Shutesbury Board of Selectmen December 8, 2009 Meeting Minutes Members present: Chairwoman Elaine Puleo, Al Springer and Eric Stocker Also Present: Town Counsel Donna MacNicol (left at 7:39 PM), Town Administrator Rebecca Torres and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Meeting opened at 6:08 P.M. Appointments 1. In the presence of Town Counsel Donna MacNicol, a motion was made and seconded to go into executive session for reason number 3 at 6:08 PM and to resume open meeting after: Stocker – aye, Springer – aye, Puleo – aye. Selectmen resumed open meeting at 7:39 PM. 2. In the presence of Shutesbury Athletic Club President Paul Danielovich and Police Chief Harding Selectmen reviewed the Shutesbury Athletic Club alcoholic beverages license renewal application and the 2009 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for 2010. Paul: Everything has been running smoothly. The memorandum sets some basic guidelines to go by. Eric: Should parking on Plaza Road relative to not blocking thru traffic and safety vehicles be added to the memorandum of agreement? Paul: The Club is using signs and cones to designate parking areas. Elaine: How do #’s 1 and 8 of the MOA interact? Answer: Number 8 is more of a head count to make sure that an extra person will be available if there are a large number of patrons still present in the last hour. Chief Harding: The officers go down regularly. They check numbers and parking. They can always tow. Leslie: Reviewed all paperwork associated with the renewal process. She gave President Danielovich a freshly signed copy of Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Tibbett’s June 19, 2007 letter to the Shutesbury Athletic Club regarding Chapter 304, section 5 of the acts of 2004 (an act relative to fire safety in the Commonwealth.) She also gave Paul a copy of the November 25, 2009 certificate of inspection associated with Chapter 304 of the Acts of 2004 signatures with the instruction that the Club contact the Franklin County Cooperative Inspection Program (FCCIP) in September to schedule the renewal inspection and to notify Chief Tibbetts of the inspection date and time. By scheduling in September, the month of October can be used if needed to complete any needed repairs, so that the Club can be re-inspected in time for the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission mandatory November renewal filing deadline. Any renewal not signed during November will be treated as a new license; see MGL 138 § 15A. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign a club alcoholic beverage license, a commercial video, a live entertainment and a pool table license for the Shutesbury Athletic Club for the year 2010 and to sign the same memorandum of agreement as that signed in 2009. President Danielovich also signed the memorandum of agreement on behalf of the Shutesbury Athletic Club. 3. Police Chief Harding: * Elaine will be the next member of the Board for the weekly meetings with Chief Harding. o Personnel Board Chairman Margaret Manson will meet with the Chief. * Decals on the Chief’s cruiser discussion: Tom: * Replacement of the decals is a question of money. o It’s not less safe. o They’re off for appearance. Elaine: * If residents see a cruiser drive by there is a perception that we have a police force, * Elaine wants the public to know at town meeting time, that we have a force. * Without the decals it feels like secrecy to the public and trying to catch them rather than keeping them safe. o If someone gets stopped in a marked cruiser, it’s the driver’s fault. If the car is unmarked, it’s “you were trying to get me.” Al: * Wants to know if it’s a cruiser or just another driver. * Decals on the outside of the cruiser offer safety. Tom: * If the Selectmen want to come up with the money, the decals can go back on. * Generally the local Chiefs drive unmarked cars. Elaine: * This department has brought the police department around to a positive image. * Wants the town to know who the Chief and the officers are. Eric: * Taking the decals off makes you less visible. Tom: * It’s conspicuous in a different way. * It’s not worth getting upset with. * I don’t have the $800, you come up with the $800 and I’ll put them back on. Eric: Let’s think about it and try to constructively come up with the $800. No one thought the Chief was trying to pull something off. Becky: * Across the board people don’t want to bring up the negatives, but she is hearing the concern from the community. * If we can have the decals on the cruiser, it’s helpful. Selectmen agreed to think about it and try to come up with the $800. Topics 1. See above for the Athletic Club MOA. 2. See above for decals on cruiser. 3. Review gasoline outbreak at the fire station, DEP, and RFP for Licensed Site Professional (LSP) firm. * Becky summarized the high readings of the site visit with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) official Ben Fish. The results are back and Becky will get a report from him tomorrow. * To get closure, we would need an unlikely report in parts per billion. * It’s not likely that we can go back to just monitoring the site as we were thinking a week ago. * It’s infeasible to achieve parts per billion for drinking water. Just to reach a non-hazard safety level will be harder with the contamination in the wetland. * If the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) steps in, and the town may receive assistance. * We’ve spent $375 on lab tests. DEP did not charge Shutesbury for their work. * The signed contract with O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun (OTO) has been sat on at the request of DEP. Selectmen unanimously voted to hold the contract from OTO under advisement from DEP until more is resolved. 5. The Notice of Intent was settled by the Conservation Commission and is in the 10-day appeal period. Becky, Chief Tibbetts and the abutter who was concerned with the proposed work walked the project. The abutter seemed to be satisfied. Select Board Action Items 1. Selectmen went into executive session at 6:08 PM and resumed open meeting at 7:39 PM. 2. See appointment above for Shutesbury Athletic Club license renewals. 3. Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the minutes of November 30, 2009 as written. Becky distributed the December 2 emergency meeting minutes for Select Board review to be approved at the next meeting 4. Selectmen unanimously voted to appoint Rita Farrell as the town’s representative to the Warwick 4-town Citizen Advisory Committee. 5. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign a new LA-5 form from the Assessors. If you take out the compensation for the 7% decline in value, there is a 17 cent increase in the rate. 6. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign the contract with Oudens & Ello approved by the O’Connell, and by Town Counsel. 7. Selectmen unanimously voted to approve a new Highway Superintendent job description that includes the new duty of inspecting trenches A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:30 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 091208 Selectboard 1