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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSELECTMENminutes02032010 Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3, 2010 Present: Chairman Baldwin, Vice Chairman Moran, Selectman Dentino, Selectman Sandra Levine, William Ross, Town Manager Absent: Q"'C Kevin O'Donnell, resident, employee of the water dept. and member of the Canoe River Aquifer Committee. Mr. O'Donnell wanted to show the Board of Selectmen the new brochure, promote the group and what activities they have coming up. Canoe River Aquifer Day is coming up soon in May. As the date approaches he will update the board again and spread the word with the town web site and cable access. Richard Gordon, 405 West St. He is concerned about emergency response time (ambulance, fire trucks) after seeing a report on TV about the lack of fire resources in the area. Selectman Moran saw the same report and stated that Mansfield is aware of this and will continue to follow similar stories. Ambulance discussion Fire Chief Boldrighini and FinComm member Tom Ratliff are present for discussion. The fire dept. currently maintains two ambulances, one a 2003 Road Rescue and the other a 2006 Road Rescue. They are both Ford E450's. Of the 3000 calls in FY09, 1911 were EMS related. 1357 of these resulted in transports, resulting in $729,000 in revenue. A revolving ambulance account would seem to be the way to go. Instead of selling the old ambulance for minimal $ perhaps the dept. could keep it as a spare. There are times when one vehicle is down and they are left with only one (and possible missed runs). When runs are missed, the community is at risk and the fire dept loses the potential revenue from that run. Selectman Levine: Has questions about rot on the vehicles. Chief Boldrighini stated rot is currently not visible. However, that does not mean its there. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3. 2010 Selectman Aptowitz wants to go forward with purchase now. It will only get more expensive to buy if we wait. Selectman Moran: As Ford is no longer making model, what are your options? Chief Boldrighini: We could go with another model or maker but our options are limited due to size requirements. Rescue 33 was purchased in 2006 and is considered the primary ambulance. The current mileage is 105394. Repairs in the last two years have totaled $14,114. Rescue 34 is a 2003 ambulance with 91,330 miles. It is the second ambulance and used for medical calls. Repairs in the last two years have totaled $11,895. Chief Boldrighini stated that because of the hard nature of its use, a typical life span of an ambulance is considered to be three to five years. The board briefly discussed the age and frequency of repairs on these vehicles and the possibility of lost revenue and service to the towns people when one is down. Selectman Dentino: He has reviewed maintenance records and does not see anything that would keep the ambulances out of commission for a while. Perhaps we can keep them a little longer and get a longer warranty on the one(s) we do eventually purchase. Selectman Dentino also suggested that perhaps the driveway or the N. Main SUire house floor can be lowered to accommodate "standard" ambulance trucks and ambulances. Chief Boldrighini stated that he has looked into those issues in the past and it was cost prohibitive however, he would be happy to review their options again with the DPW. Chairman Baldwin stated it comes as no surprise that we need new ambulances. The Fire Dept. and the Board of Selectmen have been discussing this for quite some time. Motion: To support the establishment of a revolving account to provide funding for ambulances. (Levine/Moran) second withdrawn. The board and FinComm support this item to be put on the town meeting warrant but are not going to vote at this time. Town counsel discussion . Foley & Foley, PC. of Falmouth, MA (They are only interested in being labor/employment counsel.) . Brackett & Lucas of Worcester, MA. . Kopelman and Paige, PC. of Boston, MA. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3, 2010 2 · Blatman, Bobrowski & Mead, LLC. of Concord, MA. · Law Offices of Daniel C. Hill of Charlestown, MA. · Miyares and Harrington LLP of Belmont, MA. · Mirick O'Connell of Westboro, MA. · Deutsch/Williams of Boston, MA. . Powers and Winters PA of Plymouth, MA. · Proposal for retention of services from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane LLP. of Quincy /Boston/ Springfield. The above firms are the ones that replied to the RFP posted in the Beacon in October 2009. Selectman Dentino wanted to review other firms, explore their options and perhaps get a firm for a fixed price or one that may provide more services for the price. Selectman Levine has been happy with the service provided by our present firm and does not see any reason to switch at this time. Selectman Aptowitz can see the merit in looking at what other firms have to offer but at this time does not see the immediate need to switch. However, Kopelman and Paige, PC and Deutsch/Williams of Boston are excellent firms in addition to our current firm, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane LLP. Selectman Moran and Chairman Baldwin also liked the above firms as well. Selectman Levine also stated that she has spoken with several of the firms that responded to the RFP and that may not have a dedicated attorney for Mansfield or may not be able to spend as much time as Atty. Mangiaratti has. Selectman Dentino responded that while a new firm may not have institutional knowledge our current firm has made many mis-steps in the recent past and that alone is reason enough to consider changing firms. However, Selectman Levine disagrees with this assessment. Boord of Selectmen Minutes of Februory 3. 2010 3 Weekly Business Warrant No. 10030T in the amount of $1,280,259.20 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10030E in the amount of $178,995.67 Motion: To approve. (Moran/Levine) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10030S in the amount of $110,447.07 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10030PT in the amount of $282,339.60 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10030TV in the amount of $84,159.15 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10031T in the amount of $335,277.96 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10031E in the amount of $12,521.67 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10031S in the amount of $694.40 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 10031PT in the amount of $254,101.17 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Warrant No. 1003ITV in the amount of $73,644.46 Motion: To approve. (Levine/Moran) 4:0:1 passes (Dentino abstains) Board of Selectmen minutes of November 18, 2009 Motion: Approve minutes of November 18, 2009 (Levine/Moran) 5:0 passes Board of Selectmen minutes of December 2, 2009 Motion: Approve minutes of December 2, 2009 (Levine/Moran) 5:0 passes Board of Selectmen minutes of December 9, 2009 Selectman Dentino requested an expansion on the airport interview before the minutes are voted. Hold for next week. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3, 2010 4 Drainlayers license application for Ferrara Construction Corp. Motion: Approve application. (Levine/ Aptowitz) 5:0 passes Correspondence . Letter from Chief O'Neill regarding Mansfield's willingness to share animal control facilities with the Town of Foxboro for a pre-arranged fee of $15 a day. Motion: To approve agreement. (Moran/Baldwin) 5:0 passes Vice Chairman Moran has taken the gavel and asked for questions from the board. It is assumed that the animal welfare committee is aware and in support of this arrangement. It is also stated in the agreement that this contract can be severed at any time by either party. . Letter from ACS 2010 Relay for Life of Mansfield group requesting to place a sign on the South Common for the month of May to June 13th to raise awareness of the event. Motion: To approve sign display on s. common. (Moran/ Aptowitz) 5:0 passes . Letter from Planning Board Chairman Thomas French regarding the joint bos and planning board workshop on Feb 24th. . Letter from Samoset Ave resident regarding the request at last meeting to lift the winter parking ban. She is not in favor of it. Town Manager Report . Mr. Ross has been meeting steadily with the Board of Selectmen members and several dept. heads over the past week. Next week he will give a short report on his findings. . He has also been working on settling the Verizon phone issue with the Police Dept. . He has also been in contact with the A tty. representing the town in the Penney Engineering suit. . Mr. Ross also attended his first MMA meeting last week and met a lot of the surrounding town officials. . Hercules Landfill clean up will begin in May and end by September. A traffic route has been set and will avoid residential areas. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3, 2010 5 Board of Selectmen old and new business . Old business from Selectman Dentino: Flex time: he would like to institute immediately. Motion: To establish a policy for the use of flex time vs. overtime. (Dentino/motion withdrawn.) Mr. Ross will discuss with attorneys later in the week and get back to him. . Old business from Selectman Levine: Would like to resume board and committee updates. Selectman Dentino suggested we hold off until after town meeting. Selectman Levine asked Mr. Ross if he was aware of the past discussions regarding combining school and town computer departments. He will discuss this further with Mrs. Levine at a later time. She would like to know when the board will be discussing town fees. Chairman Baldwin stated that we will discuss it next week. . Old business from Selectman Aptowitz: He is looking for an update on the train station parking lot problems such as parking and fees. Mr. Ross will be discussing this with Chief O'Neill. . Old business from Selectman Moran: 1. He asked Mr. Ross if he has been able to talk to anyone about reviving the IDC. 2. We need to push tax incentives and the like to attract industry to town. 3. Infrastructure maintenance is still an issue that needs to be addressed. . Old business from Chairman Baldwin: Last week the board voted to withdrawn two vehicles from department heads. Motion: To allow the two vehicles in question to be used during working hours. (Dentino/ Aptowitz) 4:1:0 passes (Levine nay) . New business from Chairman Baldwin: None . New business from Selectman Aptowitz: Commented that Mr. Ross has been a quick study and he appreciates his diligence. 1. He would like to know when the Comcast Center will begin the contract negotiations with fire and police for their entertainment license. Mr. Ross will be meeting with Bruce Montgomery soon. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 3. 2010 6 2. Selectman Aptowitz would also like to get the cable access board financial reports for next week as well. . New business from Selectman Dentino: He would like to know how the Torres report got out. After a short discussion, none of the board members seems to know how the press got hold of the report. Selectman Dentino would like to have the executive session minutes released as the report is now out. He would also like to vote to have the report officially released. Selectman Aptowitz would like to have Atty. Mangiaratti review to the minutes before the report is released. Selectman Dentino agreed to hold off until then. Chairman Baldwin then requested that the "Torres report and minutes" is an agenda item at an upcoming meeting. . New business from Selectman Moran: He had addressed the ambulance issues earlier. . New business from Selectman Levine: None Adjournment Motion: Adjourn at 9:23pm (Levine) 5-0 Passes f~ ~U/~ Signature of Clerk 'P1~c4 ~( 2~/~ Date of Approval Boord of Selectmen Minutes of February 3, 2010 7