Shutesbury Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes January 23, 2007 Members present: Chairman Rebecca Torres, Debra Pichanick and Ralph Armstrong. Also Present: Town Administrator David C. Dann and Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Interested residents present for the entire meeting: Al Springer and Stephen Puffer. Meeting opened at 7:10 P.M. Appointments Police Officer in Charge Kenneth Hartwright: * Recent call activity: Missing person, car fire, tree blocking Montague Road, motor vehicle accident on Route 202, stolen motor vehicle. * Reviewed recent and upcoming officer training. * All the new radios are installed and officers can talk to each other. * All staffing schedules are covered. In response to an inquiry, Ken reported that the old police radios are available for possible emergency management use, if needed. In the presence of Right of Way Manager for Verizon Andrew Hufnagel, and with approximately 25 residents in attendance, Selectmen unanimously voted to open a public hearing at 7:35 P.M concerning a Verizon petition to locate a concrete pad and cabinet in the right of way on West Pelham Road, approximately thirty-three feet in a northerly direction from the center line of Baker Road, for the fiber fed distribution of intelligence and telecommunications to the surrounding area. Discussion included: * There would be no gift of $10,000 to the town for this box, unlike a few years ago when a Verizon building was placed on school property. This box will be located on a public right-of-way, * MGL Ch. 166§22 gives utilities authority for confidentiality and installation of such facilities. * Replacing the old and often failing copper fed wiring with fiber” all the way up from Amherst will improve telephone line service as well as offer DSL to approximately 250 Verizon customers. * Select Board approval of the petition tonight, would likely mean that excavation for the cabinet could begin when the roads no longer need snow plowing this spring. Public input included: * There is a “tremendous” need for DSL in all of Shutesbury for all residents and particularly for those with home-based employment. * Eliminate snakes that are nesting in the existing cabinet and causing line trouble. * Accompanied by her husband Thomas, Diane Houston said, “As abutters we have no objection to the installation and would like to see it happen.” * Customers on Leverett Road are sometimes without a phone from 5-7 days. They hope the box located on school grounds will be updated soon also. In the absence of any voiced opposition of this measure by those present, Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the Verizon petition for a concrete pad and cabinet location on West Pelham Road, 33 feet north of the center line of Baker Road. Topics 1. In the presence of Lake Wyola property owners John Gory and Robert Thompson, Ralph reviewed his notes of the Saturday, January 20, 2007 Lake Wyola Advisory Committee (LWAC) and Dam Management Committee meeting: * Robert Thompson served as a temporary chairman for the Jan. 20 meeting. * Selectmen need to plan what to do next for the dam at their February 6 meeting. * Repairs will be very expensive. * Former LWAC Committee Chairman and former Dam Management Committee Chairman William “Bill” Elliot (not present at this 1/23 meeting) classified the dam (at the 1/20 meeting) to be at the Emergency Action Plan’s Level I status. * Multiple funding possibilities were suggested to cover the repairs. * Selectmen will need to take a lead role to accomplish the necessary permitting tasks if corrective actions are to be made in 2007. * Lake Wyola Manager Frank Buntin will ask his supervisor if the Department of Conservation and Recreation would consider helping with repair costs. * The consensus of those present on January 20 was not to consider giving dam ownership over to the state. Answers to the questions of why a special town meeting is needed to secure funds for permitting, when it is neither settled whether the dam be removed or repaired nor if the corrective actions recommendations in the Lake Wyola Dam Inspection report will be approved by the Office of Dam Safety: * Drawdown permitting would be needed for either repair or removal. * The permitting process could take 3 to 6 months. Waiting for the May Annual Town Meeting for permitting funding would not allow enough time to be ready for a fall 2007 drawdown. * Fall 2007 was seen as the baseline for repairs in the decision to refill the lake. Other discussion included: * Lowering the Lake a foot or two until repairs were completed, in an effort to limit the town’s liability from downstream damage in the event of a dam failure, and to allow some extra leeway before over-topping in the event of a heavy storm would leave some shore front property owners in the shallow cove areas without water. * The Personnel Board is exploring ways to assume Bill’s lake monitoring duties. The Select Board hopes to have a response to the Lake Wyola Dam Inspection report back from the state Office of Dam Safety when they consider next steps for the Lake Wyola Dam at their February 6 meeting. 2a. Planning Board Chairman Deacon Bonnar met with Selectmen to discuss the development of a proposed wind turbine bylaw. Becky gave Ralph the gavel and moved to the audience, due to her conflict of interest. * The Planning Board is “shy on time” and hopes that another group will conduct “the necessary back and forth” of differing points of view, before a proposed wind turbine bylaw gets to the Planning Board. * Town Counsel Donna MacNicol recommended a bylaw for wind turbines to be written separately from the telecommunications tower bylaw, and that both be contained within an “umbrella” category in the zoning bylaws, thus allowing for any future similar bylaw. She also recommended that changes be made to the telecommunications bylaw to remove references to other kinds of towers. * The Energy Committee will look at a draft wind turbine tower bylaw at their February 12 meeting. Deacon said, “The more input from the public the better.” * David will contact the Energy Committee to determine if they want to take responsibility for developing a wind tower bylaw or if they would like the Board of Selectmen to appoint a sub-committee to develop a wind tower bylaw. * David will also contact the Ethics Commission to be sure that anyone considered for a committee that creates a wind turbine bylaw would neither have a conflict of interest nor be discriminated against unnecessarily due to a false impression of a conflict of interest. * The decision of whether to couple a wind tower bylaw with the current revised zoning bylaw at the annual town meeting vote or leave it separate will be decided at a later time. 2b. Deacon discussed proposed revisions to the current Stripping of Soil and Loam general bylaw with the Selectmen. Selectmen voiced their support of the Planning Board incorporating regulation of this land use into the zoning bylaw and transferring permitting authority from the Board of Selectmen to the Planning Board. Deacon said that the current application for a stripping of soil and loam permit was created with the hope that the Planning Board could use it later. 2c. Deacon and Selectmen reviewed timelines to be followed to have the revised zoning bylaws ready for consideration at the May 5, 2007 Annual Town meeting. 3. Selectmen left the meeting hurriedly in hopes of hearing the end of President Bush’s state of the nation address. They did not review the Snow Emergency procedure. Select Board Action Items 1. With Rebecca not voting on the acceptance of the January 8 Select Board meeting minutes, due to her conflict of interest on the topic of the proposed wind turbine behind town hall, and with a correction to clarify that Rebecca had a conflict of interest, and not a conflict, and to separate out that Debra did not have a conflict of interest, and to correct Debra’s initials from DB to DP, the Selectmen approved the January 8 minutes of the joint meeting of the Energy Committee and the Board of Selectmen. 2. Unanimously voted to sign vendor warrants in the total amount of $516,186.65 and payroll warrants in the total amount of $76,401.41. 3. Unanimously voted that the Town Clerk serve as Shutesbury’s liaison to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the 2010 federal census. Walk-Ins Resident Steve Puffer reported that a beech tree near his driveway had dropped limbs on the road. He expressed concern that if a school bus had been going by at the time, it would have been very dangerous. He noted several marked trees on town highways but had not been able to reach the Tree Warden. Ralph praised Steve’s “Good point.” This year’s tree removal budget is already spent. Selectmen will invite Tree Warden Tom Houston to a Select Board meeting to discuss the liability potential and what trees the utilities remove. David recommended the under funded tree warden’s budget be increased by $500 every year. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:30 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 070123 Select Board 1