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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOS MINUTES 3-7-1984BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING MARCH 7, 1984 l� •�l PRESENT: Chairman Dunn; Selectman Wills, D'Onofrio, Levine; Town Manager; Selectman McNair arrived at 7:12 P.M. 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:07 P.M. MOTION: To go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing litiga- tion with the Conservation Commission. Levine /Wills VOTED: 4 -0 Executive Minutes typed separately. 2. The meeting came out of Executive Session at 7:47 P.M., and the Flag was saluted. MOTION: To go into Executive Session to discuss litigation of the Carleton Whitney Aero- Service, Inc. case and the Clemmey, Inc. vs. Town of Mansfield case. Wills /no 2nd Discussion followed in which Selectman Levine said she felt the Board could do nothing about the Clemmey, Inc. case and she wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Letters from three attorneys, labeled as pertaining to liti- gation in connection with the Clemmey case, and whether to read them in an open meeting, caused considerable discussion, with opposition from Selectman Levine and McNair; Selectman D'Onofrio expressed concern, stating that he has no idea what is going on. The Clerk then read a letter from Attorney MacPhee of Morrison, Mahoney & Miller, who represents the Police in the case as well as the insurance company for the Tom. The letter requested that the case not be discussed in an open meeting as, in their opinion, it would be highly inappropriate and extremely prejudicial to the defense of the clients. A second letter, from Attorney Alphonse Query, representing a second insurance company for the Town, was read which was in agreement with the opinion of Attorney MacPhee. The third letter, from Attorney Paul Lorincz of McIntyre, Henry, Bennett & Coogan, requested Police Chief Earls to reinstate Clemmey, Inc. for police -tow jobs for the Town in as much as his clients had been found not guilty as charged, and also requesting that the number of days since termination of their service be added to the length of the contract time. Town Counsel was consulted regarding the restoration of Clemmey, Inc.'s towing rights. He felt that such a decision (i.e., the restoration of tow- ing rights) was a decision to be made by the Police Chief and not the Board of Selectmen. With respect to the pending litigation against the Town of Mansfield, Town Counsel felt that the Board should be kept informed as to the status of the case as long as it does not violate any provisions of the insurance policy. Tom Counsel was then asked by Selectman Wills if that was a legal opinion or a policy opinion; his answer was, a.policy opinion. The Carleton Whitney matter is covered under Correspondence. BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 2 3. Minutes of February 29, 1984 * MOTION: To approve the Minutes of February 29, 1984. Wills /Levine Selectman Wills wished a change in the first Motion under Item 11, to read as follows: "That the Board of Selectmen resolve to enter an article in the Warrant for the 1985 Annual Town Meeting for a Charter change of the various dates for submission of the budget, the closing of the warrant, and the start of the Town Meeting." * MOTION: To approve the Minutes as amended. Wills /Levine VOTED: 5 -0 4. Warrant #42 * MOTION: To approve Warrant #42 in the amount of $475,406.93, dated March 6, 1984, broken down as follows: General Fund - $372,800.79 Revenue Sharing - 5,988.03 School Lunch Salaries - 2,941.30 Special Revenue - 15,501.69 Recreation Revolving - 407.40 Motor Pool - 632.38 Sewer Enterprise - 7,119.17 Water Enterprise - 15,573.60 Electric Enterprise - 54,442.57 Wills /D'Onofrio VOTED: 3 -0 McNair and Levine abstained. 5. Voucher #4093 * MOTION: To approve payment of Voucher #4093 in the amount of $637, dated February 21, 1984; this voucher was pulled for clarification which was provided by the DPW Director; i.e., purchase of an ejector pump to be installed at 98 West Street Levine /Wills VOTED: 4 -1 McNair opposed 6. Licenses a) One -day Beer & Wine License for Tri- County Beagle Club, April 7, 1984, Noon to 11:00 P.M. There was a short discussion as to how many licenses this club applies for in a year, with thought that perhaps they should hold a yearly license; no one present could offer any information about the function of the club. * MOTION: To approve the One -day Beer & Wine License for Tri- County Beagle Club. McNair /Wills VOTED: 5 -0 BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING ( MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 3 b) Sunday Renewal Licenses for The Sheraton Mansfield Inn & Conference Center for Live Entertainment and Dancing By Patrons. * MOTION: To approve both Sunday License Renewals. Wills /McNair VOTED: 5 -0 7. Correspondence (cont'd) a) Letter from State Auditor's Office re: Passage of Chapter 503 of the Acts of 1983 extending voting hours for elections. b) Letter from Mansfield Jaycees re: Uses for Spaulding School. c) Letter from MMA re: Funding for Chapter 90 and caps on lottery distribu- tion. Some discussion followed on capping the lottery. * MOTION: Send a letter to the.Governor demanding that he remove that proposal from his budget. D'Onofrio /Wills VOTED: 5 -0 d) Copy of letter from the Finance Committee to the Town Accountant re: Summary of revenues over past five fiscal years. MOTION: That the Board support that request e) Notice of Decision from ABCC on The Store. f) Notices of Public Hearings before the Dept. 1) GTE Sprint 2) Message Telecommunications 3) Centrex 4) Automatic Identification of Outward 5) New England Telephone Dual Element 6) Wyman- Gordan Co. Wills /McNair VOTED: 5 -0 of Public Utilities as follows: Dialing Discussion followed concerning New England Telephone and the Town Manager gave the Board a newspaper article covering problems the Town of Easton is having with the telephone company, with a hearing before the DPU pre- sently planned. Selectman Wills feels that with the electronic switching promised and new cable being laid, the Town's most important problem with New England Telephone at this time is the downtown underground lines. g) Solid Waste questionnaire from Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. h) Letter from the Dept. of Revenue thanking Selectman's Secretary for sub- mitting a State Revenue Program report. i) Letter from Allied Auto Parts Co. re: American Paper Co. BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 4 j) Copy of letter from Finance Committee to Supt. of School advising the Supt. that the Committee voted to recommend approval of $5400 for the Attleboro Mental Health Clinic. k) Copy of letter from Town Counsel to the Airport Commission re: Dismissal of claim against Carleton Whitney Aero- Service, Inc. This was discussed at the time Town Counsel was present, who explained the situation in which a claim was made first by Carleton Whitney, then by the Town; it was a minimum amount and on February 9, Town Counsel appeared at Bristol Superior Court, a settlement was negotiated and a Stipulation of Dis- missal was filed by both parties. 1) Board of Appeals decision of variance on petition by Malcolm Post. m) Letter from Steven Copparini, of Fruit Street, re: Turning on street light. n) Letter from MMA re: Discussion Paper on Education Issues which will be covered at the MMA Conference on Saturday, March 10th. The letter carried a special note that the Cherry Sheets will be distri- buted at this conference. * MOTION: To send congratulations to Rep. Vernon and Sen. Locke for the early action and express to them our hope that the Governor will also take speedy action. Wills /McNair VOTED: 4 -1 Levine opposed o) Notice of Rate Deregulation Hearing from Community Antenna Television Commission. P) Memo from Police Chief re: Radar Citations and Liquor Disturbances. 8. Old Business - Town Manager a) A report from the Town Clerk regarding the use of voting machines by the Town was reviewed. Two companies submitted proposals with estimates of between $20,000 and $22,600, plus annual expense of maintaining the equip- ment. The Town Clerk estimated the payback on purchase of such machines would be at least 7 years. The Board felt they would like to have more information, particularly on possibility of renting. b) The Town Manager advised that this Myers of the Mass. Dept. of Public prove the use of 100 spaces at the nated for Mansfield residents only from the State prior to initiating pared a draft letter for the Board afternoon he had been told by Dr. Works that that department would ap- new commuter parking lot to be desig- This approval has to be obtained the program. The Town Manager had Pre- to vote to send to the Commissioner of BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 5 of the Dept. of Public Works, if they decided to accept the 100 spaces. This resulted in considerable discussion in which Selectman D'Onofrio expressed disappointment with the DPW, saying the Town has tried to solve a regional problem in a constructive and productive way, and this is a very nonproductive response. He feels that with only 100 spaces it will add to our problems, such as enforcement; that we make a tremendous com- mitment by plowing the snots, etc. Selectman Wills felt perhaps they should accept what is offered for now, but continue to work towards re- stricting the entire lot at a later date. Selectman D'Onofrio then ad- vised that he will be meeting with Francis Gay, of GATRA, next week, at which time they will be discussing other possible alternatives to the parking problem. MOTION: That we send this letter to Department of Public Works Delete the last sentence on starting with "Accordingly 11100 spaces ", and to state the future. Wills /Levine VOTED: 5 -0 the Commissioner of Massachusetts with the following changes: the first page, and in the sentence " to insert "185" instead of the our intention for further spaces in At this point Selectman D'Onofrio asked if he could bring up another point which related to the present discussion; i.e., that two days ago he had been advised that the new train schedule is now available and there is going to be a late train for every place except Mansfield, Sharon and Attleboro. MOTION: That we should take a position to support the reinstatement of that late train. D'Onofrio /Wills VOTED: 5 -0 MOTION: That Selectman D'Onofrio compose the letter to send to the proper official, as well as to Representative Vernon. Wills /Levine VOTED: 5 -0 c) The Town Manager then brought the Board up to date on developments with the Easton Board of Selectmen concerning the Stearns Avenue water con- nection. He presented the Board with copies of a report from the Health Agent indicating there is potentiality of a health problem at the Uphams residence, 498 Stearns Avenue. He also offered a draft agree- ment to be signed by both the Mansfield Board of Selectmen and the Easton Board of Selectmen, and advised that he has a tentative meeting with the Easton Board for next Monday, if the Board accepts the draft agree- ment tonight. MOTION: To approve the Agreement as drafted. D'Onofrio /Wills VOTED: 5 -0 BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 6 d) Town Manager then reviewed a Memo he had recieved from Fire Chief, Ed Sliney requesting a $400 transfer from the Reserve Fund to the Fire and Police Physicals Account, to be used for pre - employment physicals for 10 Call Firefighters; the department will be short 10 men by the end of March and he feels it imperative to fill these vacancies and have them trained as soon as possible. MOTION: To approve the transfer of $400 from the Reserve Fund for pre- employment physicals for the Fire Department. D'Onofrio /Wills VOTED: 5 -0 Selectman McNair left the meeting at this point. 9. Warrants for Annual Election and Annual Town Meeting The Clerk read the Opening Statement of the Annual Election and Annual Town Meeting Warrant, stating that it includes 45 Articles. MOTION: That the Warrant be so posted. Wills /D'Onofrio VOTED: 3 -0 Selectman Levine was out of the room at this time. 10. Bruce Willox Bruce Willox was present to ask the Board what the status was concerning American Paper Recycling Corp., saying the residents had received word, via the grapevine, that they should not be present at the February 15th meeting; he was advised that this was wrong. Chairman Dunn advised him that the Board was awaiting a formal report from the Building Inspector after his investigation of circumstances as related to the Town's By -laws; that there was no sense taking legal action until the Board felt there was grounds for such action. After receipt of the Building Inspector's report, Town Counsel can proceed. The Town Manager said a complaint concerning zoning must be very well documented, and there is a certain time sequence required. Mr. Willox was given the APR answering service number, which he had not known about, and he said there had been little marked improvement in the situation, regardless of what Mr. Mauermann claims. He thanked the Board for their time and assurance. 11. Old Business - Selectmen a) Selectman Wills brought up the matter of reviewing the Personnel Policy and Report on Administrative Positions, which he feels there is an urgency to complete. It was decided to discuss this March 21, 1984. b) Selectman Levine reported that she had received a call from Mo Prasad asking her to let the Board know that next week (March 14th) there will be 3 or 4 people in the room during the meeting to set up a "dry run" on the Government channel. BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES OF MEETING ( MARCH 7, 1984 PAGE 7 c) Chairman Dunn showed the Board a draft Proclamation put together for Eagle Scout Albert Walgreen; this was accepted. d) Chairman Dunn also reminded the Board that the plaque still had not be given to Paul Boyden; it was decided to do this March 21st. e) Chairman Dunn reported that he had talked with Jackie Jung, of New Eng- land Telephone, who had assured him that they were ready to cooperate with Mansfield in securing the underground lines; a 2% surcharge was mentioned, per phone, which would stay in effect until the project was paid off. She is preparing information as to length of time this might cover, and the cost, etc. The Town Manager advised handling the pro- ject in this manner would require a referendum vote. * MOTION: To ask Representative Vernon to come in for the purpose of discussing filing legislature to allow us to make a deal with the telephone company for the underground service within the North Main Street redevelopment area, and in the absence of a referendum in March 1984. Wills /D'Onofrio VOTED: 4 -0 12. New Business a) Selectman Levine wanted to call attention to two brochures she had re- ceived from Boston College covering "The Year of The Political Woman "; they are offering two- semester courses for those interested in making a career in government. These courses offer part -time credit. There will be an Open House on March 20, 7:30 P.M. at the Barat House. 13. Adjournment * MOTION: To adjourn at 10:00 P.M. Dunn /Levine VOTED: 4 -0 * MOTION: To reconvene for the purpose of discussing Fire Department collec- tive bargaining negotiations and litigation. D'Onofrio /Wills VOTED: 4 -0 Executive Minutes typed separately. * MOTION: To go out of Executive Session and to adjourn at 10:45 P.M. Levine /Wills VOTED: 4 -0 MINUTES APPROVED: "erk �J 3 /41 Date signed