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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-02-03 Board of Selectmen Minutes O� OFR ' Town of Reading b Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Board of Selectmen Date: 2015-02-03 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Chairman John Arena, Vice Chair Marsie K. West, and members Daniel Ensminger, John R. Halsey, and Kevin Sexton (remotely). Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Town Engineer George Zambouras, RMLB Members Dave Talbot, Phil Pacino, Thomas O'Rourke, and John Stempeck (remotely), Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders, residents John Segalla, Helen Lefavour, Kevin Oldoni, Paul Doucette, Damtan Dell'Anno, Lawrence Powell, Sue Kneeland, Gloria Hulse, Eric Hughes, Ann Greenwood, Sidney Chabane, John Romano, Andy Murphy, Bill Andrews, Maria Cervone, Dan Fantasia, Anthony Turvey, John Green, Nick Diranian, Mark Connolly, Andrea Hogan, Allison and Pat McGonagle, John Kilban,-Paul Viliott, Farid Fuleihan, Brian Hanley, Mona DeAngeso, Steve Sliwoski, Giorgio Fiorenza, Stephen Herrick, Karen Herrick, Amy Carroll, Billy Carroll Jr, Lisa Carroll, William Carroll, Martha Moore, Robert Bent, Scott Berger, Bruce Mackenzie, Jeannette Vigorito, Nanette Matrullo, Tony D'Arezzo, Joe Skinner, Daniel Aretusi, Austin Sharpe, Mark Bouyer. Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary Daniel Ensminger Topics of Discussion: Reports and Comments Selectmen's Liaison Reports and Comments.- Kevin Sexton said he attended the Emergency Management meeting with Bob and wanted to note what a great team we have in town and how well prepared we were for the storms. He was very impressed with everyone behind the scenes making sure the roads were safe and clean. The amount of snow we have gotten is unreal and DPW is doing an awesome job with what they have to work with. Dan Ensminger noted he is the BOS seat for the hiring of the Administrative Services Director position. He said they have received a lot of resumes and the next step is bringing in candidates for interviews. He also wanted to mention Dick Howard passed away from Cancer. He was a Charter member of the CPDC for 20 years and will be dearly missed. John Arena said he attended the School Committee meeting on January 26th. He asked the School Committee to work together with the BOS to look at common efficiency or saving opportunities in legal, technology, administrative and similar functions where schools and town today manage independent staffing. He believes it's worth a review as our budgets come under increased pressure. He thanked the School Committee for publishing their Munis budget data to baseline the Superintendent's budget report. Page 1 1 Board of Selectmen Minutes - February 3, 2015 - gage 2 Town Manager's Report - Mr. LeLacheur would like to advise the community to be good neighbors and shovel their sidewalks and fire hydrants. He also said please keep an eye on neighbors who may need assistance. Watch for kids behind the ginormous snow banks we have all around town. He noted it is important to the town to understand DPW works around the clock during storms usually doing 35-40 hour shifts so please be patient they are doing the best they can but we are just running out of places to put all the snow. The town is starting snow removal tonight. Mr. LeLacheur also stated he will be stepping out of the meeting for the discussion on private roadways because he lives on one. E Discussion/ Action Items Morton Field Improvements =Mr. Halsey noted there is a need for a backstop and handicap seating. The whole project should be around $30,000 and they have about $20,000 and are x doing a lot of fundraising. The dugout plan has been approved. There are plans to honor Sully Moscariello who passed away. He and his wife came to the ballpark for years and the . community would like to honor them with a plaque on the handicap seats. Mr. Halsey noted a lot of the improvements have been privately donated because people love to give back for - the love of the sport. They have raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars total now. s Reading Memorial Light Board to appoint new member - Chairman Dave Talbot called the RMLB to order at 7:25PM. He noted they only had one applicant for the position and his name is Dave Hennessy. Ms. West wanted to know why they need to fill the position right now when there is a local election so close? Mr. Pacino noted it has been hard getting a quorum lately and we have pressing issues that need to be addressed so they would like to appoint someone so they 1 can start attending those matters. fi The qualified applicant Dave Hennessy told us about himself. He lives on Pine Ridge Road and has been interested in being involved with the town and would like to support our great municipality. He has had a lot of volunteer/board work in the past and has also been 1. ' President of an HR council. k Mr. Talbot asked Mr. Hennessy if he has had any experience with bringing boards together? Mr. Hennessy said not specifically boards but he has had work experience were his role is bringing people together to make teams to work together. 3 � Mr. Ensminger asked Mr. Hennessy if he has intentions to take out papers? He responded saying he already has and is now in the process of gathering signatures. I Mr. O'Rourke said he knows Dave and knows he has been looking for ways to participate in town. He has great career experience, is a good facilitator and is a strong leader in his opinion. Mr. Arena stated the board needs formalized integration skills and need to remember that you are there to do what's best for the voters. In his opinion Mr. Hennessy's skill set will be i good for this position. r Mr. Stempack noted Mr. Hennessy's impressive resume and thinks he has a great skill set that will be an asset to the board. Mr. Sexton asked if Mr. Hennessy is okay with the time constraints this position requires? Mr. Hennessy said yes, he is aware of the time commitments and is fine with it and does not } travel for work. Page 2 Board of Selectmen Minutes - February 3, 2015 - page 3 Phil Pacino made a motion to move that the Board of Selectmen and Reading Municipal Light Board appoint David R. Hennessy to one Position on the Reading Municipal Light Board with a term expiring April 7, 2018, seconded by Dan Ensminger and approved with the following roll call vote: Ensminger - Yes, Sexton - Yes, Halsey - Yes, West - Yes, Arena - Yes, Pacino - Yes, Stempack - Yes, O'Rourke - Yes, Talbot - Yes The Reading Memorial Light Board adjourned and left at 7:40 PM. Private/Public Road Discussion --Mr. Arena stated he is surprised by the number of roads that are not public roadways. -Town Engineer George Zambuoras was present to give a quick presentation to explain this private vs. public roads. He noted there are about 80 roadways that are private and about 60 will be covered in this discussion. The remainder are larger complexes like Johnson Woods and Reading Woods and most of those will most likely remain private. Most of the roads being discussed are every day roads that people use. Private roads can exist for a number of reasons including: intent of the developer, incomplete work, desire of residents, or acceptance process was simply not completed. Who initiates public road process? Typically it is the developer upon completion, a resident petition, or the town's initiative. Mr. Zambouras said he categorized the private roads into 6 categories being 1. Completed roads - final steps not accepted 2. Incomplete roads - bonds in place for work; bonds may be insufficient 3. Older roadways - reasons unknown for non-acceptance 4. Roads intended to be private - residents want public 5. Roads private - residents want private but town wants public 6. Small developments Each category has different process/ steps to be taken to be a public road. Category 1 starts with an acceptance plan. Then CPDC must recommend that acceptance plan to the BOS. BOS will then hold a public hearing and vote for intent for Town Meeting. Then it will go to Town meeting and they will vote. After that it will go back to the BOS and they will hold another public hearing and then do an order of taking. Category 2 is when there is an existing bond, CPDC will seize the bond and then usually DPW will complete the work. Then there needs to be an acceptance plan and from there the process is the same as category 1. Mr. Arena asked what is the time frame for a road to go through this process? Mr. Zambouras stated it depends on legal issues, some could be as quick as two months and some could take over six months. Categories 3-6, which are where most of the roads fall into, first, need to determine if the residents want a public road. The residents can start a petition with signatures of the residents in favor of being a public road. Then the BOS will authorize the project. After that the town will do an assessment of the road to develop an improvement cost estimate. Roads have to meet certain requirements in order to be a public road and must be brought up to standard before changing from a private way. After the estimate has been reached there will be a notice sent to all affected residents having frontage on the road informing them of what that estimate is. Then the BOS will hold a public hearing. Page 1 3 Board of Selectmen Minutes - February 3, 2015 - page 4 Bill Andrews of Roma Lane explained he didn't know his street was a private way and when he found out he started the process back in 2013 and it is still not complete. Mr. Zambouras x stated this is just becoming a big issue to the town and everything is being looked at now. Kevin Oldoni of F Street said Libby Avenue got a new water main and the contractor told him all the roads that got ripped up because of the water main will get paved. Does that go for the small part of F Street that is a private way? Mr. Zambouras said private roads will not be fixed because it is against Mass General Law for the town to pave a private road. John Romano of Hurlburt Road asked why private roads must be brought up to code to become a public road when the town has public roads that aren't even up to code? Mr. t Zambouras said the BOS will ultimately decide what repairs need to be done to be approved. Each road will be looked at on a case by case scenario. Basically the town is looking for the street to be safe for the public before it becomes a public way. Jeanette Vigorito of Timothy Place asked if there were any pros to staying a private road? Mr. Zambouras said its mostly resident preference. She then asked how the properties r would be assessed for instance if one house is on the corner. Mr. Zambouras stated any property touching the roadway will be assessed. f A resident from Lakeview Ave wanted to express his concerns about that street. He noted a Zanni Construction owns a large piece of property down the end of Lakeview and that the street is in such poor condition due to the large traffic volume of trucks going in and out of L { Zanni several times a day, every day. f, Mr. Zambouras told him that the MWRA rented a part of the Zanni property for their trucks during the West Street construction and that is why there has been an increase in trucks going down there. John Green also from Lakeview wanted to know if he started a petition and collected signatures, if he had to get signatures from every resident in the apartment buildings. Mr. Zambouras said no, all he needed was the signature of the owner of the apartment building. Anthony Turvey of Bunker Ave asked where the point of no return is if they start the process to go public but then decide they do not want to anymore? Mr. Zambouras indicated they could stop the process at any time. S' } F Karen Herrick of Dividence Road noted her street is part private part public so how does that work? Mr. Zambouras noted that her road belongs to Category 1 and the residents don't actually have to do anything, the town just needs to conduct more surveying work. I A resident from Hanscom Avenue asked what the average price range is that the residents would have to pay to bring their street up to code. Mr. Zambouras said it really depends on the amount of work that needs to be done. It is also gaged based on the roads around you and their conditions. Maria Cervone from John Street asked about betterment assessments and how the costs i would be distributed because only her driveway is on a private road. Mr. Zambouras indicated it would be based on frontage and can be paid in a lump sum or over 20 years with interest. E Scott Berger from Main Street asked if more streets that get approved to be public would that help the price because' they can do the work on all the streets at one time? Mr. Zambouras said that depends and is something they would have to look into further. 3 Page 4 Board of Selectmen Minutes - February 3 2015 - page 5 Jeanette Vigorito from Timothy Place asked if the residents can hire a contractor rather than having the Town bring the road up to standards? Mr. Zambouras said the town would have to make sure the company complies with what the town wants done. Damtan Dell'Anno from Zachary Lane asked how the homeowners determine if a bond in place can cover the cost of bringing the road up to code? Mr. Zambouras stated that is not something the homeowner does, Engineering will do that. A resident from Spruce Road asked if lighting is included in betterments. Mr. Zambouras said not usually but if it's necessary then it might be. Joe Skinner from Linda Avenue wanted to know if these private roads that are dead ends must have a circle at the end to be approved? Mr. Zambouras said if there is room then yes they will most likely do it but if there is absolutely no way they could then it will stay the same. Mr. Zambouras said Engineering will be populating the website with information on this to keep everyone updated. Town Manager FY16 Budget - Mr. LeLacheur noted we can't afford to add a third technician. He said we need to do a better job at preserving the towns' historic materials. The Town Clerk asked for $3,000 to do a binder project with historic documents but we are not funding that right now. The library has told us they do not have room to keep historical documents. Mr. Halsey said it is frightening how poorly historical material is stored. He noted the library seems like the best place to keep these items and it's shocking they don't want to do that. Ms. West noted we are paying a lot of money for a big brand new library and we can't find any space at all for some historical documents? Mr. Arena said maybe it would be a good idea to get the public into this discussion. Mr. LeLacheur said they cut $30,000 out of Public Services. They are not funding the second school resource officer and they cut Police and Fire overtime. They also are not going to fund a second co-op student in engineering. Preview Annual Town Meeting Warrant - Mr. LeLacheur noted the Board will have some financials in capital to improve. The complete streets program is to be accepted. The public/private roadways will need to be approved. The rubbish contract needs to be extended. The cell tower leases need to be looked at. Approval of Minutes Mr. Ensminger made a motion that the Board of Selectmen approve the minutes of December 9. 2014, second by Ms. West and approved by a vote of 4-0-1 with Sexton abstaining. Mr. Ensminger made a motion that the Board of Selectmen approve the minutes of January 13, 2015, second by Ms. West and approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Mr. Ensminger made a motion that the Board of Selectmen adiourn the meeting at 10:15 p.m. second by Ms. West and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 5