Shutesbury Board of Selectmen December 16, 2009 Meeting Minutes Members present: Chairwoman Elaine Puleo and Al Springer. Absent: Eric Stocker Also Present: Town Administrator Rebecca Torres and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Meeting opened at 6:30 P.M. Selectmen participated in a special town meeting from 6:30 to 7:15 PM At 7:22 PM a motion was made and seconded to go into executive session for reason #3 and to resume open session following: Springer – aye, Puleo – aye. At 8:30 PM Selectmen resumed open meeting. Topics Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) funds could be good or they could be a “blank check” for the remediation. Discussion included: * What does a town becoming “insolvent” mean? * The town has to approve the LUST funds in order for the state to take over the clean-up. * Brownfields funds have been drained and are not available. * It’s not possible to determine at this point how much the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will ask of us. They might leave us with a big recipe that we are 100% responsible for. * We would not know until the end how much it would cost. * They’ll do phase 2 and 3 and oversee the contractors. * What’s the alternative?: Tell them “no” and hire one of the (November 25) bidders: o Hiring a bidder creates a “middle man” operating in the town’s interest who would be more sensitive to the town’s needs. o DEP won’t have the same cost sensitivity as O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun (OTO). o OTO suggests trenching before the wetland and using the absorbent materials in the trenches. o DEP official Ben Fish’s goal was to get clean-up funds. Mr. Fish is trying to do a good job for Shutesbury but they would be handing the task over to someone else. o DEP doesn’t feel that the OTO solution is any longer viable. * OTO: You’re never going to get it down to drinking water levels anyway. * There’s nothing you can do so minimize it. * Monitor it and put in cost effective systems. * Ben Fish told Becky: DEP would re-bid phases 2 and 3. * Paving over the fire station parking area? Stopped making blacktop before Thanksgiving. * We can’t identify exactly how much remediation DEP would have done. * They can’t go as far as closure. * Becky and the town Treasurer have put out email inquiries to other towns to see if we can learn from another town’s actual experiences with the LUST fund. * Becky has emailed Stan Rosenberg to see if he has any advice. * Becky will email Representative Kulik tomorrow. * It’s federal funds but managed at the state level. * Shutesbury will need to hire a Licensed Site Professional (LSP) to prepare an Initial Response Action (IRA) required within 60 days of the newest outbreak report. Becky called consultant and LSP for Shutesbury in 2008 Alan Weiss and OTO’s Jim Okun. Jim estimated $25,000 to prepare the report because of all the tests that would need to be done including: assessments of all wetlands, and indoor air quality for the fire station and the neighbors’ properties. Could some of those tests “roll over” into phase 2 and 3 actions saving costs there? * Right now Alan is available to work on an hourly and materials basis. Lower than others charges $100/hour rather than $150/hour. The first IRA was $6500 <=Becky to check that number. * Selectmen estimated the last time of use of the gasoline UST at the fire station between 1975 and 1982. The pumps were removed when they started building the addition in 1982. Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) wasn’t used in gasoline until 1979. It is felt that the pumps were not used after 1977 yet there are traces of MTBE in the test results from the test hole near where the most recent outbreak occurred. Where did the MBTE come from? o MBTE is very water soluble. o Is there another unknown spill? o The gas appears to be very fresh. 40 year old gas doesn’t smell fresh. o Jim Okun says, “At the end of the day, you’ve got to clean up the gas.” o There’s a letter from Bill Randall talking about gasoline in the parsonage. o One sample in 2008 also shows MTBE in the current outbreak area. o There’s no evidence that there has been any gasoline on the east side of the building. o A Selectman told Gary Dihlmann to fill the tank with sand. o Becky will ask Greg Steve to find out when the Dihlmann tanks were removed. * Eva, Ben Fish’s boss from the DEP will work with Shutesbury on a timeline for the new IRA. * Elaine’s “gut reaction” is that Jim of OTO is looking out for the town’s interests in a logical and economical way and knows that spending a million to dig it up and still not get rid of the contamination is not sensible. * Becky: Jim is trying to solve this in a reasonable way and is concerned about the risk assessment. * Shutesbury may be better protected by having DEP taking a lead role rather than another professional. Becky will get more information and Selectmen will talk more about it on Tuesday. Selectmen are not in a position to make a decision tonight and will discuss it again on December 22. * The Emergency Management Team meeting is on Monday, Dec. 21 at 6:30 PM. Attendance is needed to vote on a quorum. * Selectmen rough planned the new year calendar. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:02 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 091216 Select Board 1