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Home My WebLink About2018-05-29 Board of Selectmen Minutes �N SFA y Town of Reading E i V E D Meeting Minutes TOWN CLEC;;' Lt �.s�91'NCoae��' 2019 ,lU� � Board - Committee - Commission - Council: `� �� g" 59 „ Board of Selectmen Date: 2018-05-29 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, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Superintendent of Schools John Doherty, Director of Finance of Schools Gail Dowd, Nancy Docktor, Bill Brown, Tim Kelley Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Acting Chair Barry Berman called the meeting to order at 7 PM. Liaison Reports Mr. Ensminger noted the VASC has met a couple times already and will continue to do so until they have interviewed everyone. The next meeting they will post the full board to attend in case one of the other Select people wants to attend. The cable tv negotiations are moving along and they are reviewing the final language now. Ms. Alvarado attended the Memorial Day celebrations.noting it was very well put together with great attendance. Mr. Friedmann seconded Ms. Alvarado's words about the Memorial Day celebrations. He also attended the School Committee meeting about understanding disabilities and special education programs. Conservation Commission met with town engineer and they are going to.be flushing water mains in the upcoming summer months. Friends and Family day is coming up soon and will be on June 16th..Jane Burns is organizing a program with the police department about how to protect yourself against the common scams going on today. Lastly, he wanted to thank the fire department for finding his elderly dog wandering the streets and returning him safely to us. Mr. Berman noted the Memorial Day program was incredible and our Veterans Agent Kevin Bohmiller is fantastic. A former Army Captain was the guest speaker of the day. There was an artist at the Pleasant Street Center who draws pictures of fallen soldiers from Massachusetts and they are amazing. He thanked Andy and Vanessa for their speeches at the cemeteries. Page 1 1 Public Comment Bill Brown wanted to thank the Cemetery Department for all their work to prepare the cemeteries for this past weekend. Nancy Docktor noted it would be nice to have a little more information on who the VASC is interviewing on their agendas. She also thinks having the chair of the Committee there would be helpful as well. Sarah Rambo of West Street wanted to voice her concerns over Phase II of the Johnson Woods project. Every time they build out she gets more and more animals in her yard and she is afraid all these animals are being displaced and forced into the neighborhoods. She was wondering if there were any provisions about the wildlife in their plans. Town Manager's Report Mr. LeLacheur wanted to quickly note that there is a news story going on right now that is saying Reading police are involved in a car chase. That is not true, the chase did go thru Reading but Reading police are not involved. POST - Inter-municipal Agreement with Wakefield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doherty and Finance Director of School Gail Dowd were there to explain. This is an inter-municipal agreement the Town already has with Wakefield for a program that helps 18-22 year olds who need continuing education after high school. Our current three year agreement is up and this is the new contract the Select board needs to approve. It has a few changes mostly to the way the program is funded. Reading and Wakefield used to split the cost 50/50 but now it will go by how many students each town has. Town Council has already seen and approved this language. The School Committee approved it at their last meeting. They are trying to get Stoneham to join the program as well but for right now it is still just Reading and Wakefield. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Select Board approve the Inter-Municipal POST agreement with Wakefield as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. 375th Celebration Committee Reading's 375th anniversary is coming up next year and there is a celebration committee planning events for the day but also leading up to the big event to raise money. They are hoping to do a movie night in Memorial Park on July 3rd. They are asking the Select Board for a waiver to use the park past its allowed time of 10 PM because they cannot start the movie until it gets dark out. They expect to be done around 10:30 PM if they can start the movie at 8 PM. The festivities for the actual anniversary next year will be complete with 2 weeks filled with fun activities. The events will start the last week of May into the first week of June 2019. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board authorize a waiver extending the hours of use of Memorial Park until 10:30 PM on July 3rd for activities related to the Reading 375th Celebration. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Page 1 2 Mr. Ensminger, second by Ms. Alvarado moved that the Board go into Executive session to discuss interest 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 reconvene in Open Session at approximately 8:30 PM. The motion was passed with the following roll call vote: Halsey - Yes Ensminger - Yes Friedmann - Yes Alvarado - Yes Berman - Yes Reading Housing Authority Director of the Housing Authority Julie Johnston and member of the Housing Authority Tim Kelley were present to answer any questions from the board. This topic was discussed at their last meeting and in short the board needs to determine if they want to spend $100,000 out of the trust fund to subsidize one unit at Gazebo Circle and make it an `affordable unit' that would count with the state as well. Mr. Berman wanted to gauge the boards interest in spending that money for•one unit. Mr. Halsey feels it is not in line with our mission to use that much money for one unit. Ms. Alvarado noted at first she thought it was less money and would be willing to spend it but there is only $270,000 in the account and taking $100,000 for one unit is too much. Mr. Friedmann agreed with the previous comments noting it is a little-too much money for one unit but hopes they can continue to talk and have this conversation in the future if more units come up for sale. Tim Kelley thanked them for their time and agreed they will be in touch still in the future. Minutes Mr. Ensminger moved that the board approve the meeting minutes from April 17th, 2018. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 3-0-2 vote with Friedmann and Alvarado abstaining. Mr. Ensminger moved that the board approve the meeting minutes from May 1St, 2018 as amended. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. At 9:14 PM, Mr. Ensminger moved that the board go into Executive Session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and that the Chair declare 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 motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with the following roll call vote: Halsey - yes Ensminger - yes Friedmann yes Alvarado - yes Berman - yes Page 1 3