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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-15 Board of Selectmen Minutes OFR a� y x Town of Reading : b Meeting Minutes = CE V , %A1#,1 C1 c R d'`t9,I co ! tom;° J'q'}'. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2�1 JUN 20 AF9 9: 59 Board of Selectmen Date: 2018-05-15 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, Vanessa Alvarado, Andy Friedmann Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Deputy Police Chief David Clark,Fire Chief Greg Burns, Deputy Fire Chief Paul Jackson, DPW Director Jeff Zager, Stephen Crook Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Acting Chair Barry Berman called the meeting to order at 7 PM. Selectmen Liaison Reports Ms. Alvarado reported the ZBA met with the Eaton Lakeview developer and he is considering decreasing the scope of the building. CPDC is reviewing their guidelines in respect to design. Mr. Ensminger reported he was able to take a tour of the commuter rail purple line in Somerville today and see where they fix the trains. The Board of Health met and they are discussing pesticide regulations final language before they come before the board. The age to purchase tobacco just passed at the house to 21. It is now tick and mosquito season. The board also discussed Reading Village and noted the developer is following all DEP regulations. The Volunteer Subcommittee is continuing their interviews for applicants, and noted there are a lot of openings if any volunteers want to come help out. Mr. Halsey reported recreation is dealing with concerns regarding painting extra stripes on the tennis courts so that they can also be used for pickle ball. There seems to be a growing population of pickle ball players in town and they are trying to come up with a solution for everyone. Mr. Halsey noted he has gotten some complaints about paving their tree lawns. He believes the Select Board has a policy about this and it is time to take a look at it. Mr. Friedmann was running late so Mr. Berman gave his liaison report for him. The Climate Advisory Committee had their bike swap and it was a big success. The.School Committee hired a new High School Principal and STEM Coordinator. Mr. Berman reported that the Massachusetts Historical Commission honored Reading's Virginia Adams for being a longtime volunteer. She has been helping out for over 40 years! The Garden Club will have their annual plant sale this weekend and on May 23rd the School Page i 1 will host a security summit for anyone interested in the buildings security measures (as much as they're allowed to say). It will be at the High School Library at 6 PM. Public Comment Bill Brown noted the Cemetery Board has vacancies. He also noted they just passed new regulations that will be going into place soon and was hoping they could get a press release out to the public. Stephen Crook noted the annual RCTV meeting is coming up on the 24th and he is inviting the Select board to attend. Peter Kramer noted he has an issue with the snow plowing being done in town. He believes we are wasting money by plowing out our businesses as they should do that on their own. Town Managers Report Mr. LeLacheur attended the Cultural Council awards last night. Firefighter Badge Pinning Chief Burns started off by thanking our Police Department, whom was also in attendance, noting it is National Police Week honoring all Police Officers around the country. Chief Burns noted tonight they had three pinnings; one promotion and two new firefighters. The promotion of Captain Gary Antanavica and the pinning of new firefighters Christopher Smith and Nick Deroche took place in front of a large crowd at Town Hall. Police Week Proclamation Chief Segalla and a number of Officers were present for the proclamation for Police Week. He thanked the Select Board for having them in. Mr. Halsey commented on their open house this past weekend noting it was a great success even with the lousy weather. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Select Board proclaim May 13th — May 19th as Police Week here in Reading. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Public Works Week Proclamation Mr. Halsey thanked DPW Director Jeff Zager and all his workers. We all know how hard and how much you all work and we greatly appreciate it. Mr. LeLacheur noted the DPW does an outstanding job and all three departments (FD, PD, and DPW) work so well together. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Select Board proclaim May 20th — May 26th as Public Works Week here in Reading. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. The board then discussed the new liaisons that Mr. Berman created based on the group's responses on preference. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Select Board approve the draft liaison assignments crafted by Acting Chair Berman. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Town Manager Contract Bob's contract is up next summer. A subcommittee will form and start gathering the necessary information.and then report back to the full board. Dan Ensminger and Barry Berman will be the subcommittee on this. Page 1 2 - Select Board Policy - Communication The board had a lengthy discussion mostly regarding the communication policy in regards specifically to social media. Mr. Berman feels it is important to have_a presence on social media for people to keep up with what the Select Board is doing. He felt the response from the survey showed a lot of people get their information online and that is where they need to be. They raised the question of who would run the page and how it would be monitored. The question of the content to post came up as well. It was suggested perhaps making just a quick summary post after every meeting with solely facts. The board decided they needed further discussion on this. Vanessa and Barry will be a subcommittee on this topic and talk with our Business Administrator Jayne Miller, who runs the Town's Facebook page on how to proceed. Economic Development Project Communication Mr. Berman feels this idea to assign each Select person to a certain project as a point of communication to the residents is a good idea. They would only be assigned after it went thru CPDC and ZBA and became an actual project. Ms. Alvarado feels there are many projects that get a lot of discussion before they even pass through those boards and it may be beneficial to assign the projects earlier than that. Mr. Halsey feels this is similar to what they are already doing. Residents reach out to them anyways when they have questions about the projects. He feels this may be micromanaging and he doesn't want to step on any other board's toes either. Mr. Berman explained this is not intended to step on anyone's toes or take over staffs jobs. It is meant to help the residents when they don't know who to call about a certain project. The board decided they will try it out and if it isn't working they can change it. At 9:39 PM Mr. Ensminger moved to adjourn to Executive session for the dual purposes of strategy with respect to collective bargaining and strategy to discuss interests in real estate where the Acting Chair declares that an Open Meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the body, and to adjourn without returning to Open Session. The following roll call vote was taken: Halsey - Yes Ensminger - Yes Friedmann - Yes Alvarado - Yes Berman - Yes. Page 3