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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin brd of selectmen 08/11/04 r r ( .. Present: (TCE iVEù ¡\- n~Wl OFf \CE ,'.... .< 04 t,UG 25 AM 8: 35 t'iAHSF iELO MÀSS~CHUSETTS Chairman Steven W. MacCaffrie; Vice Chairman Roger S. Achille; Clerk Bernard J. Dolan; Selectmen Louis P. Amoruso and Michael W. McCue Town Manager John O. D' Agostino Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Motion: To go into Executive Session at 7:33 p.m. for the purpose of discussing pending litigation and to return to Open Session at the conclusion of the discussion (Amoruso-Dolan) Roll Call Vote: Amoruso, aye; Dolan, aye; MacCaffrie, aye - All in favor with Selectmen McCue and Achille not in the meeting room at the time of the vote Passes The meeting reconvened in Open Session at 7:59 p.m. · Warrant No. 06 in the amount of$1,195,7l7.27 Motion: To approve and sign (Achille-McCue) 5-0 Passes · Warrant No. 07 in the amount of$2,557,878.58 Motion: To approve and sign (Amoruso-McCue) 5-0 Passes · Minutes of July 21,2004 Trash Workshop Motion: To approve and sign (Achille-Amoruso) 4-0-1 (Selectman McCue abstaining) Passes · Minutes of July 28, 2004 Motion: To approve as amended (Achille-McCue) 5-0 Passes Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 1 r · Common Victualler License - Trifecta Entertainment, Inc. dba Trifecta Sports Bar, 31 Oxford Road Motion: To grant and sign (Achille-Amoruso) 5-0 Passes · One Day Beer and Wine License for Tri-County Beagle Club, School Street- Members Steak Dinner on Saturday, August 21,2004 from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Motion: To approve and sign (McCue-Amoruso) 5-0 Passes Town Manae:er and Staff · Letter from Police Lieutenant Walter Crickard reporting a violation of the 11 :00 p.m. curfew at Tweeter Center on July 30, 2004 in which The Dead continued playing until 11 :03 p.m. Motion: To send letter asking Executive Director Bruce Montgomery to come in to discuss the violation or send check in the proper amount in payment of the fine (Amoruso-McCue) 5-0 Passes r · E-Mail from Police Chief Arthur O'Neill reporting a violation of the 11 :00 p.m. curfew at Tweeter Center on August 7, 2004 in which the Cure concert ended at 11 :07 p.m. Motion: To send letter asking Executive Director Bruce Montgomery to come in to discuss the violation or send check in the proper amount in payment of the fine (Amoruso-McCue) 5-0 Passes · Letter from Police Chief Arthur O'Neill reporting an apparent violation of the alcoholic beverage license of the Veterans of Po reign Wars (VPW) Post occurring on July 23, 2004 Motion: To send a letter over to the Police Chief to see if he wants to proceed with a hearing. (McCue-Amoruso) 5-0 Passes Boards and Committees · Letter from Planning Board member Prank Holmes with Disclosure of Appearance of Conflict of Interest on four projects It was determined that there are no conflicts on the projects and a letter will be sent. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 2 r Residents · E-mail from Janice Abel regarding safety and noise reduction on West Street, with comments of Traffic Safety Officer ofPtlm. Lance Lawson included · Copy of letter from Capt. William H. Dowd of Langley Drive regarding the proposed electric substation - send to light dept to put in folder for next meeting Other · Letter from Tweeter Center Executive Director Bruce Montgomery with a check for $1,549.00 covering overtime fines the July 16th, July 30th, and August 7th concerts · Letter from Comcast with a check in the amount of$9,412.99 owed to the Cable Access Corporation due to an error in the calculation made for the period covering January through December of2003. · Letter from the Taunton Fire Department expressing their thanks and appreciation for the assistance provided by the Mansfield Fire Department during the July 16th fire at the historic Seeley Building located at 52 Taunton Green in Taunton r · Notice of benefit to be held for VFW Commander George Auld who is suffering a service related illness due to contaminants encountered in Vietnam - the notice was read. Chairman MacCaffrie asked that a note be sent to the Foxboro agent to see if the Agent for Veterans Affairs can help out with any available assistance until we get our agent in place. Motion: Send letter to George auld with best wishes for a speedy recovery. (McCue-Amoruso) 5-0 Passes · Schedule of proposed dates for Boards & Committees to meet with Selectmen - A decision was made to skip scheduling Boards & Committees on September 15th due to the combined Selectmen! Light Commissioners meeting that night and to move the schedule forward by one week Richard Devine, President of Mansfield Cable Access Board of Directors, and Andy Morrison, Selectmen's appointed member, were present at the invitation of the Selectmen to update them on current and future projects. Mr. Morrison talked about the various shows they've aired in the past year or so, including Florencia's Kitchen, Mrs. Imagination's Treehouse, National Honor Society, f Rescue Me, Army/Navy/AirForce show, sports, graduation, and others. Cable Access is Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 3 r active, with many volunteers. They're also now utilizing Channel 98 for various broadcasts. In the past it had been a "dead" station. They are upgrading the studio technology with DVD burners and cameras and using it for High School news broadcasts. Chairman MacCaffrie asked about the status of a new studio, noting it was announced several months ago that they were about to enter into an agreement for one on Branch Street. Mr. Devine said Cable Access purchased a piece of equipment for the studio - and they have been in continuous negotiations and are still negotiating and hoping that the negotiations come to fruition soon. The negotiations are confidential at this time. They entered into an agreement and are hoping the matter is resolved soon. Selectman Achille stated it seems as though Cable Access is doing a good job with the variety of shows and people participating and volunteering. He noted this winter we are suspending the winter parking ban and asked if an emergency winter parking ban were to be issued, whether we would be able to notify the public through Cable Access. Town Manager D 'Agostino noted both his secretary, Eileen Ouellette, and Selectmen's Secretary, Mary-Lou Cotton, put notices on cable from their computers. Selectman Achille also brought up the need to get Amber Alerts on Cable. Mr. Devine and Mr. Morrison said they would make that happen. Mr. Devine noted they held a volunteer appreciation day at which they treated the Cable Access volunteers to a Bay Queen cruise of Narragansett Bay. He thanked the volunteers r for giving up their time to keep the programs running. At the conclusion of the discussion Selectman Dolan presented Mr. Devine with three recycling bins so he can start recycling, noting they will be checking his address each week to make sure he's using them. Chairman MacCaffrie offered the opportunity for Questions and Comments. There were none as nobody was in the audience. Town Manager D' Agostino reported: . On Friday the Seniors will be holding a lobster bake at 11 :30 a.m. He asked that Selectmen please let him know if they are able to attend. . On September 14th the Mansfield Rotary Club will be holding a Senior Appreciation Lunch at 11 :30 a.m. It is limited to 60 participants. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 4 ( · On September 9th he will be hosting a Town Manager's Coffee Hour at 10:00 a.m. and invited the Board's participation. · As provided for in the Cable license renewal the Town is in the middle of a $300,000 plan to run fiber optic cable to establish linkage between the Schools, Town, Fire Police and DPW. MIS is planning to utilize their staff, as well as DPW and Light Department employees, for the construction. He will provide updates as we go forward. Selectman Amoruso stated his hope it will also link us to the Cable Access Studio when that occurs. Selectman McCue: · Has spoken about his desire to go to a three-tier tax rate. As a result there's been some concern expressed to him by small business owners. He noted he hasn't seen any information thus far that makes him want to move from a single tax rate. He is anticipating that in the future there may be a move to a split tax rate and he only raised the issue with the intent of protecting small business owners from getting lumped in with large industrial users. Selectman Dolan: · Asked if we will be discussing changes following the trash workshop. We are waiting until sometime in September when everybody gets back from vacation. r DPW Director Lee Azinheira will make a recommendation. · Asked that we also check to make sure they don't take the traffic light out at West Street and Forbes Boulevard as there have been many accidents there. Selectman Achille: · Earlier this year we had a discussion with the Chief regarding suspending the winter parking ban. We're still waiting for the Chiefs further input on individual roads that need to have it. Put Chief 0 'Neill on the agenda. Selectman MacCaffrie: · Asked the Town Manager to please contact Senator JoAnn Sprague, and Representatives Betty Poirier, Mike Coppola and Lou Kafka to try to get them off dead center with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and approval of Mansfield's Housing Production Plan. Town Manager D 'Agostino noted he will talk to Rep. Coppola about it tomorrow at a meeting they're both scheduled to be at. · Asked for a cost analysis for our portion of the Skateboard Park expenses. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 5 ( Selectman Dolan: . Asked if the Veterans interviews are moving forward. Interviews have been scheduled with ten applicants. The applications were also reviewed by Selectmen MacCaffrie and Dolan and ranked. Selectman MacCaffrie said he hopes we can appoint someone by the first meeting in September. The Town Manager noted he is also engaged in interviews for the Selectmen's Secretary position and has narrowed the field down to five active candidates. Selectman MacCaffrie: . Noted there is a nice flat lot (no structures above ground) at Clemmey Tank. Since the area has been in Land Court we've had an agreement to pay someone something, and we held off on the payments. He suggested it would behoove the board to approach the rightful owners to gain access all the way to Hatheway Patterson. He suggested sitting down with all parties to get a deal to work together on the project. Selectman Amoruso said it would be nice to coordinate the entire area. Discussion suggested that it might be time to look at getting access out through the back and, in conjunction with what we're doing with Hatheway Patterson, to prevent all the traffic from coming through town. Mr. Ditchman has a controlling interest in part of the parcel we need to establish access from Route 106. Access from 106 would make the other two parcels more valuable. There are also issues with respect to Mr. Ditchman that the Board will r need to consider, along with getting a light at Winthrop Street and preventing traffic through the neighborhoods. Selectman Amoruso spoke of his interest in the easement going across the tracks going with the property rather than with the owner of the property. Such interest generally goes with the land parcel. Town Manager D 'Agostino spoke of the need to investigate that jùrther. This was our first dealing with Csxr. Having access from both Route 106 and County Street, should we get that crossing consent, will make the land much more valuable. Selectman Dolan: · Asked if the High School will be closing on Election Day, questioning if it will be a half day or in-service day. He would like it clarified. He also referred to the point raised in Mary Cinelli's e-mail about kids hanging out and sitting on the steps and stated voter parking needs to be roped off. Chairman MacCaffrie: · Asked if we are getting reimbursed from the committee that raised the funds for the Middle Common project for the work that was done on the South Common. The question was raised when the Mansfields of the Wodd sign was moved from the Middle Common to the South Common. The Town Manager advised him we have a set donation amount for the Middle Common but have not started that project. Chairman MacCaffrie reiterated that the Mansfields of the World sign was included, but that's been moved to the South Common. If that was budgeted r for the Middle Common, the money should be transferred to the South Common Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 6 r project to reimburse the expense of doing it Town Manager D 'Agostino reported the group decided to move it because there was too much going on at the Middle Common with the clock and the moving of the monument. That is why it was moved to the South Common. It was never discussed directly with Women of Today, Rotary Club or the Together We Can group. Their donations totaled $10,000 to do the Middle Common and to purchase the clock. If there is money left over, he will ask Women of Today and Rotary Club to help offset some of the costs. He can also ask the Mansfields of the World group to participate in the cost. Chairman MacCaffrie said it would help if they could offset the $4,396.02, suggesting the Fuel Assistance fund could better use the money. The Town Manager noted the Fuel Assistance program has been funded in the amount of $75,000/year through grant money from Self Help and Good Neighbor Energy, or the Utility. We have never taken money from the budget to do that. We outspend all area communities in providing fuel assistance. The Utility money is now limited to electric bills and we're not spending the entire appropriation. Self Help provided $36,000. $5,100 was received from the Good Neighbor Energy program. Motion: To adjourn at 9: 17 p.m. r (Amoruso) 5-0 Passes ~~~~ Signatur erk ~ d.6: ¿¡;vy ate of Approv~ r Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 11, 2004 7