HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-03-26 Select Board Minutes Town of Reading RECEIVED
5 Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK ,/
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Board - committee - commission - Council: 2819 APR 23 PM 3: 03
Select Board
Date: 2019-03-26 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session
Purpose: Version: Draft
Attendees: Members - Present:
Andy Friedmann, Vanessa Alvarado, Barry Berman, John Halsey, Dan
Ensminger
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Deputy
Police Chief Clark, Lt. Christine Amendola, Safety Officer Scouten, residents:
Nancy Docktor, Bill Brown, Peter Simms, Mark Dockser
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By:
' Topics of Discussion:
Mr. Friedmann called the meeting to order at 7 PM.
Reading Scholarship Foundation
Mr. Berman introduced the Reading Scholarship Foundation to the board tonight noting it is
their 50th birthday. He also explained he used to be on their board. Vice President of the
foundation stood up and said a few words about what they do. In 2018 they gave out $182k
to 143 students. They have helped over 500 students giving out over $3 million in
scholarships over their 50-year tenure. They hope to continue each year and give out as
much as possible to students.
Next, Mr. Halsey took a few minutes to talk about his friend and colleague Dan Ensminger,
who is not seeking reelection and this will be his last meeting tonight. Mr. Halsey noted Mr.
Ensminger has put in numerous years on this board and worked on many projects and
policies along the way. Mr. Ensminger has been on other boards adding to his expertise
including the RMLD board when they were first established. Mr. Ensminger and his
experience will surely be missed on the board.
Ms. Alvarado thanked Mr. Ensminger for all his hard work on the board and for being so
welcoming to her when she was elected.
Mr. Friedmann thanked Mr. Ensminger for helping him while he was Chair and for all his
' hard work during the last couple months on their subcommittees together.
Mr. Berman echoed everyone's thoughts and thanked Mr. Ensminger for everything he has
done on the board over the years.
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The board presented Mr. Ensminger with a certificate of appreciation for his dedication to
the board for 18 years.
Mr. Ensminger thanked the board and Town Manager Mr. LeLacheur noting it was a pleasure '
to work alongside all of them.
Public Comment
Bill Brown noted you can find Mr. Ensminger down the fields a lot too and wished him good
luck in retirement.
Carlo Bacci thanked Mr. Ensminger for his years on the board and hopes he will still be a
resource to the board when needed.
Hearing - Amend Select Board Policy Add Surplus 1.6.8
Administrative services Director Matt Kraunelis and Procurement Officer Allison Jenkins were
in front of the board to explain the changes.
Mr. Kraunelis also thanked Mr. Ensminger for all his work.
Ms. Jenkins explained they are replacing the current Surplus Bylaw with a Surplus Policy
instead to comply with State Law. The town is required to have a surplus policy if the item
is under$10,000.
Mr. Berman asked if this policy makes the process more efficient now because it does not
have to wait and go to town meeting, the board can do it whenever needed and Ms. Jenkins
confirmed that.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board close the hearing regarding Article 1 adding
Section 1.6.8 Surplus Policy. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and
approved with 5-0 vote.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board approve the addition of Section 1.6.8, Surplus '
Policy, to Article 1 of the Select Board Policies as amended. The motion was
seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Mr. Ensminger called the Select Board SubCommitte on Town Manager Goals to order at
7:47 PM.
Mr. Friedmann made a motion to approve the minutes of the subcommittee from
March 14th, 2019 as proposed. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and
approved with a 2-0 vote.
Mr. Ensminger moved to adjourn the subcommittee at 7:48 PM with a second from
Mr. Friedmann the motion passed 2-0.
Hearino - Amend Select Board Policies replacing Section 1.3.3 Town Manager Goals
Mr. Ensminger took the group thru the changes the subcommittee made to this section of
the policies. He noted they created a new form to use when evaluating and creating goals
for the Town Manager on a yearly basis. They also added a quarterly report from the Town
Manager on how he is achieving his goals.
Mark Dockser asked If staff or the public can comment/ review the Town Manager as well. It
was noted staff has been asked and has no interest in coming to the board and reviewing
their Town Manager. The Select Board are reviewing the Town Manager on behalf of the
residents, he is their employee. ,
Mr. Berman moved that the board close the hearing regarding Article 1 replacing
Section 1.3.3 Town Manager Goals. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and
approved with a 5-0 vote
The board had a few friendly amendments dealing with a grammatical error.
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F
nsminger moved that the board approve the replacement and renaming of
on 1.3.3, Process for Evaluating Town Manager, in Article 1 of the Select
d Policies as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann. The
dly amendments were accepted and the motion carried 5-0.
ng - Parkina/Traffic/Transoortation Task Force Safety Amendments
ty Chief Clark, Safety Officer Scouten and Lt. Amendola were in attendance to go over
afety amendment requests that are before the board this evening. It was noted these
e same requests they got a briefng on at their previous meeting.
request was the no parking on Linden Street on the westerly side from Haven Street to
e Court. This request is being made because the fire trucks cannot make the tum if
les areparked on both sides of the street.
est number two is to restrict parking on Lincoln Street to two hours. This is because of
connect with the parking map posted already has this listed as two hours so they would
like to keep everything consistent..
Request number three Is the addition of two 30-minute parking spaces in front of 2 Haven
Street. This was requested by the Haven Street Business owners for more short-term
parking for better turnover.
The last request is to make the Brande Court parking lot and the Upper Municipal lot
(parking lot behind CVS) all 4-hour parking. This request is being made for longer term
parking for customers in the downtown who want to do multiple errands in the business
area noting two hours is not enough time always.
The board opened up the hearing to the public for comment.
' Angelo Cerminara, owner of Fresh and Clean noted he understands the need for long term
parking but there should be Flexibility and some more 30 minute spots If we're adding so
much long term parking. He also suggested adding more signs to direct people to the long
term/short term spots so that we don't have people taking up the 30 minute spots for
hours.
Peter Simms, owner of Simms Jewelers, explained the reason they made the lots 2 hours in
the first place was to prevent people working in the downtown from parking there all day
and taking up customer spots. He does not think 4 hours is a good idea and they will be
right back to where they were years ago when there was still no parking anywhere.
Carlo Bacci asked if it would be possible to not make all the spots in the lot 4 hours and
have some remain 2 hours but it was noted it would be hard to enforce that.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board close the hearing on Parking/Traffic/
Transportation Task Force safety improvements. The motion was seconded by Mr.
Ensminger and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Mr. Halsey noted he has some concerns about changing the parking lots to four hours.
Ms. Alvarado noted there is clearly not enough employee parking and we should try and
work on that to help alleviate the parking concerns.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board approve Safety Amendment 2019-02 as
presented; Moved that the board approve Safety Amendment 2019-03 as
L presented; Moved that the board approve Safety Amendment 2019-04 as
presented; Moved that the board approve Safety Amendment 2019-05 as
presented; Moved that the board approve Safety Amendment 2019-06 as
presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-0
vote.
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Mr. Ensminger moved to take the next agenda item out of order. The motion was
seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Hearing - RMLD Reouest New Telephone Pole '
Ms. Alvarado read the hearing notice and it was noted this hearing will be moved to a
further date to allow more details on the matter to become clear.
Mr. Ensminger moved that the hearing regarding the new pole request at Franklin
and Grove Street will be continued until May 7r^, at 8 PM. The motion was
seconded by Ms. Alvarado and approved with a 4-0 vote.
Hearing - Amend Select Board Policies Article 1 - Operating Procedures and Article 2 -
Boards. Committees and Commissions
The board now has a tracked changes version of the document they saw at their last
meeting including all comments the Select Board members sent to Mr. LeLacheur and Town
Counsel's opinion on them.
The board went through everyone's comments agreeing or not on the changes. They
discussed how to assign/or nominate liaisons ultimately decided it would be best for each
member to rank their choices and the board can pick from there.
The board discussed the agenda regarding the process and how it is created, who can add
to it and when it should be available to the public.
The board discussed the conduct of meetings and members trying to get the wording right
to make it clear.
The board had some discussion about remote participation and noted some state laws '
regarding this topic.
The board also discussed enforcement and worked on wording that correctly.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board close the hearing amending Select Board
Policies: Article 1: Operating Procedures and Article 2: Boards, Committees,
Commissions. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and approved with a 5-
0 vote.
Ms. Alvarado moved that the board approve the amendments to Select Board
Policies: Article 1: Operating Procedures and Article 2: Boards, Committees,
Commissions as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ensminger and
approved with a 5-0 vote.
The board thanked Mr. Ensminger and Mr. Friedmann for their hard work on these policies.
Mr. Ensminger moved that the board adjourn at 11:26 PM. With a second by Ms.
Alvarado the motion passed 5-0 vote.
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