MINUTES OF MEETING

BOARD OF SELECTMEN

Monday, July 28, 2008

 CALL TO ORDER:    Chairman Goulet and Selectman Magi Ziff were present.  Chairman Goulet called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.                                                                

GATHERING:  Dennis Letendre, Jr.,  Richard Ayer, Bill Howland, Les Miller, Carolyn Glidden, Betty Davis, Joan Metcalf, Mike Jennette, Donalyn Schofield, Officer Rick Rice, Rick Kronenberg from Diversified Construction, Jim Russell and Katie Tyler as secretary.  Janet Pierce attended later upon request. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

                          M. Ziff made a motion to accept the minutes of the July 14, 2008, Board of Selectmen’s Meeting as read.  M. Goulet seconded the motion and it was unanimously passed.

Before the Public Forum portion of the meeting, Chairman Goulet read a letter of resignation he received from Doug Frost, effective immediately.  The Board is currently operating with two Selectmen.

PUBLIC FORUM:

Mr. Thompson did not attend.  Mike Jennette was in attendance with his building package for Lot #20, Hardwick Road.  Dennis reviewed it, and the Selectmen reviewed it a little later in the meeting.  Marty agreed that it met all setback requirements and the Board signed off on the package.

Betty Davis presented a letter from her attorney requesting the Selectmen to sign a waiver on first refusal of her property on Davis Road which has not been is 61A for over five years.  Marty was slightly confused about which lots were being named, but the Board did sign the waiver and asked Katie to check the lots on Tuesday morning.

Rick Kronenberg with Diversified Construction, the company that won the bid for the Library roof, was present and presented shingle samples for choice.  The samples are 360 wt. not 400, as Rick said that the only 400 available were Certainteed and were twice as expensive.  Marty is going to ask Peter Schmid to review the samples and contract and will return one copy of the contract after it is signed.  Donalyn presented the specifications which required 400 wt. shingles and declared her concern about the shingles offered.  Rick agreed to leave the samples and the contracts and left the meeting at that point.  Magi Ziff made a motion to enter into a contract with Diversified Construction Services for the new roof after checking with the architect; the motion was seconded and unanimously passed.  Jim Russell inquired about the cost and where Diversified is located and was advised the company is in Amherst and was the low bidder for the new roof replacement at the Library at $22,180.  Donalyn read from the specifications that the “ice and water shield shall cover the entire roof substrate,” so she feels this should not be a problem for the contractor.  Marty will call Peter tomorrow.  Marty also feels that if Diversified will not agree to go with the 400 shingle for the price quoted, we should not sign the contract and go to the next bidder instead.  The Board asked how the Library was doing with all the rain we have been having, and Donalyn reported that the most difficulty was with the skylight.

REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT HEADS, BOARDS, COMMITTEES:

1.        Joan reminded the Board that it needs to approve the Payroll Rate Schedule for FY09.  It was reviewed, and M. Ziff made a motion that the rates be paid as written and approved by the Town; it was seconded and unanimously carried (payroll sheet attached).

2.        Bert’s memo concerning the traffic safety count was read aloud.  Some discussion also incurred about the flashing stop sign to go in at the crossroad of 67 and Ravine Roads.  Marty said an island might help there, but he knows Richard is not in favor of it.  Richard will, however, run it by MassHighway.  Carolyn feels that trailer trucks would have a problem turning there if an island were in place.  Marty also suggested painting the stop lines and Richard advised that all lines will be painted in August; he actually has a salesman coming out from Boston who wants to paint one spot to demonstrate a laminate, so Richard will have him do those stop lines.  The e-mail from Bert about the third cruiser was read; the Selectmen did not feel it makes sense to put two old vehicles on the road and keep one protected.  It was decided to table any discussion about the cruiser until Bert returns.

3.        Dennis reported that the Public Safety Complex Committee will be meeting on August 20^th.  Dennis will be away for the next Selectmen’s meeting.  Marty told Dennis he had spoken to Carl Kowsloski from Ryback Engineering and we are now within one pound psi of having a completely legal system; however, if we want to go by the letter of the law, we cannot write a letter stating that we are in compliance.  We have come this close because the pressure was increased by the Academy—the backflow preventer still has to be changed.  Colby has been authorized to replace the one at the school, hopefully by the end of August.  Dennis reported that he and Ralph visited Magnificat Academy and found everything to be in order.

4.        Richard announced that there are washouts all over Town.  Most of the gravel roads are back in pretty good shape and the Department will be doing edge work for the rest of the week.  He met with Anne Gobi, and she has a positive outlook about our grant application.  Richard also mentioned a problem on Davis Road:  Scott Parsick wants to use the old Town road as a driveway, but the land borders land of Bob Duclos.  Richard will not approve the driveway until he sees something legal that indicates Bob is in favor of this.  The Selectmen were in agreement with that approach.  On the Worcester Road Project, Richard is waiting to hear from the contractors and that should occur by the end of the week.  In the meantime, he is going to approach the people at the end of Rutherford Road about removing hedges.  He will also do something about the Hardwick and Ravine intersection.   In response to a question, he indicated that the Worcester Road Project will cover from Oakham town line up to Rutherford Road.  Next year he wants to address the end of West Road.  By the following year we will be in line for another STRAP grant.

 NEW BUSINESS:

             Items for signature:  Pouring license for Harvest Gourmet Dinner.

                                             Canning Opportunity:  Hardwick Farmers’ Co-op

                                             Police Department Class in October.

Discussion opened for setting a Special Town Meeting concurrently with a discussion concerning the check to QRSD for the Assessment.  August 18^th  for the STM was discussed as it is a Monday night.  M. Ziff made a motion to open a Warrant for a Special Town Meeting to be held on August 18^th.  The motion was seconded and unanimously passed.  Then discussion ensued concerning articles to appear on the Warrant besides the new assessment figure from the school.

Magi also made a motion to recut the check to QRSD to $204,222.50.  As it turned out, after talking about the various ways the debt assessment figured in along with the regular assessment because we had heard from Hardwick that the Educational Center debt had been removed from the equation, Janet came in to the meeting and she pointed out that the check is actually cut in that amount.  Magi then withdrew the motion.   Marty suggested sending the check with a memo questioning the Educational Support Center amount and reserving the right to make future adjustments.   Janet left the meeting to check her mailbox to see if New Braintree had received any official notification concerning removal of the Educational Center portion of the debt assessment.

Discussion turned back to the Warrant and the wording of the article.  Marty’s suggestion for wording was “to see if the Town will vote to reject the budget as voted by the School Committee on July 10^th.” Members of the Finance Committee felt that we are not ready to put on an article about ambulance assessment.  Marty mentioned that he would like to send a memo to the other five towns’ select boards and finance committees informing them of the wording of the article and that we are doing this because the new assessment doesn’t provide any relief.  Magi feels that would be superfluous but everyone did talk about a privately-paid postcard going out.  It was figured that the assessment only went down $592 for the Town of New Braintree.  A motion was made to close the Warrant for the STM; it was seconded and unanimously carried.

Waxing the floor in Glidden Hall was mentioned and Richard will be glad to have Mark take care of that but would like to borrow the equipment the school uses as it would cut the time in half.  Katie will check with the school staff.  Richard also indicated at this point that he is replacing the meter on the gas pump at the garage.

Bill praised Julie Rousseau’s work on washing the Town Hall windows.

Magi made a motion to allocate $350 from the Town Hall account for the Town Clerk to buy a computer.  The motion was seconded and unanimously carried.  Dennis will also return the old Town Clerk computer to the Hall.  Magi suggested that Jess try the “Good Stuff” link on the Dell website.

Marty and Magi signed all the letters to the Towns in the three other school districts whose budgets were voted down.  These letters ask the Boards of Selectmen to join New Braintree and Hardwick in their “act of civil disobedience” of refusing to pay amount ordered by the state and paying instead the amount voted at Town meeting.    Magi also pointed out that the new Commissioner of Education has visited “Brockton, Lowell, Fall River, Salem, Lynn, Worcester, Fitchburg and Leominster.” What about the small towns?  Marty has put in a call to Steve Brewer to follow up on the letter requesting a meeting, but Steve has not yet returned the call.

OLD BUSINESS:

Dennis was able to advise that the owner of the property where the Town trees were cut down is Shawn Ryan.

Magi informed the group that Howard has talked to the state about the state regulations relative to the situation with Mr. McCrae.  Marty believes we should consider a cease and desist since we have had no response.  It was suggested that Katie check with Howard first.

Katie was asked to call Eric Lefevre and Arthur Rossi to see if they would be willing to be appointed to the Town Hall Advisory Committee.

If Duncan Stewart didn’t get enough signatures, the Selectmen can appoint him to the Pathfinder School Committee.

CORRESPONDENCE:

Marty suggested that we decline membership in MORE this year.  It’s not an organization scaled for anyone as small as our town.

Cheryl Duval sent us a paper version of the spreadsheet we requested; Katie will make copies for the Finance Committee.

The memo from Kopelman & Paige was given to Dennis.

Street lights were briefly discussed; we have a reduced budget but haven’t actually cut any off yet.

M. Ziff made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m.  It was seconded and unanimously carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Katie J. Tyler

 Katie J. Tyler, Town Secretary