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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSELECTMENminutes10102007-20071210104021 " Town of Mansfield Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 Present: Chairman Louis Amoruso, Vice Chairman Sandra Levine, Clerk Ann Baldwin, Selectman David McCarter, Selectman George Dentino, John D'Agostino, Town Manager The Board of Selectmen's meeting was called to order at 7:30pm, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Stephen Copparini Mark Cook and Lee Azinheira were present. Stephen Copparini, Union Stewart. He gave brief overview of problems and issues at the garage. These problems are health and sanitary issues that the employees have been living with for years and have tried before to get on the warrant for Town Meeting approval. Selectman Dentino stated he was surprised that they came to the Board before CIP. He further stated that they could use the water dept. facilities near by. This has been pulled at CIP before as budget constrains did not allow for the funds necessary to be spent. At the spring town meeting this was on the warrant for a new garage building. That was not approved. They are now coming back with a scaled back "bare bones" addition for the critical needs of the employees to be met. The employees will be providing labor for this project where they can. The project should be able to be done for $80k as most labor will be supplied by staff. They would like to add bathroom and washing facilities in addition to a locker area and multi purpose room. Selectman Dentino asked why the sewer enterprise account could not be used as the garage employees are performing some sewer work. Mr. D'Agostino feels the Town can afford this from the general fund as the certified cash figures have come in (there is about $400,000 in play). Sewer account funds can not be used for general government use and this is a worthwhile cause for use of the general fund monies. Selectman Levine stated that she has seen the garage facilities as well and it is deplorable. The Town is currently not providing the proper facilities and should support this minimal request. Selectman McCarter has heard of this situation before and believes that the Town owes the garage employees sanitary facilities. He also would like to see this article be addressed by the CIP. Even so, he does support this article going forward. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 1 Selectman Baldwin also supports this article and would like to see it brought before the CIP and approved. Edward Tartufo and Lenny Flynn are reapplying to stay on Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee and Kevin O'Donnell would like to apply for vacant seat. 1987 act of legislation formed this committee and comprises 5 towns with three seats from each. Lenny Flynn gave a brief presentation on the Canoe River Greenbelt project. It is a significant project for the towns involved and the committee is actively working on it. Kevin O'Donnell has worked for the Town since 1988 and is currently the Water Treatment Forman. He is interested in protecting the water resources of the Town and would like to serve on the CRAC committee. Selectman McCarter stated that Mr. Tartufo and Mr. Flynn have been long time advocates for the community and he is sure that Mr. O'Donnell will serve the Town just as passionately. The Town is fortunate to have such qualified, dedicated members. Selectman Levine stated that CRAC may not have "power" but they have had a significant impact on the Town's water resources. She is very happy to have all of them on the committee. Selectman Dentino stated that he has heard many fine things about Mr. Tartufo and Mr. Flynn work on the committee. He is happy that Mr. O'Donnell would like to join them on this committee. Motion: To reappoint Edward Tartufo to the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee for a term ending June 30, 2008. (Levine/Baldwin) 5:0 passes Motion: To reappoint Leonard Flynn to the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee for a term ending June 30, 2009. (Baldwin/Levine) 5:0 passes Motion: To appoint Kevin O'Donnell to the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee for a term ending June 30, 2010 Kevin (Baldwin/McCarter) 5:0 passes Robert Barry would like to apply for the seat left by Ken Gay on the Municipal Building Committee. He has experience and knowledge with public design and construction. Mr. Barry also has a Bachelors Degree in Engineering and works for the State in the Division of Capital Asset Management. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 2 Selectman McCarter feels Mr. Barry is highly experienced and would be an excellent addition to the committee. Motion: To appoint Robert Barry to fill MBC term to expire January 1, 2009 (Levine/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · The YMCA Balcolm Street Arts Center will be having their grand re-opening celebration tomorrow night. The Town Manager toured the facility this afternoon and the facility looks wonderful. Please attend the open house at 6pm tomorrow evening for a great time. · A brochure of the Keep Mansfield Clean Project is being made by high school students for the May 08 event. This is a community event that will have fundraisers and hopefully corporation sponsors. There will also be a cook out at the Tweeter Center for the volunteers at the end of the day. · Certification of free cash. General Fund: $1,471,043; Sewer Enterprise Fund: $388,992; Water Enterprise Fund: $410,436; Airport Enterprise Fund: $60,286. · Flushing program in West Mansfield next week. The Town is looking at different ways to notify residents of possible discoloration of water. · Mansfield swim team is training at Wheaton College. They have requested that the GA TRA buses add Wheaton College to the High School run. Mon-Fri from 6pm to 9pm. for the duration of the swim season. Motion: To add bus route for duration of swim season. (Dentino/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · Warrant No. 15 in the amount of $2,294,532.07 Motion: To approve warrant No. 15 in the amount of $2,294,532.07 (Levine/McCarter) (Mr. McCarter abstaining from check # 375880) 4:0 passes (Dentino abstains) · Board of Selectmen Session meeting minutes of October 3, 2007 Selectmen Dentino and Levine have some minor grammatical changes. Amended minutes to be approved next week. · Board of Selectmen executive session meeting minutes of August 6, 2007 Amended minutes to be approved next week. · Board of Selectmen executive session meeting minutes of August 8, 2007 Amended minutes to be approved next week. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 3 · Board of Selectmen executive session meeting minutes of September 19, 2007 Motion: Move to approve minutes but not release. (McCarter/Levine) 5:0 Passes · Parade application from Forest Park families. Event is on October 31st at 4:30pm Motion: To approve Parade application (Levine/Baldwin) 5:0 passes · The next GATRA Advisory Board meeting will be held on October 24th, 2pm at the GA TRA office in Taunton. All interested residents are encouraged to attend. · Email from John Sullivan, Town Engineer, work on the Rt. 106 Canoe River Bridge will resume this week. · Letter from Bruce Montgomery regarding overages at recent Tweeter Center concerts. Brief discussion of music levels and time of overages. Motion: To accept check for 15 min violation and waive the 4 minute overage violation for Toby Keith. (McCarter/Levine) 4:1 passes (Dentino nay) Reminders read at meeting: · Grand Re-Opening of the Mansfield Arts and Education Center. October 11th 6:00 - 7:30pm. @ 40 Balcolm Street. · Annual flushing program from September 30th to November 11th. Any discoloration of water should be temporary. The schedule of streets affected will be posted daily on Mansfield Cable Access Channel 15. · Jean Miller, Nelson Way, has had brown water off and on since April. She has called the Water Dept. several times since then and they do not have an answer for this problem other than that she should buy a water filtration system. Lee Azinheira. DPW Director and Kevin O'Donnell, Water Dept. addressed Mrs. Miller's concerns. They stated that Mrs. Miller's neighborhood has been effected for awhile since there has been a lot of construction in that part of Town. They have been thinking of better ways to notify the residents such as an email or phone distribution system. Selectman Dentino has questions why this has been happening. Mansfield has received several awards from the State and DEP on their water quality. Mr. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 4 O'Donnell tried to explain to the Board and residents how construction and flushing disrupt the quality of the water. Selectmen Levine asked Mr. O'Donnell if he knows which streets will be affected when flushing programs and construction happens. Mr. O'Donnell stated that you can't always tell which streets are going to be affected, Mr. D'Agostino stated that he will contact the Police Chief to see if the Town can use the reverse 911 system to alert residents of water work in the area. Robert Goldman, Van Germet Drive. The DPW has been taking down election signs and several have gone missing. He would like his signs back. Mr. D'Agostino will contact the Town Clerk and DPW to see which procedures were followed. The issue of missing signs has been a problem in Town for many years. The DPW does take political and real estate signs off of public property and poles. Selectman Dentino is appalled that staff has been directed to take down any signs before the Town Clerk has given the authorization. The DPW should be following the Town's procedure of the Town Clerk being notified and she then notifies the sign owner to remove it. If signs are not removed the DPW then removes them. Tom Wojack, Cobbler Rd. He has talked with Helen Christian and Lee Azinheira about the removal of signs. Mr. Azinheira told Mr. Wojack to call Mr. Cook at the Highway Garage so he could come and get his signs. · Old business from Chairman Amoruso: None · Old business from Selectman Dentino: Would like to follow up with the issue of employees getting six week vacation. The total number of employees that get this benefit is 9. The Town should not have this as a practice as more people will be eligible over time. The 457 plan that managers get is also going to get out of control in coming years. · The department heads and the Town Manager carry Blackberry's. This is more much more expensive that regular phones. Mr. D'Agostino stated that he and dept. heads use their blackberries for email and other business purposes while they are out of the office. · Selectman Dentino also had questions about why the Towns' mileage reimbursement is higher than the IRS rate. The Town reimburses more than the IRS Federal rate for the additional insurance or expenses related to using Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 5 personal vehicles for business. (Employees asked to be compensated last year for rising gas prices that the IRS did not take into consideration on their last publication.) Mr. D'Agostino does not have all info for these questions in front of him and requests that if Selectman Dentino has questions on old issues or correspondence that he notify him in advance so he can bring the materials to the meeting. · Old business for Selectman McCarter: None · Old business for Selectman Baldwin: None · Old business for Selectman Levine: The School's electric bill was quite higher than it was last year. The schools/committee need to do something to bring this down. · New business from Selectman Baldwin: She would like to ask for Wine World's license back. They have been out of business since the spring. Letters will be sent to businesses with renewal applications next month. · New business from Selectman Dentino: Questions about Attorney Kesten filing motions on suit. How did Chairman Amoruso direct Atty. Kesten to do so without a vote of the Board? The motions were filed as part of the suit that Atty. Kesten has been handling for the Town. Chairman Amoruso stated that he had spoken with both Atty. Mangiaratti and Kesten regarding this and if Mr. D'Agostino's indemnification clause holds like they think that neither the Town nor Mr. D'Agostino will have to payout the $500,000 in punitive damages. (That is dependant on the judgment being vacated.) · Selectman Dentino also stated that Mr. D'Agostino violated Ms. Stoyle's civil rights so the indemnification clause won't hold up. He had further questions about any settlement talks with Mr. Stoyle's attorneys. Chairman Amoruso stated that they have not had any substantial settlement talks as Ms. Stoyle does not want to settle her case before judgment is resolved. If the Town were to appeal the suit then the Board would vote on whether or not they wanted to appeal. Attorney Kesten will address the Board soon on this matter. Selectman Dentino stated that he read on the courts w~bsite that Atty. Kesten has already appealed the case and shouldn't have since the Board hasn't taken a vote on it. Chairman Amoruso stated he was not aware of this and agreed it would need a vote of the Board. · Selectman Dentino also read a statement on Selectman Levine reading a disparaging commentary about him at the last meeting. He stated that he was away last week and unable to attend the meeting. Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 6 Upon returning home he found out that Selectman Levine read a statement about him at the last meeting. Well, he is back now and wants to refute her accusations. He recapped her statement and said that it is full of fabrications and half truths. He further stated that the truth of the case was too bitter a pill for her to swallow and that she continually referred to him as "the other people" that want her to be quiet. If anyone prompted Attorney Baliro to call Mrs. Levine it was probably Kim Stoyle. That is more logical than to assume it was him. Selectman Levine should be quite about case as warned by the Attorney since she has publically stated that the Board shouldn't talk about the case until it is settled. Selectman Dentino then quoted his uncle, Confusion Dentino, in saying that "he/she who attempts to try a case in public; doesn't have one for the court." . New business from Chairman Amoruso: He is waiting for a written opinion from Atty's. Kesten and Mangiaratti regarding the judgment and indemnification of the Town Manager. There is a hearing coming up in the month where the judgment will be clarified. . New business from Selectman McCarter: Does Lance Lawson need to do traffic study before Elm St. work requested by Mr. DeTrolio is done? Electric Light meeting on Monday and the Board will discuss electric rate structure and warrant articles. . New business from Selectman Levine: Questions about election laws and procedures. Mr. D'Agostino will talk with the Town Clerk about the ballet procedures. Motion: To adjourn at 1O:41PM (Levine) 4-0 Passes ~??t~~e;:( $~~m Signature of Clerk tPdOk I/; 2~~? Date of Approval Board of Selectmen Minutes of October 10, 2007 7