MINUTES
SELECTMEN’S MEETING
GRIFFIN ROOM, TOWN HALL
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2007
7:00 P.M.
SELECTMEN PRESENT: Cole, Marsland, McManus, Piekarski, Wilkins
OTHERS PRESENT: Town Administrator James Merriam, Asst. Town Administrator Nan Balmer, Valerie Foster, Jennifer Thyng, Ray Jefferson, Gerry Loftus, Pam Groswald, Joann Rys, Dot Hemmings, Peggy Rose, and others.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Wilkins.
Chairman Wilkins explained that the Board had just come out of Executive Session for the purpose of discussing labor contracts.
WEEKLY BRIEFING
No one appeared before the Board.
PUBLIC INFORMATION
Jennifer Thyng of the Harwich Housing Authority explained that there are several individuals in Town in need of short-term emergency support and rental assistance that are not being helped by other housing agencies and she described one specific case of an elderly Harwich resident who is unable to pay his rent. Ms. Thyng went on to request $50,000 from the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund to create an emergency rental assistance fund. She noted that they will also be seeking Community Preservation Funds for this purpose. Chairman Wilkins agreed to agenda this item next week in order to allow the Board and appropriate parties to review the request.
CONSENT AGENDA
A. Approve Minutes –
1. October 9, 2007 - Regular Meeting
2. October 1, 2007 - Executive Session
3. October 9, 2007 - Executive Session
4. October 15, 2007 - Executive Session
5. October 22, 2007 - Executive Session
B. Accept gift from Friends of Community Center for passport camera
Mr. Cole moved to accept the items in the Consent Agenda. Mr. McManus seconded the motion. Mr. Piekarski requested to remove Item A2 from the Consent Agenda and Mr. Cole agreed to amend his motion as such. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
Mr. Cole moved to accept Item A2 on the Consent Agenda as written. Mr. McManus seconded the motion. The motion carried by a 4-0-1 vote with Mr. Piekarski abstaining from the vote.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
Mr. Merriam made the following report to the Board:
Oyster Creek SJC Decision
The SJC issued a preliminary decision on October 23rd with articles in various newspapers on the 24th. Kopelman and Paige Attorney Jeffrey Blake hadn’t received notice from the SJC on the 23rd, so he did not forward to us, thus I could not comment to the Globe or Cape Cod Times. I did convey to CC Times reporter Susan Milton that K&P reported that we have paid $51K from October 2003 through August 2007 and another $3,000 for September.
Passport Program
Carolyn Carey has successfully passed the basic training for the Passport Application Acceptance Program. The program is scheduled to begin on Monday November 19th at the Community Center. Attached is the State Department’s Fee Schedule. Harwich will be able to retain the local $30 fee plus the $12 photo ID, both of which will be deposited into the General Fund. The Friends of the Community Center will purchase a camera for the photo IDs. A total of six employees will be trained to process applications.
Chamber of Commerce
Attended the Chamber’s monthly meeting in which the guest speaker was Tony Guthrie, Assistant General Manager of the Wequassett Inn Resort, who spoke about Customer Intimacy and the Wequassett Academy.
Allen Harbor
Staff met with Coastal Engineering, Yacht Club and Marina representatives to learn about the soil test results. The projection is 40K of material to be removed, of which 30-35K of material is part of the Town’s permit. Coastal estimates that removal, mixing with Portland cement and haul costs would be $50-80 per cubic yard. We will request in the FY 11 Capital Budget for Harbors. Town Engineer Joe Borgesi reports that Robert Our Co. has commenced the boat ramp project and is scheduled for completion by the end of next week, weather permitting.
In Lieu of Taxes
Dave Scannell has provided the attached spreadsheet of exempt properties and their in lieu taxes paid. As you can read, the biggest drop is the loss for FY 08 of New England Power’s relating to the Nantucket Cable project.
Centralized Vehicle Maintenance
A meeting was held to with affected Department Heads as to the creation of a Vehicle Maintenance Department under Public Works. We will create an FY 09 budget and consolidate wages and expenses.
PRESENTATIONS
A. Annual Meeting(s) with the Board of Selectmen
1. Voter Information Committee
Pam Groswald delivered the annual report of the Voter Information Committee and took questions and comments from the Board.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. Affordable Housing Special Revenue Request by the Harwich Housing Authority
Ms. Thyng outlined the Affordable Housing Special Revenue Request and proposed program to create an emergency rental assistance fund. Valerie Foster, Director of the Chatham and Harwich Housing Authorities described similar programs in Chatham. Ms. Thyng and Ms. Foster answered questions and took comments from the Board regarding the proposed program. Gerry Loftus indicated that the Housing Committee has reviewed this item. Mr. Piekarski asked that the fund guidelines be discussed next week and Chairman Wilkins agreed to schedule this as an action item.
ACTION ITEMS
A. Vote to approve engineering contract for Professional Services for Wastewater System Evaluation at the Elementary and Middle Schools for the new proposed Police Facility, Fire Station and Old Harwich Recreation Center
Mr. Loftus commented that he believes that among other things the fee is too high for the work and the proposal from Coastal Engineering needs to include projected costs. He stated that his committee is not in a position to give an affirmative vote to this proposal at this time. Ray Jefferson, Police Station Building Committee Chair, stated that his committee has signed off on this. He stated that he believes the contract is reasonable and wants to move forward with it. Mr. Loftus stated that he had a problem with splitting the cost evenly. He questioned who was going to pay for “more design needed” as indicated in the contract. Mr. Jefferson recommended only doing the study for the Police Station and Mr. McManus pointed out that current system at the school doesn’t
work and this plan was to make it work better by providing added flow. He stressed the need for this baseline study. Mr. McManus moved to take $3,000 from the article and authorize that we agree to the contract with Coastal Engineering Co. for a total of $8,500. Mr. Piekarski seconded the motion and the motion carried by a unanimous vote. Mr. Ryan clarified that this is CPA Article 46 of the FY07 Annual Town Meeting
B. Vote to approve recommendation of Assistant Town Administrator regarding Sale of Town Owned Land Request For Proposals
Mr. McManus moved that the Board of Selectmen accept the proposals for purchase of Town land submitted in response to the Town’s request for proposals as follows: that 0 Bank Street be awarded to Donna L. Forsman, that 386 Route 28 be awarded to Bernard G. Sykes, and 0 Main Street be awarded to Michael Gordon Moore and Sharon Webb Moore and further instruct real estate counsel to prepare the necessary documents to proceed with the sale in accordance with the RFP as applicable. Mr. Cole seconded the motion. Mr. Piekarski noted that each offer was greater than the assessed value. The motion carried by a unanimous vote. The Board agreed to request the Town Planner provide maps of the remaining parcels to determine if they should be re-bid and take the matter up on next week’s agenda.
C. Caleb Chase Fund Balance
Mr. Ryan reported that the fund is at a four year low with a balance of $3,100. He recommended placing a budgetary control on an amount to be spent not to exceed the annual revenue we collect which over the past four years is approximately $6,500. Mr. Marsland suggested that the Board review the policy and possibly revert back to the $500 maximum distribution. Mr. Piekarski agreed. Mr. McManus cautioned that this could lead to people having utility shutoffs. Mr. Piekarski moved to set up the trust fund budget. Mr. McManus seconded the motion. The Board agreed to agenda this item and Chairman Wilkins requested that Mr. Merriam get a recommendation from Ms. Foley. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
D. Vote to waive the Town’s application and abutters list fees for Police Station zoning variance for site coverage
After a brief discussion with Mr. Jefferson on the details of the project, Mr. McManus moved to waive the fees for application for a variance of the Police Station Building endeavor. Mr. Cole seconded the motion and the motion carried by a unanimous vote.
SELECTMEN’S REPORT
A. Selectmen’s Goals
The Board further discussed the details of the Police Station building project with Mr. Jefferson and agreed that after the Police Station Building Committee votes on the floor plan and the costs are available, the Committee would come before the Board to discuss the project.
Mr. Cole noted that the following items should be added to the action item list: cooperating with the Chamber of Commerce regarding economic development, keep abreast of the South Harwich Meeting House restoration, and McCourt Foundation follow up report in March. Mr. McManus pointed out that the contract with the Town for the South Harwich Meeting House calls for an annual report and we should put this on our calendar. Mr. Piekarski stressed that the two expired administrators’ contracts as well as developing an evaluation tool for all four administrators should be top priority now. He also added that they need to get an opinion from Town Counsel on elected officials’ health insurance. Mr. Marsland stated that we need to look at the possibility of appointing a Finance
Director. Mr. McManus pointed out that this is the responsibility of the Town Administrator and in the past Mr. Melville served that function. Mr. Cole requested that the procurement report be submitted to the Board and Ms. Balmer suggested that it be done quarterly.
Mr. Marsland recommended adding FY07 to the Benchmarking Study RFP specifications and Mr. Piekarski agreed. Chairman Wilkins directed Mr. Merriam to do so.
Chairman Wilkins requested that all committee minutes be submitted to the Selectmen’s Office.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. McManus moved to adjourn at 10:07 p.m. Mr. Cole seconded the motion and the motion carried by a unanimous vote.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Steidel
Recording Secretary
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