Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-26 Select Board Minutes o� orNr� Town of Reading Meeting Minutes RECEIVED R TOWER EOr,�a'IM(aPraP' Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2819 APR 23 PM 3: 03 Select Board Date: 2019-02-26 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, Vanessa Alvarado, Barry Berman, John Halsey, Dan Ensminger Members - Not Present: Others Present: T Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Deputy Chief Clark, RCASA Director Erich McNamara, Julianne DeAngelis, Library Director Amy Lannon, Tim Kirlan, Nancy Docktor, David Cannon, Mark Dockser, Candence ' Thomases Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Caitlin Saunders Topics of Discussion: Chair Friedmann called the meeting to order just after 7:00 PM. He started off the meeting by apologizing to our inspectors for what he wrote in the packet regarding the phrase 'understand where staff are struggling'. He did not mean it to be taken in a negative manner. Mr. Ensminger noted the Recreation committee forwarded him a letter that is a request from Little League Softball asking to make improvements to the field as a gift to the town. Mr. Berman noted they have their first scheduled meeting of the Ad-hoc Human Rights Board on March 25°M1 at Parker Middle School. The ZBA met again regarding the Eaton/Lakeview project. They are still working out some issues but will probably vote on it at their next meeting. This project will bring us to our 10% need of affordable housing and will put us into a safe harbor for a little while. The Climate Advisory Committee showed a film about a family from NY City who went off the grid to promote sustainability. Thursday night the Police Department is hosting a workshop regarding teen dating violence. Mr. Berman then mentioned home businesses in Reading and how he has met many from Reading who produce services and goods. Mr. Halsey noted he got a tour of Postmark Square project. They have worked closely with inspectors and neighbors to make sure this is a nice, respectful project during loud construction. Ms. Alvarado noted Mr. Berman reported everything she would have said. Page I 1 Mr. Friedmann reported he got a complaint from a Lincoln/Prescott neighbor about the noise from the generator and the gates getting blown open at night. He then noted he had a good discussion with the Board of Health regarding his concerns about the lack of food code violations over the last two years. He feels the Board of Health will pick up the matter , moving forward. As a result, he felt it appropriate to remove this item from the agenda. Mr. Ensminger and Mr. Berman felt they need more information regarding this before it gets removed from the agenda. Questions about why was it on the agenda, what were his concerns and what was said at the BOH meeting to make the situation no longer necessary to discuss after this Information was put out to the public. The board decided they will leave this on the agenda to get more clarification at Its scheduled time. Town Manager Report Mr. LeLacheur congratulated the Planning Department who received a 15,000 grant as a part of the Mass downtown initiative. Town Manager's FY20 budget was completed and sent to FINCOM. Public Comment Bill Brown suggested the stone at Memorial Park will all the war veterans names on it be moved to where the other veterans are. Nancy Docktor thanked Nick Boivin for his service to the School Committee. She also asked if Chief Clark's salary was adjusted when he took over. She then told us about 375th trivia night fundraiser. - Jeanne Borawski also wanted to talk more about Reading's 375"' anniversary and all the events during the two week party. Mark Oockser felt the ZBA meeting last night regarding Lincoln/Prescott still shows a lot of , issues at the sight. He thinks they need to enforce the parking more and asked the board to create a special zone so they can have cars towed there during construction. Library 150th Recognition Library Director was present to give a little history of the library here in town. The library first opened their doors here in 1869. It has been since moved to many buildings throughout the town before getting a huge renovation in the current building just a short time ago. The library is an Important part of the community and welcomes all to come visit and enjoy all the wonderful services they offer. Health Regulations and Fines Mr. Friedmann explained that his concerns with the Health Department came after seeing a spreadsheet that was obtained thru a public records request. He noted he found it troubling that the amount of food code fines has dropped to zero the past two years. He explained that he felt he was between a rock and a hard place; either go to the Board of Health with his concerns and be accused of acting like a board of one or first discuss with the Select Board and be criticized for not talking first with the Board of Healt. He noted they had a healthy discussion about it and he likes their approach going forward and doesn't feel to the need to continue the discussion with the Select Board. Mr. Berman noted he was puzzled as to why this went in our packet without any conversation about it prior. This spreadsheet, out of context, that went out to the public could read very concerning. He noted he had someone ask him if it safe to eat in Reading after seeing this in the packet. The spreadsheet and Information should not have been in our packet without being discussed with the Board of Health first. The BOH Chair sent an ' email after seeing this in our packet and gave an explanation. Ms. Alvarado noted this was brought up one time during liaison reports. She feels if Mr. Friedmann is content with the answers he got from the Board of Health last night then we can move forward. Page 1 2 Mr. Letacheur expressed concerns noting that Mr. Friedmann placed three agenda items on this meeting regarding staff but would not tell him specifically what they were about. That left Mr. LeLacheur with no way to tell staff how to prepare or what to expect. ' Julianne DeAngelis Recognition Erica McNamara, the RCASA Director took us thru some of Julianne's highlights being here in Reading. She has done so m ch work in our library providing accurate research to people who come in. She has put tother and worked many educational events in town. Along with educating the community sheworked a lot in educating our students at the high school and middle school levels including working immensely on the Chemical Health educational program. Mr. Halsey noted Julianne had many contributions the town while working with RCASA and she will be very missed here in town. He worked closely with her being on the board and is glad the town was able to have her for as long as we did. Mr. Halsey made a motion to present the Certificate of Appreciation to Julianne DeAngelis. The motion was seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0 vote. Parkina/Traffic/Transoortation Task Force Deputy Chief Clark, Community Officer Amendola, and Safety Officer Scouten were present to explain their safety recommendations to the board. The first request was for a 30 day trial period to alleviate traffic during drop off during School hours at the Joshua Eaton School. The request is specifically for a right turn only at the intersection of Oak Street and Summer Ave going eastbound on Oak Street and further parking restrictions on Summer Ave during 7:30 - 8-:30 AM. Ms. Alvarado made a motion to approve the temporary Joshua Eaton School Drop Off Plan as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote. The second request is to reduce the speed limit on Haverhill Street. They have done studies and reports show a high crash rate on this street. They would also like to have engineering do a study at the intersection of Franklin and Haverhill to see if a street light would help out there. The board seemed in agreement about this noting they have gotten a considerable amount of complaints about Haverhill Street in the past couple months. The board agreed to move forward with this request noting they will hold a hearing at their next meeting. The third request is no parking on Linden Street and Haven Street between Brande Court. This request is because the fire truck cannot make the swing with cars on both sides. They are requesting to eliminate the two spots on the left side. The fourth request is for two hour parking on Lincoln Street between Prescott and Fulton. The fifth request is to add two additional 30 minute parking spaces on Haven Street. The sixth request Ig make It 4 hour parking in 2 municipal lots; the Brande Court lot and the upper municipal lot (behind CVS). ' The seventh and last request is for parking restrictions on Elliott Street. They are proposing eliminating parking on one side of the street. As of right now there is constant parking on both sides of the street during the day making it very difficult to get down the street. The board thanked the Police for this presentation and will move forward on their requests and will hold public hearings to let the public weigh in during a future meeting. Page 13 Building Inspections Ms. Alvarado started us off by noting this agenda item's goal is to understand how we got here in regards to the Lincoln/Prescott building being built a foot off. She gave some , background on the project including the fad that ZBA voted this to be an unsubstantial change so we will not be talking about their decision. She noted they have received numerious complaints at this site by neighbors. The goal is to figure out how we can prevent this from happening again going forward and understanding how we missed it this time. She would like to discuss the process the Inspectors have. Ms. Delios noted when they filed the plans they changed the building and they missed it. She noted they have completely changed the process since then. They now verify the plans before issuing any permits. Mr. Berman asked Ms. Delios if she feels this was a learning process for them. Ms. Delios noted now that they have a full time building commissioner, they have a great team and this won't happen again. We now measure and verify the as-built plan against the decision of the ZBA before any construction starts. Mr. Friedmann noted he was not trying to attack staff putting this on the agenda, he just wanted to understand what happened. He is glad changes have been made going forward. Mark Dockser noted he again believes it is time to start enforcing parking regulations by towing. Cadence Thomases noted she hasn't slept in three weeks because of the environmental disturbances from the project. Ms. Delios noted they have taken mitigation efforts about the sound of the generator and hadn't heard any more complaints about it until now. ' Cadence Thomases continued to explain all the disturbances this project has been to her. Mark Dockser once again asked why they can't enforce the parking with towing. Select Board Goals Update Ms. Alvarado noted her and Mr. Berman are working on the social media policy while Mr. Halsey and herself are working on the capital projects. Mr. Ensminger explained Mr. Friedmann and himself have had many meetings regarding the Articles 1 and 2 and they will be ready to bring It to the board at their next meeting for 1 review. t Minutes Ms. Alvarado made a motion to approve the minutes of January Su', 2019 as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote. Ms. Alvarado made a motion to approve the minutes of January 22nd, 2019 as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with a 4-0-1 vote with Mr. Ensminger abstaining. Ms. Alvarado made a motion to adjourn at 11:03 PM, second by Mr. Berman and approved with a 5-0 vote. Page 1 4