Shutesbury Board of Selectmen May 11, 2010 Meeting Minutes Members present: Chairwoman Elaine Puleo, Al Springer and April Stein. Also present: Town Administrator Rebecca Torres and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge. Meeting opened at 7:02 P.M. Appointments Police Chief Harding was not present. Al will represent the Select Board at the Chief’s meeting this week; April will attend on May 21. Topics 1. Fire station gasoline contamination update: Today’s soil sampling efforts included: * 2 holes were drilled in the road: Results were unclear due to erratic readings on the Photo-ionization Detector (PID). Samples were brought back to be screened in an office environment. Results will be sent the Town Administrator for the Board of Selectmen. * The highest reading of the day was under the fire station in the rescue bay. * The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Site Manager Bernard “Ben” Fish was more reluctant to dig under the Fire Station than was O’Reilly, Talbot and Okun (OTO) Licensed Site Professional Jim Okun. Both were in agreement that 100% clean-up will never all be reached. * In addition to readings, samples from every hole were bottled for future reference (so re-drilling won’t be required.) * The town will submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to the Conservation Commission for clean-up digging. Becky will attend the May 27 meeting. OTO will do the required wetland delineation. * $30,000 had been spent on the site prior to today’s testing. * So far, there are few answers to the May 4 Select Board meeting’s list of questions. Becky is charting them as they become known, for the Select Board. * Selectmen discussed the financial advantages of finishing the remediation presently versus long term remediation with a close-out 25 years from now. * If the Fire Station had to come down, there is a federal grant option of $200 million for the entire country with a submission deadline of May 30, for building fire stations. Such a short timeline would be impossible for this round. * Becky will follow up on the federal grant: 1. Identify the project officer to find out if the grant is targeting regional projects or if Shutesbury acting alone could submit a viable application. 2. If regions are not the target audience, she will find out what planning phase we would have to be in to be eligible for applying for funds, and if there will be more similar funding coming out in the future. * With the Brownfields program the town could take out a bond, which would have to be repaid, except for the soil clean-up portion. * LUST funds possibly have to be reimbursed 100%. * If the Fire Station comes down, the only available town funding is cash reserves, or borrowing if the new bill to borrow presently going through the legislature is approved. 2. Solar Panels: Preconstruction meeting: Waterline Vice President of Construction Mike Gerard met with Fall River’s Dana Johnston. They shared packets of information: * They will try to rework the design to allow for an easement between the project and the lot sideline and to not go into the septic system on the east side of the lot. * Waterline has painted the poles white and is repainting them black. * The two firms are challenged to work together with different panel types: o Fall River can only get Evergreen panels and Waterline is using Sharp. Both are using Solectrix inverters. o Fortunately the panels are essentially the same size, with only a little difference in color tint. It will be a good opportunity to compare the effectiveness of the two panel types. * Work on the permitting, to be done by the general contractors, is underway. * Installation deadline is June 30. 3. Amherst K-6 Regionalization Study Committee Update: At its most recent meeting the committee discussed missing elements from the original survey: * Implications if the Amherst and Pelham School Union broke up. * An Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett school union with or without equal representation for all 4 towns: Unions are defined by equal representation which would be 3 votes for each town. * Some people felt unionization is only a step toward regionalization, but a step in the right direction. * Leverett doesn’t want to regionalize with Amherst. The K-6 Regionalization Study Committee concluded it would write up what was originally discussed and written with more detail given to costs on special education. Becky anticipates the report will come out at the end of June or in July. 4. MMA Quinn Bill Survey: * Right now the town is legally obligated to pay both the state’s and the town’s share because the state did not revoke the bill, it only didn’t fund its portion. * Shutesbury accepted the Quinn bill when the town was only paying ½. The contract does not speak to this situation of the state not revoking the bill, just not paying. Revoking is new language. * Selectmen reviewed the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) survey item by item. * The town is paying because there’s no other option, but the Police Department budget line was not increased. The state’s portion of the Quinn bill will come out of that department budget. 5. No motion was made to go into executive session for lot M-30. Select Board Action Items 1. Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the minutes of May 4, 2010 as written. * What are the answers to the May 4 questions? The majority cannot be answered at this point. DEP’s Ben Fish has conditional answers. Answers will be determined by the final plan. * Selectmen have a reference to a business with an excavator readily available and which will allow Shutesbury’s Highway Superintendent to operate it. The price is down due to a lack of construction. * The holes drilled in Leverett Road were easily filled with the purchase of a bag (not a load) of hot patch. Hot patch was the most highly recommended patching material! 2. FRTA Advisory Council Appointment: A senior surrey could be emerging. Currently STAVROS is providing on-demand services. Becky will talk about Shutesbury’s FRTA representative at the next ADA meeting. 3. Selectmen unanimously voted to appoint Brent Allard as Shutesbury’s next Custodian at the second step on the advice of Town Treasurer Voelker. Selectmen unanimously voted to appoint Collette Schmidt as a Fire Fighter. Selectmen signed Personnel Action Forms (PAF’s) for both appointees. 4. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign a maintenance contract with Bigelow Electric Company for both the Town Hall and the Fire Station generators at half the price of the previous maintenance company. 5. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign the Special Event Notification Form and the 1-day alcoholic beverage license for the July 31, 2010 Beer and Wine Tasting Fest at the 6 Shore Drive Lake Wyola Association building. The event has grown larger over the years and parking has expanded to the State Park field. It is a preferred location to the Shutesbury Athletic Club because many people can walk home. Selectmen unanimously voted to sign the special event form and a 1-day liquor license application for the July 10, 2010 Steak and Chicken BBQ and Dance. 6. Select Board Chairman Puleo signed job descriptions that were previously approved. 7. Selectmen signed vendor warrants totaling $126,117.77 and payroll warrants totaling $81,566.48. New Topics 1. Becky will contact the US. Dept. of Justice Office of Community Policing Services which was seeking a Select Board email address to forward an application. 2. The first meeting of the Shutesbury Education Committee is June 1. Selectmen are still waiting for a Finance Committee representative and a Parent Council representative. 3. Becky got some good responses for town meeting as she requested in her Town Administrator’s report: * Concern for when people show up for one article. (This is typical of any town. ) * Concern of the budget being close to the end of the meeting. * Complaint about taxes being too high. The next Select Board meeting is May 25. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:18 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 100511 Selectboard.doc 1