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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSELECTMENminutes08202008-20080917093241 Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 Present: Chairman Sandra Levine, Vice Chairman Ann Baldwin, Clerk Kevin Moran, Selectman George Dentino, Selectman Jess Aptowitz, John D'Agostino, Town Manager The Board of Selectmen's meeting was called to order at 7:00pm followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Town Clerk Helen Christian swore in John Terry, a 13 year veteran of the department. John is currently serving as our EMS co-coordinator and has taken over as the Lieutenant on Group 4. Jeremy Fontaine was hired in January to fill a vacancy left by a retirement. Jeremy is a Paramedic and has been assigned to group 2. Dave Gilrein was hired in February to fill a vacancy left by a staff member departure. Dave is also a Paramedic and has been assigned to Group 4. Fire Chief Neal Boldrighini and Deputy Chief James Puleo were present as well as spoke briefly on the fine qualities these men bring to the department. Laureen House, has lived in town a while and was involved in the Great Mansfield Cleanup this past spring and was impressed by the dedication of her fellow volunteers. She would like to continue on with this type of community service. Michael McCarty, has lived in town for 16 years and was also involved in the Great Mansfield Cleanup. He has spoken with Neil Reim, chair of the Beautification Committee and thought that this committee was a great place to continue with beautification work. Each member of the board welcomed the candidates to the meeting and thanked them for volunteering their time to help keep Mansfield a great place to live. Motion: To appoint Laureen House to a two year term. (Baldwin/Moran) 5:0 passes Motion: To appoint Michael McCarty to a one year term. (Baldwin/ Aptowitz) 5:0 passes Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 1 Jeff Hunt, President, Patient Care & Safety Products, Pat O'Rourke, Director and David Young, Director of Government Affairs of Covidien were present along with Lynn Tokarczyk of Business Development Strategies. A short video presentation of the company's employees and properties was played for the viewing audience. The group then followed up with a slideshow going over the company's history and where/how Covidien was expanding over the world, particularly here in Massachusetts. Mr. D'Agostino discloses that he owes a few shares of the company and talked about his belief in Covidien. He spoke of how they have been a great corporate neighbor and their desire for a TIF for their newly acquired building. Mr. D'Agostino brought up the past collaborations that Covidien has had with the town and they might be interested in the future in being involved with the fire/EMT services, schools, etc. Chairman Levine had met some of the Covidien folks at the Life Sciences Symposium that Mr. D'Agostino helped organized last May. Selectman Dentino asked if the TIF would be for the new building only or the campus. Mr. Hunt stated this would be for new building only. Pros, 81 current employees and 50 new jobs for Mansfield residents. Cons: What would tax break cost the town? Lynn Tokarczyk talked about Mansfield being an economic development incentive program (EDIP) area and how Covidien and Mansfield are a good fit for one another. Selectman Moran would be in support of this provided the numbers worked and thought it was wonderful that Covidien had chosen to expand their campus in Mansfield. Selectman Aptowitz asked if they would be closing one of the smaller buildings or is this addition building to the campus. Mr. Hunt stated that this would be additional building space. Ed Tartufo, Chamber of Commerce Director, stated the Chamber has always supported local businesses such as Covidien and will continue to do so. Support of TIF's for growing companies is vital to future economic development in the area. State Representative Jay Barrows spoke in support of company. A life science bill was recently signed by Gov. Patrick and will help draw business to the area. Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 2 Motion: To appoint Selectman Dentino as the TIF committee bos member. 5:0 passes (Aptowitz/Baldwin) Atty. Valanzola is representing Russ Goldstein of Great Woods Car Service. They are both present at the meeting. Chairman Levine gave a brief overview of the case before us. The board has received complaints and concerns from a local taxi cab service that indicated Great Woods Car Service was operating as a taxi, not a livery service. Selectman Baldwin: Does the Comcast Center pay Great Woods Car Service to pick people up or do the individuals? The arrangements are made between clients and the service. The livery service laws of the Commonwealth are a bit ambiguous in the language used but the primary difference between taxi service and livery is that taxis pick up anyone looking for a ride and a livery service contracts with individuals/companies for a set pick up time/ destination. Chairman Levine: Stated that when Great Woods Car Service is googled, his listing comes up under taxi services. Mr. Goldstein stated that is, not his ad or website information. You can't obviously control internet/yellow pages listing if you didn't provide the information. Selectman Dentino: How do you get your passengers/clients? Mr. Goldstein has relationships with a lot of the local hotels, function halls and venues that recommend his service. People will also look him up in the yellow pages too. Atty Valanzola points out to Selectman Dentino that the Mansfield bos regs are in conflict with MA CMR. The language in both the state and local regulations are ambiguous. (Section 3 of ours in question) Selectman Dentino would like to see the bos tighten up the regs and possibly license livery services as well. Selectman Moran: Saw gray areas in the laws between taxi services and livery Services and wanted to ensure that there was no conflict with how the bos treated businesses. Motion: To table discussion until further research is conducted. (Moran/ Aptowitz) 5:0 passes Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 3 Quarter Master Jack Strand and proposed manager John Camara are present. The VFW would like to have John Camara replace Roy Barnes as the bar manager of record. Chairman Levine opening the hearing by stating that there has been inaccurate information previously stated about Mr. Camara's service record as a bar manager in Norton. That has been cleared up and she apologized to Mr. Camara for the misunderstanding. Selectman Dentino: Concerned over information that Mr. Camara is a part time residence in state. While Mr. Camara is retired and has a place in Florida he has not been going and does not anticipate going for a while as his wife has been in and out of the hospital. Selectman Baldwin: Asked if he has 50-60 hours to serve at the bar? Mr. Camara stated yes, as he is retired and his wife has home assistance he has time to manage the VFW. Selectman Aptowitz: Requested that we have Police Chief change routing slip if he no longer disapproves of Mr. Camara's appointment. Chairman Levine read a letter from Det. Sargent Thompson clearing up any misinformation regarding Mr. Camara past post service. Motion: To approve John Camara as manager pending Chief O'Neill's signature on the new routing slip. (Baldwin/Dentino) 5:0 passes · Warrant No. 07 in the amount of $4,448,337.86 Motion: To approve warrant No. 07 in the amount of $4,448,337.86 (Baldwin/Moran) 3:1:1 passes (Aptowitz nay, Dentino abstains) Discussion: About break out of bills vs. payroll. Two separate warrants. John will follow up with Bea about the trial period. · Warrant No. 08 in the amount of $9,298,823.62 Motion: To approve warrant No. 08 in the amount of $9,298,823.62 (Moran/Baldwin) 3:1:1 passes (Aptowitz nay, Dentino abstains) · Minutes of August 6, 2008 Motion: To approve minute of August 6, 2008 (Baldwin/Moran) 5:0 passes Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 4 · Block party request from Mayflower Driver residents for street closure on September 6th from 2pm to llpm. Routing slips have come back positive. Motion: To approve request with proper signage. (Aptowitz/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · Request from Kevin Doyle and Helen Christian to appoint Dianne Royle to the vacant position on the Board of Registrar of Voters. Motion: To approve appointment of Dianne Royle. (Baldwin/Moran) 5:0 passes · Letter of request for waiver of building permit fees from the Grove Building Co. They are the General Contractor for the Mansfield Cable Access and are providing renovations to their new facilities at 300 Branch St. Motion: To approve request for waiver. (Moran/Baldwin) 5:0 passes . Emails from Chief O'Neill, Brenda Hodges and John D'Agostino regarding the proposed parking restrictions at Memorial Park. Chief O'Neill would like to restrict parking in the small paved area right in front of the park entrance. Motion: To approve parking restrictions. (Baldwin/ Aptowitz) 5:0 passes · Letter from the Dempsey Group in regards to the inspection of light poles at Memorial Park. · Requests from Eric Baldwin, Deutsche Bank Championship Director asking for your review of the parking plan at the Comcast Center. Waiver of one time per vehicle charge request. Waiver of building permit fees request. Motion: To approve waiver of fees requested. (Baldwin/Moran) 5:0 passes · Letter from Comcast in regards to a $25,000 check to be used for I-Net related technology and services. Motion: To accept check from Comcast for I-Net services. (Moran/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · Memo from Claire O'Neill, Regional Director at the MA Office of Business Development in support of Covidien's expansion plans. · Email from the Concerned Citizens of Mansfield group requesting that their letter be read at the bos meeting. SUMMARY: The group is concerned that both Gary Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 5 Babin and John D'Agostino attended the NEPPA conference in NH during these financially difficult times. · Rockbusters application. Dept heads are concerned with 100 plus antique construction equipment being driven around in the zone II water district. A potential oil/fuel spill in that area of the Walsh well would be disastrous. Invite committee to come in October for the spring and talk about safety precautions. · Ambulance billing recap. In FY08 there were 1,821 medical runs, 1276 resulting in transport to a medical facility. Collect efforts have increased and Chief Boldrighini will be presenting the latest figures at an upcoming meeting. · The Planning Board will be coming in soon to discuss the Master Plan. · Old business from Chairman Levine: None · Old business from Selectman Dentino: Motor fuels costs are coming in over budget and he would like the Town Manager to revisit the issue. · Motion: To extend deadline for town accountant resumes to September 12, 2008 and continue to accept applications until position is filled. (Dentino/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · Questions regarding Mr. D'Agostino going to NEPPA conference with Gary Babin. The electric dept. paid for the conference but Mr. D'Agostino paid for his own travel and hotel expenses. · Motion: To extend meeting to 1O:40pm. (Dentino/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · Motion: In the best interests of the Town and its residents, and in light of the Federal Court findings against John D'Agostino, I make the motion to hire independent counsel to review Mr. D'Agostino's contract and provide guidance and direction on any and all legal options available to the Board of Selectmen regarding Mr. D'Agostino's employment. In addition, I move that the hiring of independent counsel be the sole responsibility of a majority vote of the Board of Selectmen. Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 6 To insure an unbiased review, any attorney or firm interviewed or hired by the Board of Selectmen will be completely divorced from any party or entity that may have a vested interest in the outcome of said contract review. (Dentino/Baldwin) 3:2 passes Mr. D'Agostino read a part of the Mansfield Charter regarding his employment. This outlines the Board of Selectmen's options in non renewal of his contract so the use of independent counsel is an unnecessary expense. Motion: To extend meeting to llPM. (Aptowitz/Dentino) 5:0 passes Selectmen Aptowitz and Baldwin would support a review of the Town Managers contract by independent counsel. They are not unhappy with his present performance however they would like a clear and complete review of the contract. Selectman Moran would not support this motion at this time as he feels it is premature. Mr. D'Agostino's contract does not expire until over a year from now. Chairman Levine also feels that this motion is not only premature but unnecessary as the charter allows for provisions on this without the need for independent counsel. · Old business for Selectman Moran: Budget discuss will need to start soon. · Old business from Selectman Aptowitz: Would like to start sub committee meetings regarding town accountant replacement. · Attended 5 year budget forecast meeting with Selectman Moran and is very concerned about the upcoming budget years. . Cable access event that the board is invited to. He is concerned about ethics violations. · New business from Selectman Baldwin: Would like to have executive session on September 10th to discuss RFP of Shawmut Ave property. · New business from Selectman Aptowitz: Would like to be involved in financial matters, ie TIF committee but does not want to hog them. Selectman Dentino had expressed interest in this committee position and has prior experience so he deferred to Mr. Dentino until another post comes up. · Spending freezes have to be utilized for non essential items as the coming budgets years are going to be lean. September 10th the board will discuss and Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 7 plan out agenda after September 4th meeting with FinComm. · New business from Selectman Dentino: None · New business from Selectman Moran: Verizon FISO contract talks are going well and they will have a report from the subcommittee soon. Is encouraged to see Covidien pursuing expansion plans in the industrial park. · New business from Chairman Levine: The board needs to vote to preserve the right to appeal a housing lawsuit. Motion: To preserve our right to appeal. (Moranl Aptowitz) 3:1:1 passes (Dentino nay, Baldwin abstain) Motion: To adjourn at 11:02 PM (Aptowitz) 5-0 Passes I::er.m- ~-t-~ Signature of Clerk ~effl-k ~ 2~~t? Date of Approval Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 20, 2008 8