Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSELECTMENminutes08252010 Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 Present: Chairman Moran, Vice Chairman George Dentino, Selectman Jess Aptowitz, Selectman Olivier Kozlowski, William Ross, Town Manager Absent: Clerk Douglas Annino Mansfield Housing Corporation - interview Roderick Oreste, Dean St. resident and attorney. He has a friend that recommended him to the Housing Corporation and after hearing about it was interested in volunteering. Selectman Dentino and Aptowitz thanked him for his service to the town and welcomed him to the committee. Selectman Kozlowski asked Mr. Oreste when he graduated law school and which area of law he practiced. Mr. Oreste responded that he passed the bar last year and while he practices general law , he has been helping low income residents throughout law school to the present. Motion: To appoint Mr. Oreste to a term to expire January 1, 2012. (Aptowitz/Dentino) 4:0 passes Mansfield Housing Corporation Board of Directors - update President Maureen Doherty and Vice President Marilyn Lewis are present. Mrs. Doherty gave the Board of Selectmen a brief review of what the board is charged with and what they have been doing to get the committee up and running. Selectman Kozlowski asked what progress the board has made in becoming incorporated and getting a tax id # as a non profit group. Mrs. Doherty responded that they are actively pursuing those items and member Gazzolo will be securing them soon. The board will also be getting their own liability insurance soon and will have town counsel review their bylaws in a couple of weeks. Selectman Aptowitz thanked the ladies for all their hard work and mentioned that Steve MacCaffrie was a driving force for this committee to get off the ground. Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25. 2010 Selectman Dentino asked Mrs. Doherty to name the members of the committee for the audience. Shelly Roberts Treasurer, Danielle Fish, Andy Gazzolo, Gregory Joynt, David Luca and now Rod Oreste. Mrs. Lewis also stated that many people have worked tirelessly on this committee in the past and they are thankful for their dedication as well. Selectman Dentino asked Mrs. Doherty how financially stable the corp. accounts are. Mrs. Doherty responded that they are doing well but she cannot provide figures at this time. Chairman Moran thanked the group for all their hard and dedication; past, present and future. He sees a lot of opportunity for assistance within town; from young people moving to town all the way through to the growing elderly population. Mrs. Doherty also mentioned that they will be applying for some upcoming grant opportunities and Mr. Ross added that town staff will be able to assist with the application process as well. Chairman Moran thanked the board for coming and wished them luck in their endeavors. Town Counsel contract Deutsch/Williams just sent a couple of changes to the contract to Mr. Ross yesterday so he unfortunately is not ready at this time to discuss the contract in depth. Selectman Dentino noticed on the contract that the dates don't quite add up to a year and wanted to know if the contract is prorated. Mr. Ross responded that it is. Q&C None Policy updates Chairman Moran asked Mr. Ross what other policies he has been working on. Mr. Ross responded that he would like to review (in the following order): 1. Car policy 2. Compensation time policy 3. Personnel policy Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 2 Changes to these policies will have union bargaining rights implications. So he will have to include union representation in some changes. Selectman Dentino had some additional questions relating to how benefits are provided through job descriptions, union agreement or other. Mr. Ross stated he will be working with the unions regarding any changes that need to be bargained. As in the past, first responders will retain a town vehicle for emergency use. Selectman Dentino also had questions about the comp time policy. Mr. Ross recapped federal law in addition to Mass and labor agreements. Our agreements state that if an employee works outside the normal work hours they receive comp time. Even if the day before or after is a holiday, vacation or sick day. However, supervisor approval is needed prior to comp time being accrued so there are controls in place. Selectman Aptowitz also has questions in relation to comp time by Dept. heads. He feels that dept. heads should be exempt from overtime. He does not believe that dept. heads should accrue comp time either. However, they do by union contract. Cable Access Board of Directors - update The Board of Directors are present with Jack O'Neill, Program Director to discuss what programming has been going on and what will be happening in the coming year. There are several public access channels available in Mansfield to cover a wide variety of topics. Chairman Moran asked Mr. O'Neill to describe what the Cable Access Corporation is and what their mission is. They are a board, separate from the town and the cable companies. There are three members appointed to the board by the Board of Selectmen and two that are membership appointed in addition to staff. Selectman Dentino used to do a show in the past and enjoyed the experience. He is glad that public access programming has expanded and thriving in town. Selectman Aptowitz has been down to the studio himself and has enjoyed programming provided. He is also glad that Mr. O'Neill explained, not only to the board but the public, just how the corporation works as there have been questions in the past, especially relating to the financial matters of the cable access board that he has been unable to answer. Selectman Kozlowski asked a few questions about programming and how they schedule show times. Mr. O'Neill explained the different line up and channels that are available through Comcast and Verizon. There are three available from Verizon and four available Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 3 from Comcast. The extra channel from Comcast is being used for a closed caption version of meetings. Chairman Moran stated that yes, while many people do not admit it, they do watch cable access and the board strives to assist and educate the public during the meetings. After a few comments from the board members Chairman Moran thanked the board for coming in and talking with them. Weekly Business Warrant No. 1100n in the amount of $6,211,498.90 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11007E in the amount of $2,253,363.43 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11007PT in the amount of $319,606.83 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 3:0:1 passes (Dentino abstain) Warrant No. 11007TV in the amount of $88,689.63 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11007PS in the amount of $878,766.51 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11007SV in the amount of $242,250.82 Motion: To approve. (Kozlowski! Aptowitz) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11008T in the amount of $1,384,169.57 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11008E in the amount of $48,990.74 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Warrant No. 11008S in the amount of $141,535.59 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Discussion: Selectman Aptowitz would like to meet with school committee to discuss Warrant No. 11008PT in the amount of $319,075.01 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 3:0:1 passes (Dentino abstain) Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 4 Warrant No. 11008TV in the amount of $88,385.45 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes . Board of Selectmen meeting minutes of August 5, 2010 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes · Board of Selectmen meeting minutes of August 11, 2010 Held for next week . Drainlayers license application for Page Corp. Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes . Hackney driver licenses Bill's Taxi: Bradley Glass & Matthew Rapoza Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:0 passes Correspondence . Letter of request from Our Daily Bread Food Pantry. They are asking for waiver of building permit fees in relation to repair work. Motion: To approve town fees. (Aptowitz/Dentino) 3:0:1 passes (Kozlowski abstain) Town Managers Report . Mr. Wilk from Mansfield Youth Soccer brought in a sample of the Astroturf that will be installed at the soccer field. It is made out of recycled tires. . Copy of Conservation Commission NOI (to themselves) for work within conservation lands. · The Comcast Center has paid for the overages from the last two times. However they have just had another violation last night so another letter has gone out today. . The Board of Selectmen will be meeting again with the Norton Board of Selectmen next Tuesday to discuss IMA and Comcast Center issues that affect both towns. . Mr. Ross has been working with school dept. officials and will be offering flexible spending and child care coverage through their provider. . National Grid filing has been received for the Bird Rd. substation. It is available at the library and the Town Clerks office. Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 5 . Mr. Ross and Mr. Stanbrook have already started working on the FYll budget in addition to closing out FYIO. Mr. Stan brook has also been researching closed projects that have outstanding bonds and account balances. This could potentially free up cash for other projects. BOS Old and New . Selectman Kozlowski: None . Selectman Aptowitz: He attended the first Tom Petty concert this past week and the police made over 50 arrests for under age alcohol possession. The police and Comcast Center personnel were extremely busy; however they barely made a dent in the problem. This issue has been an ongoing problem with no relief in sight. However the police and fire depts. do have the situation under control. There has been continually flooding on Branch St. by the Compo Center bend. The DPW will be working on a storm water retention area next month that will hopefully rectify the problem. The next MMED meeting will be a busy one with public meetings and the board should have their packets already. · Selectman Annino: Not present . Selectman Dentino: He would like further clarification on issue that property owner is having with obtaining a dump sticker. According to our policy, you must be a resident, not just a property owner to obtain the sticker. Selectman Dentino would like to review policy with Mr. Ross and the board and possibly change it to allow use by property owners. Questions about a realty account for a Maple St. project. Mr. Ross will look into. Questions about canopy damage expenses. He would like to discuss this matter further at a future meeting. Selectman Aptowitz would also like to discuss this in relation to our business relationship with our agent. Further questions about a police dept. vendor bill. Mr. Ross will discuss purchase with Chief O'Neill. Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 6 . Chairman Moran: He has been discussing coordination of open meeting law training with the school committee. Mr. Ross would like to use our town counsel for this training as it would be free of charge. He would like to have an additional meeting soon to discuss FYll budget numbers. Mr. Ross has already been talking with Supt. Hodges on what we can fund this year. He has also heard that the school committee is planning on turning over about 96 thousand dollars in free cash. This will definitely help us maintain services however a tax increase is most likely eminent. The Board of Selectmen will meet on September 1" and an abbreviated meeting on September 8th. There will not be a meeting on the 15th. Weekly meetings will resume the following week. Adjournment Motion: Adjourn meeting at 9:20pm (Aptowitz) 4-0 Passes :J30u;74?:: ~ Signature of Clerk ~~k I, 2(/1(/ Date of Approval Board of Selectmen Minutes of August 25, 2010 7