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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin brd of selectmen 04/12/00 Board of Selectmen Minutes April 12, 2000 Present: Chairman McCarter, Clerk Wills and Selectman Donovan John D'Agostino, Town Manager The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. · Warrant No. 40 in the amount of $2,391,751.63 Motion: To sign the warrant. (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes. Chairman McCarter abstained on the Municipal Building Committee payroll. · Tree Cutting/Trimming Policy as reviewed at the April Light Commissioners Meeting Motion : To approve (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes · Banner/Sign Hanging Policy as reviewed at the April Light Commissioners Meeting Motion: To approve and attach a copy of the Fee Waiver Policy to this policy for reference purposes (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes · Request of Time Out! Productions for permission to hold the bike portion of the Massachusetts Triathlon that will pass through Mansfield on Sunday, August 6th. Chief O'Neill has reviewed and approved the request. Motion: To approve the request with Lt. Figueredo being the contact person in the Police Department. (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes · Request for Reserve Fund Transfer of $1,2000 to Public Building/Special Projects for the removal of oil tanks discovered during the cleanup of the former Homestead property off Plain Street. The cost of the cleanup will be added to the lien placed against the property. Minutes of April 12, 2000 1 Motion: To approve the transfer (Donovan-Wills) All in favor. Passes · Minutes of April 5, 2000 Since Clerk Wills was not present at the April 5th meeting and would not be voting, Chairman McCarter passed the gavel to Clerk Wills Motion : To approve (Donovan-McCarter) 2-0-1 with Donovan and McCarter In favor, Wills abstaining. Passes · Letter from Attorney Mangiaratti with attachments requesting the Town retain Special Counsel for a legal matter regarding land off Maple Street. Attorney Mangiaratti has a conflict of interest in the matter and cannot represent the Town. Town Manager D'Agostino advised the Selectmen that the information and request to act as Special Counsel has been forwarded to Joel Bard of Kopelmen & Paige who has represented the Town as Special Counsel in other matters. · Letter from Christopher Paquin regarding water connection fees for work to be done at 885 School Street, with the recommendation of Kurt Gaffney attached. Selectman Donovan noted Mr. Paquin was present last week and asked if he had been notified the request would be acted on tonight. Mr. Paquin had not been notified because the recommendation was received late in the afternoon today Selectmen were supportive of Mr. Gaffney's recommendation and asked that it be sent to Mr. Paquin, advising him to contact the Selectmen's Secretary if he still needs to come in and discuss the request. · Letter from Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District regarding the need to appoint a representative to the Joint Transportation Planning Group for a term commencing May 15, 2000 through May 31, 2001. Motion: To reappoint DPW Director Lee Azinheira as the Town's representative. (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes · Memorandum from Tom French, Planning Board Chairman, regarding the Selectmen's request for comment on Mr. Clemmey's suggestion for off-site directional signs in the Industrial Park. The Planning Board asked for clarification of whether Mr. Clemmey is referring to directional signs at the intersection of Forbes Boulevard and West Street, or throughout the Park. Minutes of April 12, 2000 2 Selectmen asked that a letter be sent to Mr. Clemmey requesting he contact the Planning Board directly on this matter. · Letter from Cheryl Erlandson of Sadies Way regarding her concerns about getting streets in Tara Estates and Alchemist Court completed and accepted as public ways. A letter of response from Shaun Burke, Director of Planning and Development was also received. Selectmen asked if these streets were on the Town Meeting Warrant. Town Manager D'Agostino advised them the only additional street acceptance received for inclusion on the Special Town Meeting Warrant was Kelli Lane. He also noted it is his understanding the Planning Board has scheduled a default hearing for Tara Estates and Alchemist Court and expect to be taking the balance of the developers surety to complete the work and get the streets accepted at the Fall Special Town Meeting. · Letter from Eugene Boyle granting an extension of the deadline to issue a building permit for Great Waves to April 21, 2000. · Letter from Stephen Barker of Victoria Lane stating his opposition to the Great Waves citizen petition and thanking the Selectmen for their position. · Letter from Cynthia Ostrowski regarding a parking ticket. Ms. Ostrowski was in the audience and was advised the Selectmen have no authority to waive parking tickets. She was further advised that if she is not satisfied with the decision of the Parking Clerk, the matter can be appealed to District Court. · Letter from the Department of Telecommunications and Energy, Cable Television Division, in response to Selectmen's letter of January 13th. · Letter from MassHighway with a report on the inspection of the Maple Street/Canoe River Bridge. Copy to be forwarded to DPW Director Lee Azinheira · Letter from Jewell Street residents regarding an illegal junkyard on Jewell Street. Letter forwarded to the Building Inspector, Conservation Agent and Police Chief for response. · Invitation from Attleboro District Court Bar Association to attend Law Day Exercises at the Attleboro District Court on Monday, May ¡st at 10:00 a.m. Minutes of April 12, 2000 3 Motion: To close the Special Town Meeting Warrant (Donovan-Wills) All in favor. Passes Leonard Flynn of 102 Jewell Street, representing the Natural Resources Trust (NRT) - reported submitting a petition for the Special Town Meeting Warrant to direct the Board of Selectmen not to approve any agreement with Great Waves developers, and to pursue any legal or administrative methods available to prevent Great Waves Water Park construction. He noted they obtained 675 signatures on the petition and people are concerned about the project's impact on the town. Christine Flass of 115 Rumford A venue stated her concerns about the water park's future expansion and her belief the Town's signing of an agreement will compromise people's ability to file a suit with any success. Peter De Tro/io of Elm Street noted the Town overwhelmingly supported the vote to appeal. He also stated the benefit of providing employment for 150 Mansfield youths is not valid when businesses throughout town are already looking for help and jobs are going unfilled. Robert Goldman, VanGemert Drive asked the Selectmen if they would like to live next to an amusement park. He spoke of the number of people Great Waves would bring into Mansfield each day throughout the season-clogging our roads with traffic and producing litter throughout town. He further stated the $2.8 million spread out over many years is insignificant and he would rather pay higher taxes and not have Great Waves come to Mansfield. Michael McClanahan, developer of South Meadow Estates, and Kurt Gaffney, Water Operations Manager, were present to discuss the request for the water extension under the Selectmen's newly adopted policy as Water Commissioners. Based on the recommendation of Mr. Gaffney, the water main will be looped into the subdivision to provide service to the eight new homes and will come back to South Main Street. This will result in better water quality. Water saving devices will be used in the homes, and the amount of grass is being kept to a minimum to further conserve water. Mr. Gaffney recommended the Selectmen approve the water extension as Water Commissioners. Motion: To approve the water extension. Minutes of April 12, 2000 4 (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes Water Operations Manager Kurt Gaffney updated Selectmen on the cost of permitting the Morrison Well and to discuss the upcoming meeting with the Water Resource Commission. He noted the cost established for permitting the well was done under a different set of regulations. He reported the cost of permitting with the additional items required under the Interbasin Transfer Act is greatly increased and needs to be discussed with the consultant to be sure the increased cost is included in any future rates the Water Commissioners vote on. The additional costs associated with the permitting will be taken from the Water Enterprise Account and will not affect the tax rate. Selectmen asked Mr. Gaffney if he has any projections on water restrictions this year. He stated watering will probably be allowed only between 6-9 a.m. and p.m. starting June ¡st. He also expects that wading pools and sprinklers for the use of young children may also be allowed. Bill Flannery, Mansfield's representative on the Southeastern Regional School District School Committee, and James Hager, School District Superintendent, were present to discuss the Southeastern Regional School budget. Mansfield currently has 82 students attending Southeastern Regional with a budget assessment of $410,249 this year. Superintendent Hager reviewed the way the assessment is determined, noting both Mansfield and Stoughton were hit particularly hard this year. He also pointed out that in some years, Mansfield's assessment has been low. He reviewed and explained the difference in the way the assessment is calculated since the passage of the Education Reform Act. Town Manager D'Agostino explained the problem in planning the Town's budget each year when we don't receive their budget figures until late in the process. He noted we are only required to pay the minimum amount under Education Reform, which would be $348,293-but we would need a majority vote from the rest of the participating communities to be able to do so. He explained the difficulty of being hit with $410,000 to come up with, plus $191,000 this year for the Charter schools, plus a 2001 budget amount of $398,000-all of which has to come out of his budget, and he just doesn't have it. He questioned what the additional assessment is funding. Minutes of April 12, 2000 5 Superintendent Hager stated the additional expenses are because the foundation budget is not sufficient to run the school. Clerk Wills noted it is costing Mansfield almost $9,000 per student at Southeastern Regional. Town Manager D'Agostino noted Mansfield's assessment has increased 45.71'10 and suggested there should be some type of early warning when an increase of more than lOio is anticipated. He advised Superintendent Hager that with a 2 t'1o cap and school districts raising their budgets by far more than that, it eclipses the Town's ability to fund the budget. Selectmen asked the Town Manager to write a letter to our State Representatives on behalf of the Town regarding Chapter 70 Funding Formulas. Farmers Beth and Don Flint were present to discuss plans for the upcoming Farmers' Market to be held in the Downtown Public Parking Lot. Mrs. Flint said the market has been sponsored for the last two years by the Downtown Business Association and they would like to go out on their own this year, continuing to use the Downtown Public Parking Lot. The same farmers would be participating, but they proposed some changes to the Agreement approved by Selectmen in 1998. The dates and hours of operation would now be every Thursday afternoon from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. during the months of July - October. Previously they were operating twice a week, but the farmers are too busy with their farms on weekends to continue participating in the Saturday markets. Registration would also change. The prior $lO/market fee went into a fund used for advertising. They proposed under the 2000 Rules a $150 fee to cover attendance on Thursday for 15 weeks, with the fee being used solely for advertising costs and things needed for the market. The wording in the "Quality" section of the rules was also pared down to reflect to grading procedures used of the farmers. Motion: To approve the Mansfield Farmers' Market General Rules - 2000. (Donovan-Wills) All in favor. Passes Town Counsel Robert Mangiaratti and Town Engineer John Sullivan updated the Selectmen on the status of efforts with Cougler Construction on the Route 106 project. They reported experiencing a lack of progress with the contractor and difficulty getting him to commit to a date for delivery of the pump station and testing of sewer lines, in addition to remedial paving. Mr. Sullivan noted the situation has changed since Town Counsel became involved and we now have a schedule addressing the issues. They have held off on default discussions, wanting to at least get the pump station delivered. This is now scheduled for delivery Minutes of April 12, 2000 6 tomorrow; however, we would like to keep our options open on taking the bond and completing the work if the contractor fails to keep to the schedule. There is $150,000 remaining on a total contract of $1.2 million. There is also a hold-back of over $90,000 due to work that was not done properly. It will be necessary to develop a strategy to get the job completed at the best possible price. Once the pump station is on site, the town would be in a better position to default if it becomes necessary. Selectman Donovan questioned why contaminated groundwater is getting into the sewer and why the contractor isn't being held responsible for that. Mr. Sullivan explained that the contamination problem is the Town's. He noted there was gas in the groundwater that flowed down to the lowest point. The lines were still open at that time and there were some leaks in the system throughout the sewer line. The contamination resulted from an improper fitting on a newer tank at the Highway Garage. $365,000 will be requested at the Special Town Meeting for additional costs to dewater and treat the unexpected groundwater contamination and to install the Route 106 Sewer Pump Station. Efforts are also being made to get a O'Yo loan from the State. Clerk Wills questioned if there are enough funds left to go ahead with the default. Attorney Mangiaratti said the biggest thing is the paving. If we don't see progress in the next few weeks, default will be recommended. The Special Town Meeting article is to pay for the treatment and dewatering to get the pump house in. Without the pump station, we will not be able to use the sewer. Town Manager D'Agostino reported on the following items: · A meeting has been scheduled with the Hope Street residents regarding the parking lot at Memorial Park for 7:00 p.m. Thursday in Room 3AB. Discussion followed regarding the need for increased parking with the additional fields. Increased buffering was discussed. The Town Manager noted the Planning Board will ultimately be determining the required number of parking spaces. He further suggested that lack of compromise on the part of the neighborhood group could result in the death of the project because the fields cannot be used without additional parking. · The Homestead cleanup project is 80'Yo complete and should be done Thursday. The existing foundation will then be filled in. During the cleanup process, two 250 gallon oil tanks were removed, along with their contents. It worked out well that the Town did the work and discovered the tanks because they were located in close to wetlands. Minutes of April 12, 2000 7 · The Staff has been instructed to increase the Senior Tax Program from $5,000 to $10,000. Those who now receive abatements will be eligible to participate in the program to work a total of 87.3 hours at $6/hour. Previously those seniors receiving abatements were not eligible to participate. This will allow more people to participate and it becomes part of the Assessors overlay amount. · He will be attending the Water Resource Commission hearing in Boston tomorrow at 1 p.m. regarding our interbasin transfer application for the Morrison Well. It is his belief they will wait until next month to formally vote. Earth- Tech, Foxboro's consultant, will be at the hearing to present their case to the Water Resource Commission. He invited Selectmen to join him for the hearing. Discussion followed concerning the meeting with Foxboro Water Commissioners tentatively scheduled for next Thursday. Mr. D'Agostino noted Foxboro's last minute attempt against our application, stating it is not good public policy for any community to threaten the water resources of another. Chairman McCarter suggested we should still meet with Foxboro-not next week, but sometime prior to the time the vote will be taken. Foxboro w/ÏI be contacted to ask for some dates in the next three weeks they would be available to meet. · A meeting was held with Mike Healey of Cable Access to review parcels of Town-owned land suitable for the construction of a studio. The parcel best suited to their needs seemed to be the Compo site on Branch Street. Mike was given the information to get in touch with their attorneys and he will pursue the matter. · He attended a meeting with DEP in Lakeville Monday on the reclaimed water project. CDM has been contracted to complete a study on the feasibility of running the pipe up the interceptor. Alternate funding sources are being explored. The discussions were constructive and we would be the only community in the northeast to have an extensive program purpose is to provide reclaimed water for both public and private use. We are also in discussions with BankBoston to include urinal and toilet flushing for their 1 million square foot office park on the TPC golf course site. The cost of the project would be only half the cost of expanding our sewer plant. · A meeting was held Monday with former Governor Dukakis, Congressmen Barney Frank and Jim McGovern, Senator Sprague, and representatives from the offices of Barbara Hyland and Betty Poirier. High security fencing was discussed for densely populated areas in town. We will once again travel the train station right-of-way in Mansfield and identify densely populated areas Minutes of April 12, 2000 8 where we would like the high density fencing to be constructed. Financing it will then be addressed. Town Manager D'Agostino reported he also met with Governor Dukakis about the CsX County Street right-of-way access from the Train Station. He believes it will be no problem for us to get the right-of-way crossing. The 11 p.m. meeting curfew was reached at this point in the meeting. Motion: To continue the meeting for another ten minutes. (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes · Selectman Donovan asked about the stump on Park Street at the end of Park Avenue. The Town Manager will get it settled next week. · Chairman McCarter asked if the unexpended fund balances were sent to the Finance Committee. Town Accountant Bea Kearney is taking care of it and we may be able to transfer some of it at the Special Town Meeting. Chairman McCarter also asked the Town Manager to get in touch with Scott Wagner regarding the time capsule. Chairman McCarter asked: · About the status of the open air parking lot applications, noting he would like them put on the agenda to act on one way or another. · That a letter be sent to the Planning Board asking them what changes they have made to their zoning articles following public hearings. Chairman McCarter also noted we would be meeting with the Finance Committee and School Committee at the next meeting. Motion: To adjourn at 11:10 p.m. (Wills-Donovan) All in favor. Passes ¡/,¿ ..' J ~rJ r' t'~1 ";/'1- L¿<.¿+-,1./ . . . . . Clerk's Si 'nature ~.///,¿. h.:o ,.. ¡' , /, Date of Approval Minutes of April 12, 2000 9