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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin brd of selectmen 02/07/01 Present: RECE\VED TO'flN ct.ER\~S OFF tCË Board of Selectmen Minutes of 0' FEB '5 AM 9: 58 February 7, 2001 tiAHSflELO MASSACHUSETTS Chairman David W. McCarter; Clerk BradforåE. "Wìlls; Selectmen Louis P. Amoruso, and Daniel Donovan. John O. D'Agostino, Town Manager r The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. · Minutes of January 31, 2001 Motion: To approve (Amoruso-Donovan) 4 -0 Passes · Executive Session Minutes of January 31, 2001 Motion: To approve, but not release (Amoruso-Donovan) 4-0 Passes r, · Minutes of January 8, 2001 Light Commissioners Meeting Motion: To approve (Amoruso-Donovan) 4-0 Passes · Warrant No. 33 in the amount of $2,411,072.68 Motion : To approve (Amoruso-Donovan) 4-0 with Chairman McCarter abstaining from Municipal Building Committee payroll Passes · One-Day Beer & Wine License for Tri-County Beagle Club Game Dinner on Sunday, February 18, 2001 from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Approved by Police, Treasurer and Assessors Motion : To approve (Amoruso-Donovan) 4-0 Passes r' · Letter from The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission regarding a license violation of Commonwealth Wine & Spirits, Inc. of 20 Middlesex Road Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 1 r . Letter from Andrew and Lee Sternburg of 66 Pilgrim Road regarding the elimination of Basic 2 cable television services by AT&T Broadband . Letter from Bruce K. Oldmixon, Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 55, announcing the completion of Eagle Scout requirements by Andrew Salisbury and Leo Scally - Proclamations to be signed for each of them r Peter De Trolio, Elm Street - followed up on Leonard Flynn's comments regarding trucks parking on the sides of the road in the Industrial Park. The Town Manager said the Police Department has been asked to identify those areas where no parking or no standing signs are needed It was determined they would have to be put throughout the park, and right now there is not sufficient money in the budget to do so. We are looking into phasing it in. There is also a covenant requiring all of the businesses in the Park to have all vehicles parked within their boundaries. Mr. DeTrolio spoke of the hazard with tractor-trailers on both sides of the street and the drivers standing outside of the trucks talking. He noted it's particularly hazardous on the curves, where the line of sight is reduced. Clerk Wills suggested sending a letter to Chrysler, asking them to open the gate and allow the trucks to get into their property. Town Manager D'Agostino said he would also speak with the BuHding Inspector as Zoning Enforcement Officer. Selectman Amoruso suggested putting signage on one side of the road as the first phase. We wHl start by having the BuHding Inspector making a phone call, and follow up with a letter. Mr. DeTrolio also spoke of the railroad tracks going over Forbes Boulevard, noting one in particular is quite elevated and needs attention. The track is owned by CFX, with the Towns right-of-way going up to the track. We wHllook into repairing our portion. r Karl Clemmey, South Main Street - spoke of the notification of the availability of the land on Essex Street under MGL Chapter 61A. He suggested it is one of the most beautiful pieces of land that could be acquired by the town and presented pictures of the property. The land is all on sewer, with five roads leading to the 2,000 feet of frontage. Mr. Clemmey noted it would be a perfect place for a gymnasium needed for basketball. He requested a team be put together to look into this and volunteered to be a part of it. The Town Manager noted that parcel has been identified in the Master Plan for public acquisition. He noted it will be a funding problem at Town Meeting and private individuals, if they don't abut the property, are not eligible to purchase it under the provisions of 61A. Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7, 2001 2 r Dan Donovan, Court Street - noted people are bringing items to the Recycling Center that are not allowed. When they're turned away, they are dumping illegally. He warned that their auto registrations will be recorded. He also suggested charging $1-$2 for each sticker to defray the cost of printing them. Chairman McCarter suggested putting an article on the Special Town Meeting Warrant for the purchase of the Essex Street land. Clerk Wills suggested payment could be worked out over a period of time. Motion: To have the Town Manager contact the owners of the property, get a price, and try to work out a payment arrangement (Wills-Donovan) 4-0 Passes Frank Foss, AT&T Broadband's Manager of Government Affairs, was present to address complaints regarding their service. Chairman McCarter noted receiving many calls and letters regarding the service provided by AT&T Broadband. r Selectman Amoruso noted the most recent letter represents frustrations on the part of the Selectmen on problems that have gone unresolved over a period of time. He stated there appears to be a deterioration of the service and said the issues are of serious concern to the Board. He pointed out in particular the lack of response to people calling AT&T Broadband, noting it may be a license violation. The Selectmen's letter of February 1, 2001, (a copy of which is attached hereto) was reviewed: r 3) 9010 of the time phones must be answered within 30 seconds as regulated by the FCC. Mr. Foss admitted there are phone issues, which he also has experienced. They report on a regional basis by quarter and he presented a statistical analysis for the first three quarters of 2000 on a regional basis. Following the automatic response unit (ARU) answering the phone. They work with a virtual call center, where all their calls are routed. If the call is to the wrong department or requires a supervisor, it is put on hold. Since the beginning of the year they've been averaging over 500,000 calls per month regionally (over 200 towns). He did not have statistics for Mansfield only. There are 800 people answering the phones. Cable calls average 5 minutes each. High speed data calls average 15 minutes. Selectman Amoruso noted the license requires they keep logs for the Town of Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 3 (' Mansfield. Mr. Foss presented the Form 500 Complaint Data they are required to file with the State annually. The numbers are presently being tallied and he did not have them available. He noted the multitude of new services launched during 2000, resulting in a spike of calls that drive the performance percentages down. A good economy with 210 unemployment has affected their ability to hire as much staff as they'd like to. They will be slowing their rate of expansion during this year. Clerk Wills asked about their lack of responsiveness to Mansfield Cable Access' problems with poor quality signal and transmission. Mr. Foss said he will be providing detailed answers to each of the questions raised by the Selectmen. He said there are three shifts of headend technicians checking the channels all the time and responding in a short period of time. Mr. Foss reviewed copies of customer letters he's received. In some instances, he noted he could not answer the questions without checking the customer's account. r 2) The issue of the modulators was reviewed. Mr. Foss said their records show the Town was given two modulators. He also noted an agile modulator was ordered that can be used for any of the access channels. He stated a modulator was delivered to Jack O'Neill at the Cable Studio this week. He pointed out the license says "up to 10 fixed modulators" and said they would be presented as needed. He also questioned where all the modulators previously provided are. He suggested that if the Access Corporation needs another modulator, it be requested through the licensing authority. 1) They perform "proof" tests each January and July and will provide the report of those performances. He said they want to know about it if people are having continuous signal quality problems. He noted there will be times during peak hours when people do not get an immediate service response to remedy a technical problem. Mr. Foss spoke of the hiring and training process, noting from the time of hiring it's 4-6 weeks before someone is fully trained and functioning on their own. 4) $8.54 is the programming rate for Basic 1 and will not change. Increases in other levels of service are mainly the result of increases in sports programming. r 5) The rates were approved on February 1st; however, the subscribers were Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 4 r notified based on their billing cycles. Selectman Amoruso noted two mailings-one on the change in levels of service and one on rates. He stated two changes within a month created havoc with subscribers. Mr. Foss said they segmented their system into three basic tiers. Less than 1-210 of the subscribers purchased Basic 2 with Basic 1. They are therefore taking it off the shelf. Most customers subscribe to Standard Basic. They are eliminating services that were not being purchased in a manner that allows them to maintain the service. Standard Cable (formerly Total Basic) is now $36.42 per month, up from $34.69. Mr. Foss will request that rate changes be tolled out further so there will be no question that people have had 30 days notice. The only way MSNBC can be provided on the Rehoboth headend would be on Channel 40, which is the Food Network that has higher viewership. Viewership and the head end are what determine the channel lineup. r 7) The return of the "borrowed" channel was discussed. Channels 9, 15, 17 and 98 are the only channels available. Either the Food Channel (40) or the Italian channel (54) would have to be eliminated to give the Town back the borrowed channel. The unilateral decision to change Cable 8 to channel 9 was also discussed. Access and availability of the van, financial considerations to offset the cost of changing from Cable 8 to Cable 9, and school wiring issues were reviewed. Chairman McCarter noted his understanding that RoadRunner service was expected to be supplied at the Library. Each public school and library can be provided with one modem, one line, and unlimited service. Mr. Foss noted he will be addressing in detail and in writing each item in the letter of February 1st. Frank Monett, 226 WHlow Street - said he is tired of channels being dropped and added. He was concerned with the Cartoon Channel being removed from the lineup. Mr. Foss said there are no plans to do so and it is currently available in the standard service package. Mr. Barnett expressed dissatisfaction with the program content of many of the channels and was encouraged by Mr. Foss to send him written comments for forwarding to the broadcast programmers. Mr. Foss asked that a meeting with all the parties be set up. r' The Town Manager reported on the following: Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 5 r . Mark Smith from the Water Resource Commission was supposed to have gotten back to Senator Sprague last week on the status of our application. That did not happen and staff will continue to pursue it. Senator Sprague indicated there would not need to be a meeting to iron out any difficulties, but the permit still has not been issued and he is concerned with the delay. The well is of strategic importance to the Town and we need this well on line. The vote of the Water Resource Commission was taken publicly in a public meeting. There should be no reason that the permit has not been issued. Unfortunately there is no timeline that forces them to issue the permit. Chairman McCarter suggested as a last resort bringing legal action against them. Selectman Amoruso questioned if having a couple of selectmen sit down with them to review the situation would be helpful. Mr. D'Agostino suggested we could perhaps contact Peter Webber, the Chairman of the Water Resource Commission. · All union contracts have now been settled. Three have not yet been signed. A summary of all the contracts will be provided when they are signed. We have sufficient money to pay the negotiated contracts. · The School Department has requested a police officer to assist with safety issues during morning peak hours at the school complex. The Chief will comply r with the request. · Statewide Community Preservation Act Conference is being held this Saturday morning in Worcester. If anyone is interested in attending, please let him know. Selectman Amoruso said he is planning to attend the meeting on the school reimbursement formula for charter schools under the Education Reform Act. He suggested contacting the Planning Board and Conservation Commission about the conference. · We are close to hiring an MIS Director for the Town and hope to have a better handle on the status Monday. · Clerk Wills asked for a total of how much was spent by the Town from the appropriation on the Great Waves appeal. Town Manager D'Agostino suggested using the funds left and the money set aside for conservation land acquisition to use as a down payment on the Essex Street property. · Chairman McCarter asked when construction would be starting on the Train r Station. We are at 100% design. The problem is the value of the land being turned over to the MSTA as our local match. We need to go back at the Special Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 6 r Town Meeting within the Annual to clarify the language. The intent is to convey the land and then clarify how the value of the land is going to be used in the project. . Selectman Donovan asked if we're still on schedule to meet with Attorney Volterra next week. Were scheduled to meet with him next week in Executive Session. He also asked that the DPW Director investigate every mailbox complaint we've had as the result of damage from the snowstorm. · Clerk Wills suggested we have the IDC into a meeting to discuss inviting businesses into town to increase our industrial tax base. He said he'd like to know what's being done to get the message out that we have increased our allowable building height. The IDC Chairman will be included in the Chairman's meeting on March ¡th. He also suggested the Director of the Charter School be invited to a meeting to answer questions and defend their budget. He said he suggested March 7th or 14th. r · Clerk Wills asked that the Board set a policy that in the Town Manager's last year of contract there will be no appointments or contract negotiations for department heads. Town Manager D'Agostino suggested it would be in conflict with the Town Charter and he would have liked to discuss the matter with him prior to having it brought to the Board publicly. He suggested it belongs somewhere in the employment contract for the individual. Selectman Amoruso suggested other means to accomplish Clerk Wills' intent, noting the Selectmen have a budget oversight role. · Selectman Donovan asked that a policy be set to charge for resident stickers to recover the $15,000 it costs to print them. Town Manager D'Agostino said he does not want to add more cost to the taxpayers, but would agree to a charge to recover the cost of printing the stickers. We wi/I find out the actual cost and set a fee accordingly. It can be done as a policy that the Town wi'll recover the cost of printing the stickers. · Chairman McCarter asked how the Norton commuter bus is working out. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7, 2001 7 r r r Motion: To adjourn at 10:35 p.m. (Amoruso-Wills) 4-0 Passes !}~.\;~ Sig ature 0 Clerk Date Board of Selectmen Minutes of February 7,2001 d- Q\ 8 · /,,'. r TOWN OF MANSFIELD BOARD OF SELECTMEN Six Park Row, Mansfield, MA 02048 (508) 261-7372 David W McCarter Chairman Bradford E. Wills Clerk Louis P. Amoruso Selectman Amos M Robinson Daniel Donovan Selectman Selectman February 1, 2001 Mr. Frank Foss Manager of Government Affairs AT&T Broadband 85 East Belcher Road Foxborough, MA 02035 Dear Mr. Foss: r On behalf of the Mansfield Board of Selectmen, acting in their capacity as the cable television licensing authority, I am writing to notify you that the Board is considering applying fines to AT&T Broadband for non-compliance with license requirements. Since efforts to meet with you and to resolve these problems informally have been unsuccessful, we find it necessary to notify you that we are hereby initiating a process of formally sanctioning AT&T Broadband for its failure to meet contractual requirements. Among the issues that have remained unresolved over the past months since AT&T's takeover of cable service and license requirements that have not been met are: 1) Section 3.1 f (Iic. p. 23-ff) headend generated in Foxboro and to be moved only if it can be demonstrated that the new head end provides at least equal technicál performance: Since the quality of Reception and service has deteriorated, as judged by the number of complaints given to this Board by Mansfield Citizens, it appears that the headends are not equal. 2) Section 3.8: The Town does not have 10 fixed modulators. Moreover, when a modulator was requested to permit access to channel 98 (where one of our access channels was moved to), it was not provided. Hence, the Town has no access to channel 98 for program transmission purposes. Even though the channel may be accessible via character generator, full access is the only acceptable option for its use. It was reported to the Board (acting as Licensing Authority) that you told the Access Corporation you would "look around" for one. That is neither appropriate, nor does it meet license requirements. We expect full access to all of "our" channels and a full compliment of appropriately tuned modulators therefor. r 3) Our request for your telephone logs dated October 25, 2000 has not yet been answered appropriately. This is a direct violation of contract requirements and continues to be so. (see section 7.4.c) ... , > ..' r 4) In violation of contract requirements, under section 6.2, subscribers are finding themselves waiting 45 minutes or longer for telephone service. With no telephone logs to review, we have no option but to assume that the response times are as slow as we are having reported to us (including by one of our own Board members). It is our expectation that fines will be paid for each day this condition persists until it has been resolved. This item was also mentioned in our memo of October 25th. (see sect 7.4.c-2 of license contract) 5) Repeated failures to provide rate and service changes: All customers and the licensing authority are supposed to be notified at a MINIMUM of 30 days in advance of any change in rates/service. This has not happened--repeatedly. It appears that the only way for the Board to show that this requirement is to be strictly adhered to is to assess fines in sufficient amounts to dissuade the licensee from repeatedly violating the rules as we understand them. 6) Despite repeated and relentless requests to bring the access channels up to a par with the regular channels, this has not been accomplished (over the past 4-5 months). This violation of section 5.5 relates to the total transmission quality issues mentioned above. The problems encountered have been proven to be not of Cable Access Corp.'s doing nor is it due to their equipment. Hence, this is a violation of section 5.5 and as such it can be a cause for sanctions. r 7) Despite repeated requests, the access channel-- "borrowed" with the promise of being returned to us when requested-has yet to be returned. Many of these violations and problems have been communicated to you verbally, as you have requested. The communications have been both frequent and clear. It is obvious that AT&T Broadband is either unwilling or unable to respond appropriately. The pattern of problems we in Mansfield are seeing appear to be reflected in other neighboring towns as well. This fact leads us to question whether, in fact, AT&T Broadband does have the wherewithall to provide cable services to the region, and to Mansfield in particular. If the resources are not available, whether they could be or not, this would bring into question the viability of AT&T Broadband as a licensee. So, this matter is of deep concern to the Board. The licensing authority needs to know with specificity what you expect to do to ameliorate these problems. We need a timetable that can, and will, be adhered to, and we need to hear why financial sanctions should not be imposed at this time. We eagerly await your response. Sincerely yours, Mansfield Board of Selectmen David W. McCarter r Chairman LPAlmlc Certified Mail #Z 240911 218