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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-07-09 Select Board Minutes r Town of Reading Meeting Minutes ^ G E i V c D TOV,'N CLERK REPI.CING, MA. Board - committee - commission - council: All OCI 22 PM 2: 32 Select Board Date: 2019-07-09 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Anne Landry, Mark Dockser, Vanessa Alvarado, John Halsey, Andrew Friedmann Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Ivria Fried, Tony D'Arezzo, Bill Brown, Nancy Docktor, Kristyn Kaupas, Jonathan Barnes, Elizabeth Gomez Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Caitlin Saunders Topics of Discussion: The meeting was called to order at 7 PM. Liaison Reports Ms. Landry noted the Tarrant Lane project is moving forward. HRAC is looking for more members. The Superintendent of Schools is taking a leave of absence. The school space study is moving forward. Mr. Dockser noted he attended the RMLD ribbon cutting for a battery energy storage system. Fellow board member John Halsey was recognized by the Rotary and congratulated him. Town Managers Report Mr. LeLacheur noted the depot painting agenda item tonight will not be happening. Jonathan Barnes is working with the applicant before they come to the board. Reading Coop will be honoring Camille Anthony and the board will get more information on that in the upcoming weeks. He also noted we will try and get more advanced notice out to the town when they will be spraying for mosquitos. Public Comment Bill Brown noted he went to Fall River to see the ground breaking for a new memorial war wall they are building. Nancy Docktor wants the board to keep in mind all these liquor violations when they start discussing allowing gas stations to sell beer. Page 1 1 Hearin - Alleged U uor Violations The hearing notice was read. The alleged violations took place at Baystate Liquors Ms. Alvarado entered the police reports into the record. She then swore in Deputy Chief Clark and Lieutenant Detective Abate that their statements are accurate and true. Lt. Detective Abate then explained the events that occurred with both the violations as depicted in the police reports. After the first violation, the underage kids noted Baystate is known for selling to minors and they go there frequently because they never card them. After the first violation, Deputy Chief Clark asked patrol officers to keep an eye on that establishment to see if there seems to be a lot of young kids going in there. During the events Detective Abate noted there two clerks in the store during the second violation and one of them was uncooperative refusing to give his name and other information after trying to hide from them. Ms. Alvarado asked if these are frequent violations and Detective Abate noted not really. There are violations every now and then but he would not say frequently. Ms. Alvarado then swore in Mr. Patel, owner of Baystate Liquors. With Mr. Patel was his Attorney Jim DiGulio out of Wakefield. Mr. DiGuilo noted this is a family run store with 5 employees. The two main employees are tips certified. There have been no allegations at this store until now. He also noted the girl did not look young. He also mentioned that the young adult in the first violation told officers had a used a fake ID at the store before noting that if he continued to go there after using his fake ID, the clerks stopped IDing him after that because they thought they knew him. The store has been spot checked by the ABCC and was never found in violation. The clerk in the store at the time of the violation was only there helping out and Mr. Patel fired him after the incident. Mr. Patel realized the seriousness of this but there was no intention to sell to a minor. He has since purchased a machine to read ID's to try and catch fake ones. He also noted they have a new working policy to ID anyone that looks under 35. Mr. Patel spoke noting he really cares about this community and our future. He is willing to spend more time and effort in more training and hopes the new machine will stop any further fake IDs. Mr. Dockser asked Mr. Patel how many of his employees are tips certified. Mr. Patel answered 2 out of S. Mr. Halsey explained how problematic that is noting 100% of his employees should be certified. Any person that touches alcohol, no matter if they are only covering for a day or an hour, must be tips certified. He noted he was the Chair when Mr. Patel opened Baystate liquors and he explicitly told him they do not take selling to minors lightly and that every employee must be properly trained. He then asked Mr. Patel his reasoning for only 2 of his employees being trained. Mr. Patel noted he thought he could train them. Mr. Friedmann asked if either of the clerks on duty the night of the violation were certified and it was noted no, neither of them were. Mr. Halsey also noted he finds it a problem that they just allow any family member to cover the desk when they need help. There is a reason people need to be certified to sell alcohol and not anyone can just cover a desk at a liquor store. He also explained the judging people by how they look to decide if you are going to card them or not, does not work. Some people look older than they are, some look younger than they are, you have to card everyone because things like this happen when you make a judgment call off of someone's appearance and it is very concerning to him that is how they decide who to ID or not. Page 1 2 Mr. Giulia argued that Mr. Patel did not intentionally sell to a minor and that they cannot find him in violation because it was not his intent. The board had mixed opinions on how to proceed and also asked about finding him in violation of their policies which states all employees must be tips certified. Town Counsel noted if they wanted to discuss his violations of their policies they would have to post and open a new hearing at a later date. Mr. Dockser moved that the Board continue the hearing to August 27, 2019 at 8 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote. Vote to approve Zanni Land Acauisition Mr. Dockser moved that the board accept the Deed as presented. The motion was seconded by Ms. Landry and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the board execute the Order of Taking as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Landry and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the board authorize Town Counsel and the Town Manager to act as agents for the Town and to close on the property and to execute and record any additional documents necessary to effectuate the acquisition of the so called `Zanni Property' located off Symonds Way. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote. Vote to approve Affordable Housing Monitoring Agent This monitoring agent will be for Reading Woods 40R only. Lynne Sweet was present for any questions from the board. Mr. Dockser asked her if she plans to staff up for this large project or if it will just be herself. She noted all the units are sold at this point so it is just monitoring going forward. Mr. Dockser moved that the board designate Lynne Sweet of LDS Consulting Group as the Town of Reading's Monitoring Agent for the Reading Woods 40R project. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote. Depot Renovations Historical Commission Chair Jonathan Barnes was present to let the board know they are working together to come up with a solution that works for both parties. They are not ready to come to the board at this time and request to be taken off the agenda until they come back with a new request. Preview Zoning Bylaw Changes for Town Meeting Community Development Director Julie Mercier was present to give the board a preview of what is proposed for November Town Meeting. The first change will be to their definition of marijuana. This is because of the new laws and things happening with CBD. The board discussed how this would affect the CBD store in town. It was noted the state has 'banned' certain CBD projects but everything is a little unclear right now. There will be more to come on this. This definition change will only be to clean up zoning. Board of Health will have to get involved later on about products going forward. The rules of marijuana in town will not change. The second change will be to amend footnote 1 which is provision regarding turning a single-family home into a town family depending on certain conditions. This new footnote would now require this to go to ZBA instead of letting staff make the decisions. The reason for this is because staff are having to make a lot of judgement calls as requests are getting more difficult and unique. Page 1 3 Change number three would allow mixed use in Bus A + C. Change number four would align intensity regulations with mixed use. Safety Improvements Deputy Chief Clark and Lieutenant Christine Amendola were present to explain to the board what they were asking for. The first amendment would Enact Article 5.4.4.12 - No person shall park a vehicle from 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM on Monday through Friday from August 25th through June 30th on any street or parts of the streets to which this Article has been applied as listed under Article 12. The second amendment would add additional parking restrictions 7:30 am to 8:30 am during school drop off on Summer Avenue. The third amendment would make a right turn only from 7:30 am - 8:30 am on Oak Street. The fourth amendment would Amend Article 12 to replace 6.17 to 6.17.2 - Northwest bound drivers on Pearl Street shall make a right turn only onto Main Street from the northerly terminus of Pearl Street by Mill Street. The fifth and last amendment of the night would restrict parking on Temple Street between 23 and 25 Temple. The board had no objections and agreed all the requests were reasonable. Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board approve Safety Amendment 2019-7 as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote. 7■ Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board approve Safety Amendment 2019-8 as J presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board approve Safety Amendment 2019-9 as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board approve Safety Amendment 2019-10 as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board approve Safety Amendment 2019-11 as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote. Before moving on Town Manager wanted to give a quick update about Haverhill Street noting he sat down with MassDOT and others and the fact is that MassDOT controls the speed limit on that road because of a decision the Select Board made 45 years ago. We are looking into options to regain control of the road but right now MassDOT has ordered the town to put the original speed limit signs back up because they did not approve the change. One option the town could do is a home rule petition to try and regain control. A couple of Haverhill Street neighbors came out to express their disappointment but generally understood the issue at hand. They also agreed with attempting a home rule petition to regain control of the road and suggested we start that as soon as possible. FY20 Election Schedule i Town Clerk Laura Gemme was back in front of the board requesting again that they do not ■ combine the elections this year because of the amount of time, staff, training and r�■ preparation that would be needed to handle both. Ms. Gemme noted she sent out an email to a Massachusetts Town Clerks email group asking if they were combining their elections. She showed the board the 32 responses she received back with 27 saying they are NOT combining, 1 said yes, 2 were still thinking about it and 1 has not thought about it yet. Page 1 4 While most members argued that more people turnout with a combine election, Mr. Halsey was opposed to such. Mr. Halsey explained to the board that our Town Clerk is asking us to please not combine them, noting they are the ones doing all the work, and that the board really needs to consider what our staff is asking of us. Ms. Gemme also pointed out that if she does somehow find enough staff, they will all need to be trained before then. She also reminded them that early voting is another high probability that will require more staff and time. Mr. Friedmann, Mr. Dockser and Ms. Alvarado stated a combined election will improve voter turnout and save the town close to IN in election costs. Ms. Landry noted the Secretary does discourage combine elections but noted it is easier for people to only have to come out once to vote. Mr. Dockser moved that the board combine the Local Election and the Presidential Primary on March 3rd, 2020. Ms. Landry seconded the motion and It passed with a 4-1 vote with Mr. Halsey opposing. Ad-Hoc Human Riahts Committee Mr. Friedmann started off by giving a background on the committee and how it came to be. The issue at hand now is members who are not Reading residents. Ms. Landry noted she spoke with Town Counsel and came up with a solution that she would be happy with but her and Mr. Friedmann have different approaches which is why they want the board to weigh in. Ms. Landry noted they could dissolve the committee and reform a new group that would make it legal and inside the charter. It would be under the Town Manager but would operate the same way with Anne and Andy still running the meetings as now. Mr. Friedmann stated that he is not a fan of opening up boards and committees to non- residents; however, in this case, because the board voted to appoint a METCO parent it would be wrong to turn around and say that she can no longer be a full member. Mr. Halsey agrees with Ms. Landry's approach adding it seems to be a win-win. Everyone can still participate and it won't be violating the Charter. Ms. Alvarado expressed her dislike with Town Counsels idea because it seems it is just a workaround from what they created noting there's no implications if we don't follow our own policy. Mr. Friedmann saw an inconsistency with a similar situation two years ago. He noted in September of 2017, people noted that the Board appointed Board of Health members in a way that was not consistent with the Charter. At the time the Select Board decided to stick with the appointments. Why is the answer different now? Josh Goldlust noted we need those members to make the committee what it is supposed to be. The board could not agree on either approach so they decided to continue their discussion to a future meeting to try and find an alternative solution. r The board did have one more matter to attend to regarding the Ad-Hoc Committee. Superintendent John Doherty has taken a leave of absence so in his place they are asking Assistant Superintendent Christine Kelley take his place until he returns. The board had no issues with that. Page 1 5 Mr. Dockser moved that the Select Board appoint Assistant Superintendent Christine Kelley to the ad hoc Human Rights Committee to stand In for Dr. Doherty during his leave of absence. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote. Mr. Dockser moved to adjourn at 10:59 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote. J J Page 1 6