HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-08-18 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting
August 18,2009
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.
On motion by Schubert seconded by Goldy, the Board voted to 20 into Executive
Session for the purpose of labor negotiations to come back into Open Session at
approximately 7:45 p.m. The motion was approved on a roll call vote with all three
members voting in the affirmative.
The meeting reconvened at 7:45 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell
Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Ben Tafoya, Secretary
Camille Anthony (arrived at 8:15 p.m.), Selectman Richard Schubert and Stephen
Goldy, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Recreation Administrator John Feudo,
Peter Moscariello and Rick Carter from Reading Baseball Club, Town Moderator Alan
Foulds, Town Meeting Member Stephen Crook, Paul Feely from the Chronicle, Stephen
Hagan from the Advocate, Dale Mancuso, John Halsey.
Discussion/Action Items
Preview Subsequent Town Meeting Warrant - The Town Manager reviewed the outline
of a warrant for several draft articles with the Board of Selectmen. The Board of
Selectmen asked for a staff report on Articles 13 and 14. They also asked for a report
from Town Counsel on Article 16, Selectman Richard Schubert asked whether we
should include articles relative to 40R approval, and the Town Manager indicated that he
felt this would better be done at a Special Town Meeting.
Selectman Camille Anthony entered the meeting at 8:15 p.m. She suggested that the
Board of Selectmen should have a discussion on the earth renewal bylaw, and include
representation from Conservation, the Building Inspector, CPDC, Town Counsel and the
Town Engineer.
The Board of Selectmen discussed a memo sent by the Town Manager to the Board of
Selectmen. Chairman Ben Tafoya remembered seeing the memo but the rest of the
Board members did not. The Town Manager will resend the memo to the Board of
Selectmen. This will be the subject for one of the reports at Town Meeting.
Selectman Camille Anthony asked to have DPW Director Jeff Zager in for one of the
Board of Selectmen meetings to talk about roads and the status of the DPW Study.
Review "Gifts" Policy — The Board of Selectmen reviewed the gifts policy. The Board
agreed to put this on for a hearing and utilize it as proposed. It can always be changed at
a later date if needed.
Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 18, 2009—Page 2
Morton Field Scoreboard—Representatives of the Reading Baseball Club came in to talk
about the proposed scoreboard at Morton Field. Selectman Richard Schubert showed
some graphics of a 14 x 10 scoreboard versus the 36' x 16' x 8" scoreboard that the
Reading Baseball Club had proposed. There was a great deal of discussion on size,
advertising and location.
Ultimately, the Board of Selectmen approved the following motion subject to the
following conditions:
On motion by Goldy seconded by Anthony, the Board of Selectmen accepts as a gift
from the Reading Baseball Club, and does hereby approve an illuminated score-
board for installation at Morton Field, subiect to the following conditions:
•The scoreboard shall be constructed and maintained at no expense to the
Town of Reading.
•The location shall be in left centerfield, with the exact location as.determined
by the Town Manager with advice from the Recreation Administrator and the
Parks, Forestry and Cemetery Supervisor. The Parks, Forestry and Cemetery
Supervisor shall be responsible for trimming any trees or shrubs required for
the scoreboard installation and operation.
•The scoreboard shall be constructed with a 1 to 2 foot gap between the top of
the existing fence and the bottom of the scoreboard.
•The scoreboard shall not include advertising, or acknowledgement of
donations or a message board.
•Electric service shall be installed underground to the scoreboard from a
location determined by the Town Manager, keeping in mind the proposed
Birch Meadow Master Plan which would re-orient the lighted softball field
and remove the green building adjacent to the lighted softball field. The
scoreboard controls shall be wireless, and shall be available to any permitted
users of the field as determined by the Recreation Division.
•Illumination shall be LED or equivalent lights,not larger than 18" in height.
•The background color of the scoreboard shall be black or dark green, and
may include accent colors.
•The scoreboard shall have the name of"Morton Field" included on it.
•The maximum size of the scoreboard shall be 24' in width by 10' in height,
with a maximum height above ground of.17' to 18' and 6" in depth, and shall
be similar in design to Eversan catalogue# 9871.
•The structural supports shall be adequate in size to handle the size, weight and
_height of the scoreboard, and the support shall not deviate from the vertical
plane.
•This approval is subject to receipt by the donor of any permits required
including but not necessarily limited to Conservation, building and wiring.
•This approval shall be void if construction is not completed by December 31,
2010.
The motion was approved by a vote of 4-0-0.
Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 18 2009—Page 3
Review Charter — Town Moderator Alan Foulds and Town Meeting Member Stephen
Crook were present.
Selectman Stephen Goldy noted that he had suggested a review of the Charter at the
Town Meeting. Some,of the issues that may need to be reviewed are Town Meeting size,
Town Manager authority,number of write in votes,etc.
Selectman Richard Schubert noted that he was comfortable with the Charter. Vice
Chairman Ben Tafoya noted that he was comfortable with the Town Manager section
because it outlined the need for having a professional Town Manager.
Alan Foulds reviewed some research that he had done on the size of Town Meeting and
interest in running for Town Meeting. He noted that there are 37 Representative Town
Meetings in Massachusetts, and all of them have the same issues with the number of
candidates running.
The Board started at the beginning and reviewed the Preamble in Article 1 —There were
no issues raised.
Article 2 — There was discussion about precinct boundaries, and the Town Manager
reminded the Selectmen that the precinct boundaries get redrawn every ten years
following the Census. There was discussion about whether Town Meeting Members
should be registered voters, and also discussion about the Election cycle and whether it
should be changed to two years which the Board of Selectmen ultimately felt was not
desirable.
Article 3 —The section that references the "Present Personnel Board" should probably be
eliminated.
Article 4, Section 4-10 — Selectman Stephen Goldy asked if the Boards, Committees and
Commissions functions overlap, that should be addressed. Also the qualifications for the
Boards, Committees and Commissions members should be detailed.
The hour being late, the Board asked to continue the discussion on the Charter review at
their meeting on September 22nd.
On motion by Schubert seconded by Anthony, the Board voted to adjourn their
meeting of August 18, 2009 at 10.30 pm. by a vote of 4-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary
>v
0 0
O O
ro
OO O
C: -a
O v
c 2 op2 O
0- E u^
E 20 O -0 ro v
r° > c Q c v C
a v
4- Oi to } i 4-
a ro ro o w ro v v
M 0 h
X c o x p v
ro -
o IT o .E m N
ro
N OC cn N V7i Ca V` W
r
,I r vi Et{�` '�u�;l.iC((1'r�-IrIrrYII
vi ¢S-.,� i1° I%'slt ,31"GF2t4at.#'a'V' ,uc, F'1 ,_� =tr•
y {
ims
'Evil V
IS
� d $
pQQ
ry`
ismJ' �tr� if'JJ�u 7m�4� L�k�.ltd�h Y�19ya
vn ad Iy a �9.ta� ���Igrc (� 2� E
s"afyl W✓ S 3 �h aBC�11L , kJ1 � qq, , MOM
S
4
N .%`1 •�} 1���"��j�p��i".�. ��r;a- ��iti?�v4�rM F jj
Y w f TrptN., .- YY - nrt I 4 NORM,d
kk
tN=t 't'k�r ri�+cr a
�� t " s�a "�4 4"� Ia
t
WER
x ,`
YS {i,a ' I fit wlxrr<rXLIM
zii,� rt
a c f!
I d W•� ! tl `k 7� ��'a f simi"�r� 4 1 V f l
0
h. 1 s
no �
a a'i �ii Is"h aiA 11'kiF 'a '�
"rrt6
_...._......_....__.__.._. R.w�iiwMuau ...,..y..n 5�,r+stCf1 W+aa'rn�..e}. .,r+",rrA ,lnv e.m:al .,,....,,..v.,,.. .r_�,._,:�.• ..._..,...c_s.�
\ / T /
Q O O C7
I 1 1 1
m
O
41
O
1