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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-10-16 Select Board Minutes OFq�O sc Town of Reading Meeting Minutes �9'IN(OPVOP�t p \K Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 219 JAN16 PM 4 37 7 Select Board Date: 2018-10-16 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Andy Friedmann, Barry Berman, Vanessa Alvarado, John Halsey, Dan Ensminger Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Deputy Police Chief Clark, Bill Brown, Dan Dewar, Nancy Docktor, Erin Calvo-Bacci, Brendan Zarechain, Robin Crane, Sean Ferris, Tim Donovan, Tom Connery, Rachel O'Neil, Leslie Leahy, Julie Cintrella, Michelle Sabatino, Tom O'Connor Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: - Topics of Discussion: Mr. Friedmann called the meeting to order. Mr. Friedmann then read a statement regarding the recent swastikas found in the schools. The town is working hard to address these issues. These acts of hate are not condoned and do not represent the values of our community. Mr. Halsey noted he has been attending the Citizens Police Academy. He also announced that the Police Department will be bringing back their popular RAD program that teaches women and girls self-defense. Ms. Alvarado attended the recent financial forum. Mr. Berman attended the Girl Scout ceremony on Sunday for scouts receiving their silver award. He also attended the Cultural Council meeting last night. Tomorrow at 7 PM in the library the community will discuss downtown parking and economic development. Lastly, Mr. Berman mentioned that Reading received a planning award for our housing efforts along with an economic development grant. Mr. Ensminger noted the cable contract renewal committee has completed their work. The board will hold a hearing next week to approve the new contact. He is also putting together ' the Town Manager contract draft that will be ready for the next meeting as well. Mr. Friedmann attended the Board of Health meeting which discussed treating Washington Park with pest control. He also noted Chair Costigan resigned at the end of the meeting. He attended HRAC meeting and they have asked the board to support voting yes on Question 3. Page I 1 Public Comment Nancy Docktor wanted to express her concerns about splitting the tax rate. She believes it ' will have an adverse effect on the town and will further empty our store fronts. Maddy Liberman noted there was graffiti found In the middle school and thinks there needs to be more of a town wide effort to stop this. Anne Landry explained that she wrote the board an email but also wanted to personally request they support the rally R.E.D is putting on this Sunday in support of the Jewish community. Town Manager's Report Mr. LeLacheur noted that the school's history teachers are taking a day to talk about anti- Semitism in the classrooms surrounding the incidents. The Town received a $45,000 grant for technology. The Town Clerk wanted to remind everyone that early voting has started and will be going on at Town Hall. Check the website for the specific times outside of Town Hall's normal hours that you can vote. Arts Reading, the new downtown event geared towards art and culture, is this Saturday. At the next meeting he will ask the board to adopt the designer selection law and will have Allison Jenkins, our procurement officer, in to explain. Anne Landry read her email she wrote to the board regarding the R.E.D rally. Ms. Alvarado asked her what specifically the board can do. She responded if the board could publically support the rally and maybe do a press release to get the word out, that would be great. The board all agreed they feel it important to support and stand behind this rally to show their support with our Jewish community in town. Mr. Berman made a motion that the Select Board endorse/ sponsor the rally to take place on Sunday. Mr. Ensminger seconded the motion and it passed with a 5- 0 vote. Police Officer Badge Pinning Deputy Chief Clark was in attendance to present his 5 new officers as follows: Stephen Pelland was pinned by his parents. Paul Peoples was pinned by his father. Joshua Graciale was pinned by his girlfriend. Cody Costa was pinned by his girlfriend. Brendan Maceachern was pinned by his girlfriend. The board welcomed the new officers to Reading and wished them the best. Lincoln/ Prescott Permit Discussion Mr. Friedmann wanted to have this discussion because he wanted to further clarify who is responsible for permit enforcement. Ms. Alvarado noted at the last meeting it was said we were relying on a private resident to enforce permits and be our eyes and ears on this site. Mr. Berman noted that was not what was said. What was said, was if you do see something , to call it in; but we are not relying on residents to police this site. Mr. Friedmann asked Mr. LeLacheur to clarify that is the building inspector who enforces the permits. Mr. LeLacheur noted the building inspector does enforce some things on the permit but not all. Some are handled by police so it really depends on what the issue is. Page 1 2 Mr. Friedmann then asked who stop by and checks on the site and do they actually do it? It was noted again that yes the building inspector monitors the site and yes he is there very frequently. ' Tax Classification Hearing Town Assessor Victor Santaniello was present to help the board thru the hearing. Mr. Berman noted he put together a little slideshow on his thoughts and research regarding a split tax rate. He noted the average residential tax bill went up more than the commercial bill did. If the board voted a 1.05 factor, it would raise the commercial tax rate only 71 cents per thousand. Mr. Halsey is against any kind of split tax rate no matter how small. It is not good for our small businesses. Public comment regarding this topic started with Lisa Egan from the Chamber of Commerce who noted that the big box stores are the outliers in Reading and that Reading Is mostly filled with small family businesses who cannot afford an increase. Tim Donovan the owner of 2 Haven Street noted he already has 3 businesses in his building who are thinking about leaving; this Increase will certainly make up their mind. Robin Crane the owner of Fitness Within noted her business cannot financially handle an increase of any kind. Sean Ferris, a real estate broker in the area, wanted to advocate for the small mom and pop shops with make up most of Reading. They cannot handle any increases and it will drive them away. ' Dan Dewar noted he Is trying to grow his business here in town and it is already going to be hard enough once the minimum wage goes up. Tom Connery, owner of the old Post Office building/ new PostMark Sqaure, he explained he will be opening commercial space on the first floor of his new building and feels it is going to be very challenging to fill that space. Braille Funeral Homes wanted to remind the Select Board that most of the people who run these businesses in town are all local people as well. Rachel O'Neil, owner of the Flower Shop, noted with the minimum wage going up, we are going to be struggling without an increase to our taxes as well. Angelo explained he has been on Main Street for about 2 years now with his business and at this rate he is not sure if he is going to make it another 2 years. Since being in that location, 3 businesses around him have closed in the 2 years he has been there. A representative from Reading Coop asked the board to please give the people at least another year without a split tax rate. Leslie Leahy, owner of The Hitching Post, also wanted to remind the board that all the small businesses in town support so many activities in town. They give back to sports, schools, arts and all kinds of organizations on a regular basis. If their taxes go up, they may not be ' able to keep donating so much to our wonderful programs in town. Julie Cintrella, owner of Anya's Boutique, noted people move her for a sense of community. Reading already has a reputation of not being business- friendly; let's not make it worse. Michelle Sabatino noted we don't want to be like Wakefield who has a lot of empty storefronts. Page 1 3 Tom O'Connor simply stated he is against a split tax rate like everyone else in this room here tonight. Vanessa Alvarado made a motion to close the hearing establishing the FY2O19 tax ' rate. The motion was seconded by Barry Berman and approved with a 5-0 vote. Discussion between the board members ensued over whether or not a split tax rate was right for Reading. Dan Ensminger noted the businesses have spoken. And they have spoken against it; now is not the right time to do this. Vanessa Alvarado noted she believes in a split tax rate but maybe not a large split and more of a modest one. She thinks we need to be viewed as more business friendly and support our businesses in other ways. Andy Friedmann feels if Reading Is already perceived as not business friendly and we have never had a split tax rate before last year; therefore the single tax rate did not make us business unfriendly. He also believes in a split tax rate. Barry Berman noted some people spoke and said that'it makes sense, but not right now', so he asked the question, when is the right time? What has to happen for it to be the right time? John Halsey feels we cannot compare ourselves to Wakefield because they have double the amount of commercial space. We need to give these small businesses a chance to survive. He noted he will only support the small split to cover the senior tax relief effort. Mr. Friedmann wanted to know why Reading is perceived as not business friendly. , The board eventually started talking numbers. Halsey and Ensminger agree on 1.0071 at most. Berman would eventually like to get to 1.02 (MRF .9984) Friedmann would like to be somewhere between 1.01 and 1.02 Berman noted 1.01 would make this task easier on them every year. Halsey noted 1.0071 would take care of the seniors and send a good message to our businesses that we support them. Alvarado made a motion to adopt a minimum residential factor of .9984 for FY 2019. The motion was seconded by Berman. Mr. Ensminger wanted to know why half the board was so adamant about adopting a split tax rate. Ms. Alvarado feels this is solely just a philosophical difference in view. Mr. Berman noted were talking pennies right now at 1.02 Ms. Alvarado noted she supports the 1.02 noting even though its small it will help some residents. Mr. Ensminger motioned to amend the motion to .9994 to which Alvarado seconded. The board voted down the amendment 2-3 vote with Alvarado, Berman and Friedmann opposing. The board then voted on the original motion to adopt a minimum residential factor of .9984 and the motion passed 3-2 vote with Halsey and Ensminger opposing. Mr. Halsey then noted the board should approve a commercial exemption. Ms. Alvarado felt such few businesses, if any, would qualify. Page 14 Ms. Alvarado moved that the Select Board not grant an open space discount for FY19. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote. Ms. Alvarado moved that the Select Board not adopt a residential exemption for FY19. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with a 5-0 vote. Ms. Alvarado moved that the Select Board not grant a commercial exemption for FY19. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with a 3-2 vote with Halsey and Ensminger opposing. Review Select Board Goals The board briefly reviewed their goals again and who is assigned to what. The goals will be posted on the town website. Ms. Alvarado noted her and Mr. Berman met in their communications subcommittee and discussed social media and a policy regarding it. Their thoughts are to perhaps have a subcommittee specifically to deal with social media and how to move forward regarding a facebook page for the board. The board discussed upcoming agendas. Ms. Alvarado made a motion to adjourn at 10:38 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with a 5-0 vote. Page 5