HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-01-17 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting
January 17, 1995
The meeting was convened at 7:35 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 16 Lowell Street,
Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Dan Ensminger, Vice Chairman Bill Burditt,
Secretary Sally Hoyt, Selectmen Camille Anthony and George Hines, Town Manager Peter
Hechenbleikner, residents Nancy Eaton, Ron Wood, Hope Boghosian, Chief Edward Marchand,
Chief Donald Wood, Stewart Chipman, Ted McIntire, Beth Klepeis, Richard Moore, Fred
VanMagness, and Gail Wood.
Approval of Minutes
On motion by Hoyt seconded by Burditt the Board voted to approve the Minutes of January 3,
1995, as amended by a vote of 5-0-0.
Liaison Reports/Selectmen's Comments
George Hines noted with regret that Bruce Morang, long time Editor of the Chronicle, had passed
away. He attended the wake and memorial service.
Bill Burditt also attended Bruce Morang's memorial service, and attended a Budget Committee
meeting.
Camille Anthony attended an Open Space and Recreation Planning Task Force meeting and they
are in the process of writing a report. She also heard from Paul Kelley regarding the Housing
Partnership's Soft Second Loan Program and the Board noted that the Town Manager had the
authority to sign the application.
Sally Hoyt attended the County Advisory Board Legislative Committee meeting and noted that
none of the legislation that they have supported recently has passed. She also attended the
Citizen's Police Academy and hopes that the Town will get additional funds for additional officers
on the night shift. She attended a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing. She attended the Council on
Aging meeting and noted that they had received the EOEA Grant Fund check. The C.O.A. FY95
goals include outreach and medical services. Hoyt noted that she found that the#57 on the phone
will allow you to trace harassing phone calls, and that the Police advise that a copy of the vehicle
registration be kept in the home. She noted a parking problem at Washington and Minot Streets.
She expressed her regrets about Bruce Morang passing away, and congratulated the RMHS
Hockey Team on their 10-1-0 record to date.
Dan Ensminger noted that the Reading High Track Team will be featured in "Sports Illustrated."
He attended the Reading RMHS 2000 meeting; a Technology Task Force meeting; and a Budget
Committee meeting.
-- Town Manager's Report
The Town Manager noted that the flag on the common was flown at half staff in memory of
Bruce Morang. He noted that the Reading Police Department's Citizens'Police Academy has
Board of Selectmen's Meeting -January 17, 1995 -page 2
been very well attended. It was noted that with regard to Cable TV, residents may experience
two things: a survey is being done in connection with the issuance of the Cable TV franchise, and
there may be some periods of outage beginning on the 18th mostly in the early morning hours for
the purposes of"consolidating equipment." The Board of Selectmen will be meeting on the 26th
to review budgets, and we will be meeting on upper Pearl Street at 9:00 a.m. on the 21st. He also
reported on the status of the Pearl Street School approvals; that the Town had received a new fire
alarm bucket truck; that there was minor damage done to Engine 3; that Gertrude the wood
carved eagle will be dedicated at the Senior Center; and that the ditch piping project at 311
Haverhill Street was not approved by the Conservation Commission but we will make a new
application when there is a full Commission.
Licenses, Permits and Approvals
Ken Pratt appeared before the Board to request that his Class I Motor Vehicle License be
renewed in spite of the fact that he is significantly behind in taxes. He noted that things are
getting better and the business is turning around. The Board questioned Pratt on how he planned
on dealing with the significant amount of back taxes that are owed. The total amount to date on
the properties at 165 and 163 Main Street including taxes for calendar year 1995 is approximately
$21,000. Pratt noted that he needed to stay in business in order to pay the taxes off. On motion
by Hines seconded by Hoyt the Board voted to accept Mr. Pratt's proposal to proceed January 17,
1995, to clear up back taxes and keep the taxes current provided that the payment schedule as
indicated will be paid by the 20th of each month, if any payment is missed then the entire amount
becomes due or the license will be revoked, that a contract will be drawn accomplishing the
above, and that during this time all back and current taxes will be maintained up to date. The
motion was approved by a vote of 5-0-0.
Personnel and Appointments
Conservation Commission-Hope Boghosian and Ron Wood were both interviewed for a position
on the Conservation Commission expiring June 30, 1995. The Town Manager indicated that he
had spoken with the Chairman of the Conservation Commission and they would like the Board to
defer making the appointment for a couple of weeks until the Commission has had a chance to
review the applicants. The Board agreed.
Discussion/Action Items
Traffic and Parking Enforcement - Chief Marchand was present and the Board discussed issues of
traffic enforcement. The Board had a number of specific questions including the need for
increased red and yellow time on Main Street at Pleasant Street, etc. The Board indicated that the
single major concern that residents have is speed and volume of traffic in neighborhoods. The
Chief indicated that all citations are put in the computer, and that they do ongoing enforcement on
main roads and selective enforcement in neighborhoods if there are complaints. Specific traffic
enforcement issues identified by the Board were cut through traffic, volumes and speed, and lack -
of enforcement at controlled intersections - rolling stops at stop signs, etc. The Board discussed
some additional specific issues including no left turn from northbound Main onto Hopkins Street,
Board of Selectmen Meeting-January 17, 1995 -page 3
problems with business owners and their employees parking in timed parking spaces, speed limits
and how they are established, sight distances in areas including Willow Street and Summer
Avenue, and Melbourne Street and Summer Avenue. The Chief indicated that where there were
sight distance problems the Police can talk to the property owner and request the sight distances
to be cleared. The Board talked specifically about Mineral and Vine Streets and enforcement
there. The Chief indicated that the Police Department has been there a number of times and gave
three to four written warnings and the rest verbal warnings. The issue seems to be people coming
to rolling stops, but not stopping completely. The Board suggested more intensive enforcement
on Friday and Saturday evenings when you tend to have "joy riders."
Review of the Sewer Tie-In Policy Enforcement - The Board reviewed several issues with the
Water and Sewer Advisory Committee including the review of the Sewer Tie In Policy
enforcement, evaluation of tiered water rates, the evaluation of billing sewers based on MWRA
flow methodology, and shifting water and sewer debt totheproperty taxa Stewart Chipman made ,
the presentations for the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee. It was noted that if we continue
to have septic systems in the aquifer protection district, then we need to do a job of education for
the owners." The Board agreed that the policy should be a requirement that if the septic system
fails that residents tie into the sewer, but that there be no time deadline by which tie ins have to be
made. The Town Manager will check to see if this requires Town Meeting action or policy action
on the part of the Board of Selectmen.
Evaluation of Tiered Water Rates - The Water and Sewer Advisory Committee reviewed a
number of possibilities with regard to a tiered water rate. The Water and Sewer Advisory
Committee noted that within communities in the MWRA district, 45% have an ascending block
structure, 52% have a flat rate like Reading's, and 3% have a fixed fee. They noted that Reading
water usage follows a bell shape curved pattern, but has some extremely high usage accounts. A
chart was shown indicating the distribution of accounts by amount of water use. The Water and
Sewer Advisory Committee evaluated several possibilities for a three tier rate structure. They
would suggest that the properties with the second water meter be billed at the third tiered rate
which is still a considerable savings from being charged for sewer on that second water meter.
The advantages to a tiered rate include promotion of Conservation, providing rate relief to low
water users, and passing along the increased cost of high volume water production. The
disadvantages include the fact that condominiums and apartments are handled as one account and
the rates per unit would therefore be higher. The Board noted that this issue requires some
additional study. Fred VanMagness spoke to the inequity of the proposed structure for
multi-family apartments and condominiums, and that it would be an anti-business move. The
Town Manager noted that the Town is one of the larger water users and we would have to budget
more money for an increased rate. George Hines noted that the prospect of a tiered water rate
needs some more study. He felt that it is an idea worth pursuing and any implementation would
require adequate time to inform residents and to give notice to property owners. Nancy Eaton
asked what would happen when water restrictions come off and what the impact would be.
Board of Selectmen Meeting-January 17, 1995 -page 4
The Board talked about implementation procedures and time frames for tiered water rates, how to
deal with apartments and condos(the bill could be divided by the number of units), whether or not
there should be a municipal rate, what the impact would be of a different spread on the blocks of
water rates, and what the experience is with regard to conservation.
Evaluation of Billin�L Sewer Based on MWRA Flow Methodoloy - The Board talked about
changing the sewer rate methodology. Currently, MWRA sewer rates are based on operations
and maintenance (45%) and debt service costs (55%). The MWRA rates make up 85% of the
Town's sewer cost. Although there was discussion about advantages to changing the structure of
the sewer billing so that even properties who do not have access to sewers would be charged
some amount, the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee did not recommend such a change. The
advantage is that such a change would most closely reflect the current MWRA rate methodology,
but the disadvantages are that the Town's census doesn't cross reference all properties, you would
need to determine a population equivalent per household, this would not be user based and
therefore would not promote conservation, flat fees are regressive and costs are shifted unfairly,
and the flat fee for nonusers has been determined to be illegal. Other options including charging
non-benefiting properties a flat fee for MWRA debt service cost were also not recommended.
They should be revaluated after the MWRA rate structure changes are implemented.
Fred VanMagness suggested that the weekend water restrictions be modified for the Winter, and
the Town Manager noted that this had been considered but rejected because it is extremely
difficult to .inform residents of changes in regulations. Hopefully by Spring the regulations
effecting the water restrictions will be lifted.
Shifting `Nater/Sewer Debt to the Property Tax - Beth Klepeis made a presentation regarding
shifting water and sewer debt to the property tax. The Board felt that this is not an appropriate
direction and the experience of other communities is not positive in recommending such a change.
On motion by Burditt seconded by Hines the Board voted to adjourn at 11: 12 p.m. by a vote of
5-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary