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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-01 Board of Selectmen Minutes oFR 0 ,. Town of Reading b Meeting Minutes W COLI �s e R E is D i IN i j, IhA A. 39�lN�OR4�P Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2018 MAY 30 AM 10: 51 Board of Selectmen Date: 2018-05-01 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Barry Berman, Dan Ensminger, John Halsey, Andrew Friedmann, Vanessa Alvarado Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Community Development Director Julie Mercier, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Stephen Crook, David Cannon, Tim Kelley, Carolyn Whiting Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Mr. Berman called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Selectmen Liaison Reports Mr. Halsey noted the Little League Parade over the weekend was.spectacular despite the weather. He thanked public safety for participating nothing they were a great help.• Mr. Ensminger reported the Board of Health met last week and explained the state legislators are considering raising the age to buy tobacco. They are working on an adult vaccination program. The topic of pesticides is up for discussion as well and they will be bringing that to the board after their next meeting. The Comcast negotiations met today and are still working on an agreement.'Mr. Ensminger also asked the board if they would support sending a letter to our legislatures in support of bill S.1857 that is before them right now. It has to do with cable regulations. Stephen Crook also asked the board to please support this. Mr. Ensminger made a motion to move that the board issue a letter in support of bill 5.1857 to our Senators. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Friedmann reported the Town Forest Committee is trying a pilot area for selective thinning as a part of healthy forest practice. The climate advisory committee had a successful earth day and thanked the staff for their help. Their next event will be the bike swap on May 5th. They are also continuing to work on implementing the new plastic bag bylaw. Page 1 1 Mr. Berman attended the volunteer award dinner at the senior center. Mr. Ensminger moved that the board issue certificates of recognition to Lillian Marino and Priscilla Cacciatore for their countless hours of volunteer work with the Elder and Human Services division. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Berman noted the Imagination Celebration charity event is coming up and this Sunday is the annual house tour put on the by the Library. Public Comment Bill Brown noted the Cemetery Board voted new cemetery rules and regulations and they would like to get the word out to the public as soon as possible. Town Manager's Report Bob LeLacheur explained that he received a special gift from some Joshua Eaton students. He explained the students had to make a peace project'. The students created and grew the peace sign made of grass and thought the Town Manager would like it as a gift.. Mr. Ensminger moved that the board issue a certificate of recognition to the students of 7oshua Eaton Elementary School. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. LeLacheur then thanked Town Meeting for their hard work these past two weeks. Lincoln/ Prescott Street 40B Update Mr. Friedmann wanted to first state for conflict of interest purposes that he does work for DEP but he is not working on any projects in Reading including this one.. Property owner Matt Zuker was present to address any other concerns. He noted they did make a webpage to keep people update like was asked of him. Site demo is cleared now and they are .going thru the permitting steps at the moment. He noted they do have a RAM plan filed. DEP has a licensed state professional on site and is in control of the site. The Reading.Health department has all documents and they are also all up on the•webpage. The state will not allow them to work if we find any bad soil. Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios noted she has been working closely with the Board of Health on this and has talked to two different people at DEP to make sure we are all on the same page. Cadence Thomases noted she also called DEP and she said they told her it was more than an administrative error and that they moved dirt before they filed a RAM plan. She also noted the licensed state professional doesn't have to be on site 24/7 even though Town staff told her they would be; so she doesn't feel there is enough supervision there to make sure.they are doing the right things. Also the town staff told the-board of health that the dust is under control but she doesn't believe that is true. Ms. Delios noted the dust is in fact under control. Ms. Alvarado noted she seems to hear a lot of complaints about this project and asked what the town's role is in this project. Ms. Delios explained we have had a lot of complaints but to be frank, a. lot of them have been false; for example, the rodent complaint that was filed. There were no rodents on site. She reassured everyone that no permits will be signed off on unless everything is in order and every item/code is met. Cadence Thomases then asked why their building permits were not posted for the public to see like is required. Mr. Zuka noted again, that they are in the stages of getting building permits and when they have them they will be posted. Page 1 2 Affordable Housing Update - Joint Meeting with Housing Authority Ms. Delios gave a brief overview of the current situation we have. There is a unit at Gazebo Circle that is going up for sale. There is a deed rider on that unit saying it is `affordable'. Therefore we have two options. We can resell it as`affordable' and get it added to our list which it is not currently on. If we do that, the RHA has to buy it off the owner and make up the difference. The other option would be to just let it sell at normal market value and the Housing Authority would get the difference. David Traniello was present representing the owner trying to sell the property. He noted the deed rider is old and vague. She understands she got it at 80% of market value and isn't trying to make a profit or make this a difficult process. She simply wants to move closer to her family. It was mentioned this may need to be done in executive session since it technically is negotiating real estate. The board questioned if this property is `affordable' why it isn't on our list right now. It was noted the deed rider is old and the way it was created it was not counted towards our units. It can be added if we resell it now as affordable again and then we would be gaining one unit. If we resell it at market value we technically wouldn't losing any`affordable' housing because it is not being counted right now. However, it would not be affordable for someone who may need it. It was noted there are 7 other properties that are in this grey area and have deed riders as affordable but aren't being counted towards our list. The group discussed if they were the buy the difference of this property to keep it affordable and add it to our count, we may not always have the funds to do that if the other 7 properties were to go up for sale. The housing trust fund is meant for circumstances like this but there is not a lot of money in there. The board would like time to think this over and would like town counsel to weigh in on if this discussion should continue in executive session. Volunteer Appointment Subcommittee The group discussed bringing in incumbents this year for a quick update on their committee and how they are doing. Half the board thought it was a .good idea while the others thought it was unnecessary and potentially intimidating to interview people already on the board when there are no new applicants. It was noted it was not meant to frighten or even `interview' them again, it is simply to just get a check in on how their doing to see if the Select Board can be of any more assistance to their committee. Reappointment time is the easiest way to get a quick low-down on what is going on. Mr. Ensminger put forth a motion that the board mandate the VASC to interview all incumbents and require them to come in. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey. Mr. Friedmann made a motion to amend the original motion and remove the word `required' from it. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and failed with a 2-3- 0 vote. The committee voted on the original motion put forth by Mr. Ensminger and it passed with a 3-2-0 vote. Page 1 3 Change of Beneficial Interest - Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza Mr. Ensminger made a motion to approve the Change in Beneficial Interest for an Annual All Alcoholic Beverages license for Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza located at 48 Walkers Brook Drive. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Minutes Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board approve the meeting minutes from March 27th, 2018. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 4-0-1 vote with Alvarado abstaining. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board approve the meeting minutes from April 12th, 2018. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 4-0-1 vote with Halsey abstaining. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board approve the executive session minutes from March 27th, 2018 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 4-0-1 with Alvarado abstaining. Mr. Friedmann moved that the board adjourn at 10:14 PM, second by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Page 4