MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING

MONDAY - JANUARY 24, 2005 - 7:00 PM

 

WILLIAM HILTON CENTER

 

PRESENT:     Selectmen Robert Carroll Chairman, Ed Hunt, Anthony Papoulias, Henry Richenburg, Jerry Klima

 

ALSO PRESENT:  Neil Harrington, Town Manager and Janet Flannery, Secretary

 

I.          Call to Order/Salute to the Flag

Chairman Carroll called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM.

 

II.        Acceptance of Minutes

Executive Session Minutes of Dec. 20, 2004

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Voted to approve the Executive Session Minutes of Dec. 20, 2004 as printed.  VOTE: 3 yea’s - Sel. Klima and Papoulias abstained.

 

III.       Old Business

Class I License Renewals:

Ryder Transportation Services - 74 Main St.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to remove from the Table.

Applicant explained that they have a full service lease agreement and at the end of the leasing term the customer has the option to purchase the vehicle.  Presently they represent the following original equipment manufacturers under a full service lease agreement: Navistar International Corp., Volvo Heavy Truck Corp., Mack Truck Corp., Isuzu Trucks LTD, and Freightliner Corp.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to renew the Class I License to Ryder Transportation Services.

 

National Sales - 10 Main St.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to remove from the Table.

Mr. Duchak presented the documentation requested and reiterated that he is an independent new car dealer recognized in Massachusetts as such.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to renew the Class I license for National Sales.

 

IV.       New Business

License Renewals:

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to renew a General license to Black Bear RV’s - 58 Main St.

 

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to renew a Common Victualer license to: Salisbury House of Pizza - 2 Beach Rd.

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING OF JAN. 24, 2005

 

b.  New Licenses - no applications received.

 

c.  Committee Appointments - none

 

d.  Follow up Discussion of FY06 Board of Selectmen/Town Manager Goals & Objectives

Sel. Carroll stated he had updated the Goals & Objectives based on the comments presented at the last meeting and asked if there were any further changes/additions.  Sel. Richenburg suggested adding under public works: public safety to conduct a rate study of the water and sewer rates with a short term and high priority and the individuals involved would be: Sel. Carroll, Jim Dondero from Warrant Advisory, the Town Manager, Andy Gould, and Don Levesque.

Under Social Services Sel. Papoulias suggested changing the priority for the Veteran’s meeting place to a high priority.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to accept the FY06 Goals and Objectives as amended.

 

e.  Board Recommendations for CDBG Activities

Sel. Richenburg said he talked to the Manager and requested that he look at getting a grant to get handicapped bathrooms and an elevator at the Memorial School.  Sel. Hunt said he believed he had suggested this also in the past and to see if some of the block grant money could be used for roads and the Manager said yes they can be so long as it meets with the appropriate criteria.  The Manager suggested a final list be put together with cost estimates for the next meeting.  Sel. Klima said since we are not sure of the long term use of the school, is this something we want to spend grant money on.  Sel. Richenburg agreed, but the present lease is for 3 more years and having handicapped bathrooms and an elevator would enhance the value of the building whether we lease it out again or sell it.

 

f.  Presentation/Update by the Director of the Library

Ms. Terry Kyrios reported that in March they will be celebrating the 110th Anniversary and is confident that the committee established back then would not recognize the library as it is today.

As of today there are two full time and two part time employees, the library is open 32 hours a week, 4 days a week.  There are 4,096 registered borrowers, 28,000 volumes and 50 subscriptions.  Last year there were 82 children’s programs attended by 1800 people.  Total circulation is 23,000 units.  The biggest growth area is books on tape.  Currently her concern is that right now there is a request into the State for a waiver of certification because the Town didn’t meet the minimum Library budget requirement, but she expects she will get it this year, but she doesn’t know what will happen when she doesn’t get it.  She emphasized that it is essential to maintain the certification since Salisbury is part of the MVLC which is a group of 50 libraries, and without the certification patrons cannot borrow from a certified library.  Another concern is with the computers; one of the computers doesn’t interact with the printer and the other doesn’t read information to download forms from the IRS.  Ms. Kyrios stated that the heating and cooling system needs work – it’s quite old and outdated; there are two systems, one electric and the other is gas and neither is very efficient.  Sel. Richenburg suggested having someone look at the heating system and get a price to replace it.

Sel. Hunt said he had done a study of the library hours surrounding towns and most are open Saturday’s and he personally would like to see ours open on Saturday for at least part of the day anyway.  Ms. Kyrios explained that she just picked up a 2nd part time person and the right now the budget is better and they are just comfortable with no extras.  To open Saturday would cut back on book delivery.  She’s had complaints about the traffic pattern and parents don’t want their children there Friday evenings or Saturdays; however, she’s had more requests for Fridays more than any other day.

 

g.  Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Mullen: Request for Hearing Date for Water Access Fee Appeal

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to schedule a Public Hearing on Feb. 28, 2005 at 7:30 PM for Mr. & Mrs. Mullen’s water access fee appeal.

 

V.        Comments by Visitors- none

 

VI.       Sewer/Water

Phoenix Homes Sewer Connection Request

Mr. Gmelch addressed the Board re: this project that received approval from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission, as well as the water and sewer advisory boards.  Currently there are 4 structures and 5 units on the site and his proposal is to replace the 4 structures with 1 structure with 8 units and is requesting permission to tie into the existing sewer line that runs in front of the property.  Sel. Richenburg’s only concern is that the Town is still waiting for a decision from EPA and this would be increasing the use of the sewer.  Sel. Klima agreed to a point, but if the Board stops this and refuses to allow the tie in they are basically stopping improvements on renovations and building on the beach.  He feels the Board needs to discuss what they are going to do and needs to make some compromise or adjustments with the EPA.  He doesn’t think it is fair to stop all improvements. 

Sel. Richenburg said the Board needs to find out from Town Counsel if they would be in violation of the EPA Agreement if they allow this tie-in. 

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Klima; Voted to table this until the next meeting.  VOTE: 4 yea’s - Sel. Hunt opposed.  Motion carried.

 

VII.     Correspondence

·                      Letter of Resignation from Vicki Brown resigning from the License Commission as a commissioner and the secretary effective immediately.  Motion by Sel. Hunt, Seconded by Sel. Richenburg; Unanimously voted not to accept the letter at this time and request the Chairman meet with her to see if the issues can be worked out.

 

 

 

VIII.    Hearings

7:30 PM - Phoenix Homes Water & Sewer Access Fee Appeal

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to open the Hearing at 7:30 PM. 

Andrew Gmelch of Phoenix Homes said the basis for requesting a hearing was because the meters were installed in May of 2004 and they became a customer of Pennichuck Water and they tied into the sewer shortly after becoming a water customer.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to close the hearing at 7:40 PM.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to grant a refund of Mr. Gmelch’s water access fee applied to 14 Atlantic Ave.

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to approve a refund of the sewer access fee paid by Phoenix Homes.

 

IX.       Town Manager’s Report

Mr. Harrington summarized his written report, a copy of which is attached and made a part of these Minutes.

 

X.        Selectmen’s Report

Sel. Richenburg updated the Board on the search for the new Superintendent and gave the updated schedule since tonight’s applicant had to be re-scheduled due to the snowstorm.

 

Sel. Hunt thanked the DPW Dept. for doing such a good job with this storm; they worked long and hard and deserve a lot of credit.

 

Sel. Papoulias asked what is going on with the McKenna property and Mr. Harrington said there was a legal ad in the paper where the Sheriff is having an auction sale on the parcel containing the old gas station, but that is not part of what the new owner has control over.

 

XI.       Executive Session - none

 

XII.     Adjournment

Motion by Sel. Richenburg, Seconded by Sel. Hunt; Unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:20 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Janet Flannery, Secretary

 

Approved:______________________________

     Ed Hunt, Clerk