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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-07-10 Select Board Minutes F Town of Reading 3 x Meeting Minutes E i V c 0 C Lm n Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 213 SEP 19 AM 11: $9 Select Board Date: 2018-07-10 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Dan Ensminger, John Halsey, Barry Berman, Andrew Friedmann, Vanessa Alvarado Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Town Engineer Ryan Percival, Shawn Brandt, Diana Halsey, Demetra Tseckeres, Angela Binda, Alec Giacalone, Michael Giacalone, Dan Dewar, Sheila Clark, Gregg Johnson, Tim Kelley, Carolyn Whiting, Mary Ellen Killion, Eric Gaffen, Emily Sisson, Dan Foley, Mike Colton, Nancy Docktor Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Mr. Friedmann called the meeting to order. Mr. Halsey noted he would like to recuse himself from the first topic of conversation regarding the open meeting law complaint he filed yesterday. He also noted he would like to request a change of liaison from the Recreation Committee. They are requesting someone new so he will resign as their liaison so the board can appoint someone else. Mr. Halsey left the room. Mr. Friedmann noted yesterday the Clerk's office received an open meeting law complaint made by John Halsey. He will be requesting an extension from the State as we just received the complaint yesterday and have not had enough time to come up with a response today. Mr. Friedmann noted he did draft a letter to the State asking for that extension and would like a motion to discuss and vote on his letter. Mr. Ensminger seconded the motion. Mr. Berman asked if Town Counsel prepared a letter. Mr. Friedmann noted yes, he did but he does not think we need to use Town Staff before turning to Town Counsel. Mr. Berman noted both letters say the same thing but that is why we pay Town Counsel, to do these things for us. He asked if he would accept a friendly amendment to his motion to use Town Counsel's letter instead. Mr. Friedmann felt it looks better if the letter comes right from us and he has not read Town Counsel's letter so he would need to review that before he were to vote on it. Mr. LeLacheur had a copy of Town Counsel's letter and put it on the screen for all to see. Page 1 1 Mr. Berman made a motion to amend the original motion made by Mr. Friedmann, to use Town Counsel's letter to respond asking for an extension. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 4-0 vote. Liaison Reports Mr. Ensminger wanted to respond to an email the board got from Frank Massiglia regarding cable negotiations. Unfortunately, the scope of their negotiations does not include negotiating specific prices for residents. Mr. Berman noted him and Ms. Alvarado are working on the communication subcommittee and will plan to meet soon. He also explained he has been the guinea pig to try out a Town email thru outlook to see if it is more accessible for the Select board to communicate. He had liked using it and suggests they all get one. CPDC has Meadow Brook in front of them right now because they are trying to build a new club house. The meetings have been full due to some neighbor concerns. Mr. Berman noted his son did a documentary on the Reading Police Department titled "Behind the Blue". The documentary is up on the Police Department's Facebook page for anyone that would like to watch it. Lastly, Mr. Berman apologized for his comments towards Mr. Friedmann at the last meeting. He did not intend to be rude or mean and he did not mean Mr. Friedmann wasn't ready to be Chair just that they have never had a Chair without experience before. Ms. Alvarado noted the Cemetery Board has new regulations out and are starting to enforce them now. Perfecto's is also before CPDC right now as well trying to fix their parking situation; mostly for their staff. She also noted RMLD has put out a 'Shred the Peak Tips' which help explain how to use less during peak times which eventually could lead to lower rates. Mr. Halsey noted he has been busy with Boy Scout Camp the last few weeks. Mr. Friedmann explained from now on he plans on sending out draft agendas to the board so that they all can have input on them. He also attended HRAC meeting where they are discussing the most recent anti-Semitic incidents and how to take action about them and create a path forward. Public Comment Nancy Docktor wanted to express her concerns with Jean Delios' comment at the last meeting about how low staffed the health department is. She noted there has been a lot of turnover in that department and retention is part of the Town Manager's job so retention numbers should be received and used in his review. Ms. Delios wanted to make clear her comment at the last meeting was strictly in response to the new pesticide regulations and how to enforce the new rules. Shawn Brandt wanted to comment that at the last meeting John Halsey's liaison report mentioned the Recreation Committee but what he failed to mention was that he threatened to sue the committee for requesting a new liaison. Dan Dewar wanted to comment that at the last meeting the board degraded Heidi Pfeifer on the Board of Health down to an associate member because she couldn't make the meetings; but Emmy Dove can't make the meetings either and yet Ms. Alvarado insisted and bullied the board into making her a full member. He wanted to know why Ms. Alvarado did that. Demetra Tseckares commended Mr. Berman's son on his Police documentary noting it was wonderful. She also thanked Chief Segalla for allowing the comments about race be in the documentary as that can be tricky to talk about. She then asked the board to please let HRAC help with starting conversations in town about race. They are here to help with these situations. Page 1 2 Town Manager's Report Mr. LeLacheur noted the Cemetery Board of Trustees will be coming in at your next meeting to talk more about the new regulations. The State caught one of our establishments in town serving alcohol to a minor; he will give the board an update when he knows more. On October 2n0 our elected officials will be in town. The name change of the board from Board of Selectmen to Select Board is now official. August 21't there will be a discussion on downtown parking. Mr. LeLacheur then asked the board if they would approve him spending money out of the Town Manager reserve fund. In prior years he has always had a large surplus in this line item; the line item will be overdrawn pending these 2 items. The first item would be $12,500 for Wayfinding Phase II. The volunteer committee would like to pursue the Wayfinding Phase II but there was no money budgeted for this due to the override. Instead of waiting until November to ask Town Meeting for a transfer, he would prefer to get the ball rolling now. The second item would be $4,000 for the Fall Street Faire Electrical setup. In years past RMLD would do the set up but they declined to help out this year so he would like to provide the funding for them. Ms. Alvarado asked about the Wayfinding signs and why we are changing our colors. She noted these new colors clash with our red and black that we are. It was noted these colors are just for directional signs around town and do not have to replace our current school colors; red and black is hard to read on signs. Mr. Friedmann felt we should hold off on implementing the Wayfinding and bring it to Town Meeting before we change our colors. Mr. Berman made a motion to approve the use of $12,500 for Wayfinding Phase II and $4,000 for the Fall Street Faire Electrical out of the Town Managers reserve fund. Ms. Alvarado seconded the motion and it was approved with a 5-0 vote. H4290 Bill — An Act to Promote Housing Choices Mr. Berman explained that this bill changes housing requirements which would make it easier to meet and hit our housing number. We have been requested to send a letter of support to our legislators. Mr. Halsey noted Reading does a pretty good job right now with working on our housing and he doesn't necessarily think this is right for Reading. Ms. Alvarado noted her reservations if we don't support this, it may look like we are anti- housing. Mr. Ensminger and Bill Brown commented they should keep it a 2/3 vote at Town Meeting; to which Demetra Tseckares agreed. The board decided this bill wouldn't help Reading in anyway and we already work hard with our housing to be where we should be. Fall Street Faire Update Reading Rotary has taken over the Fall Street Faire. Sheila and Gary are here to give a little update and presentation to the board. Putting on this event requires a lot of work and timing to plan as it is one of the biggest events held in Reading. The board asked how the town can help them out. They noted aside from monetary donations, just recruiting volunteers would be a huge help. Page 1 3 Mr. Halsey mentioned the Fall Street Faire is a great way to get people to visit Reading. The Rotary did us a favor by taking this over but we should look at how we can financially help them out. Demetra Tskeres noted maybe it would be a good time to get the Economic Development Committee back together and this is something they could help with. Water Tank Replacement Mr. LeLacheur noted last time Ryan and the Engineering Department were in front of the board they were trying to decide between the water tower and also a cell tower. This new proposal in front of them tonight is just to address the water tank. If cell providers want to build a cell tower then they can come to us and go through the process and put it up themselves. Town Engineer Ryan Percival explained the water tank is in desperate need of repair/replacement. They will keep the new tank in the exact same spot and it will be the same height the current one is now. Ryan explained the cell providers that are currently on the tank, will come off temporarily and then put back on the new as they are now. The new tank will be a glass fused to steel tank atop a concrete column. This new tank will be very low maintenance and not be painted like our current one. There will be stand alone bracketing for the cell antennas with the ability to fit 4 carriers. There will also be additional storage space within the concrete column. Ms. Alvarado noted this new tank looks different than the current one and asked when the neighbors will have a chance to weigh in on their opinions of the difference. Robert Connor asked if anyone has done testing from radiation at the site. Although there are federal limits, over 30,000 towers exceed the radiation limits. Carolyn Whiting also noted she shares health concerns about radiation. Mr. LeLacheur noted the funding for this has been in the capital plan from a couple years ago. Recreation Liaison Mr. Friedmann noted Mr. Halsey stepped down as liaison to the recreation committee at the beginning of the meeting and would like to nominate Vanessa Alvarado as the new liaison (Dan Ensminger will stay on as the second liaison). Dan Foley, Chair of the Recreation Committee noted a lot of disappointing interactions happened in the past year which he takes some fault for. They are now just looking to get passed this and move on. Emily Sisson, member of the Recreation Committee, noted she felt there was just a lack of communication and no one intended for things to escalate or for anyone's feelings to be hurt. MaryEllen Killion, member of the Recreation Committee, agreed with Dan and Emily noting they need to make sure they are doing right by the youth for the youth. Mr. Friedmann felt they need to discuss some of the draft recreation minutes and what was in them but he does not want to do it tonight. Mr. Halsey felt if he is implying actions he made then they should just talk about it right now since he brought it up. Page 14 Mr. Ensminger noted Mr. Halsey resigned at the beginning of the meeting and the Recreation Committee spoke saying they want to move on from this so he asked why we need to continue to talk about this. Mr. Friedmann noted his reasoning for keeping it on the agenda. Ms. Alvarado exclaimed the residents need to know what happened and what Mr. Halsey said. The motion on the table from Mr. Friedmann to make Vanessa Alvarado the new Recreation Committee liaison was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote. Town Manager Goals Mr. LeLacheur gave the final update on the FY18 goals. Ms. Alvarado asked how the list of goals comes to be. It was noted Mr. LeLacheur starts with a list he thinks has everything needed and then he brings it to the board and then can amend, add, subtract to the list as they see fit. She felt it is a long list and maybe some of these things are more of a 'to-do' list rather than goals and she asked if they could work on changing some of them. For example, a certain project is not necessarily a goal but more of a 'to-do' but employee retention should be on the list as more of a goal for the Town Manager. Mr. LeLacheur noted the board can make the goals list as they please and if they want him to start one like he normally does than he will or they can start fresh with something new. Future Agendas Mr. Friedmann wanted to pick a date to go over the Recreation items again. Mr. Halsey noted he was not planning on being at the next meeting but he will cancel his vacation if that's when they are going to talk about it. He would rather they just have the conversation now since it was already brought up. Mr. Friedmann felt it important to have more time to discuss everything and will work around Mr. Halsey's schedule if he feels the need to be there but ideally he would like to discuss it at the next meeting. They agreed to an August 21� meeting. Mr. Berman made a motion to adjourn at 10:31 PM, with a second by Mr. Ensminger the motion passed with a 5-0 vote. Page 15