Shutesbury Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes February 20, 2007 Members present: Chairman Rebecca Torres, Debra Pichanick and Ralph Armstrong. Also Present: Town Administrator David C. Dann and Leslie Bracebridge, recording, Finance Committee member Al Springer for entire meeting and others as listed below. Meeting opened at 7:05 P.M. Select Board Action Item #: The Select Board unanimously voted to accept as written, both the brief and the detailed February 6, 2007 meeting minutes. Appointments Police Chief Harding: * In the presence of Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting Chief Harding reported 8 accidents above the "S-curves" in the last 2 weeks. The road’s not icy; it’s not speed. Most of the drivers have been on the younger side; it seems to be just lack of driver experience. A new caution sign that Tim installed before the ground froze has been stolen, sign post also. Tim will treat that area of the road with extra salt. The Chief will continue to sit down there to slow the traffic. * Dog Officer Nancy Long reported that lake area dog "Maggie" Meck is loose all the time. Maggie’s owner has been fined all three levels of fines and continues to let his dog run free. Nancy felt that neighbors don’t complain because they don’t want to deal with the owner. One neighbor carries a leash on her walks so that if the Maggie follows her, she can keep Maggie safely out of the road. Police officers have delivered Maggie home multiple times. The owner refuses to restrain the dog. Selectmen asked Chief Harding to make a warning telephone call to Maggie’s owner and if there is no improvement, the Selectmen will hold a dog hearing. Any future pick-up will incur another fine. "Maggie" is a nice dog. * The boat at Lot O-32 may be donated to either the lung or heart association. A letter of receipt of the boat as a gift will be requested of the recipient. Another boat is being readied for use this coming summer, by police at Lake Wyola. * A grant will provide 50 bike helmets and water bottles for the school field day. * Two older police department bikes that are in the Town Hall storage room will be inexpensively fixed and then donated to the school’s springtime Silent Auction fund raiser. New bikes, in good condition can be purchased inexpensively if officers are interested in bike patrols in the future. The current bikes are not benefiting from being kept in storage indefinitely. * Sgt. Hartwright will be in Sargent Training School the last 2 weeks in March. All officers will participate in a local training with some hypothetical situations enacted for hands-on practice in situations that don’t occur on a day-to-day basis. In the presence of Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting (Tim) and Leverett Road resident Steve Puffer (SP), Tree Warden Tom Houston (Tom) reported: * 2 or 3 trees still need to be taken down this year but that his annual budget is already exhausted. * One tree is near SP’s driveway. SP is concerned that a limb could fall onto a car traveling down the road. * The Tree Warden is responsible for dead tree removal on town property. * The Highway Department "raises the tree canopy," cutting lower branches to get sunlight onto the roads. * Town Administrator David Dann (DD) explained that every year the Finance Committee tries to raise the Tree Warden’s budget by about $500. * Tim: Helps to take down trees that aren’t near wires or houses. If the Highway Department tried to cut down the tree by SP’s driveway it would likely fall down the steep bank and right into Roaring Brook. It would be very difficult to then remove the tree debris from the brook. * Tom would need another $780 to hire tree experts to finish the tree by SP’s driveway and other waiting trees. * DD will ask the Finance Committee for $1,000 from Reserve Funds for what needs to be done. * Tim offered Highway Department assistance with log and brush removal to save some expense. * If the tree is on town property (It is far off the road.) was unanswered. In the presence of Old Egypt Road resident Howard Kinder, who brought a petition to pave Farrar Road to the Board of Selectmen, before the Project 319 drainage work was completed on Farrar Road, Selectmen unanimously voted to put the question of paving Farrar Road on the 2007 Annual Town Meeting warrant. Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting said he could use Chapter 90 funds to pave Farrar Road. Most Chapter 90 funds have been spent down as was ordered by Mass Highway. The remaining $50,000 would cover Farrar Road and Stowell Road in the coming construction season. Selectmen will also seek feedback for paving Farrar Road from the Planning Board. Peggy McCloud of the Massachusetts Center for Environmental Technology (CET): * Distributed recycled paper pads and ink cartridge recycling envelopes. * 65 Shutesbury households have signed up for the Clean Energy Choice Program, 9.8% of Shutesbury households. Under the new threshold, exceeding 10% of the households allows an award of $50 per sign-up. It’s a good time to do a newsletter article to promote the program. * Since Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth people are much more open to taking action. * Massachusetts Climate Action Corporation is following the new administration: o Governor Patrick signed up to reduce greenhouse gasses. o CET gave input when Governor Patrick did regional meetings. * Recommends following Wendell’s example of putting their old town hall that is only used for special events in the green energy program to model participation. * Businesses can now sign-up and be counted for the Clean Energy Choice program. In the presence of Gate and Dam Keeper Howard Kinder (HK), and Lake Wyola Advisory Committee (LWAC) members John Gory and William Elliott (WE), and interested citizen Michael Turecki, Selectmen discussed funding the Lake Wyola Dam process and options. Debra left the Select Board table and sat in the audience in keeping with state Ethics Commission advice as she is an abutter to the dam. Rebecca Torres (RT): Described the Saturday, February 17 joint meeting of the LWAC and the Dam Management Committee (DMC) (attended by RT and Ralph Armstrong (RA)) as productive in keeping the repairs, the funding search, and the dam management oversight moving forward since WE stepped down as Chairman of those committees. Gate and Dam Keeper HK and Emergency Management Director and Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts are stepping forward to assume some of the tasks and Town Administrator DD will be overseeing more of the permitting tasks. RT and RA: Worked through the three draft documents: 1. Roles and Responsibilities (Addendum #1) 2. Lake Wyola Repair Project (Addendum #2) and a 3. Dam Assistance Request Letter to state and federal officials (Addendum #3.) Because timelines are very tight, RT and RA both voted to support the letter to local representatives as soon as the changes are made. Debra did not participate in the vote. * A meeting with the Representative Kulik’s and Senator Rosenberg’s aides will be scheduled for the late afternoon, preferably early next week. * A copy of the letter will be hand delivered to Rep. Peter Kocot. * The letter will be widely distributed. Liability insurance for the dam would run between $35,000 and $50,000 per year. Topics 1. Solid Waste and Recycling Contractor Duseau’s contract is due to expire on June 30, 2007. Solid waste and recycling contracts are exempt from Chapter 30 procurement laws. Because overall, Shutesbury is "very pleased" with Duseau’s service, DD was instructed to negotiate a renewal contract with Duseau. To a suggestion to decrease costs by decreasing pick-ups to alternate weeks, RT referred to an override increment vote of many years previous that provides for weekly service, adding that promoting recycling is important for the town 2. A memo regarding submittal of vendor/timesheets was not discussed. 3. See actions concerning Lake Wyola Dam under Appointments above. Select Board Action Items 1. See approval of February 6 minutes at beginning of these meeting minutes. 2. By unanimous consent Selectmen signed vendor warrants in the total amount of $100,310.41 and payroll warrants in the total amount of $80,639.54. 3. Unanimously voted to accept and sign the revised Animal Inspector, Dog Officer, Town Clerk and Assistant Town Clerk job descriptions. 4. Unanimously voted to appoint Tom Williams and Jon Thompson as ZBA alternates. 5. Unanimously voted to sign a "stub agreement with Connect CTY in the total amount of $800 for the remainder of this year (to come from Finance Committee Reserves) and for $2,000 for the next three years (funding of future years will come from a line in the budget.) CTY gets the names and phone numbers from Verizon. Additional contact numbers will be at the residents’ option. Connect CTY can be used for a wide variety of sub-groups and different subject announcements. WE: Conway is using it and WE supports the Select Board vote from his Board of Health and LWAC viewpoints. DD: Offered to inquire of the Conway people and Connect CTY about contact acquisition. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:22 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 070220 Selectboard 4