Shutesbury Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes June 12, 2007 as amended and approved June 26, 2007 Members present: Chairman Rebecca Torres, Debra Pichanick and Ralph Armstrong. Also Present: Town Administrator David C. Dann and Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Meeting opened at 7:08 P.M. Select Board Action Item #: The Select Board voted to accept the May 29, 2007 meeting minutes with the following amendments: 1. Bottom of page 1: insert after “Select Board members voiced concern at signing” “an Ethics Commission Disclosure of Financial Interest by a Special Municipal Employee and approval of exemption form as required by MGL Chapter 268A §20 (c) and §20 (d)” 2. On page 2 add at the beginning of a statement attributed to Becky, Historically” to the first bullet before the word “Shutesbury” and in the second bullet, after “…Assessor job description” and before “why contract?” add “there should be no ethics issues so”. Appointments Police Chief Harding: * June 9 Lake Wyola Association meeting: Boat parade on July 3. Police will take action starting with the first noise complaint received on the 4th. * IMC software will be installed July 6. Chief Harding will attend training. * June 7 elementary school field day: the police department participated in and distributed 35 bicycle helmets. * The school safety committee is ready to endorse a school security plan to the School Committee next Wednesday. * A resident reported an attempted phone scam today. A caller asked for her bank account number and promised a card to cover all prescriptions for life. The caller is persistent and threatens to withhold social security checks. Any similar calls should be reported immediately to police. The website and subscribed email system will be used to notify residents. * Citizen concerns about speed on Wendell and Locks Pond Road to be addressed. * Storage location for the town boat. Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting: * Requests resumption of a key system for the fuel pumps at the Highway Garage to avoid someone accidentally filling a gasoline truck with diesel fuel. Fire Chief Tibbetts added that doing so would also provide an extra level of security. Selectmen agreed to work on resuming the key system. * The proposed list of summer projects will take the department into late fall even without the routine grading of 26 miles of gravel roads: o Library parking lot/addition – 3 weeks. o Cemetery work – 1 to 2 weeks. o Stowell Road reconstruction and prep for oil and stone – 3 weeks o Farrar Road prep for oil and stone – 1 week. o Town Common Road – lift old pavement prepare for oil and stone – one week preparation and one day to oil and stone; to be done in the fall. o Of the two options for improving the narrow hill on Montague Road, raising the grade is the least expensive – minimum of 2 weeks work. o Widen Leonard Road near a ditch. One week. o 2 culverts on Wendell Road, one on Cooleyville road – 2 or 3 days. o Address erosion near 300 West Pelham Road and or prepare for and oil and stone entire road, the latter would take 2 to 3 weeks of prep time. * Costs for repair of the Wendell Road culvert near Ames pond are estimated to be between $100,000 and $140,000. Tim had hoped to get by for much less with a replacement steel culvert. Within the last five years new DEP regulations require more extensive permitting and different installation materials. A lot of the cost is paying attention to environmental changes. Selectmen will get another engineer quote. David and Tim will meet with the Conservation Commission on Thursday. Tim will explain safety concerns and then the Conservation Commission can describe their requirements. If the road is widened, it will require extensive engineering. Selectmen voiced support of widening the road. David will look for funding grants. A request was made for advance notice for prep work and paving for Town Common Road and the Library parking lot. Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority (FCHRA) Representatives Donna Cote and Bruce Hunter regarding Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) participation: * Letter sent to Shutesbury in May concerning offer of services to prepare a community development block grant to benefit low to moderate income people. Town must develop a community development strategy. Bruce Hunter: o The town develops a list of proposed projects for the next 3 – 5 years. The list includes projects already accomplished as well as those proposed. o The town adopts state standards; probably Shutesbury has previously adopted the state standards. o All Boards and Committees submit projects. o Next the projects are compiled and prioritized o FCHRA has done several regional plans with FRCOG. o Hold a public informational meeting and receive suggestions for future projects to show that it has been developed through a community process. o Might develop a committee to pull previous project documents. o Strategic plan tells how to accomplish the goals in the next 3 – 5 years. o Anything from fixing a culvert to making the library handicap accessible. o What does Shutesbury want to do; how does the town want to proceed? o FCHRA already has 10 standing requests for housing rehabs of up to $35,000 per unit. o Brochures for what is eligible available through the Town Administrator. o Infrastructure projects including senior centers, and private housing rehabs; must benefit low to moderate income people. o Shutesbury is only 35% low to moderate income. Need 51%, to qualify for CDBG funds; any project would require an income survey in the area where a project is to be located. 51% of incomes must be below moderate income. o Unless there is a there is a developed strategy, the state won’t give money. o Selectmen would adopt the strategy. o Time frame: Get started in June and develop the over CDBG over the next 6 months. Must have public hearing 3 months prior submission – anticipate needing to have the hearing by November. o An outline for a strategy prepared by a consultant was started in 2003 but never completed. o Additional sustainable energy principles have since been added by Governor Patrick. o Include: planning board, council on aging, buildings committee, and other boards and committees in the planning. o Because of resident income levels, a municipal project would be unlikely unless it had to do with accessibility or a senior center. o Shutesbury Community Development II could be eligible every other year. Can apply for planning one year and then apply for construction in the next year. o Anything related to code compliancy or making an existing building fully accessible would qualify for CDBG, building a new building would not. o CDGB could be “gap” funding for a wastewater treatment project. o Income forms would be sent out to residents in the service area. o Section 8 income levels are put out by HUD. Need a certain response rate: Under 40 surveys need a 98% response rate. Income is per capita, not by the unit of housing. o Donna will check on the possibility of combining CDBG funds and Massachusetts Library Commission funding grants. Assessor Stephen Schmidt: * Assessors’ response to Daily Hampshire Gazette article. Steve heard from other towns’ Assessors. * Things are currently working well in the Assessors office. Revaluations are happening. Tax rates are set on time. Municipal assessing is very specialized work. A lot of the professionals are on-board working in their own towns. There is a limited pool of qualified people to draw from. * The big assessing companies cost tens of thousands of dollars and the Assessors Board would like to avoid that expense. * Assessor Amanda Alix is very qualified to do the work. * Amanda has attended Assessors training courses year after year. She has worked for a private assessing company doing the same work that she would do for Shutesbury. * Assessors came up with a deal with Amanda for her to do this work at a very reasonable price. The Board of Assessors thought they were doing a good job. * Since the paperwork to hire Amanda worked the last time, they thought it would be the same this time. * The Assessors need to have the field work done by September 18. If the town has not completed revaluation information at that time, it gets put at the bottom of the DOR review list. If not approved in time Shutesbury will not have the tax rate set on time, delaying tax bills... * Glad that the meeting with the Personnel Board Chairman worked out. * The Board of Assessors would like a vote of confidence from the Board of Selectmen rather than to think their efforts are being questioned. * Older annual reports are true. There was a time when no in-town person was qualified to do the work. A consultant used previously is no longer available. * Doing the work in-house is very common. Question: If it’s part of the Assessors’ job description, why they should be getting more money? Receiving separate pay had caused concern. Answer: Steve doesn’t have the time to do it; Amanda doesn’t; there are different ways of handling it in different towns. Question: Is it because it’s done every three years? Answer: Also the level of detail now required – measurements, photographs. Comment: Another example of the town being professionalized. Comment: It’s unreasonable to think that any Board of Assessors could put that amount of time in. Comment: In Leverett some years ago there were three members of the Board two paid typical $1000 per year, and the third paid a considerably larger sum because he did most of the work. The others came to meetings and signed off on abatements and other forms. The one who did the most was clearly paid more. Comment: That kind of thing evolves historically. Comment: The Treasurer can no longer give someone both a W-2 and a 1099. Becky summarized that in the end we have a workable agreement. A motion was made seconded and unanimously voted to voice resounding Select Board support for the Board of Assessors. Topics 1. Review of Town Administrator’s goals was postponed. Select Board Action Items 1. See minutes approval at the start of these minutes. 2. Selectmen signed vendor warrants totaling $37,468.46 and payroll warrants totaling $87,016.00. 3. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign the completed Department of Conservation and Recreation Office of Dam Safety Dam Registration Form. 4. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign an authorization for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) to contract on Shutesbury’s behalf in the Franklin Regional Cooperative Highway Products and Services Bids and Contracts for FY 2008. 5. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign a letter of agreement to have residue removed at least once in every two years (as described in CMR 15.289 (1) (c) (b)) from the composting toilet to be installed at the Spear Library that is a part of the handicapped accessibility project. Walk-Ins Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts * NIMS training: Need SS#’s for September ICS training certificates. * Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): It may only be a short time before FEMA will require across the board municipal mutual aid agreements in order to receive reimbursements for emergencies. FRCOG has a template mutual aid agreement. Which towns would be included? It’s even getting harder to get NIMS training reimbursement funds. * Shutesbury’s FEMA paperwork for the April 16 rainstorm is submitted and Shutesbury may be one of the first towns to get reimbursed at 75%. * Walter will give a full report in 2 weeks. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 070612 long Selectboard 1