Shutesbury Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
June 10, 2008

Members present:  Chairman Rebecca Torres and Ralph Armstrong.  
Also Present: Selectman-elect Al Springer, Town Administrator David
C. Dann and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge, recording.
Meeting opened at 7:05 P.M.

Appointments  
Police Chief Harding:
1.  Tuesday, June 3 incident on Pelham Hill Road: 
* All public information has been released to the paper.
* State police will bring charges in Belchertown at the end of the
  week, at which point that will become public also.
* There is/was no reason to worry about hikers’ or children’s
  safety.
* The incident was contained in the family’s yard.  At no time was
  anyone in the neighborhood in jeopardy.
* State police contained the situation and did not share information
  at the time that would have been useful for alerting neighbors not
  to walk in their neighbor’s yard.  Hikers in the woods would not
  have been in danger.
2.  Leverett, Cooleyville and Prescott Roads reconstruction project:
* The heat is not a problem but the dry weather is creating a dust hazard.
* Calcium chloride only holds dust down when there is moisture.  
* The contractor will put down water to avoid having to shut the job down.  
* It is hoped that the contractor will be putting some asphalt down next week.
3.  Officer Wall to attend Police Academy:
* Both Officers Wall and Chandler have passed the qualifying test to
  attend the police academy to be held in Boylston starting August 4.
* On July 1 Officer Wall will become a fulltime officer and Officer
  Robinson will forfeit his benefited position.
* Chief Harding has not yet found a temporary part time person for the
  15 weeks of officer training, mostly because staying on beyond the
  15 weeks is not an option.
* Selectmen reviewed the proposed agreement between Officer Wall and
  the Town of Shutesbury and unanimously voted to approve the
  agreement between the town and Justin Wall and to fund the tuition
  and equipment to become a full-time officer.
4.  Up-coming Lake Wyola area events:
* Association events this month include the road race.  The Pan-Mass
  bike challenge that will be going through the Lake area.
* There are enough officers for the Fourth of July weekend events.
5.  Court cases have been consuming a lot of time.

Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Walter Tibbetts:
1. Soil contamination caused by an old underground gasoline tank
located at the Fire Department grounds:
* On Tuesday June 3, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
  representative Tony Kapska investigated the site, with Chief
  Tibbetts, with Highway Department operator Robert Spaulding digging
  the area for them.
* Years ago the tank had not been removed, but rather filled with sand
  and left in place along with the piping.
* Most of the contamination appeared to have come from the actual
  pumps.
* More contamination was found in a band of clay, but not in the
  gravel, directly below the tank.
* The tank was pulled and the paperwork completed, allowing the town
  30 days to remove the tank from the site.
* The hole was back-filled and digging was done for a test well.
* DEP has authorized Shutesbury to remove up to 250 cubic yards of
  contaminated soil.
2. The Continuity of Operations Plan (Coop) must be completed by the
end of June for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
reimbursement.  Input is still needed from the Tax Collector,
Assessors and the Personnel Board.
3. Lake Wyola Emergency Management Plan binders were distributed to
each Selectman.

Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Tibbetts left before
completing his report to respond to an emergency call.

Board of Health Chairman William “Bill” Elliott summarized:  
1. Steps involved at the state level that may take up to a year from
submission of the Lake Wyola Dam Emergency Action Plan before the town
receives a response from the Office of Dam Safety.
2. The June 5 Health & Homeland Alert Network (HHAN) unannounced
communication drill. Shutesbury officials got the message within
seconds.  We’re in good shape to respond to the HHAN.
3. BOH Nitrate regulations:
* BOH had not had an opportunity to review the comments that had come
  in the week after the hearing.
* BOH is taking the comments very seriously.  Ken (Rotondi) will look
  into the chemistry of what is going on with nitrates.
* It will take several weeks to review the comments, discuss them
  informally and respond appropriately to them.
* Mt. Holyoke geology professor and Shutesbury resident Al Werner has
  started follow-up geology research work with UMass. geology faculty.
* Bill will follow-up on ground water re-charge.
* Unless the Board of Health comes up with a protocol that is
  considered reasonable to evaluate ground water re-charge, the Board
  will hold off going forward with the regulations.
* The Board of Health doesn’t feel there is a time pressure as they
  are not responding to an existing problem, just planning for future
  development.  The Board needs to investigate what will happen to the
  soils as the population increases and there is an increased density
  of septic systems and to go down an appropriate path of regulation.
* The Board of Health will hold a meeting to review the comments, and
  prepare a response to the comments as a part of the public record.
  The Board will also release the most recent copy of the NRCS soil
  maps.
* The proposed Board of Health regulations dovetail with the Planning
  Board bylaws.

Summary of a Notice of Intent at 98 Lake Drive by resident Robert Murphy:
* Built a retaining wall during the 1998 drawdown and 3-4 years after
  installation the wall buckled and shifted forward.  It will
  eventually break down and throw dirt into the lake if it is not
  fixed.  Heavy equipment contractor Clark anticipates pulling the
  wall back toward the land.  This time Mr. Murphy will put
  landscaping fabric down to keep the earth from traveling through the
  wall, straighten the wall, remove grass from the beach area by hand
  scraping. Efforts will be made to remove old concrete dock piers
  from the land side. The proposed project will alter about 290 square
  feet of the proposed resource area. Conservation commission member
  Don Wakulok will do a site visit to help Mr. Murphy decide how best
  to complete the proposed work.  The application before the Selectmen
  has all been approved by the Conservation Commission.
Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the notice of intent for work
to be done on land under the high-water mark owned by the Town of
Shutesbury by shore-front abutter Robert Murphy at 98 Lake Drive and
to sign a hold harmless agreement between Robert Murphy and the Town
of Shutesbury for the same work.

The next Lake Wyola Advisory Committee meeting will be at 9 AM on June
28 at the Lake Wyola State Park Lodge with Elizabeth Cardonna from the
Western Massachusetts Governor’s office and high ranking officials
from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and
representatives from Representative Kulik’s office and from Senator
Stan Rosenberg’s office.

In the presence of Mr. Dabrowski, Charles and Audrey Lehane, Robert Thompson:
* Requests the Town of Shutesbury pay the permit fee for a required
  401 Water Quality Certification for work done by individual
  water-front property owners on town-owned land under the high water
  mark at Lake Wyola during the dam repair draw down.  Because the
  under water land is mostly owned by the town, the work done by
  individuals is cumulative and quickly passes the 5,000 square foot
  threshold of alteration before the 401 certification is mandated.
* Mr. Thompson summarized the previous year’s meetings with, work
  done and progress made toward all permitting needed by water-front
  property owners:
o Meetings with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
personnel,
o Meetings with town Conservation Commission officials,
o Meetings with Massachusetts Endangered Species officials regarding
the Bridled Shiner,
o Mapping of what people want to do.
* Confusion within region and Boston offices of DEP regarding required
  permits for work done on town-owned land.
* Land transfers that some private property owners were not aware of.
* Hold harmless agreements.
* Offers of assistance from experts leading still to a rough estimate
  of between $7500 and $9,000 for the 401 Water Quality Certification.
* “We’re in a tough situation. We can’t get that kind of
  money from the Association.” Repeated his request that Selectmen
  come up with the money needed to pay for the certification.
* Run-off problems coming over the road and into the Lake are causing
  serious threats to sue the town and the Association because of water
  washing out properties.  That’s not even counted in the 5000
  square foot tally.  We need to get the gravel out of the lake.
David: The main purpose of soil testing is to determine how to
properly dispose of the soil/muck removed.  Al: What if something is
found in the soil?  Bob: Doesn’t know.
Becky: There are a lot of good reasons to assist with permitting fees.
Selectmen need to look over the final contract, the clerk of the
works, to see if the funding is there.  We are under budget in the
permitting estimate. It should be a very solid thing to do.  Selectmen
will need an additional meeting on the June 17th.  They will need
solid financial numbers and solid timing. Selectmen won’t want to
make a commitment if the timeline jeopardizes the dam repair project.
Selectmen will post a meeting for June 17 at 7 PM, and invite the
Conservation Commission and Janice Stone who has knowledge of the
history of previous draw-downs.

Topics
1.  The Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) was reviewed above during
the appointment with Emergency Management Director Tibbetts
2.  See appointment with Police Chief Harding above concerning Select
Board vote to sign an employment agreement with Officer Wall.
3.  Discussion did not occur on STRAP grant bid process.
4.  Updates on the DPW roof repair and addition were not reviewed.
5.  Unanimously voted to switch insurance companies from Provident to
Nation-wide for fire and police workers compensation at a savings of
$2,000 per year.  Fire and Police are not eligible for the same
insurance as other town employees, David had a MIIA representative
compare the two contracts before making the recommendation.  The
coverage is almost identical.


Select Board Action Items
1a. Unanimously voted to accept the May 22 meeting minutes with
specific wording added to save a large stone slab that had been
previously removed from the town.  Unanimously voted to approve the
May 27 minutes as written.
1b. Selectmen signed vendor warrants totaling $49,929.81and payroll
warrants totaling $88,791.38.
3.  Unanimously voted to authorize the library to use the field behind
town hall and the town hall in case of rain, on June 19, July 24 and
July 31 pending approval by Police Chief Harding.
4. Appointment of George Davies to the Recreation will depend on the
outcome of his call to the Ethics Commission as he is an abutter to
the recreation field.
 
New Topics 
1. Unanimously voted to sign the final School building authority
agreement.  Finance personnel were praised for their efforts which
resulted in significant financial savings for the town.
2. Unanimously voted to authorize Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting
to participate in the Franklin Regional Council of Governments highway
products and services and contract for FY 2009.
3. Review of Library parking will be on agenda for the next regular
Select Board meeting.  The current parking area is coming up short for
8 foot parking places.  Research is being done to maximize
parking. Abutter Julie Taylor was invited to join in the effort.  It
is believed that her fence is right on the boundary line.
4. A proposed Farmers Market discussion included fees, location,
liability, wear and tear on grass and/or parking areas, visibility,
combine with crafts, and compatibility with zoning bylaws.

Walk-Ins 
Override Election Warden Carrie Stone reported the results of the
day’s election:
Yes: 193, No: 139; the override passed.

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:52 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,


Leslie Bracebridge
Administrative Secretary