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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin brd of selectmen 09/28/2005 I~' r "~I "0 '" ',j..:!' V' ': L) r" r. Present: Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 Chairman Roger Achille, Vice Chairman Bernard Dolan,'d~4~ ~Vi~LEt? T S McCarter, Selectman Louis Amoruso and Selectman Michael McCue Town Manager John D' Agostino l~r' I('E .....,1 . r- 05 O,...T I 3 ,)l..", ,'~ If'!. 0'" fl.,)' j J The Board of Selectmen's meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Achille asked Tim to tell the Board a little about himself. Mr. Mills said that he moved to Mansfield about 20 months ago. He is a strategy consultant and was in the Air Force before that. He is currently a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force Reserve and also teaches on the college level. He wants to volunteer in the town and do community service and thought this opening was a good opportunity. r- Selectman McCarter said that Mr. Mills will learn a lot about the town from the other Committee members. Selectman McCue commended Mr. Mills for stepping forward to volunteer and thanked him for his service to the U.S. Selectman Amoruso asked Mr. Mills if he has any children in the school system and he replied that he has a daughter at Mansfield High School and two others at St. Mary's. Selectman Amoruso noted that this will give Mr. Mills a chance to get to know other students. Motion: To appoint Timothy Mills to the WWII Scholarship Fund Committee [for a term to expire on January 1, 2007) (McCue - Dolan) All in favor. PASSES Chairman Achille asked Mr. Dowd to talk about himself. He is currently the director of transportation for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. He has lived in Mansfield for twenty years and is looking forward to participate. Selectman McCarter thanked Mr. Dowd for coming forward to volunteer. Selectman Dolan thinks it is great that he came forward and noted that this is an indefinite term. Selectman Amoruso noted that the Local Housing Partnership will be dealing with issues related to the rising housing costs. Selectman McCue believes that this committee is very important and the town needs to be proactive to meet the 10% affordable housing threshold. Motion: To appoint William Dowd to the Local Housing Partnership ,r- (Dolan - Amoruso) All in favor. PASSES Board of Selectmen M~utes of September 28, 2005 1 : T ,,-- Ms. Nancy Leonardo, Manager of Government/ Community Relations, Comcast Cable Communications was present for the discussion. She began by saying that Comcast has analog, digital and HDTV channels. The Bristol County area is in considered to be in the Providence DMA (designated marketing area). She noted that Barnstable is actually in the Boston market. As far as the HDTV, we are faced with a number of different considerations. Given the fact that we are still required to carry analog, we have to juggle what we can carry in HDTV. Ms. Leonardo brought up the concern of a resident who wanted to keep Channel 7 in Boston, but instead they were given Channel 10 in Providence. She said that the FCC is looking for television stations and television manufacturers to switch to all digital. During this transition in time, we know that some customers will be pleased and others will not. Selectman Amoruso asked what we can do to change this, because we live in Massachusetts, not in Rhode Island and the news that is aired on the Providence stations is not relevant to us. He said that a lot of people went out to purchase HDTV televisions with the understanding that they would be able to view certain markets. Ms. Leonardo said that the FCC designated Nielsen to designate the markets. --- Selectman McCarter asked why you can't switch back the Boston stations on HDTV. Ms. Leonardo replied that it isn't that simple but we are trying to position ourselves for the future. Selectman McCue said that it appears to him that Comcast is trying to position itself for dealing with federal regulations. He added that just because he does understand what she is saying doesn't mean that he agrees with it. Ms. Leonardo said that we don't want to set up our customers for unrealistic expectations. Selectman Amoruso said that he hasn't heard from any residents that do want the Providence stations. Selectman McCue asked if Boston will ask for rebroadcast rights. Ms. Leonardo said that we do not anticipate dropping more Boston stations on HDTV as time goes on. As we drop analog, we hope to expand our stations, but our bandwidth is limited because we still carry analog. Selectman Dolan asked if he has a high definition television, what does he get with the Boston stations and Ms. Leonardo replied that you get the national shows. As time progresses and technology changes, we hope to provide more stations. Selectman Amoruso feels that a lot of people are spending a lot of money to purchase a high definition television and the HDTV service, and he feels that we are getting gypped by now not providing the Boston stations. Ms. Leonardo said that there isn't a federal mandate that requires cable companies to carry certain markets. She said that she will forward the Board's concerns to Comcast's Marketing Department. r- Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 2 ,,-- Selectman McCue asked when we can expect to lose another Boston station. She said that as more Providence stations come onto HDTV, it may happen. Selectman Amoruso said that he wants to go as high as we can to complain about this. Chairman Achille thanked Ms. Leonardo for coming in and listening to the Board's grievances. Motion: To send an official request from the BOS as the regulatory authority to ask to re-instate Channel 7 and to not to change any further Boston stations on HDTV (McCue - Amoruso) All in favor. PASSES The Town Manager asked who to send the letter to and Selectman Amoruso said that we should send the letter to Ms. Leonardo and she can refer it to the appropriate authority. Lee Azinheira, Director, Department of Public Works was present for the discussion He wants to emphasize that we are not adding new employees but rather changing the job descriptions for certain people. Selectman McCarter asked if it changes the step level and Lee said that it could. r- Treatment Plant Computer Systems Technician This position is for the Wastewater Treatment Plant and would allow us to pay an employee out of class when they perform the functions listed in the job description. Mr. Azinheira said that we currently have a mechanic with an interest in computer handling these functions and that this job description would allow us to pay him out of class. He is currently being paid at the mechanic level and if this was approved, he would be paid at the foreman level. The Town Manager added that otherwise we would be calling in a computer technician. Selectman McCarter asked if we could just add this role to his current job description and Mr. Azinheira replied that he is a mechanic and his job description is limited. When he does the specialized work, he would be paid out of class. Mr. Azinheira estimated the cost each year as approximately $1,500-$2,000. Selectman McCue asked about the potential cost savings and Mr. Azinheira said that calling in a technician could be $400-600. He added that this person would be on-staff in the event of an emergency. Selectman Amoruso asked about the high school diploma or equivalent notation and how we could be looking for someone with a higher level of technical background. Selectman Amoruso suggested adding in the wording "Minimum of a ..." before high r- school diploma. Mr. Azinheira said that suggestion makes sense. Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 3 . . r- Selectman McCarter asked why we cannot pay the person with a stipend at their discretion. Selectman Amoruso said that if we are looking for approval by a union, this change would be more appropriate. Motion: To approve the amended Treatment Plant Computer Systems Technician job description (McCue - Amoruso) All in favor PASSES Motion: To amend the motion to add that the funding mechanism be out-of-class for the systems technician job description (McCarter - Dolan) Three in favor (with Selectman McCue and Chairman Achille voting in the negative) PASSES r- Public Building Foreman This position is for the Public Buildings/Special Projects Division and is an upgrade to more adequately reflect the skill level of the current position. Based on skill level and tasks, the person is working at a higher skill level. Mr. Azinheira would keep the old job description so that if this person retires, he would rather hire at the tradesman level for now. As far as the dollar change goes, Mr. Azinheira tried to go with existing pay rates. He noted that the person is highly skilled. Selectman Amoruso believes that the person does a great job but he believes that we should be doing this at budget time. Mr. Azinheira said that when the budget was prepared, we were contemplating this and there is some money in the budget for this. Chairman Achille said that would we have to post this job and Mr. Azinheira said that we would have to post internally first, per the union contract. The Town Manager said that there wasn't a discussion on this specifically, but there was a general discussion on the line item as a whole. Selectman McCue doesn't believe that this Board should be creating job descriptions for certain individuals - we are essentially giving this man a raise. He is uneasy about having this conversation here. The Town Manager said that we are looking to consolidate services between the school and the town - we are creating additional capacity by merging departments - building maintenance and public buildings. Mr. Azinheira said that overall, we have a small department and we need to look if the jobs evolve and in the future, we may have others. We have to try to tweak what we have. Selectman Amoruso said that his concern is - do we give him a raise in essence outside of the budget talks. Selectman McCarter asked how the money is in this year's budget and Mr. Azinheira said that the higher rate was added in for part of the year. Selectman McCarter said that if the money is in there, the person should not be a factor. Mr. Azinheira said that if this was approved, it could still take up to a month with respect to reviewing it with the union, posting it, etc. Selectman Dolan noted his concern about having the money in the r Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 4 f T r- budget without the Board knowing what the additional money was for, prior to this job description being approved. Motion: To approve the Public Buildings Foreman job description with the change in the first paragraph to read "The Public Buildings Foreman" (McCarter - Dolan) Four in favor (Selectman Amoruso opposed) PASSES Street Sign & Pavement Marking Technician Mr. Azinheira pointed out that this is similar to the first position that we discussed. This position is for the Highway Division and would allow us to pay an employee out of class when they perform the functions listed in the job description. One person would be responsible for maintaining all of the signs in town. At this point, we have a skilled laborer doing this who has studied and gotten qualified. Selectman Dolan asked what the money difference is and Mr. Azinheira said that the difference is $2.80. Motion: To approve the Street Sign and Pavement Parking Technician job description, which is to be paid out-of-class for this fiscal year and for that requirement to be removed after this fiscal year. (Amoruso - Dolan) All in favor. PASSES r- Chairman Achille said that if we were to order 6,000 stickers, the cost would be approximately $0.55 per sticker. Selectman McCue said that it would cost approximately $6,000 to send the stickers out to residents. Selectman Dolan expressed concern about spending that amount of money and 40% of the people are going to throw out the sticker. Selectman McCarter asked if we have the money in the budget for this mailing. Mr. Azinheira said he is hoping that because we are doing the reducing of barrels, we will have the money. Selectman McCue asked about sending out the stickers along with the notification for the reduced barrel. Selectman McCarter said that nowhere in the notice does it say what to do with the recycling sticker. Mr. Azinheira said that we have given out approximately 16 stickers so far. He suggested that they be available at the DPW office, the Green, and the library, etc. Selectman McCarter thinks we should mail them with specific instructions. Motion: To mail the recycling sticker with trash barrel reduction notice with usage instructions for the sticker (McCarter - Amoruso) All in favor. PASSES Selectman Amoruso asked that the first sentence on page two of the notice to residents state" at least 10%". r' Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 5 f T r- Lee asked the Board to change the start date on the barrel limit to October 31st, a Monday. Motion: To reconsider vote for the initiation of the 3-barrel disposal limit (Amoruso - Dolan) Four in favor (Selectman McCue abstaining) PASSES Motion: Limit the trash to 3 33-gallon barrels with a mass mailing, effective October 31st - leave bulk items as is (Amoruso - McCue) Four in favor (Selectman McCarter voting in the negative) PASSES . Warrant No. 13 in the amount of $3,073,945.39 Motion: To approve (Amoruso-McCue) Four in favor (McCarter abstaining from payroll) PASSES . Warrant No. 14 in the amount of $ 2,270,700.53 Motion: To approve (Amoruso - McCue) Four in favor (McCarter abstaining from payroll check #225929) PASSES r- . Regular Session Minutes of September 14, 2005 Selectmen's Meeting Motion: To approve (Dolan - McCarter) Four in favor (McCue abstaining) PASSES . Quitclaim Deeds between the MBTA and the Town of Mansfield. Motion: To sign (Amoruso - McCue) All in favor PASSES . License Agreement between GA TRA and the Town of Mansfield. Motion: To approve (Amoruso - McCue) All in favor PASSES . Grant alert received September 12th from DHCD for the FY06 Community Development Block Grant Program. . Letter from a resident received September 13th regarding the condition of sidewalks, islands and roadsides in town. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 6 r- . Three emails from residents regarding commuter rail parking and/ or parking tickets. . Letter from State Senator James Timilty received September 16th requesting snow and ice removal deficit figures for the Town of Mansfield. . Letter from State Senator James Timilty received September 16th regarding Chapter 90 funding. . Email from a resident received September 19th regarding trash costs. . Letter from Finance Committee Chairman Andy Gazzolo received September 21st stating the resignation of Michael Sams, effective immediately. Selectman Amoruso said that we should ask for a letter of resignation from Mr. Sams. . DOR's City and Town publication for the month of September. . Letter from DOR Commissioner received September 19th informing the town that the Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Product Cleanup Fund Administrative Review Board has approved the town's grant request in the amount of $60,610.95. The Town Manager said that Mike Ahern and DPW staff worked on this and this r- money helped mitigate the cost of the cleanup at the highway garage. . Letter from the Deutsche Bank Championship stating that the $37,500 in charity funds given to the Town in 2004 can be used for any municipal purpose. Correspondence from staff: . Email from the Town Clerk received September 20th regarding possible dates for a fall Special Town Meeting. The Town Manager said that we had discussed the possibility of holding a STM on November 8th. The town moderator will be out of town and we would have to hold a STM on December 6th. If we need funds, we will do a reserve fund transfer or by the use of free cash, but the tax bills will go out in a timely fashion. The Town Manager said we can get a meeting done in a fairly quick manner. The Town Manager said we could appoint a moderator if we want the STM in November. We have no money to spend, so we could wait until December without any adverse financial impact. Chairman Achille suggested dealing with selecting a date at this meeting. Selectman Amoruso thinks that going into December is a bad idea. The Town Manager said that we have not completed the TOD process and we will have a report prepared for STM. Selectman Amoruso said that we could possibly have a petition that would accelerate i"'" Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 7 . , r- the TOD process. Selectman McCarter said there are pluses and minuses to each date. Chairman Achille suggested thinking about it and deciding next week. . Memo from Water Operations Manager Kurt Gaffney received September 15th regarding a water connection request for Gilbert Park. Selectman Amoruso asked if there is an affordable unit in this subdivision. Motion: To approve water connection for Gilbert Park (Dolan - McCarter) for discussion Selectman McCue asked if we should wait on voting to see if there is an affordable unit first. The Town Manager said that we could include this as our checklist for the future. Vote: All in favor. PASSES . Memo from Water Operations Manager Kurt Gaffney received September 19th regarding a water connection request for 268 N. Main Street. Motion: To approve water connection for 268 N. Main Street (Amoruso - Dolan) All in favor PASSES r- The Board is well aware that we have reauthorized some bonds, which will free up some cash. If we have additional money that will revert to free cash and we will take 70% of our available funds and recommit them to stabilization until we reach a funding dollar minimum of $5 million in stabilization. Moody's is well aware that the continuation of one-time revenue sources cannot continue. Board members asked if we had something to that effect in writing by Moody's. There was a meeting with the Finance Committee last week and there is a desire to re- establish the 5-year forecast committee. He is asking the Board to name a member to this committee. Last time it was Selectman Amoruso and he may want to continue in that capacity - the composition is a member of the School Committee, the Finance Committee, Board of Selectmen, Town Accountant Bea Kearney, Treasurer-Collector Richard Boucher, Superintendent John Moretti and Asst. Superintendent Linc Lynch Motion: To re-appoint Selectman Amoruso to the committee (Dolan - McCue) All in favor PASSES The seniors had a TRIAD dinner at the COA on Monday. There were 100 people at the dinner and they raised money for TRIAD. The Board received recognition for funding of the Alzheimer's bracelets and the monies that we were able to get for digital screening of movies on the Common. r Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 8 r- Selectman McCue: Inquired as to the status on the homestead land on Plain Street and asked if we Could transfer the land to the Recreation Department or would we want to sell it for commercial venture as it is not on the tax rolls now. The Town Manager said that our charter does not allow transfer of land to another department. This property has been of interest to the Town Manager - it provides direct access to a body of water that could be used recreationally. We may want to set up a park area and perhaps dredge the water. We could, with some investment of money, have some recreational use for the community at some point. . Inquired as to the status of the Fales Oil property on North Main Street. It is off the tax rolls. We have insured the property. The Board has been given the authorization to sell it and we could use the money to build up stabilization and it would have to go through a procurement process first. . Do we have a land-use committee? We could do that and wondered if it would create too much bureaucracy. r- . He was contacted by a West Street resident who was appreciative of the Police setting up a speed trailer. The resident was hoping to set up a gift account fund to collect funds for the purchase of a trailer. The Town Manager said that we could vote to establish a specific gift account and the money would need to be earmarked for this purpose. Selectman Amoruso suggested allocating $9,000 for the cemeteries and allocating $10,000 for fuel oil assistance and $18,500 for the community center study. Selectman McCarter questioned the use of gift account money for fuel oil assistance. Chairman Achille would like some clarification - it is a great idea but this would be a private expense. The Town Manager said that we would check on this. Selectman Amoruso: . He would like to do another office hours session. Selectman McCarter: . He asked the Town Manager to look at scaling back the use of gasoline for town vehicles. There would need to be a study of limiting the use of cars from department heads. He hasn't come up with a definitive policy. Selectman Amoruso said that there was a letter from the state in our reading folder that said that there were regional centers where municipalities could get cheaper fuel. . Would like to send letter to legislative delegation asking them to assist cities and towns by using the state surplus for additional fuel costs. Motion: To send a letter stating such r (McCarter - Dolan) All in favor PASSES Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 9 r . We lost parking spaces during the Train Station renovation project, but now the spaces on Mansfield Avenue should be reverted back to Mansfield residents only. The Town Manager suggested adding back the spaces on Old Colony Way for Mansfield residents only who don't have to go into Boston first thing. Motion: To revert the parking residents on Mansfield Avenue back to Mansfield residents only within the next 30 days (McCarter - Amoruso) for discussion Selectman McCue suggested that after the 30 days, the out-of-towners be given a warning violation first. Vote: All in favor PASSES . He asked Treasurer-Collector Richard Boucher about the listing of all Proposition 2 1/2 override debt exclusions. Richard will handle this request. . He attended the MMA Joint Conference this weekend in Worcester with Selectman McCue and Selectman Amoruso. . He spoke with the Town Manager about a parking authority and asked if the Town Manager can put something together regarding its duties/responsibilities. Chairman Achille: r- · Announced that the Board will be holding office hours on Wednesday, October 26th from 7:00-7:30pm in 3AB. Motion: To adjourn at 10:35pm (Amoruso) All in favor. PASSES ~4 ff7~~ :P!~ Signature of Clerk /?c;t;,k, a: 2t1t15 Date of Approval r- Board of Selectmen Minutes of September 28, 2005 10 . 1