unless a resolution to adjourn to another time is adopted by a majority vote of the Town Meeting Members present and voting." ARTICLE 9. On motion of George A. Theophanis it was voted that the Town vote to amend Article II of the General By -Laws by adding a new section 9 as follows: "Section 9. The Town Meeting members and Town Meeting members elect from each precinct shall hold an annual precinct meeting after the annual Town elections but before the convening of the business sessions of the Annual Town Meeting. The purpose of the meeting shall be the election of a chairman and a clerk and to conduct whatever business may be appropriate. Chairmen shall serve no more than six consecutive years in that position. Additional precinct meetings may be called by the chairman or by a petition of six Town Meeting members of the precinct. 91 voted in the affirmative 43 voted in the negative Al Adjourned Annual Town Meeting April 11, 1983 ARTICLE 10. On motion of Bayard R. Lincoln it was voted to postpone Personnel Board Articles 10 through 17 to the first Thursday at Town Meeting immediately following the Special Town Meeting, so that Personnel Board Chairman, John Castellano, may present the Articles. ARTICLE 18. On motion of John H. Russell it was voted that Articles 18 and 19 and Article 32 be discussed together. He moved that Article 32 be taken up in advance to be discussed along with Articles 18 and 19 as all three Articles are on the same general subject. ARTICLE 18. John H. Russell moved that the Town authorize the Board of Selectmen to enter into a long term lease and /or sell the Reading Railroad Depot and its land consisting of 3.04 acres either in whole or in part, upon such terms and conditions as the Board of Selectmen feels is in the best interest of the Town excepting that in the event of a sale the Town set a minimum sales price of Eighty -Five Thousand Dollars ($85,000). Said land is described as Parcel 1 in deed recorded in the Middlesex South Deeds Book 9713, Page 551, bounded and described as follows: PARCEL 1. The land with the building thereon, situated in Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, bounded and described as follows: beginning at a stone bound at the intersection of the Southeasterly side line of Woburn Street and the Northeasterly side line of Lincoln Street thence North 68 degrees 24' 00" East, a distance of one hundred fifty and thirty eight hundredths (150.38) feet to a point; thence turning and running South 47 degrees 00' 00" East along the side line of High Street, a distance of one thousand one hundred fif ty five and eighty -five hundredths (1,155.85) feet to a point at the intersection of High Street and Washington Street; thence turning and running North 86 degrees 05' 20" West along the side line of Washington Street to a point; thence turning and running North 47 degrees 00' 00" West along the side line of Lincoln Street, a distance of five hundred seventy -five and four hundredths (575.04) feet to a point; thence North 53 degrees 14' 44" West, still along the side line of Lincoln Street, a distance of two hundred seventy -four and no hundredths (274.00) feet to the point of beginning of this description. Said above - described parcel contains three and four hundredths (3.04) acres, more or less. ARTICLE 18. On motion of Nils L. Nordberg it was voted to lay Article 18 on the table. ARTICLE 19. On motion of Nils L. Nordberg it was voted to lay Article 19 on the table. ARTICLE 32. On motion of Nils L. Nordberg it was voted to lay Article 32 on the table. ARTICLE 20. Gerald A. Fiore requested permission to discuss Articles 20 and 21 in unison. ARTICLE 20. On motion of Gerald A.Fiore it was voted that the Town authorize the Moderator to appoint a Town -wide Space Committee. Said Committee should consist of one representative each from the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and the Board of Public Works with a liabon from the Finance Committee. Said Committee to present its action plan to the Fall Town Meeting. ARTICLE 21. Gerald A. Fiore moved that the Town transfer from free cash the sum of Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000) for the Town -wide Space Committee. Said sum to be utilized to engage a professional consultant to assist the Town Space Committee in developing an action plan for the Fall Town Meeting. Article 21 was voted in the negative. ARTICLE 22. William C. Brown moved to rescind action taken under Article 28 of the adjourned Annual Town Meeting of April 23, 1981 by deleting the sentence of section 11 of Article III of the General By Laws that reads "No funds may be appropriated for any capital item unless such item is included in the Capitol Outlay Plan and is scheduled for funding in the fiscal year in which the appropriation is to be made." ARTICLE 22. On motion of Stanley M. Nissen it was voted to lay Article 22 on the table. ARTICLE 23. On motion of Gerald A. Fiore it was voted that the Capital Outlay Plan, as provided for in Article III, Section 11 of the By -Laws of the Town, as adopted at the subsequent Town Meeting of November, 1982, be amended as follows: Reduce FY 84 As Noted: Public Works Roadway Reconstruction 219.0 Equipment Replacement 132.0 Parks & Playgrounds 25.5 117 Adjourned Annual Town Meeting April 11, 1983 Sidewalk Construction 11.0 Street Betterments 17.7 Increase FY 84 As Noted: Schools Roof Replacement 47.9 Delete FY 84 As Noted: Schools Chapter 504 10.0 114 Energy Related 50.0 Oil Burner Replacements 36.0 Bobcat Replacement 13.5 Boiler Replacement 40.0 Central Office Relocation 50.0 Athletic Storage Building 10.0 Educational Equipment Replacement 12.0 Fire Department Refurbish Engine #1 20.0 Council on Aging New Van 15.0 ARTICLE 24. On motion of Henry A. Higgott it was voted to postpone Article 24 until after the Personnel Articles which were postponed until April 14, 1983. ARTICLE 25. On motion of Maureen T. O'Brien it was voted that Article 25 be indefinitely postponed. ARTICLE 26. On motion of John H. Russell it was voted that the sum of Three Thousand Two Hundred Fifteen Dollars ($3,215) be raised from the tax levy and appropriated to the Building Maintenance Department for the purpose of maintaining the old Library and E, its grounds including if necessary "mothballing" the building. ARTICLE 27. Maureen T. O'Brien moved that the Town establish a system of parking fees for those cars parked on Town owned land bordered by High St., Lincoln St., Washington Street and including Lot 51 shown on the Assessor's plans on Plat 63 commonly known as the Depot Parking Lot and for cars parked on High St., Lincoln., Washington St., Chute St. and Woburn St: and that the sum of Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000) be raised from the tax levy and appropriated for materials necessary to implement these fees. ARTICLE 27. On motion of John H. Russell it was voted to lay Article 27 on the table. ARTICLE 28. Maureen T. O'Brien requested permission to discuss Articles 28, 29 and 30 simultaneously. On motion of Barry J. Mitchel it was voted that this meeting stand adjourned to meet in Reading Memorial High School on Thursday, April 14, 1983, following the close of the Special Town Meeting scheduled for 8:00 o'clock on this date. Meeting adjourned at 10:20 P.M. 15-5 Town Meeting members were present. A true copy. Attest: Lawrence Drew Town Clerk