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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Select Boardc'
Date: 2020-04-14 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Location:
Address: Session:
Purpose: General Business Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Mark Dockser, Anne Landry, Carlo Bacci, Karen Herrick, Vanessa Alvarado
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Community Development Director Julie
Mercier, Economic Development Director Erin Schaeffer, Assistant Town
Manager Jean Delios, Emmy Dove, Town Counsel Ray Miyares
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Caitlin Saunders
Topics of Discussion:
Mr. Dockser called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
Board of Health Chair Emmy Dove gave the board an update. She noted on Friday the Board
of Health discussed multifamily buildings and they now must report positive cases to the
building for the safety of others living in the building. The Town has access to all the school
nurses now. Their next steps are an educational outreach.
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur gave a quick update and noted the Community Services
secured another $15,000 grant.
Public Comment - Timothy Kirwan sent an email asking if food and beverage establishments
will need to be re-inspected before opening again and it was noted yes, they would.
Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios and Community Development Director Julie Mercier
gave the board an update focused on their land use boards and public hearings. Right now
their thoughts are it is best to hold off on public hearings until a little more guidance is
available. ZBA and CPDC applicants have been contacted and there has been no pushback
about holding off with their applications at the moment. They plan to reconsider this in May
if they can figure out how to allow public participation. The board agreed to have Town
Counsel come up with some language universal to all boards regarding hearings.
Economic Development Director Erin Schaeffer then gave the board an update of what she
has been working on. She noted the new COVID-19 for businesses page she has created on
the town website. She keeps this page updated daily and recently updated the business
support letter.
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Continued Hearing- Downtown Parking
Next the board had scheduled a continued hearing regarding downtown parking. Due to the
limited access for public comment at the moment the board decided to take no action on
this agenda item and move on.
Erin Schaeffer then gave a quick update on the road diet and the board received a few
emails with public comment.
Robert Holmes asked why DOT took out the bike lane or at least why wasn't it striped to be
a bike lane.
Mike Monahan of Bancroft Ave asked why we are eliminating lanes of an already backed up
road. He also asked why this was done with no input or public hearings.
Bobbi Botticelli also asked why no public hearing happened before this project.
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur explained this is a State project and the Town did not have a
say in whether it was done or not.
Alan Foulds and Town Counsel gave the board a quick update on future plans for Town
Meeting if gatherings are still not allowed. The best plan forward at the moment is to
postpone Town Meeting until June 15th. Town Manager Bob LeLacheur noted it would be
best to pass a budget in June or else we are in uncharted waters. They hope to have more
guidelines and legislation from the State regarding Town meetings in regards to how to
handle June 151h.
Carlo Bacci moved that the Select Board postpone Annual Town Meeting from April
27, 2020 to June 15, 2020 due to the Covid-19 state of emergency. Move also that
the Board will revisit this decision at a late May Select Board meeting in order to
determine the ability to conduct Town Meeting safely on June 15, 2020 or move it
to a later date. The motion was seconded by Karen Herrick and approved with the
following roll call vote:
Herrick - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes.
Recall Election
Vanessa Alvarado recused herself for this discussion.
The board talked about setting a date but most of the board was not comfortable setting a
date in the middle of a pandemic. Most of the board wants to wait until there is more
guidance on elections and safety from the State until the Board of Registrars is able to
meet.
There was a lot of public comment and emails sent in regarding this issue from both sides.
The board wants to wait until the end of May to talk about this again.
Anne Landry moved that the board revisit this agenda item on May 27 or the first
meeting following the reopening of public schools open, whichever comes first.
The motion was seconded by Karen Herrick and approved with the following roll
call vote:
Herrick - yes; Bacci - no; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes.
Ad-Hoc Human Rights Committee
Anne Landry gave the board an update. She presented the proposal to the Library Trustees
and they asked her to go back to the ad-hoc committee with some questions. She also
noted we need another Select Board member to join the ad-hoc now.
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Communications SubCommittee
Vanessa Alvarado and Anne Landry shared with the board a draft social media policy that
included members rotating as the ones posting on the account.
Carlo Bacci moved to adjourn at 10:43 PM with a second from Anne Landry the
motion approved with the following roll call vote:
Herrick - yes; Landry - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Dockser - yes.
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