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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-24 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting August 24,2010 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 7:00 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman James Bonazoli, Secretary Richard Schubert, Selectmen Stephen Goldy and Ben Tafoya, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleilcner, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur, Public Works Director Jeff Zager, Public Works Business Administrator Jane Kinsella, Town Engineer George Zambouras, Office Manager Paula Schena and the following list of interested parties: Matt Casey, Bill Brown, Mike O'Hallaron, DEP Consultant Sharon Conchetta. Reports and Comments Selectmen's Liaison Reports and Comments — Selectman Stephen Goldy noted that the Fall Street Faire is on September 12th and volunteers are needed. He also congratulated Chairman James Bonazoli for completing the "Half Iron Man"this weekend. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that CPDC met last night and discussed Oak Tree and Calareso's, and there were a number of neighbors present. The Town Manager noted that CPDD continued the hearing with.Oak Tree to September 13th. More work needs to be done regarding drainage and underground parking. Oaktree also wants to restripe the parking lot for the maximum number of spaces. Town Manager's Report The Town Manager gave the following report: Administrative Matters ♦ Volunteers are still needed—ZBA, CPDC, Conservation Commission ♦ August 31st - Board of Selectmen is invited to tour Killam and Birch Meadow Schools with the School Committee prior to first day of school - 6:30—7:30. 1 have hired an Owners Project Manager for the Library project. RFQ's for architectural services will be available on August 25th; and proposals are due back on a schedule that will enable us to have an Architect hired by October 5th. All of this is necessary in order to be eligible for the upcoming State grant cycle. ♦ The Fall edition of the Reading Recreation Magazine is due to be delivered to all Reading residents by early next week. Look for our After School Programs which start in September and October along with volleyball, field hockey, golf, fencing and much more. Community Development e Calereso's is under contract to purchase the Tambone properties on South Main Street, and move their business there. They have filed for Site Plan approval. ♦ Expansion of Peter Sanborn Place—Town comment to MassHousing has been submitted Board of Selectmen Meeting_August 24, 2010—Page 2 Public Safety ♦ To register for RAD Classes beginning in October, call the Reading Police Department RAD line at 781-942-6752. ♦ We have done community outreach to let abutters know what is proposed—sidewalk and curb installation on Washington Street between Woburn and Prescott Streets, and Sunnyside Avenue from Prescott Street to Fairview Avenue. Once we have further information from the State's engineers, we will make a presentation to the Board of Selectmen and schedule a hearing. Public Works ♦ At their last meeting, the Board of Selectmen asked whether we had an inventory of all non-ADA conforming HC sidewalk ramps. We do not have such an inventory. ♦ Staff and I met with representatives of the MWRA and their consultant today about the water line project. The first phase is the construction of a 36" line in Route 28 from North Street in Stoneham to South Street in Reading. It will connect with the distribution systems in each community via valves which will be closed during normal operation. In an emergency, the valves in each community will be opened and the community(s) fed through that line. This construction is scheduled to be bid this Winter, and into construction next Spring. Construction is expected to take about six months. The next phase will be a connection from the Gillis Pumping Station at Spot Pond through Stoneham, utilizing the first phase 36" line connecting Stoneham and Reading, and then traversing Hopkins, Walnut, South and West Streets to Washington Street/Mishawaum Road in Woburn. That phase should be in construction in the Spring of 2013. Construction Projects in progress or to be done this year: ♦ Road Improvements — Temple Street and Harrison Street are under construction. Base course is on both streets, curbing work has begun on,Temple. The intent is to get Temple Street completed by the beginning of school, weather permitting. Additional streets that we will be doing this Fall include: Arlington Street (Woburn Street to Prescott Street), Haverhill Street (Wakefield Street to Timberneck Drive), Manning Street (Salem Street to Pleasant Street), Marla Lane (Forest Street to Spruce Road), Pleasant Street(Manning Street to end), Smith Avenue (Eaton Street to end). ♦ Curb and.Sidewalk — Done except for loam and seed - Bancroft Avenue,at Woburn Street— HC access, Washington Park frontage on Washington Street, small piece of curb on Morgan Park Drive related to drainage,Rotary Square—for bike rack area. ♦ Memorial Park- Good progress. ♦ Killam School Playground - Construction should be complete this week. ♦ Killam School Parking Lot- Improvements completed. ♦ Barrows Site Master Plan - Committee being established. 4 Sewer Construetion Galifomia Read sewer main eenstr-uetion is eomplete. Repay the street will be done next eenstr-uet* Dates and Events: ♦ Last day to register to vote in State Primary—August 25th ♦ Board of Selectmen invited to School Committee Meeting/Tour August 31 st ♦ First day of school—September 1 st ♦ Fall Street Faire, September 12th Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 24, 2010—Page 3 ♦ Primary Election—September 14th ♦ Financial Forum—September 15th ® Household Hazardous Waste Collection—September 25th in Wakefield ♦ RCASA Annual Meeting — September 30th _ 7:00 p.m. — joint posted meeting with RCASA, School Committee and Board of Health e State Election—November 2nd Subsequent Town Meeting-November 8th The Assistant Town Manager noted that the Town Clerk's Office will be open tomorrow evening until 8:00 p.m. to register to vote. Discussion/Action Items Close Warrant for September Election — Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that the Warrant was missing a representative in the General Court for the 20th District, The Town Manager noted that he will have the Town Cleric correct that.. A motion by Goldy seconded by Tafoya to close the Warrant for the September Election to take place on September 14, 2010 from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.at the Hawkes Field House on Oakland Road was approved by a vote of 4-0-0. Discussion — Rubbish Collection and Recycling Contract — Public Works Director Jeff Zager, Public Works Business Administrator Jane Kinsella, Administrative Assistant Mike O'Hallaron and DEP Consultant Sharon Conchetta were present. The Town Manager noted that we have one more year with the current vendor JRM, and they want to add a five year contract. The Town hired a consultant to see if that is a reasonable approach. Jeff Zager noted that the contract expires June 30, 2011. We received a technical assistance grant, reviewed contracts for around the area, compiled list of services, ranked the services, and the proposals were sent to three vendors for pricing. The Town Manager noted that we looked at neighbors for regionalization but the contract years didn't work out well, and the interest was not there to work. Jeff Zager noted that the three proposals were Hiltz at$4.137 million, JRM at$4.033 million and Waste Management at $5.670 million. He also noted that single stream is mingled in one container, and dual stream is keeping the paper separate which has less contamination, and the end product is much higher. The Waste Management proposal was for automated solid waste and biweekly single stream recycling. There is.a big start'up cost in getting the carts for automation. Selectman Richard Schubert asked if there was any way to forecast any savings 10 years down the road with automation. Ms. Conchetta noted that automated collection is the future, and there is a greater opportunity to get the prices lower in the future. Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 24, 2010—Page 4 Jeff Zager reviewed JRM's proposal including weekly recycling; curbside lead collection (five weeks), elimination of stickers—residents will be allowed one bulls item per week, residents call vendor directly for CRT/TV pick up at $10.00 each, resident calls vendor directly for weekly appliance curbside pickup $20.00/each. He noted that this contract will be $36,000 less. The contract also eliminates monthly charges to the Town for additional dumpsters, one metal pick up annually, one paper shredding event, one bulky rigid plastics event, and enforcement of recycling and four barrel limit. Bill Brown noted that the School Committee needs to be educated in recycling. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that it will be important to catalog the history of performance. The Town Manager noted that the rules and regulations will need to be amended. The consensus of the Board was that we will be receiving an increase in services for basically the same price and they support the proposal. Monthly Utilily Billing — The Assistant Town Manager,noted that two to three years ago, the Selectmen asked to consider monthly billing because it is easier to budget and leaks get detected earlier. He also noted that advantages will be to detect leaks faster. The disadvantages include: we would need to hire an additional person, meter reading time would triple, it takes 14 days to run a bill, the 10% discount wouldn't happen, the change in Munis would be costly and Munis has not worked well in billing to begin with. The advantages to collecting would be the bills will be smaller (this could be done now if some residents want this), eliminating the discount will reduce the number of complaints,and the Town will get their money faster. The Assistant Town Manager noted that the disadvantages of monthly billing include: losing projected revenue from, eliminating the discount, none of the bills that go out will be accurate because of the amount of time to prepare/mail the bills, postage costs will increase approximately$30,000, work will be tripled and there will be customer service issues, it will cost I% of revenues to do monthly billing. Selectman Ben Tafoya asked if we looked at outsourcing. The Assistant Town Manager noted that it is cheaper to do this in-house -that's why we bought Munis. He also noted that Malden does monthly billing and payments are always crossing in the mail. He indicated that there is no compelling need to do this unless the Selectmen want this. The consensus of the Board was not to move forward with monthly billing. Discussion on Enterprise System Capital and Rate Setting — The Town Manager noted that the Selectmen wanted to focus on capital programming to help control or even out rates. The Assistant Town Manager noted that the MWRA rates are not going up. The operating budget is flat but rates are going up because water use was low. Last year, we received MTBE money and that went into the water account but sewer revenues were at a deficit. He also noted that some capital was rearranged but we can't stop doing capital to save rates for one or two years. Board of Selectmen Meeting—August 24, 2010—Page 5 Town Engineer George Zambouras reminded the Board of the EPA permit for storm water. Chairman James Bonazoli asked if we get fined if we don't do the improvements. The Town Engineer indicated that we do but not for streams. The Town Manager noted that if we don't manage the streams, then it creates problems for the residents. The Town Engineer noted that we also have to deal with pollutants. Chairman Bonazoli noted that he is okay with maintenance but he does not agree with spending millions of dollars on unfunded mandates when we have other priorities. Selectman Richard Schubert asked about the debt line for joining the MWRA, and the Assistant Town Manager indicated that ends in 2020—we have another;8-9 years. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that the numbers in the capital plan look reasonable, and how it is presented in the rate setting process makes a difference. The Town Manager noted that we have a major expense coming up for sewer pump stations work that will need to be done at approximately $4.5 million. Review Warrant — Subsequent Town Meeting — The Town Manager noted that the Warrant closes on September 21 st and reviewed the proposed Articles. The Town Manager noted that Article 7 is debt authorization for the Water Improvement Grant Loan Program from the MWRA. It is 0% interest and term is up to 10 years. The work on the Auburn Street Water Tank and the Haverhill Street water line would be eligible. Article 8 is to authorize the Town to apply for funds for the Reading Public Library Project, and then provide for funding at a Special Town Meeting. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that the Board needs discussion on this Article before the Warrant closes. Article 11 is to rescind the junk bylaw. Selectman Stephen Goldy asked if we have to rescind the bylaw, and the Town Manager noted that if we have a bylaw, we should regulate. It was the consensus of the Board to remove this Article. Article 13 is a Charter amendment to eliminate the Land Bank Committee. Bill Brown noted that changing the wording in the Charter from "shall"to "may"would take care of the problem. Article 14 is a Charter amendment regarding referendum procedures requiring exact wording. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that he would like to look at the draft Article language of this first. Article 15 is a Home Rule Petition regarding health insurance plan design. Selectman Ben Tafoya indicated that he is not crazy about this because we have a good relationship with employees. The Town Manager noted that this is to send a message to the legislature to allow communities to design their own plan. It is more of a message than a need in Reading. The consensus of the Board was that employees would get the wrong message so this Article will be removed. Board of Selectmen Meeting,—August 24,2010—Page 6 Discussion of"Naming Policy for Public Sites and Facilities — The Town Manager noted that the School Committee worked on this policy, and he thought that it would be a good base for a Selectmen's policy. Selectman Stephen Goldy asked if this is naming for non-revenue purposes, and the Town Manager indicated that it is. Selectman Goldy noted that lends itself to sponsorships. The Town Manager indicated that he will *draft the policy to include naming, sponsorships and advertisements, and then bring it back to the Board. Approve Bingo for Fall Street Faire—No action was taken on this item. A motion by Goldy seconded by Tafoya to adjourn the meeting of August 24, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. was approved by a vote of 4-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Seretary