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Home My WebLink About2020-09-22 Select Board Minutes Town of Reading kECEIVED k Meeting Minutes TOWP4 CLERK REi'ti' r MA. �✓ Board - Committee - commission - Council: 21210C- 21 AH 11: 39 Select Board Date: 2020-09-22 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Location: Address: Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Mark Dockser, Carlo Bacci, Vanessa Alvarado, Karen Herrick, Anne Landry Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Kerry Dunnell, DPW Director Jane Kinsella, Assistant DPW Director Chris Cole, Business Administrator Jayne Wellman, Economic Development Director Erin Schaeffer, Community Development Director Julie Mercier, Police Chief Clark, Officer Scouter, Lt Amendola, Matt Smith, Lisa Egan, Dave Talbot, Bernie Horn, Brooke Sakraida, Rob Skinner, Karen Rose-Gillis, Larry Meuse, Michelle Sousa Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: This meeting was held remotely on Zoom. Board of Health member Kerry Dunnell started the meeting off by giving the board a positive update on COVID. Hospitalizations and case numbers are going down; but new cases are still happening so please keep wearing your masks and social distancing. Flu clinics will be coming up soon and she will have dates shortly. Town Manager Bob LeLacheur gave a command update noted they worked on the Carl McFadden issue and he is all set now. Liaison Reports Vanessa Alvarado noted she had spoken to residents regarding the water tower replacement and had serious concerns regarding the proposed cell tower. Anne Landry noted the town is looking at hiring a consultant to look at the way our health department is run to see if a Health Director position would be helpful. Also, HRAC is holding a meeting with our legislators in a couple weeks. Carlo Bacci noted CPDC had a busy meeting last week and they have asked the Chronicle building developers to scale it down. Karen Herrick noted RMLD is having on-going planning and engineering discussions with Saverio Fulciniti, the owner/developer of 513 Main Street, for the purpose of designing natural gas alternatives and greener options for running that building. Page 1 1 Town Manager Bob LeLacheur noted the HRAC meeting with the legislatures on 10/7 is also the same night as the Town's Economic Development Summit and a Financial Forum. He noted the tree issues the board briefing discussed at their last meeting is with town counsel. There is a virtual road diet meeting next week and a neighborhood Walkers Brook Drive meeting; the board will be posted incase anyone wants to attend. Public Comment Eleanor Shankoff noted she sent a letter to the board about her experiences on the board of health and just wanted to reiterate the places she thinks needs improvement. Downtown Parking Hearing Community Development Director Julie Mercier, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Police Chief Clark, Lt. Amendola, Officer Scouten, DPW Director Jane Kinsella and Assistant DPW Director Chris Cole were all present for the hearing. Ms. Mercier gave the board a presentation of the proposal for downtown again. The board has seen these proposals before. Public Comment Lisa Egan of the Reading/North Reading Chamber of Commerce thanked the staff for their prep work for this proposal but feels it is a challenging time to make big changes. Small businesses are already struggling due to COVID, now making people pay to park would not help right now. Dave Talbot of Linden Street noted the changes to Linden street are not necessary. Linden street does not have any problems and there is no need to regulate it. He also did not find out about this until yesterday and feels the town did a bad job notifying neighbors. Bernie Horn pointed out problems with the Nelson Nyguard study; specifically, because it only did the study on one day which is not enough time to gather accurate data. He feels the amount of regulations downtown is too many as well and the whole system needs to be simplified with a smaller set of regulations to not confuse people. He also noted PTTTF should have some residents on it to get accurate information. Brooke Shakraida from Linden Street wanted to let the board know she did not get notified about this. She would like the board to delay their vote noting the board is making this more difficult than it needs to be. If they regulate parking on her street she won't have anywhere for her guests to park. Rob Skinner from Sanborn Street agreed with Brooke and Dave. The first he heard of this was yesterday as well. This puts an unfair burden on residents to have employee parking on residential streets He would support inner core phase 1 to start but he suggests putting off this vote. Karen Rose Gillis of Linden Street also noted she did not get notified and that Linden street is fine as it is now. Police Chief Clark noted enforcement is difficult if streets aren't regulated. Larry Meuse of Lowell Street noted the new Lincoln Street project only allows 1 car per unit and asked where are their second cars are going to park in the winter? Michelle Souza from Sanborn Street noted she did not receive notification and that the changes would affect her personal business that she runs out of her house. Carlo Bacci moved to close the public hearing regarding downtown parking. The motion was seconded by Karen Herrick and approved with the following roll call vote: Page 12 Herrick - yes; Bacci - yes; Alvarado - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes. The board then went through their thoughts on the proposal. Vanessa Alvarado noted she is opposed to voting tonight given that neighbors of the affected areas were not notified as previously requested of town staff. She was frustrated that the town had again failed to inform residents about significant local decisions and will not vote until proper notification is provided to residents. Karen Herrick echoed Ms. Alvarado's comments. Anne Landry agreed with the other two members and also noted her concerns with privacy at the kiosks and would like to know more about how people's information will be used. Mark Dockser hears what the others are saying but feels they cannot keep kicking the can down the road. Staff have been working on this since last year and held numerous neighborhood meetings prior to tonight. Vanessa Alvarado stated the board isn't ready to vote tonight and they should postpone the votes. She added that she has serious reservations about the proposed parking kiosks, their cost and that they will discourage people from coming to the downtown area. Karen Herrick noted it seems irresponsible to spend so much money on kiosks right now while were in a pandemic and don't know what the future holds regarding budgets. Anne Landry wanted to know why staff needs the board to vote tonight asking why now. It was noted for numerous reasons it would be helpful for the board to vote tonight but the main reason is it is almost the end of the year and the Chief needs to order stickers. Votes tonight would change how many stickers to order and what types of stickers to order. He needs to order them by end of October latest. Last year the board was faced with this same time restriction and decided to wait until this year. The board asked staff if there were some things they could vote on tonight that wouldn't affect neighbors so much. It was noted they could get rid of the leased spaces program now. The board agreed they were okay doing that. Carlo Bacci moved that the board approve Traffic and Parking Regulations Amendment number 2020-4 as presented/amended. [Leasing Program] Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes. Carlo Bacci moved that the board approve Traffic and Parking Regulations Amendment number 2020-5 as presented/amended. [Leased Spaces - High St.] Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes. Carlo Bacci moved that the board approve Traffic and Parking Regulations Amendment number 2020-6 as presented/amended. [Leased Spaces - Brands Ct.] Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes. Carlo Bacci moved that the board approve Traffic and Parking Regulations Amendment number 2020-7as presented/amended. [Leased Spaces - Harridan Yard] Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick - yes; Alvarado - yes; Bacci - yes; Landry - yes; Dockser - yes. Page 1 3 The board then discussed what questions they need answered in order to move forward on the parking proposal. Karen Herrick would like more stats and numbers on the kiosks. She would like to know the plan for electric charging stations. And she wants to know more about how our enforcement of parking regulations works. Anne Landry would like more data about the usage of kiosks specifically regarding privacy and what happens with people's information they gather. She would also like letters to be sent by mail or stuck to the front door of everyone affected by these changes. Mark Dockser would also like more information on enforcement and how enforcement will change when we implement these changes. He would also like RMLD included in conversations regarding power to potential charging station spots. Vanessa Alvarado would like more information on the new employee permit program. She would like more information on kiosks regarding how much they cost, their life expectancy, maintenance costs and what our peer communities are doing. She would like more information on internet access if that would be a cost. She wants to know costs about the program to maintain. She would like to know which employees will be managing this and will it be new employees or what jobs will existing employees will be pulled away from to do this job. She wants to know what the outreach plan is. We need to look into seeing how this is going to affect surrounding areas. She wants to know more about the tree lawns and how regulations will be enforced if we make some streets "No Parking". She wants to know more about snow removal and lighting on the streets were changing parking on. She wants to know more about electric charging stations too. VASC VASC Members Carlo Bacci and Karen Herrick explained their recommendations for the Board of Health. They recommend moving up current associate member Dr. Lopez into the full open position and appointing Geri Cramer to the now open associate position. They noted both candidates were highly qualified and would be a great addition to the board but it seemed Ms. Cramer had a little bit more flexibility in her schedule and that was their reasoning for recommending her. Ms. Alvarado noted she is disappointed Mr. Healey is being disqualified because of the demand of the position. She would like to see him be appointed with a shift of the responsibilities go back on staff for the command meetings. Carlo Bacci moved to appoint Richard Lopez to a full member on the Board of Health with a term expiring lune 30, 2022. Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick — yes; Alvarado — yes; Bacci — yes; Landry — yes; Dockser — yes. Carlo Bacci moved to appoint Geri Cramer to an associate position on the Board of Health with a term expiring lune 30, 2021. Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick — yes; Alvarado — yes; Bacci — yes; Landry — yes; Dockser — yes. Carlo Bacci moved to appoint Cynthia Hartman to a full position on the Zoning Board of Appeals with a term expiring lune 30, 2023. Karen Herrick seconded the motion and it was approved with the following roll call vote: Herrick — yes; Alvarado — yes; Bacci — yes; Landry — yes; Dockser — yes. Town Meeting The board went through the warrant. Town Manager Bob LeLacheur noted the warrant does include a request from the Moderator to do another virtual town meeting. Page 1 4 The board then discussed a request from Karen Herrick to change the wording of the Energy Code article. She proposed rewording the `purpose' section after talking with the Department of Energy. She also went and looked at other towns bylaws and they are all similar with no restrictions in the purpose section. Town Manager noted that Town Counsel has not seen this new wording Ms. Herrick is suggesting. He did ask them about it but they had not gotten back to him at this time. Carlo Bacci moved to close the warrant consisting of 13 Articles for November Town Meeting to be held on November 9th, 2020. 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. The board then discussed how to run the October 20t^ meeting with regards to the cell tower discussion. They also discussed future agenda items. Carlo Bacci moved to adjourn at 11:43 PM. 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. Page 1 5