Shutesbury Board of Selectmen August 5, 2008 Meeting Minutes Members present: Chairman Rebecca Torres, Ralph Armstrong and Al Springer. Also Present: Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge. Meeting opened at 7:10 P.M. Appointments Police Chief Harding: * Becky thanked Chief Harding for being present during the Farmers’ Market on Saturday. Tom will look for entry/exit signs for the driveways. The Market is expected to continue through the third Saturday in September. At present it does not seem necessary to provide a police officer. * In the presence of Highway Superintendent Tim Hunting and Police Chief Harding, resident Sharon Raymond described her efforts to coordinate and encourage car-pooling on a Yahoo group. She recommended and demonstrated a series of “Burma Shave” road signs at the ends of West Pelham Road, Montague Road and perhaps somewhere toward the center of Shutesbury. She‘s thinking of keeping the signs up permanently; perhaps with changing logos. Chief Harding requests that they stay within the right of way and not interfere with line of sight for drivers. Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the “Burma Shave” signs on Shutesbury’s roads. * The new cruiser is to be ready at the end of the week. Chief Harding is teaming up with Leverett on delivery rides. Fire Chief Tibbetts will be converting the Police Chief’s cruiser for the Fire Chief’s use. The old Fire Chief cruiser will be used by the officers going to Academy training. The base price for the car was $23,000. Some money was saved on the radar. * Combining of the paving of the town and MassHighway projects should work out. Detail officer pay rates were reviewed. Chief Harding requests the Selectmen review the officer union contract for interpretation. * Chief Harding is advocating for the Beer Festival that currently happens at the Lake Wyola Association building with parking at the State Park and pedestrians walking the distance between would be safer held at the Shutesbury Athletic Club. Highway Superintendent Hunting regarding the reclaiming/reconstruction of Leverett Road: * Will reclaim the lower section of Leverett Road. All States and Warner have recently merged making communications a little mixed. * Needs the paving to occur within a day or two of re-claiming because of the potential for wash-outs from rainstorms. * Only one culvert will be changed by the town. * Most work such as re-building headwalls can all be done before or after paving. * Chapter 90 application for the paving project on Leverett Road at a cost of $200,000. The price is inflated because has a fixed price of $60.90/ton. There is actually no one with a fixed price. MassHighway sets a fuel escalator rate to add $13.88 (July’s rate) to the $60.90. August’s rate comes out in September. Tim anticipates that the cost of the re-paving will be around $185,000. There is a possibility the rate will go down. Whatever is left over will still be available to the town for use in the future. Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the Chapter 90 Project request in the amount of $200,000 using Chapter number 122, 291D and 90. * Letter from Linda Hanscom regarding her property on Baker Road. o A year ago Tim recommended that she create a berm. o The driveway was installed before the curb-cut application was in place, so there was no town input at the time of construction. o The driveway has probably had a problem since it was built. The road was there first. Why is it the town’s problem? o Most people on Baker Road have created berms. o The property owner needs to maintain a berm. With this much water it needs to be maintained. Suggests a pile be left behind to maintain the berm. o There is no place up-grade for run-off; it’s all private property. o There is no way to widen the road. o Blacktop isn’t practical because the snowplows take it out on dirt roads. o The best solution is to maintain a berm and keep it there. o Al: In agreement with Tim; there’s no way to get a culvert in. A high berm is the only solution that he can recommend and the berm needs to be maintained. o Tim has graded Baker, Cooleyville and Schoolhouse. o Al had three calls for potholes that Tim has already filled. o Tim- the comparison to Pelham does not hold because of the steep grade of Baker Road. Select Board will write a response letter for Tim to look over and then to send back to Linda. Building Committee member Dale Houle on DPW roof contract: * Will add a new roof over the old rood (roof-hugger) which will allow an additional 2 inches of insulation. It will be coupled with a foil faced air pocket in the ceiling to boost the insulating R-30 insulation factor. This has all been reviewed by Whetstone Engineer Bob Leet. * It will be a 24 gauge roof with a 2 foot overhang and a gutter to keep rain-water from running into the garage. * By taking time, the Building Committee is satisfied that the town will get what is needed. * Dale reassured the Board that the people doing the work understand what needs to be done. * Engineer Leet will also come up with a spec sheet on repairing trusses in the salt barn. * Diversified is subbing the work out to a company that has done the roof-hugger system before. * The bid numbers haven’t changed except for a few hundred dollars of engineering costs. * Feels confident that we can sign the contract with reasonable reassurances that we will get what we want. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign a contract with Diversified Construction for the roof repair, other repairs and the addition in the amount of $78,755.00 as stated in the full highway addition and roof repairs contract. In the presence of Joseph Gorey and Lauretta and Edward Gass Selectmen unanimously voted to sign Notices of Intent and hold harmless indemnification agreements for Joseph Gorey, William Fontaine and Edward and Lauretta Gass for work to be done on town-owned land under the high-water mark at Lake Wyola during the dam repair drawdown this fall. Select Board Action Items 1. Selectmen approved minutes of the July 8, 15, and 22 meetings with 2 changes in the July 22 meeting on page 1 by inserting a bullet on page 1 that Kathy Steve had been asked to write up a short history in February or March which she had not gotten to because she had been too busy, and under Chief Harding’s report change the “oldest cruiser” to the “Chief’s cruiser.” Selectmen unanimously voted to accept the July 14 meeting minutes Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the June 28. 2. Selectmen signed vendor warrants totaling $111,302.56 and payroll warrants totaling $80,644.56. 3. See appointments above for hold harmless agreements. 4. See appointments above for signing a contract for DPW roof repairs. 5. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign Personnel Action Forms for the appointment of Dale Houle to the Fire Department and for the resignation of Paul Danielovich from the Fire Department. 6. Unanimously voted to sign the warrant for the September 16, 2008 state Primary election. 7. Unanimously voted to sign the cover letter to accompany the request to the Secretary of State to include the Community Preservation Act wording on the November 2008 state election ballot. New Topics 1. Al Springer showed photos of Charlie LeHane’s property abutting the lake, taken immediately following a major rainstorm that was brought up at the July meeting. 2. Becky will notify the dam repair contractor that the funding has been approved to go forward with the project. 3. Selectmen will write an official thank you letter to Representative Kulik and Senator Rosenberg. They will include a photo of a sign of thanks. Al will work on the sign. 4. Town Administrator David Dann is following up with the insurance company on a suggestion concerning reimbursement for the gasoline clean-up at the fire station. 5. Becky talked with a Chip-Tec representative who will “spec out” a wood chip burner for the elementary school. 6. Al measured the existing ball field and it conforms to little league measurements for 12-year olds and under, while keeping the horse ring. A lot of work has been done on the horse ring including painting, clearing of brush, and removal of the announcement stand. All the pieces need to be put on the table to see if it can be made to work for all people. Becky has started a list of horse owners based on the barn book entries. Selectmen discussed how to schedule horse shows and ball games. Horse owners, adults and children should all be represented on the Recreation Committee. Parking is limited at the recreation field. Perhaps trails could be developed to the recreation field. Selectmen will touch base with Jen Davies to see if the measurements that Al took are in agreement with her understanding. 7. Selectmen unanimously voted to apply for a grant for “green money” for solar lights for the library outside seating area. The grant is “first come, first served” and ends September 30. 8. Rus Wilson has offered to build a picnic table for use at the Farmers Market if the town will pay for materials. Meeting adjourned at 10:02 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 080805 Select Board 1