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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-11 Board of Selectmen Minutes k Town of Reading ' Meeting Minutes uadP' Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Board of Selectmen Date: 2014-03-11 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Chairman James Bonazoli, Vice Chairman John Arena, Secretary Ben Tafoya, Daniel Ensminger, Marsie West Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, John Halsey, Virginia Blodget, Patrick Barrett, Bill Brown, Virginia Adams, Nancy Dockser Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary Topics of Discussion: Reports and Comments Selectmen's Liaison Reports and Comments — Marsie West noted that the Zoning Advisory Committee held two different public forums last week. Primary concerns are signage and also the length of time it takes to get something done. There will be a brief update to Town Meeting. She also attended the School Committee meeting last evening. Ben Tafoya thanked the Town Clerk and staff for handling the State Primary Election. John Arena noted that he and Daniel Ensminger interviewed two applicants for the Council on Aging and will be making a recommendation later this evening. Daniel Ensminger noted that he attended the School Committee and there are some developments regarding the early childhood learning center. The recommendation is to site the center in the back parking lot of the High School and there would have to be some relocation of parking and mitigation of storm water issues. The School Committee did not take a vote on that. They will be voting on March 24h and will be seeking either 15% or 40% design funds at the Town Meeting. That will be a $408,000 request. Daniel Ensminger noted that he strongly recommended that they go through a site plan review process. James Bonazoli noted that he also attended last night's School Committee meeting and it was a very good presentation. He feels the Selectmen only need to be involved for the parking. He also noted that the Secretary of Education will be at Coolidge tomorrow. Marsie West noted that the one thing that did not get addressed is that this center will be an addition to the school's operating budget and the question is can we afford it. Page 1 1 Board of Selectmen Minutes—March 11`" 2014—Page 2 Public Comment — Virginia Blodgett noted that the country is celebrating the Civil War 150'h anniversary. The Town is applying for a grant to preserve/repair and new civil war monuments and markers. Matching funds will be needed so they will be doing fundraising. The Cemetery Board voted to install flat markers at no charge for the civil war veterans and that will be considered "in kind funds." Town Manager's Report—The Town Manager gave the following report: Last week during the Town's second and final FYI budget meeting with FINCOM, they asked me for a summary of the items that were not funded in the budget. Please see a 5-page memo near the end of tonight's packet in response. A preview of FY14 budget transfers is shown below. Two items* are as yet undecided. Last night the School Committee met to review School Space options. The figure below is described further in a memo that follows called "Option 2 — Design Advancement to 100% Design Development to provide for building occupancy Fall 2016". Another less expensive option for $440,000 is also viable and being discussed, called "Option 1 — Design Advancement to 100% Design Development to provide for building occupancy Spring 2017". The School Committee will vote on a site choice on March 24`h and FINCOM will vote these budget transfers on March 26`h. In terms of process, we are open to have Special Town Meetings and Elections as needed. We believe we can combine an Election with ones already scheduled for next fall, and have a call in to the State Elections division to confirm — we would need to hold two elections on the same day. General Fund—Wages and Expenses Account Line Description Decrease Increase B99 Benefits Health Insurance-$250,000 $300,000 Worker Compensation-$50,000 C99 Capital School space design $880.000* $845,000 Safety nets for tennis courts$15,000 Parking lot repairs-$50,000 E99 Vocational School Minuteman enrollment higher than budgeted $ 15,000 education G91 Town Admin. wages Pay&class Nov. TM funding (not used)-$40,000 $ 50,000 Vacant positions-$30,000 Special Election poll workers$20,000 G92 — Town Admin. Laptop upgrades for Police cruisers$10,000 $16,800 Expenses Police assessment center new hires $6,800 M92 Public Works Fuel-$20,000 $ 30,000 Expenses Pothole repairs&skim coating +$50,000 M93 Public Works Snow As of 3/12/14 approximately $1.1 mil. spent ($625k $475,000* & Ice budget; $475k deficit M94 Public Works Street $ 50,000 Lights M95 Public Works 1 ,000 Page 1 2 Rubbish N91 — Public Safety Fire Overtime$100,00 $100,000 Wages N92 — Pubic Safety Police Academy tuitions (2) — reimbursed by employees $ 17,000 Expenses directly to the General Fund$7,000 New police officer(2)—uniforms&gear$10,000 Subtotals $500,000 $1,498,800 Net Operating Expenses $998,800 From Free Cash $998,800 Personnel and Appointments Council on Aging—Daniel Ensminger noted they interviewed two qualified candidates. A motion by Ensminger seconded by Tafova to confirm the recommendation of the Volunteer Appointment Subcommittee to appoint Sandra Shaffer to the Council on Acing with a term expiring June 30, 2014 was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Discussion/Action Items Town Account Report — Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom handed out a revenue report. For year to date we are at 73% in the general fund. We are little behind on the excise tax revenues because the bills were sent out at the end of January. State aid is at 68% because we receive it monthly now instead of quarterly. The audit report is done and they will be coming in before the Board to give their report. Gail LaPointe did a great job while she was out on maternity leave and Gail will also be doing the upgrade in Munis. An evaluation of the OPEB account was done and was very favorable. Appoint Town Accountant — A motion by Tafova seconded by West to appoint Sharon Angstrom as Town Accountant effective April 1, 2014 with a term expiring June 30 2015 or until a successor is named was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Hearing—Removal of Public Tree at 162 Walnut Street—The Secretary read the hearing notice. The Town Manager noted that Walnut Street is a scenic road. If the Board rules to take the tree down we need to request the permission from CPDC because it is a scenic way. Tree Warden Bob Keating noted the homeowner is requesting the tree be removed because it is damaging the wall. He noted the tree is very healthy and represents no hazard to the public way. There are numerous trees planted on both sides of Walnut Street. The tree is not a hazard so he denied the removal. Marsie West noted she took a walk down the street and it doesn't look like the tree is the cause of the wall damage. There is damage to the wall not near the trees. John Arena asked the age of the tree and Mr. Keating indicated approximately 25 — 30 years. John Arena asked how much in the public way it is and Mr. Keating noted it is entirely in the public way. Page 1 3 Board of Selectmen Minutes—March II'h, 2014—Page 4 Grace Fitzpatrick, owner of the property, noted that she did not put the stonewall in. The wall is in disrepair. She is looking at options to repair the wall and of all the trees near the wall; that one is very close and the roots are buried underneath it. She talked with several masons and they felt it would be invasive on their wall. Alicia Fitzpatrick noted that particular tree is the biggest one and the closest. The cement is falling out behind it. She noted that this is a retaining wall that helps their foundation. She noted this is a Norway Maple and the State of Massachusetts has banned these from being planted because the seeds spread rapidly and destroy our native forest. This tree has two very long tree routes growing on either side of the tree and is expected to grow even larger. The Town Manager asked Alicia Fitzpatrick to clarify that they want the tree removed, but the stump left there to retain the wall. Ms. Fitzpatrick noted that she wants the tree removed down to a stump and the roots will turn to dirt. James Bonazoli asked if the retaining wall is their property line and everything else is the public way? How do we delineate public way versus private way. Mr. Keating indicated you have to call the surveyors in. Town Engineer George Zambouras noted the property goes down the wall. The wall was built by the home owner because the same construction of the wall returns into their walkway going back to the house. Alicia Fitzpatrick noted that the surveyors indicated the stone wall is on her property. John Arena indicated he sympathizes with the homeowner and inclined to approve the request. A motion by Tafova seconded by West to close the hearine on the request for removal of a public tree at 162 Walnut Street was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Marsie West indicated she is worried about setting a precedent. Ben Tafoya suggested they plant a tree elsewhere as close to the street as possible and have the Tree Warden determine the location. George Zambouras noted that they cannot repair or replace the wall without going to CPDC because it is a scenic way. Ensmineer moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the removal of the public tree at 162 Walnut Street. Tafova amended the motion to require the owner to plant a tree alone the public way subiect to CPDC approval. Bob Keating noted it would be better to have the money ($300) go into the tree fund instead of planting a tree at that location. The motion to approve the removal of the public tree at 162 Walnut Street with the requirement that the homeowner donate $300 to the Town's tree fund to plant a tree elsewhere was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Grace Fitzpatrick indicated paying$300 was ludicrous and left the room. MWRA Update — Fred Lasky, Executive Director of the MWRA, Patrick Barrett Project Engineer for the Reading/Stoneham project, Mark Johnson and Jeff McLaughlin were present. Page 1 4 Board of Selectmen Minutes—March 11", 2014—Page 5 Fred Lasky noted that the MWRA has one of the greatest water systems ever constructed in this country. The water meeting the federal water standards at the source itself and it is 85% gravity fed. They have over six years of storage in the Quabbin and Wauchusett reservoirs. They use ozone and ultraviolet light disinfection instead of chlorine. They have six covered storage tanks. There is a need for redundancy in the northern intermediate high which includes Reading. There is a lack of pumping to the north also. The pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes have metal bands that are corroding. They plan on creating a loop from Stoneham. The original loop plan involved ledge so they looked at another route down West Street and Summer Avenue and that is the route they will use. John Arena asked where the shut off valves are and Fred Lasky indicated at Mishawaum and Lynch Park. Ben Tafoya asked what condition the road will be in when they are done and Fred Lasky indicated they have a history of leaving it better than when they got there. Ben Tafoya noted that a lot of money has been spent on Summer Avenue to bring it up to standard. The Town Manager noted this is built into the agreement with the MWRA. The Town requested redundancy. Fred Lasky noted that they are looking for locations for water storage tanks. They would like the Town to consider the 1-93/128 clover leave. They are also interested in the Bear Hill location. Storage tanks are a necessity for a good water system. Ben Tafoya noted that pumping is an alternative to storage tanks. Mr. Lasky agreed but noted that the pressure is not steady with pumping and emergency generators are needed in case power is lost. Mr. Lasky noted they have emergency response plans including mobile disinfection, mobile pumps, and repair parts on hand. They are building a new covered storage tank in Stoneham. Mr. Lasky indicated their goal is to have 3 —4% increases each year if possible. The Town Manager asked about North Reading's interest in joining the MWRA and Mr. Lasky indicated they have some work to do in order for that to happen and they hope to run the water through Reading. They are still a couple of years out on that. Ben Tafoya noted that the Town of Reading is making plans to upgrade the water pipes up Main Street. It looks like some opportunities for comprehensive planning of everyone's needs so it will have a less of an impact in the long-term on the community. Mr. Lasky indicated that a lot of issues need to be vetted and discussions are underway with North Reading. Public Works Site Update — Public Works Director Jeff Zager introduced Michael Hicks from Weston and Sampson. Michael Hicks noted that they started the process in early December 2013 and have developed conceptual plans. Major deficiencies at the current garage are major vehicular circulation conflicts; public access into the core facility; inadequate vehicle maintenance shop, inadequate warm vehicle equipment storage; inadequate employee facilities; no indoor vehicle wash bay and Page 1 5 Board of Selectmen Minutes—March 11` . 2014—Pyge 6 inadequate salt storage. Other deficiencies include no room for Cemetery Division; the fueling system is outdated; the facility vehicle doors are too narrow; the trade shops are in locations that are too high and there is inadequate cold storage. Potential sites for new structures include the Strout Avenue Compost Facility but there is a significant amount of wetlands and this area is a heavy recreational use. They also looked at the Laurel Hill Cemetery Maintenance Facility site, but the site is sloped and it would be more advantageous to move them to a consolidated site. One concept plan is to move the existing vehicle maintenance to where the trade shops now exist. Then move the trade shops to where vehicle maintenance is and extend that facility to hour the cemetery shop equipment. Update the existing employee facilities with a better break room. Take a portion of the warm vehicle storage and create a warm wash bay segregated from the vehicle storage itself; increase the width of the vehicle doors; extend the garage to get more vehicles in; create a knock down pad(pre-vehicle wash) and build a new larger salt shed. The major move would be to build a new two story building for administration and recycling; and a new employee public parking area. The overall concept plan is for renovation and new construction. He hopes to have more detailed plans available next week to go over with staff and get back to the Board with a report. John Arena indicated it looks like the expansion is 30%. He asked if there are any wetland issues and Mr. Hicks indicated none that he was aware of. Ben Tafoya asked how much capacity we have to grow and Mr. Hicks indicated he wasn't sure of how much additional expansion could be done. George Zambouras noted that the wetlands issue has to be looked into. The Town Manager noted that this is the least intrusive plan on neighborhoods. For this project we can do a modular solution and do a little each year as a practical matter. This is a nice concept. Bill Brown noted that they didn't look at the Forest Glen site and according to the Charter the Cemetery Division is not part of DPW. He reviewed a site model for Forest Glen. He noted that all four cemeteries are off of the Town square. George Zambouras noted that the contract with Weston and Sampson has two tasks. The first task was to analyze two sites for the cemetery and the other was to deal with the DPW and the maintenance facility. Approval of Minutes A motion by Tafoya seconded by West to approve the minutes of February 25, 2014 as amended was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Page 1 6 Board of Selectmen Minutes—March 11`", 2014—Page 7 A. motion by Tafova seconded by West to approve the Executive Session minutes of February 11, 2014 as written was approved on a roll call vote with West, Bonazoli, Arena and Ensminger voting in the affirmative and Tafoya abstaining. A motion by West seconded by Tafova to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 p.m. was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. R pectfully submitted, G�iruLt' (� Secretary Page 17