HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-19 Select Board Minutes Town of Reading
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Select Board
Date: 2019-11-19 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:
Vanessa Alvarado, John Halsey, Andy Friedmann, Anne Landry, Mark
Dockser
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Town Counsel, Executive Assistant Caitlin
Saunders, Town Clerk Laura Gemme, Bill Brown, Michael Enos, Deb Bartlett,
Mike Palmer
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Caitlin Saunders
Topics of Discussion:
Ms. Alvarado called the meeting to order at 7 pm.
Ms. Alvarado wanted to start the meeting off by saying she was at the emergency control
center during the boil water emergency and wanted to note how well our emergency staff
works together. She also mentioned Joe Huggins and his facilities staff.wereable to-keep
the High School open and able to be used for the large Saturday Night Lights event that was
planned for that night.
Mr. Friedmann noted the building commissioner issued a hold on the certificate of
occupancy for the MET building for some violations. He hopes the town holds the developer
to his plans. The board received an email from Brian Snell about a 'Make Reading Dementia
Friendly' event he thinks all should attend to learn more.
Mr. Dockser agreed with Mr. Friedmann's thoughts about Dementia Friendly Reading noting
they will be doing more training around dementia in the future which would be very helpful
as our growing population is the elderly.
Mr. Halsey noted he has started his new office hours, the second Tuesday of every month,
at the senior center. He has had an extremely positive experience over there so far with lots
of conversations keeping him much longer than an hour. He also noted on the topic of
Dementia Friendly Reading, they are also training business on people with dementia as well
so our whole community can be Dementia friendly. RCASA is going through a reorganization
because the grants which started RCASA are ending so the structure needs to change now.
He echoed Ms. Alvarado's comments about the boil water emergency situation noting
everyone snapped into action so quickly and there were people from every department in
town there and ready to help. Today himself and Ms. Alvarado also attended the
assessment center for the Police Chief position. Lastly, he wanted to announce he will not
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be running for re-election in the Spring. He has enjoyed his time as a member of the board
and will still continue to stay very involved in the town but his time on this board has come
to an end.
Ms. Landry thanked Mr. Halsey for his service and noted she was grateful they got to serve
on the board together. Town Meeting wrapped up last night.
Town Manager's Report
Mr. LeLacheur noted the softball field issue is fixed. They added fencing to secure the
dugout/bench area. The three budget meetings, December 4,10,11, will take place at the
Pleasant Street Center. The final bill regarding the library project has been accepted so we
can finally, officially, wrap up that project. There has been a lot of inquiries about the
Daniel's House property but he has no factual information to give at this time. The
emergency personnel really do work wonderfully together and the town is lucky to have
that.
Public Comment
Bill Brown wanted to thank Kevin Bohmiller for another wonderful Veteran's Day. He also
noted he heard someone did buy Daniel's House.
Dispose Surplus Items
Mr. LeLacheur noted this is the end of the year list of items the board needs to declare as
surplus. He noted most of the items on this list are being traded in for newer items.
Mr. Dockser moved that the Board vote to authorize disposal of the list of surplus
items as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved
with a 5-0 vote.
Election Update
Town Clerk Laura Gemme wanted to update the board on plans for the upcoming elections.
She noted it appears early voting will be happening which now will require the town to do
early voting for the local election too since the board voted to combine the elections.
Nomination papers are now available. She does believe the expected cost of the elections
will be more than she originally thought due to the early voting and amount of staff needed
for a combine election. She also noted she is having a hard time finding election workers
and needs all the help she can get.
Ad-Hoc Human Rights Committee
Since Elaine Webb resigned from the School Committee, her position on the ad-hoc needs to
be filled as well. The School Committee recommended newly appointed Pat Calley.
The board had no issues with this.
Mr. Dockser moved that the board appoint Patricia Calley as one of the School
Committee representatives on the Ad-Hoc Human Rights Committee. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Change of Manager - Bertucci's
The new manager was present. The Police Department did their background check and had
no issues with this application moving forward. The board had no issues.
Mr. Dockser moved that the board approve the change of manager for an annual
all alcohol license at Bertucci's, 45 Walkers Brooke Drive, Reading, MA. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Minutes
Ms. Landry and Mr. Friedmann provided some edits.
Mr. Dockser moved that the board approve the meeting minutes of October 29,
2019 as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-
0 vote.
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Hearing - Liquor License Policy
This is a continued hearing regarding some changes to the Select Board's Policy, specifically
on their liquor licenses section.
Mike Enos from Capri, Deb Bartlett from Longhorn and Mike Palmer from Fusilli's were
present for the hearing.
Mr. Enos asked for clarification on the new requirements that liquor holders send monthly
lists of employees with up to date TIPS training. The board explained the Town Manager's
office will now keep a record of all employees serving alcohol at all the establishments.
Every month the establishment must update the Town Manager's office with any changes to
their employee list and file any new or expired tips training certificates. This new
requirement from the licensee holders stems from a recent incident and the board is trying
to close any loop holes the policy may have had. This will hopefully ensure every employee
that is serving alcohol has their tips training and it is on file in the Town Manager's office.
The board then discussed having a fee associated when a licensee comes in to make any
changes to the license, i.e. change of manager, alteration of premises. The board felt a
minimal fee for the most popular changes would be appropriate to accommodate for staff
time but for changes that don't happen very often, they don't feel a fee is necessary.
The board then discussed the new classification of licenses they created, war veterans club.
The war veterans' clubs used to be lumped in with the general club licenses but the board
felt they are different enough to create a new category for them. There is only one left in
town now. The board felt the war veteran's club fee should be much lower than the club
licenses.
The board then discussed regulating assistant managers in establishments like they do the
managers. Town Counsel brought this up because some other towns are starting to do this
and wasn't sure the appetite of the board. The board agreed they had no interest in
i regulating assistant managers noting they feel they are getting into the operations of the
business at this point.
Mr. Dockser moved the close the hearing on the Select Board policies. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0 vote.
Mr. Dockser moved that the board approve the Select Board Policy changes
effective January 1s', 2020, as amended allowing Town Counsel to remove any
references to assistant managers. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and
approved with a 5-0 vote.
Review Town Manager Draft Performance Review
The board discussed the newly revised version thanks to Mr. Dockser's edits taken from the
last boards last discussion.
The board still didn't like the 'meet', 'doesn't meet', 'almost met' standard of reviewing him.
They settled on a 1-5 number system with 5 being met expectations and 1 being not met.
The board feels this gives them more flexibility if a goal is in progress.
Mr. Dockser will make the changes again and bring back to the board.
Communications Policy Subcommitee Update
The board discussed a new communication policy and most importantly how to close the
loop on emails from residents. The board would like the Town Manager to sort of track the
emails and keep them updated as they get resolved. Some emails are easily resolved using
staff without needing board members and sometimes board members can easily answer a
question without involving staff; this policy aims to put a system in place so they the board
and Town Manager are on the same page and know where every email stands as far as
resolving an issue raised.
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Mr. Dockser moved to adjourn at 10:14 PM. The motion was seconded by Ms.
Landry and approved with a 5-0 vote.
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