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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSELECTMENminutes10272010 Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 Present: Chairman Moran, Vice Chairman George Dentino, Clerk Douglas Annino, Selectman Jess Aptowitz, Selectman Olivier Kozlowski, William Ross, Town Manager Absent: Selectman Aptowitz opened up the meeting as Light Commissioners Motion: To open MMED public hearing and postpone 10 minutes. (Annino/Dentino) 5:0 passes After postponing MMED hearing Chairman Moran opened bos meeting. Leaf Raking Project Donna Harrington. Program Leader and High School student Leader were present. This program has been going on for at least 10 years and has grown steadily from originally maybe 6 - 8 homes to having done over 30 homes last year. There are various departments involved - Council on Aging, Highway Department and Police Department (volunteers). As of last year we even had landscapers volunteer (and returning this year) with this project. Ms. Harrington stated this project was started by Mansfield Public School students who raked the homes of senior citizens in town and has grown over the years. There is no other community that I know of that does this and this is one of the reasons, that makes Mansfield special. MMED Public Hearing Public hearing was opened at 7pm and delayed 10 minutes for the above mentioned leaf presentation. Selectman Aptowitz reopened MMED Public Hearing after Leaf Raking discussion concluded. Motion: To reopen MMED public hearing. (Annino/Dentino) 5:0 passes Boord of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 Gary Babin and Chris Cox are present for hearing. Mr. Ross disclosed that he has bought a house in a residential compound and that these proposed regulations were written prior to that time. As a follow-up to the September 13 public hearing on the issue of transferring secondary facilities on private property from MMED ownership to customer ownership, MMED staff has broken down the categories of installations involved, summarized the options available to address the problem and made recommendations for the suggested course of action. The categories are as follows: 1) North Main Street - There appear to be 4 options available to deal with the ownership of secondaries supplying the 17 locations on North Main Street that are affected by this issue: (a) Option 1 - MMED continues to own and maintain the existing facilities, including those on private property. This is the current situation. (b) Option 2 - Ownership of all secondary facilities on private property is transferred to the property owner. MMED may elect to maintain the installations as they now exist or to install a handhole at the property line. This would provide a physical line of demarcation between the customer owned facilities and MMED owned facilities because the cable could then be spliced together inside the handhole. Individual handholes could be installed for a cost between $1,500 and $2,000 each, depending on the nature of the work required. (c) Option 3 - MMED continues to own and maintain the existing facilities, including those on private property, with ownership transferred upon a change in property owners. (d) Option 4 - Once the service is required to be replaced due to failure or if the service is upgraded, MMED would install a handhole at the property line to provide the physical line of demarcation, as described in Option 2. The customer would then own the secondary facilities on private property and MMED would own the secondary facilities in the public way. (e) Staff Recommendation - Option 4 is preferable as this would provide transfer of ownership under defined conditions and protect existing customers from having to assume ownership immediately. It would also apply to whoever the current owner is, thus not requiring MMED to keep track of Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 2 any transfers in ownership. Finally, it would not require MMED to expend significant up-front money initially to install handholes but would spread that cost out over time. Lou Amoruso, 6 Brookside Drive. The town already owns the majority of the secondary lines in the downtown area and this would only affect a small number of customers at this time. The savings aren't there, the people voted to have underground utilities (down town) at town meeting, and now it would change a town meeting vote. Selectman Moran stated he remembers when this was done at town meeting and secondary lines were not a consideration then. Selectman Dentino does not remember town meeting voting on this and stated that it should have been a MMED decision not a town meeting vote. Mr. Ross and Mr. Amoruso cleared up the uncertainty of what the town meeting vote was by expending upon the situation. Mr. Amoruso stated that 10 previous Board of Selectmen did not feel a change necessary and it is only fair to North Main St. owners to leave it as it is. Selectman Kozlowski asked if the property owners would pay for any upgrades or changes. And Chairman Aptowitz stated that is what he would like to see. After a lengthy conversation, Mr. Ross stated that it sounds like option 4 might be appropriate. Bernard O'Malley, Park St. He would like to know if there is something wrong with the equipment. Why do they want to change it now? He was not asked the first time it was changed and now they want to change it again. Mr. Ross stated that there is not a problem with the service; however the Electric Light Commissioners wanted to review options. Selectman Annino stated that he would like option 4 if it were amended a bit. (replacement/upgrade language). Selectman Dentino would like to see option 2 but he knows the times we are in so he would support option 4 with a few changes. Motion: To support option 4 with deletion of "replacement due to failure" and insertion of "new construction would also not be covered" (Annino/Kozlowski) 2:3 fails (Dentino, Aptowitz, Kozlowski nay) Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 3 Pam Gagnon, Gladiola Terrace, asked the Board of Selectmen "what exactly is the goal of this policy?" Is it to limit liability? To honor the commitment to the down town? Motion: To support option 4 as written and staff recommended (Kozlowski/ Annino) 2:3 fails. (Dentino, Moran, Annino nay) Kevin Sullivan, 24 Lawndale Rd. Master Electrician, he would suggest including a request on the permit if an upgrade or new service is installed. Motion: Option 4 as written and "transfer of ownership" language. (Dentino/ Annino) 1:4 fails 2) Residential Compounds - MMED has identified 9 residential compounds, as defined by the Planning Board. Options include: (a) Option 1 - Continue to treat residential compounds like subdivisions with MMED owning all primary and secondary facilities in the privately owned travelled way (i.e. not on individual private property). MMED would continue to secure easements for all primary and secondary facilities and maintain "prescriptive rights" for installations without easements. This is the traditional way in which MMED has treated residential compounds. (b) Option 2 - Transfer ownership of secondary facilities in the privately owned travelled way to the homeowners association. MMED would continue to maintain ownership of high voltage facilities within the residential compound and secure an easement to do so. The line of demarcation between the MMED ownership and homeowner association ownership would be where the secondary cables leave the transformer. (c) Staff Recommendation - Option 1 to treat residential compounds the same as subdivisions would allow MMED to continue to mark secondary facilities for Dig Safe in the privately owned travelled way, where most excavation would occur, and not place the burden on the homeowners association. The Board seems comfortable with MMED continuing to mark facilities on private property for Dig Safe. (d) Considerations - Where MMED does not have an easement covering the facilities, MMED's facilities would be allowed access to the facility by "prescriptive right". Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 4 Sam Hausman, 4 Griffins Way. Questions on residential compound right away. Mr. Ross explained the way the proposed policy would work. Glenn Rogers, 5 Kiberg Circle. Most homeowner associations are not corporations. They are made up of the homeowners themselves. He would also like the dig safe procedures to stay the same. They obviously favor option 1 of the plan. Selectman Kozlowski stated that dealing with home owner associations can be more problematic than just with individual home owners so he would like to see staff address that in the policy. Selectman Dentino stated that the majority of utility companies follow option 1 and he believes that Mansfield should as well. Motion: Residential compound, adopt option 1 with staff input. (Annino/Kozlowski) 4:1 passes (Dentino nay) 3) Installations for Quad 3 or Access Considerations - MMED has identified 10 locations where secondaries have been extended from the original MMED transformer location to a new transformer location farther away from the building to address either Quad 3 clearance issues or trespass, physical access and reliability issues. The options available would appear to be: (a) Option 1 - Maintain the current situation with MMED owning and maintaining all primary and secondary facilities. For those locations with easements, MMED's right to access would be well defined while for locations without easements, access would be by "prescriptive right". (b) Option 2 - Transfer ownership of all secondary facilities to the customer with the line of demarcation being the secondary conductors leaving the transformer enclosure. MMED would continue to own and maintain all primary facilities, including the transformer. For those locations with easements, MMED would maintain the easement for access to primary facilities but elect not to perform work on secondary facilities (even though that right exists in the easement document), notifying the customers of this change in procedure. Again, "prescriptive right" would prevail in situations without easements. (c) Staff Recommendation - Option 2 as this is consistent with existing policy for new developments. MMED is allowed by the National Electric Code, Article 90.2(B) to specify the "service point" between the serving utility and Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 5 the premises wiring. The Building Department issued an opinion on this on February 4, 2009 supporting this position. Thus, MMED is simply moving the service point to a new location, as it allowed to do. (d) Considerations - With respect to the issue of whether an electrical inspection is now required for the secondary facilities originally installed by and now owned by MMED after their transfer to the customer, I have asked Nick Riccio, Building Inspector, if this is the case. He indicated that even though the original installation did not require a permit as it was performed by the utility, there would not be a need to inspect the installation as it is an existing installation at the time of transfer. Lou Amoruso, 6 Brookside Drive. Why are Quad 3 regulations being looked at for review again? If the service is operating fine leave it as it and change the ownership at upgrade/change of service. Selectman Annino stated that possibly changing the regulation would clearly separate the property lines/secondary line responsibilities. Selectman Moran made a disclosure that he works for a company that would be affected by any proposed regulation and counsel has advised that it would not be a conflict to deliberate on this matter. After another in depth conservation among the Board members and staff the following motion was made. Motion: To approve option 2 as written for 9 residential properties. (Dentino/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Motion: To adjourn MMED meeting and resume BOS meeting after 5 minute recess. (Moran) 5:0 passes Q&C None Weekly Business Warrant No. 11017T in the amount of $310,997.89 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Boord of Selectmen Minutes of October 27. 2010 6 Warrant No. l1017E in the amount of $167,056.76 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Warrant No. l1017PT in the amount of $246,183.96 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 4:1 passes (Dentino nay) Warrant No. 11017TV in the amount of $77,204.50 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Warrant No. 11017SV in the amount of $397,072.66 Motion: To approve. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes . Board of Selectmen meeting minutes of October 20, 2010 Motion: To approve minutes. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes · Water Installer license application from DDI. Water Operations Manager recommends approval. Motion: To approve application. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes . Water Installer license application from Page Corp. Water Operations Manager recommends approval. Motion: To approve application. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes · Application for parade permit from Peter Conti, Band Director. Parade for November 6th at 3pm down N. Main St. Public safety has approved. Motion: To approve application. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Correspondence · Letter from Patrick Lyons requesting more signage at the intersection of County St. (Mansfield) and Spring St. (Foxboro). Public safety has been advised. · Follow up letter from the Baldwin's regarding CIP procedures. · Letter of request from resident Michelina Fournier. Her father received the Boston Cane in 2005 and his name has still not been added to the cane display (via engraved plaque). Mr. Ross is looking into it with Town Clerk Helen Christian. · Letter from High School Senior Jessie Allen. She has several questions for the Board of Selectmen. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27. 2010 7 Town Managers Report . Mill St. dam/bridge work has begun. . MEDCO 2010 EDIP report, while the company has not experienced any growth, they have retained all their employees. . Down town parking issues with merchant parking vs. customer parking . Fales Oil property update. Estimates are being gathered to demo building. BaS Updates . Selectman Kozlowski: None . Selectman Aptowitz: Flag pole issues on the south common. He has spoken with Denise Anderson and would like to have the pole dedicated to Corey Shea when it is replaced/repaired. He has spoken with local businesses and plans to spear head the project if the bos agrees. Motion: Pole dedicated to Corey Shea. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Motion: To set up a gift account to collect donation for this project. (Aptowitz/Kozlowski) 5:0 passes Mr. Ross stated that replacement with Aluminum post would cost $28,000 (ten for pole cost alone), Plus an addition $6,000 in labor costs. Selectman Dentino would like to see it constructed so that it can be lowered and worked on as necessary. . Selectman Annino: Nothing not, distributed list of future topics . Selectman Dentino: FUTURE AGENDA: would like to discuss payroll issues and Mansfield Green non resident use - . Chairman Moran: None Adjournment Motion: Adjourn at 1O:25pm (Aptowitz) 5:0 passes :i3()u.t/~l;: ~ '?toren.-kv I~ 2tJltJ Boord of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 8 Signature of Clerk Date of Approval Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 27, 2010 9