HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-08-08 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting
' August 8, 2005
For ease of archiving, the order that items appear in these Minutes reflects the order in which
the items appeared on the agenda for that meeting, and are not necessarily the order in which
any item was taken up by the Board.
The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. in the Senior Center, 49 Pleasant Street, Reading,
Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Camille Anthony, Vice Chairman Richard
Schubert (arrived late), Secretary Joseph Duffy, Selectmen James Bonazoli and Ben
Tafoya, Human Resources Administrator Carol Roberts, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner,
and the following list of interested parties: Mike DiNatale, Mark and Margaret Bouyer, Marie
Dudinski, David Farwell, John Tormey, Dave Lindbergh, Steve Dane, Bill Fowler, Nancy Scott, '
Pete Dahl.
Discussion/Action Items
Meeting with Emerson Road/Dividence Road Residents - The Town Manager presented the
issues related to Emerson Road and Dividence Road as private ways and access to the Wood End
School. He noted that there would be a full public hearing on all of the rules and regulations
tomorrow evening, but the purpose was to talk about impact on these two pieces of private way
and determine what the future'of these streets should be.
David Farwell of 65 Dividence Road asked what the width of the walkway onto the school site
from the end of Dividence Road would be. The Town Manager noted that it would be five feet,
and would be protected at the Dividence Road end so vehicles could not use it. He also noted
that this walkway would not be done by the time school started because of the closeout of the
conservation application for the remainder of the site.
Dave Lindbergh of 70 Dividence Road thanked the Board of Selectmen for having a meeting.
He noted that traffic is not an issue now but with the new school, it would be. He suggested that
the sign at Dividence and Emerson Road read simply"residents of the street only" and eliminate
the time. He hopes that the Board will be flexible to modify regulations once. school starts and
we see what the traffic patterns will be.
Marie Dudinski of 24 Emerson Street noted that children's safety is a major concern. She felt
that it would be good to make Emerson Road a public way.
Nancy Scott of 34 Emerson Road again expressed hope that we could be flexible—let's wait and
see how it goes. She asked how special events will be handled.
Margie Bouyer of 19 Emerson Street asked how enforcement would take place for company who
is parking there. The Town Manager noted that whatever the final decision was on the parking
rules and regulations, it would apply to everybody.
David Farwell felt that it would be unfair to ask residents to pay for improvements to the streets.
Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 8, 2005 —Page 2
The Town Manager asked the Board.of Selectmen and the residents to focus on the issue of
whether or not these streets should become a public way.
Selectman James Bonazoli felt that he was concerned about how it would be funded. Sidewalks
on Franklin Street are a high priority. He also felt that making the end of Dividence Road a
public way would provide no value to the residents or to the Town.
All parties agreed that the situation would be monitored and that at the end of October, we would
have a formal review and have this on an Agenda.
Chairman Camille Anthony thanked everyone for attending and for their participation.
Interview/Appoint Town Accountant - Selectman Ben Tafoya reviewed the screening process
with the Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen asked the following questions:
♦ About changing from private sector to public sector.
4 What steps would need to be made to come up to speed.
♦ How to deal with residents asking for public information.
♦ Whether this job would be too confining given their.background.
♦ What their experience has been working with the Town.
♦ What activities they had been involved in within the community if any.
+ What caught their eye about applying for this position and what they did about finding out
about the job.
♦ How they would handle their role as a watch dog for Town finances.
+ How they have dealt with a situation where they had to address an inappropriate expenditure
of funds.
The Board interviewed Steven Dane and Harvey "Pete" Dahl of Reading and William Fowler of
Sharon.
The Board talked about next steps. Selectman Ben Tafoya asked if the Board felt that they
needed to see additional candidates of if they were satisfied with the candidates before them.
The Board indicated that they were satisfied with the candidates before them.
The consensus was to take Bill Fowler out of the mix and concentrate on Steve Dane and Pete
Dahl as potential candidates. The Town Manager and staff will complete the background and
reference checks, and then the Board of Selectmen will have this on an Agenda for a future
special meeting to make a decision in the very near future.
The Town Manager gave the Board of Selectmen an update on the trucking at Jordan's. It
appears that the trucking issue at night is resolved.
On motion by Schubert seconded by Duffy, the Board of Selectmen voted to adjourn their
meeting of August 8, 2005 at 10:00 p.m.by a vote of 5-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
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