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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-05 Board of Selectmen Minutes OWN UPB�i Town of Reacting _ � Meeting Minutes r p; T 0'V CL Ei;l Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 1011 OCT 25 A % 531 Board of Selectmen Date: 2017-09-05 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location:- Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16_Lowell Street Session: Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Chair John Arena, Barry Berman, Dan Ensminger, John Halsey, Andrew Friedmann Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Deputy Chief David Clark, Town Treasurer Endri Kume, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, RCASA Director Erica McNamara, Bill Brown, Virginia Blodgett, Nancy Docktor, Beth Shurland, Virginia Adams, Kevin Sexton, Patrick Shannon, Rebecca Liberman, John Costigan, Dan Dewer, Samantha Couture, Everett Blodgett, Stephen Crook, Sharlene Reynolds Santo, Illene Bornstein, Jack Williams Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Mr. Arena called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Liaison Reports Mr. Arena wanted to recognize Bill Brown's grandson and Reading resident, Brendan Hildreth for being appointed to the North Carolina Council on Development Disabilities. Mr. Ensminger reported that a meeting has been set up between himself, members of the RMLD and the CAB to discuss the payment to the town on September 20. Mr. Berman noted he and Mr. Ensminger had a Volunteer Appointment Subcommittee meeting prior to the meeting tonight and they will discuss that later in the agenda. Public Comment Ms. Docktor stood up and wanted to address comments the Selectmen made after the Board of Health left the last'meeting. A question was raised as to why they never contacted Town Counsel but Ms. Docktor noted she tried to but was not allowed. They repeatedly asked the board to investigate why three health employees have left in the past 6 months. Ms. Docktor also noted she is still waiting to know why a police officer was sent to a Board of Health meeting. Mr. Arena noted as soon as an employee feels unsafe, there is reason for an officer to be present. Ms. Docktor felt it was very odd and the board should have been notified if an officer was going to be present. Page 1 1 Mr. Halsey noted police officers are often present at open meetings. It is not uncommon at all to have an officer in the back of a room at a public meeting. Beth Shurland read a letter and noted she will be resigning from the Board of Health as soon as she is done speaking. She explained her time as a board member has been great up until the beginning of the year. Since then the board has been met with resistance from the Board.of Selectmen. She explained there must be a problem in town if three health employees have left recently. Mr. Arena thanked her for her service. Rebecca Liberman of 50 Pratt Street explained she appreciates the board talking about raising fees later. She has given a lot of ideas to painlessly raise fees in lieu of an override. Teachers and public safety should be your number one priority this budget season. Mr. Berman thanked her for her comments and welcomed her to continue to suggest ideas . in the upcoming budget season. The.board is working on this, however, there is.no amount of fees that can plug this gap though and we don't want.to raise fees just because we can; we want them to be reasonable. Mr. LeLacheur wanted to address her idea of paying for parking at the high school. He noted that is something that is strictly set and handled by the school committee so that suggestion should go to them. Mr. Brown reminded everyone the town cannot make a profit off of a fee. Town Manager Report Mr. LeLacheur noted the September 20th financial forum has been cancelled and replaced with a September 27th Finance Committee meeting. He informed the board that they have received 194 applications for the senior tax relief and so far they have had to deny about 10 applications due to them not meeting the requirements. Recovery Month Proclamation Mr. Ensminger read the proclamation. Erica McNamara, the Director of the Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse, was present to receive the proclamation. She also talked about and handed out a flyer with the calendar of events happening this month..She encouraged people to come out and attend some events or visit their website for more information_about RCASA and recovery month. She specifically noted an event in October that is in the process of coming together. It is called Jams for Jake and it will be a music festival type event put on by-friends of Reading resident Jake, who passed away after struggling with addiction. The target venue for the event is Simons Field and will feature multiple bands for people to come listen to throughout the day.. Volunteer Appointments Mr. Ensminger,.second by Mr. Berman, moved that the Board of Selectmen accept the recommendations-of the Volunteer Appointment Subcommittee as.follows: Board of Cemetery Trustees Janet Baronian 6-30-20 Olive Hecht 6-30-20 Virginia Blodgett 6-30-18 Board of Health Kevin Sexton 6-30-20 Heidi Pfiefer 6-30-18 Climate Advisory Committee Celeste Kracke 6-30-20 Council on Aging Sally Hoyt Associate 6-30-19 The Chair asked if there was any discussion. Page 1 2 Mr. Friedmann asked Mr. Sexton what his background in health was; to which Mr. Sexton replied he did not have any specific health background but he is a former selectmen with knowledge on local government. Mr. Friedmann noted he would like to appoint someone with a health background. Mr. Ensminger noted having a health background is not a requirement for a volunteer. He then asked the Chair of the Board of Health, John Costigan, if he believes someone without a health background could be brought up to speed and be a valued member of the board. Mr. Costigan noted as he does see Mr. Friedmann's point, he does believe it is very possible to someone to get acquainted to the board and serve just as well. The board voted on the motion and the motion passed 4-1-0 with Mr. Friedmann opposing. 186 Summer Ave Historic District Preservation Town Counsel Ray Miyares was present to explain this request. Mass historic is requesting the Selectmen to accept this even though they don't have any real authority over it. They came to a compromise and Mass Historic said they would be okay with the board approving' the restriction. In the meantime of figuring this out, Mass Historic went and changed their template leading us to have to change the restriction to comply with the new template. It says the same thing as before, just in their new requested format essentially. Jon Barnes, speaking on behalf of the Historical commission explained this is the first time they are seeing this document and would like time to look it over before voting on it. He noted the Historical Commission is, meeting on the 13th and asked if that would be an appropriate time to vote on it. Everett Blodgett for the Historical District Commission agreed with Mr. Barnes and noted they have a tentative meeting scheduled for the 18th Mr. Barnes explained he is not doubting the document, he would just feel more comfortable is he read thru it again after the changes before voting on it. Mr.'Arena noted it doesn't seem right for the Board of Selectmen to vote before the . Historical Commissions so they will defer their vote as well until their next meeting.on the' 26th after both the Historical Commission and the Historical District Commission do theirs. a Mr. Blodgett noted he wants to make sure Criterion is being treated equally to everyone else in the district. .Virginia Adams of the Historical Commission commented she has reviewed the document and doesn't see anything to be of concern. Board of Health Discussion Mr. Friedmann started the discussion off by saying he was on the Board of Health.for a while and ran for Selectmen because he felt the Board of Health was being encroached upon. It is important to protect the Board of Health from Town politics. We appoint them, we should trust them. He noted he is worried for the path forward on this. He thinks the way the Board questioned them last meeting was wrong and it could have been hashed out differently. This is going to set a precedent that if volunteers don't act the way we like, we are going to haul them in here and question them. Mr. Arena noted this is not about responding to volunteers we don't like. We have a duty to act as a board when volunteers are not acting properly. Mr. Berman explained this has been.the most troubling issue he has ever come across. He could not believe what he heard last week. This is all because a board wanted to have a say. in the hiring process of a health agent. They then used a $5 travel report to create a problem. Just because we are volunteers doesn't mean we can act wrong. We still have to Page 1 3 be held to standards. They left this town vulnerable because they overstepped their authority. Mr. LeLacheur wanted to say for the record as well; the hiring process is very inclusive because he lets it be. He does not have to let the board participate. The Charter states he has sole power to hire someone; however, he values the input of the board. Mr. Friedmann noted he doesn't think they were challenging Bob's hire. They have a right to not appoint the hire. Mr. LeLacheur explained that the letter the previous health nurse gave as she leaving made its way to him. Labor Counsel told us we absolutely cannot contact her. End of story. We are taking care of our HR issues even if we can't talk about them in public. Mr. Arena noted the board sincerely appreciates all of our volunteers. Mr. Halsey explained they are in a difficult position but it is their job to fix it. Mr. Arena asked the Board of Health Chair John Costigan if he was okay with the decision for health agent and noted yes, he was. Mr. Arena asked Mr. Costigan how many times he made a motion to appoint Laura as Health Agent. Mr. Costigan answered saying he made a motion two times and also asked for someone to make a motion once but no one would second the motion or make it. Mr. Arena'noted he is going to ask for a hearing to remove the remaining two members of the Board of Health. Mr: Ensminger, second by Mr. Halsey, moved to file a Notice of Removal with the Reading Town Clerk, pursuant to Section 8.12.1.a of the Reading Home Rule Charter, for the following individual holding the following office: John Costigan, Chair of the Board of Health The reasons cited for the proposed removal.are as follows: 1. Failure to act on the appointment of the Health Agent, Laura Viasuk, as the authorized agent of the Board of Health; 2. Pursuing lines of questioning and taking individual actions and votes regarding Ms. Viasuk'that have exceeded the Board of Health's lawful duties and. powers under the Massachusetts General Laws and the Reading Home Rule Charter and Bylaws. Mr. Arena asked the board if there was any discussion. Mr. Friedmann asked for an explanation on reason number two for removal. It is for acting out of power and doing things they have no right to do. The board took a roll call vote and was as follows: Halsey — No Ensminger — No Berman — Yes Friedmann — No Arena — No The motion failed. Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Halsey, moved to file a Notice of Removal with the Reading Town Clerk, pursuant to Section 8.12.1.a of the Reading Home Rule Charter, for the following individual holding.the following office: Nancy Docktor, Associate Member of the Board of Health Page 14 The reasons cited for the proposed removal are as follows: 1. Failure to act on the appointment of the Health Agent, Laura Vlasuk, as the authorized agent of the Board of Health; 2.. Pursuing lines of questioning and taking individual actions and votes regarding Ms. Vlasuk that have exceeded the Board of Health's lawful duties and powers under the Massachusetts General Laws and the Reading Home Rule Charter and Bylaws. The board took a roll call vote and was as follows: Halsey - Yes Ensminger - Yes Berman - Yes Friedmann - No Arena - Yes The motion passed. Mr. Ensminger,_second by Mr. Halsey, further move that the public hearing on such removals be held at the BOS regular meeting of 9/26/2017 and that the Town Clerk be directed to give notice of such hearing to Nancy Docktor not less than five days prior to the hearing in accordance with Section 8.12.2 of the Reading Home Rule Charter. The motion passed with a 4-0-1 vote with Mr. Friedmann abstaining. Minutes Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Arena, moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the minutes of July 25th, 2017. The motion passed with a 4-0-1 vote with Mr. Friedmann abstaining. Train depot/ Compost Sticker Police Chief Segalla and Deputy Chief Clark were present.. The board has discussed before about separating the stickers into two different ones with different fees for each. Mr. Halsey asked the Chief when the deadline is if they want to change the fee. Chief Segalla noted they usually start ordering stickers now; people usually start buying around Thanksgiving. They give out around 3,900 stickers annually with seniors getting a discount. Mr. LeLacheur suggested.doing a compost only sticker and then a sticker that would work for both. Mr. Berman noted figuring out a fee for the depot sticker is going to be tricky. It is clearly at a bargain deal at the moment but we don't want to set it too high and have people find an alternative, like parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. Bill Brown noted Wakefield has some spots open.that people can pay a. daily rate of$2 at. Vanessa Alvarado noted Grand Street has people parking from New Hampshire on her street every day so if the rate goes too high it is sure to only get worse. Mr. LeLacheur noted if the board has an appetite to split the sticker, what other information would they want to see to be able to set rates. Mr. Berman brought up the idea of a commercial sticker for the compost sticker. But it was noted that may be hard to regulate. Page 1 5 Town Treasurer Endri Kume suggestedmaybe splitting the spots up by how close they are to the depot; the closer the spot, the more money it is. The board agreed to think on this and take it up again at their next meeting. Review Demand Fees Mr. LeLacheur noted on average, over 2.,000 excise payments are paid late.. The state law says we cannot waive the $25 fee. If we lower the fee under $20, we could. The board discussed if they had an appetite to lower the fee and give some leeway to waive fees if needed. It was decided.that if 90% of people pay on time, then they should not lower the'fee for the few people who don't. Mr. Berman made a motion to adjourn at 10:15 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Page 6