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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOS MINUTES 6-20-1979BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS AGENDA June 20, 1979 7:30 p.m. - Call to Order Warrant a Minutes of June 13, 1979 7:45 p.m. - Planning Board Appointment 8:00 p.m. - Department Head Meeting Emergency Operations Plan Job Classification Town Manager's Report Board Report Pending Items Traffic Lights at Franklin & 106 Traffic Lights at Rt. 140 & Forbes Job Classifications Back Bay Brook Phase 3 Water Rates Foxboro Mall (Traffic Pattern) Sanitary Landfill Oak St. Culvert ` Railroad Station Parking Tomorrow night meeting at Norwood Town Hall on MBTA - 7:30 p.m. Perambulating of the bounds with No. Attleboro, Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ( Mansfield Selectmen to bring the refreshments) Decision on the meeting of July 4th, which falls on a Wednesday a a BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Present: Selectman Robert M. DeLong, Frank Colella, Lyman C. Avery, Norman Mahana and Antonino Caponigro, Jr. Town Manager William P. Metropulos. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. A Street Improvement warrant in the amount of $1331.04 was read. This was ap- proved on a motion by Selectman Mahana, seconded by Selectman Caponigro. Voted * 5 -0. s A weekly warrant in the amount of $818,698.14 was read. This was approved on a * motion by Selectman Mahana, seconded by Selectman Caponigro. Voted 5 -0. The minutes of June 13, 1979 were read. Selectman Avery requested that on page 6, the second paragraph, he would like the word "sewer" replaced with -:- Wastewater Treatment Plant. The minutes were approved on a motion by Selectman DeLong, * seconded by Selectman Caponigro. Voted 4 -0 -1 (Selectman Avery abstained because he was not present at this meeting.) The Executive Minutes of June 13, 1979 were read and approved on a motion by * Selectman DeLong, seconded by Selectman Mahana. Voted 4 -0 -1 (Selectman Avery abstained because he was not present for the meeting.) * * ** A transfer request in the amount of $1500.00 for Account #501 -0- Highway Expense_ * gas, diesel and fuel oil was approved on a motion by Selectman Mahana, seconded by Selectman DeLong. Voted 5 -0. A transfer request in the amount of $2415.00 - Account #525 -0 - Street Lighting was noted. Selectman Caponigro made a motion that the light department rebate the Town this amount and the reason being that instead of drawing money out of the reserve fund , the light department could kick in because he feels that the Town does things for the light department such as: plowing, mowing, etc. that they are not charged for . Selectman Avery does not agree with this he feels that this i4luding the people, by not budgeting enough and exceeding the amount budgeted The only way to show under budgeting is to ask for a transfer. Selectman DeLong asked the Town Manager if the highway department does plow out the light department and he noted that they did and Selectman DeLong feels we should bill them. Select- man Avery agrees to this. Chairman Avery asked if there was a seconded to Selectman Caponigro's motion, Selectman Colella seconded.it. Voted 2 -3 (Selectman Avery, DeLong and Mahana opposed - MOTION DEFEATED) The transfer for $2415.00 - Account #525 -0 - Street Lighting was approved on a * motion by Selectman Caponigro, seconded by Selectman DeLong. Voted 5 -0. A transfer request in the amount of $2000. for Account 701 -3 - Lights and Power was noted. This was approved on a motion by Selectman Colella, seconed by Select- * man Mahana. Voted 5 -0. ( A transfer request in the amount of $2200.00 for Account #472 -2 - Electric and Water was approved on a motion by Selectman Mahana, seconded by Selectman Colella. * Voted 5 -0. -1- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 2 A transfer request in the amount of $1803.50 for Account #198 -0 - Negotiation Fees was noted. This was approved on a motion by Selectman Mahan, seconded by * Selectman Colella. Voted 5 -0. A transfer request for the Fire Dept. was noted -350 -0 Salaries & Wages. The estimated amount was not known so the Selectmen approved an amount of $2000. which if not all spent will be turned back to the general fund. This motion * was made by Selectman Mahana, seconded by Selectman Caponigro. Voted 5 -0. Planning Board Appointment Selectman Avery noted that there was a vacancy on the Planning Board due to the resignation of Robert Mangiaratti. A list of candidates was presented to each of the Selectmen. Selectman Mahana moved that Donald B. Kaufman of 505 West Street * be appointed, seconded by Selectman Colella. Voted 5 -0. Correspondence A letter was noted from Malcolm B. Post, President of Bristol Arms Management Co., Inc. requesting street lights on Eric Road and Bonney Lane. Mr. Post noted that he has spoken to Chad Maurer and Jim Hall and are amenable to this request. The Town Manager noted that he knew nothing about this. The request is being postponed until next week so that the Town Manager can discuss this with Mr. Hall. MBC - An article was noted from the MBC for theiconstruction of a new DPW Storage/ Maintenance building . The MBC would like to have this article submitted for the Special Town Meeting to be held, Monday, August 13, 1979 at 7:00 p.m. Selectman DeLong updated Selectman Avery (who was not present at last week's meet- ing when Bob Saquet of the MBC met with the Selectmen) on the status of the project. Bob Saquet noted that he would have preliminary plans to submit to the Selectmen before they are asked to give their recommendation. Selectman DeLong then asked the Town Manager if he was in agreement with the space that the departments have noted they will need? The Town Manager noted that he only had one meeting with the MBC and departments involved and they indicated that the space was sufficient however, he would like more detailed information on the building before the Town Meeting. Selectman Avery said that he may sound old - fashion but one thing that bothers him is that he has yet to have someone present to him what this building is suppose to accomplish, he would like to have the Town Manager spell out for him in specific details what the philosophy is behind this building and what it is for. He (Selectman Avery) is sure that all the departments feel it makes sense to have one but he would like it explained to him. The Board all agreed that they want the Town Manager to be involved as the overall overseer and spell out specifically why we need this building. A motion was then made by Selectman Caponigro that we notify the MBC before the Board takes action on supporting the article for this building telling them ( the MBC) that we would like to see documentation supporting the need for this building and documentation in writing from the departments that will be using this building under the direction of the Town Manager. Any and all recommendations from depart- ments involved are to be filtered through the Town Manager first. Seconded by * Selectman DeLong. Voted 5 -0. -2- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 3 Clerk's Folder A 1 -Day Beer & Wine License was approved for the JayCees to hold their family outing on Sunday, June 24, 1979 at Memorial Park. Approval was made by Selectman * DeLong, seconded by Selectman Caponigro. voted 5 -0. Selectman Colella let the meeting at this time. - 8:00 p.m. Department Head Meetin Town Accountant - John McAlice met with'the Selectmen. John told the Selectmen that each and every voucher is being checked now that it is so close to the end of the year. John brought to the attention of the Selectmen that the School Department over spent their expense account by $6000. and transferred this amount from their salary account . John noted that he spoke to Town Counsel about this and he noted that this can be done, that the School department is the only depart- ment that can do this swaping from salary account to expense. John noted that the auditors will be back again next week and again in July to review all the pre and post closings and the re -cap sheet. John noted that he would like to set up a new system next year in handling transfer request by having the sheets numbered, have all transfer request originate from his office, then to the Town Manager. John feels that this would be the best way of keeping track of the number of transfers made throughout the year.. John noted that he is now in balance with the Treasurer as far as taxes, also with the Assessors, light department - operation;& maintenance and the school department which will be done monthly. Selectman Caponigro noted that one of the reasons for these meetings with department heads is that the Charter calls for it but also it is helpful to let everyone know what is going on in the different departments. Board of Assessors Assessor John Prescott, - met with the Selectmen and noted that the State Department of Revenue is holding a 3 -day conference in Yarmouth, classification and other new acts will be discussed advising the Assessors how to go about it. Assessors, Pete Saunders and Al Turinese will be attending the Con- ference. John noted that the so called classification act has now a lot of if's and it looks like it may not go in for a couple of years. John noted that Real Estate has a total value of $69,369,500. this year with Personal Property valued at $2,828,000. a total estimate value of $72,195,500. a gain of $4,520,700. over last year. as of today's figures. John noted that because of the new law in assessing boats they will not be taxing boats this year. The new law is at $10.00 per $1000. half of this comes to the Town and the other half goes to the Waterways division, so they feel that it is not worth it. Selectman Avery questioned John on classification and the fact that he spoke about the if's surrounding it and asked is the revaluation at 100% is still the same? John noted that "yes, it is,we still need the 100% to classify ". The Assessors have seven firms- to interview and have seen two of them to date. This is one of the things that Pete and Al hope to find out at this 3 -day conference as to how they should go about interviewing these firmsand just what it is they should be looking for. The State is telling them how they want it done. -3- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 4 Thom Bonome - DPW Superintendent - met with the Selectmen and noted that he is gU% through the sealing program , also the island at 106 & Franklin Street is being prepared for the traffic lights and the island in the center of Town has been installed for the one -way traffic pattern. Thom noted that the signs for the new one -way traffic pattern should be delivered by the middle of July with the implementation to be put into effect by August 1. Thom noted that other thanthat everything is in pretty good shape. As far as the landfill he has not been informed as to what will be done on July 1, when the nbw rules and regulations go into effect, Thom noted that he would like to have the rules defined. On the resurfacing program, Thom noted that he is receiving bids to be open the end of the Month for next year's program. Thom noted that he will prepare a list of streets he feels should be done and present it to the Board. This year's work he noted is all done. Selectman DeLong asked Thom if the Town would be able to save time and money as far as the bulldozer when the new regulations are put into effect, it was thought that the landfill could be closed one day a week, but then it was noted that the town's rubbish hauler;is four days in town, Tuesday to Friday, the dump is closed Sunday's and Monday's and it was felt that it could not be closed on Saturday's because this is the busiest day for residents. Fire Department - Chief Thom Leonard - The Chief noted that gasoline is his E ggest pro li back to 80% allocation as of May 15. scussion on ontinued and SElectman Mahana asked the ief if some his departments functions can be performed with private vehieles and the Chief noted that this would result in liability problems. The Chief noted that he attended a 1 -day State Chiefs'convention in which a goodly amount of appratus was on exhibit . The Chief noted that the men have completed four rooms upstairs and the lockers have been delivered. He also noted that he is due to go out for bid shortly on a new truck. A 3/4 ton military truck from Ft. Devens has been delivered, this is a 1952 Dodge, with only 15,000 miles. Bob Buttons informed him that he has an application in fora tanker which if we get will be free. Thom noted that in the process of developing some policy changes in certain areas he may go to a fee basis for such services as pumping cellars , filling pools and getting cats out of trees etc. Selectman Mahana asked Thom if the frequency of calls to Bristol Arms Apartments has decreased and the Chief noted that the owner is under notice to takeaction in 30 days and to repair and restore the system . Because most of the systems are out of service the frequency of calls has decreased. Library- le' Bradner, Librarian - met with the Selectmen and noted that she has a request in for a CETA worker and an aide through the Bristol Councy Home Care. The vaction reading program for the children has been started with a varied program throughout the summer months. A restoration program is gradually being done which involves a great deal of expertwork. Because of the budget only one map is being restored each year. QS BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 5 Peg wanted the Selectmen to know that the Library has a copy of the Building Code Book in file with other books used in their information center, this is one of the effective things that the Public Library does. Ted Robinson - Parks & Commons Superintendent - met with the Selectmen and noted that everything seems to be going all right, he noted that he spoke with the Town Manager today to iron out a few things. He has three boys working with him for the summer and is trying to catch up on the mowing. The vandalism is still a problem at Maple Park the lifeguard chair was knocked over, so they are going to settle that problem by installing a chair that can be store every night. The water at Maple Park tested good and the summer recreation program will be starting July 5, Memorial Park is being used pretty heavily now also - but with the extra help he feels things will run smoothly. Town Planner, Chad Maurer met svitfi the Selectmen and noted that the sewer project is well underway with the design stages. Camp Dresser & McKee is in the process of doing boorings along the interceptor lines. As a follow up with the meeting that we had with Taunton officials , Taunton met with the State and EPA and it is noted that there biggest concern is the landfill and will be asking the EPA to prepare an environmental impact statement,regarding the odor problem this is still Taunton's biggest concern. Chad noted that for the past 2 years we have not been successful in receiving federal grariis from the HUD Small Cities Program. What will have to be done noted Chad is to come with a project making Mansfield more eligible. There is money available for the Town to give grants to individual home owners for people to improve their property, up to $400,000 could be available to us. The Town would have to set up income criteria deciding who would be eligible. The Town makes the application to HUD and after we get the money the Town would have to administer it. Toren Planner noted that he is not in favor of this type of program and feels that federal funds should benefit public improvements and not private improvements. Selectman Mahana feels that it is a good idea especially for the older historical type homes. Chad noted that the reason he brought it up is because we will have to scrap the other proposals submitted in the past and go for something like this. Chad noted that we have until October to submit the ap- plication. The Fairfield project is slated for bid openings July 23, so far 28 developers have taken out proposals and 8 of them have come in and have shown a serious interest in the site. Police Department- Chief D'Afile - The Chief noted regarding the request made to cur the problems at Memorial Park that he has a walking man in the evening and feels that some of the problems are not being caused by teen -agers (drinking and damage) but by adults using the Park for softball and other events. The Chief noted that he has issued an order to book anyone seendrinking beer or other alcoholic beverages at the softball or other events being conducted at the Oark without a license. The Chief noted that a recent housebreak in Town was stopped due to the support of a citizen who reported suspicious activity in the area. The Chief discussed the drug raid at the Mansfield High School and the Operation Sting raid conducted over the previous weekend, resulting in 6 people from Mansfield being arrested. -5- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 6 The Chief discussed the Skylab re -entry plan and it is not yet known just where re -entry will occur. However, a designated "footprint" area 100 miles wide and 4000 miles long is being mapped out._ Regarding Commuter rail parking, the Chief noted that in speaking to other Chief's from the Care Cod area they indicated to him that you cannot discriminate that you must charge a fee for anyone who parks and takes the train, however, the fee can be regulated so that residents pay a lesser fee. Selectman Mahana asked about using the school crossing guards to enforce this and the Chief noted that he is not sure about this and whethergr not this goes against the policy contract and would be considered an outside detail. Discussed also was the problem of being three men short on the force and the Civil Service list being frozen. TheChief was asked if he ever advertised for more police- men and he noted that he had done this in the 60's but no one answered the ad, the problem also being that they would have to train these men, uniform them and when the Civil Service list is freed and their names are not on it they would have to let them go. The Chief noted that the reason for the list being frozen is because they are trying to lower the passing grade, the passing grade is now 70%. Town Clerk- Arthur Remillard - noted that he has no problems, just mailed out 600 postcards yesterday and today on dogs that are not licensed. Town Treasurer - Joan Cutillo - noted that she does have a problem because of collecting money on light bills and trying to get her own work done. As a result they are not able to work on billing for excise taxes . Joan was asked if she could use temporary help and she noted that this would not help because she would have to take time and train someone, she now has a girl out on vacation for two weeks . Joan was told that by the end of June the light bills should be caught up, and by August she will be able to get back to her own work. Another problem that Joan discussed was the forms from the state and federal due to the state wage reporting law in which every employer in Mass. has to send in quarterly reports to the Department of Revenue matching Social Security numbers with Welfare to try'and prevent cheating, Joan noted that she has not yet received the forms but already a problem exist because the forms require last names first and our computer is set up as first names first. Joan noted that there is also an unemployment problem coming up. She noted that CETA is okay but now the federal grants that we receive and the people working under them are able to collect unemployment when the project has been finished in which the Town has to pay. This is because in grant projects it is the Town that issues the checks because they send us the money, but with CETA they issue the checks, so they pay the compensation. Joan noted regarding the Middle School Roof project, she has already put in motion the borrowing process but wll be awfully hard pressed to get the money in time. Committees she noted will have to start much farther ahead to finalize projects like this due to new rules and Enviromental Impact statements needed and a problem with funding. She does not feel that she can wait until August for the Special Town Meeting to fund both the Middle School Roof and DPW Maintenance building. She is looking into 5 year State House notes for the Middle School Roof. U BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 7 Veterans Office - Gladys Cross - Gladys noted that everything is going okay, she also noted that she is included in the computer check that Joan Cutillo was talking about trying to catch people getting assistance in various places. She is running 18 active cases, but is behind the number of cases she had last year. The employment field is looking good. Town Engineer - Anthony Stanzione- Tony noted that he is working at the request of the Towm Manager as the Town agent for the Board of Health. He has been doing septic systems and perk test and is now tapering off, 72 to 80% of his time has been spent working with the health department and now all his time will be devoted to the Back Bay Brook which should be complete in another 2 to 3 weeks. Tony noted that drainage is a big problem in Town due to the rapid changes in soil conditions . He is also waiting for the go ahead on the Oak St. culvert. Tony noted that what he would like to do is set up a master plan for the drainage problem of the whole Town. Selectman Mahana noted that the Fire Chief has a list of areas in the Town that expierience a great amount of water problems. Tony noted that he has been in contact with the state on the traffic improvements on So. Main and Willow Sts. but the problem is that they have a very limited staff but he will push it. He also noted that he will be .spending more time on the landfill problem which he notes has about 1 to 5 years left and we should be looking at other sites . Questioned on the landfill only having 1 to 5 years left Tony noted that it all depends on the elevations and what the state lets us have, if we can go over the 5 year limit. Selectman Mahana asked Tony to keep his eyeout for other areas for another landfill. * * ** Bob Buttons - Civil Defense - Bob met with the Selectmen tonight to discuss the Emergency Operations Plan. Before disucssing this Bob noted that the Civil Air Patrol meeting was disappointing and would like to schedule another one. On The Emergency Operations Plan, Selectman Avery noted that he can find all sorts of proper rediness programs but does not see specifics as to how for instance: if a propane tank blew up do all the departments have specifics as to how they would handle this. Bob noted that the plan covers generalities but if something did happen for instance on Church Street or So. Main St. it would have to be played by ear. This was discussed in length by the Board and it was noted that the School Department did not submit their annex and this department is a very vital department in the Town with probably the greatest amount of population at one given time. Selectman Avery noted that he feels that there should be appendexes as to how the different departments would handle different types of disasters and that all de- partments and the school should get together with the Town Manager so that all will know what to do. The Town Manager suggest setting up a meeting with all departments and the school and work out a specific disaster . Selectman Caponigro moved that the Board adopt the Emergency Operations Plan as * submitted, seconded by Selectman DeLong Voted 4 -0 ( Selectman Colella not present) Selectman DeLong also moved that a letter be sent to the Chairman of the School Committee to direct their administration to formulate a plan to be incorporated * into the Emergency Operations Plan. Seconded by Selectman Caponigro. Voted 4 -0 -7- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting ( June 20, 1979 Page 8 Selectman Avery asked the Town Manager when he thought he would have the Job Classifications for the Board to review. The Town Manager noted that he could not give them a specific date, so Selectman Avery noted that he will give him a deadline of September 1. Town Manager's Report The Town Manager noted that there is nothing new on the traffic signal at Rte. 140 and Forbes it is still in the hands of the State. On the MDC contract, they will only issue a contract until December 1979, unless a public hearing being held (no date) revises this deadline. The signals at Franklin St. and Rt. 106 are to be started on Monday. The last quarter payment has not yet come in for the Back Bay Brook. The fuel oil bids were opened at SPOKE and Mass. Bay Petroleum were awarded the bid at a price of .5930 per gallon. Board Reports Selectman Caponigro reported that the "holdharmless" bill has been left out of the new agreement , the Senate did not appropriate the money and it will not be known before July 1, if there will be any money appropriated. It was fully funded up until it got to the Senate according to what Selectman Mahana had been told by Mr. Skoropowski.of the MBTA. Selectman Caponigro also noted that he received a call from a resident complaining about the increased rates of the taxi and would like to have the Town Manager check into who regulates taxi rates. Selectman Mahana said that he would like to know why a directive from this Board falls to get anything done. (this is in reference to signs.) The Town Manager noted that a certified letter has been sent to the owners of the furniture co. in Foxboro informing him that if he does not remove the sign in 30 days the Town will take court action.. ..Selectman Mahana then requested that the Town Manager direct the highway director and the light plant director to remove all signs on town property and poles. Selectman Mahana noted that in talking with the MBTA they said they would like to update the property around the railroad station and would like a light installed on the outbound side in which they agree to pay the monthly bill. Selectman Mahana also said that he would like permission from the Board to have the Town Counsel do a title search on properties around the railroad station. This was approved on * a motion by Selectman Caponigro, seconded by Selectman DeLong. Voted 4 -0. A discussion on the gasoline shortage was brought up by Selectman Avery and he noted that what bugs him is that when one station is closed, they are all closed. What he would like to know is if they have agreed to be open specific times and have those times published in the paper. The Town Manager will look into this. -8- BOARD OF SELECTMEN /LIGHT COMMISSIONERS Minutes of the Meeting June 20, 1979 Page 9 Selectman Avery noted that he is concerned over the lateness of the notice published in the paper regarding the new rules and regulations of the landfill and why this could not have been done at least a month ago. Selectman Avery noted a letter that he had from a resident complaining about the high electric bill he had received and was refusing to pay for it. The Town Manager noted that the light department did all that they could in checking out his meter and everything checked out okay. The Board asked the Town Manager what this person wants to do and the Town Manager noted he does not want to pay it. Selectman DeLong then made a motion after the Town Manager agreed that everything was done to check out if there was anything wrong with the meter to have the light department's Office Manager carry out the policy of the Board of Light Commissioners' regarding the non - payment of bills. Seconded by Selectman Mahana. Voted 4 -0. There being no further business, the Board adjourned their meeting at 10:55 p.m.