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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-07-12 Board of Selectmen Minutes � rx� Town of Reading a # Meeting Minutes RECEIVED inwN CLERK _°'••• ' DING. MASS. Board - Committee - commission - Council: Board of Selectmen 1816 AUG 18 A 025 Date: 2016-07-12 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Chairman John Halsey, Vice Chairman Kevin Sexton, Secretary Barry Berman, John Arena and Daniel Ensminger Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Public Works Director Jeff Zager, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Fire Chief Greg Burns, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Executive Assistant Paula Schena, Bill Brown, Zachary Camenker, Stephen Crook, Kate Grant, Erin Griffen ' Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary Topics of Discussion: Reoorts and Comments Selectmen's Reports and Comments - In light of the recent Police Officer slayings Daniel Ensminger read Paul Harvey's narration of "A Police Officer." Chief Segalla thanked Daniel Ensminger and noted that he has three Police Officers going to Dallas to pay their respects to the fallen officers. Barry Berman noted that the Trust Fund Commissioners are coming in to meet with the Board of Selectmen and they will present some opportunities. He noted that he and Kevin Sexton attended a Human Relations Advisory subcommittee meeting to figure out the right format. They had members of the Wakefield HRAC there. They will be meeting with the Town Manager. Barry Berman noted that the contractor for the MWRA is using Lynch Park as a staging area and he asked if they will put up a Flagpole when they redo it. John Halsey noted he will talk to the MWRA about that. Kevin Sexton noted regarding HRAC it was a false expectation that night at the Selectmen's meeting. They were looking for action and the Selectmen were looking for what they found. He and Barry Berman will work with them to bring something back to the Selectmen. In addition, he attended the last ZBA meeting and Reading Village brought the preliminary plans including Brown's Auto Body property. The project has been stepped down and the numbers of units have been reduced from 77 to 72. They changed a lot of the two bedroom units to one bedroom units and they still have a long way to go. John Halsey asked about the affordable concept and Jean Delios indicated 25%. Page 1 1 Board of Selectmen Minutes - July 12. 2016 - pace 2 Daniel Ensminger asked if there have been changes to the Woburn Street project and Jean Delios noted there has been a change in the composition of the units to 20% at 50% of the , median. The consultant told her it is a new finance program. Daniel Ensminger asked about the time table for ZBA and she noted that there has been no filing yet and they have not received any communication from the state. Public Comment - Bill Brown, 28 Martin Road, noted that the High School was dedicated to veterans and there is a plaque missing for William Hanson. He is looking for people to sponsor a plaque for him. John Arena asked if he is the only Reading casualty from Desert Storm and Bill Brown noted that as far as he knows he is. Town Manager's Report - The Town Manager noted that the annual legal budget is on page 5 of the handout. He is expecting two smaller bills to be paid. He is meeting with Town Counsel tomorrow and he asked all of the department heads if there were any issues with Town Counsel and they are all happy with his services. Discussion/Action Items Close Warrant for September 8. 2016 State Primary - Daniel Ensminger noted that this is for everyone above.State Representatives except Presidential. A motion by Berman seconded by Sexton to close the Warrant for the September 8, 2016 State Primary was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Review Proposed 2020 Working Groups and Draft FY18 Goals - The Town Manager noted that he listed five sets of goals: 1) Financial Sustainability; 2) Operational Efficiency; 3) Communication; 4) Policy; and 5) Long Term Planning. ' Goal 1 - Financial Sustainability FY2025 - FY2030 - The Town Manager noted that in 2025, the Library debt comes off the roll and the High School debt comes off the year before. He Is meeting with staff tomorrow to discuss local real estate tax polity. The objective is to keep seniors in their homes. He warns that DOR will not like us setting tax policy. In addition there will discussion about projects outside the tax levy and gather feedback from the community on the balance of resources and services. The Town Manager noted that information needs to be provided to the community. The September 1, 2016 Financial Forum will be led by the Selectmen and it will be a dry run for Town Meeting. He is concerned about the projects outside the levy. John Arena noted that those need to be covered when we talk about an override. John Halsey noted that we need to find ways to get information out to everyone. Daniel Ensminger asked if we could do a mass mailing and the Town Manager noted we could. Matt Kraunelis noted we can use social media i.e. Facebook and Twitter. Amy Lannon noted we have to be careful what information we are giving. John Halsey agreed and noted we cannot advocate, we can only provide facts. John Arena noted we need a consistent story line that hits all media. The Town Manager noted that we have nothing to say yet until the decision is made. John Arena noted that was correct but we can start preparing fact based information now. John Arena suggested asking RCN to figure out how to capture the September 1 Financial Forum to put up on You Tube with good audio and video. ' Goal 2 - Operational Efficiency - The Town Manager noted that this includes such things as resource sharing with other communities and organizations. Updating the Master Plan for Elder/Human Services. John Halsey asked if we have one and Jean Delios noted that we have one that was done 12 years ago. Page 1 2 Burd of Selectmen Minutes - July 12. 2016 - pace 3 The Town Manager noted that we need to gather internal operational data and conduct peer ' comparisons as warranted and relevant. Daniel Ensminger noted that Reading maintains water and sewer up to the foundation and we plow downtown. None of our peers do that. In addition, we will continue to integrate and leverage technology though the Town Manager noted that we've tried to integrate things and it's impossible. The salespeople promise everything and give us nothing. Goal 3 - Communication - The Town Manager noted that the Board needs to update its policy on appointed Boards. They need to improve communication with Boards, Committees and Commissions. This has been achieved internally by making part time staff full time. The Board needs to discuss how appointed Boards and Committees provide community information and we need to let the Boards and Committees know what they can and cannot do. Website improvements are being done continuously. Matt Kraunelis noted that the Reading Post is pretty good but nobody knows who is running it. Daniel Ensminger noted that the quality of reporting In the Chronicle has improved. The Town Manager noted that once the Library building project is complete we will assess the staffing and communication needs. Goal 4 - Policy - The Town Manager noted that a targeted review of the Bylaws Is ongoing. The Board needs to review their operating procedures and the policy on licenses. A review of all union contracts is being done with labor counsel and the Town's Personnel Policies are being updated. Goal 5 - Long Term Planninc - The Town Manager noted that economic development in ' downtown, other priority development areas and housing are key issues. In addition, It Is important that we assess the condition of Town buildings and space needs including schools. Daniel Ensminger noted that roads and pipes need to be planned also. Assessment of the status of Town owned land including Oakland Road will be done. Daniel Ensminger asked if that will include tax title and the Town Manager noted it will. Daniel Ensminger requested that we add 24a - assess the condition of utility and Infrastructure including the street Inventory. The Town Manager noted it has been a long time since DPW came before the Board with the pavement management index. Jeff Zager noted they are in the process of updating that now and they use the pavement management as a guide. Daniel Ensminger requested that be made available to the public. John Halsey commented that the residents want to see how their money is being spent. Financial Overview - The Town Manager asked what the Board's take away was from the Listening Sessions. Daniel Ensminger noted that nobody would say what they would give up. Barry Berman noted that one person said don't pave his street. The Town Manager noted the problem is that nobody knows what we do. There are constituents for all of the services and they all feel very strong about them. John Arena suggested showing the residents what government should do as a core and then show what we are actually doing. ' Barry Berman noted that everyone seems satisfied with the level of service that is being provided and most seem willing to pay. A lot of people want to look at the structure of taxes for fairness issues and most people are open to hearing what we have to say. John Halsey noted that the Board needs to decide how much, for how long and determine what will be gained. Most people think of debt exclusion and override as the same but they Page 1 3 Board of Selectmen Minutes -July 12, 2016 - page 4 are not. An override is permanent. The Town Manager noted that he suggests it last until 2025 as a minimum. This is when the High School and Library are repaid from outside the , levy. The last override was suggested for 8 years but lasted 13 years. The Town Manager noted that if we do a percentage override then we would never need to ask again but the amount grows like a runaway train. It is a mathematical equation that is impossible to solve. John Arena noted that 8 years of 80k increases in health insurance will blow everything up too. The Town Manager noted that an override should sustain the Town and School operating budgets at historic levels of 3.25%. We can add things that were removed in past years but everything that gets added makes the problem worse. We could build in an override list. John Halsey noted that Boston is implementing cameras for the Police Officers and that could add $1 million. Chief Segalla noted that would require an additional person to manage the data. Daniel Ensminger noted that we could do a class action lawsuit against state government regarding unfunded mandates. The Town Manager offered some suggestions. He noted that we could reduce the annual use of free cash to balance the budgets to $1 million - he needs to speak with the Finance Committee about that. John Halsey asked how We could roll back when the appetite has been $2 million. The Town Manager noted that we could get the override or cut $1 million. , The DPW and Facilities are the two biggest users of capital and we are in good shape. We could trim them down by doing $1.5 million instead of$2 million. In addition, the Town Manager suggested funding the pension more with a onetime bump up and that would lower the yearly rate. Sharon Angstrom agreed, she feels 4% is a lot to fund every year. The year 2029 is the target year to fully fund. John Arena asked how much the bump up would be and the Town Manager noted maybe $300,000 - $400,000 and then 3% each year after. The Town Manager noted we need a reserve for TLT litigation and that was all he could say about that at this time. He noted that he would continue a blend of conservative and realistic budgeting and forecasting. Any override will require a savings in the beginning. He needs to leave a policy that can be explained easily and establish a stabilization to cover expenses. The Town Manager noted that the Board is meeting next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. with CPDC to review planning efforts at the Zoning Charrette. Daniel Ensminger asked the Town Manager to add to the August 16`" Agenda the form to take for asking for an override i.e. the pyramid approach or itemize. He noted that they also need to discuss what the money will be spent on. The Town Manager noted that Town Meeting doesn't have to have exact language, but it would be nice. Daniel Ensminger Indicated he thought they were taking a number to Town Meeting, not an instructional motion. John Halsey asked if the articles to protect the seniors will be on the warrant and it was ' noted that they will. John Arena noted that the override vote is for the people who pay the bills. Town Meeting can approve but it is still up to all of the voting residents in Town to decide. The Town Manager noted that some Town Meeting members don't want it to go to Town Meeting Page 14 Board of Selectmen Minutes - July 12 2016 - page 5 ' because it is not the role of Town Meeting. If we are not asking for a vote then we are just giving a report. He asked when the language needs to be done for the ballot and Matt Kraunelis noted he wasn't sure. Barry Berman noted he wasn't sure bringing this to Town Meeting is the best thing. Daniel Ensminger noted that they need to talk about the language and the Town Manager noted that they need an objective for the number and the School Committee should be engaged in that conversation. Barry Berman asked about the correspondence in the packet from Demetra Tseckares and the Town Manager noted that there was a lapse in communication and she is being reimbursed. Approval of Minutes A motion by Berman seconded by Ensminaer to approve the minutes of May 17 2016 was approved by a vote of 4-0-1 with Arena abstaining. A motion by Berman seconded by Sexton to approve the minutes of June 1 2016 Community Listening session as amended was approved by a vote of 4-0-1 with Arena abstaining. A motion by Berman seconded by Sexton to approve the minutes of the lune 7 2016 Community Listening session as amended was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. ' A motion by Berman seconded by Ensminaer to approve the minutes of June 7. 2016 was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. A motion by Ensminaer seconded by Berman to adiourn the meeting at 9:55 p.m. was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. R� ecttully submitted, J creta Page 1 5