Shutesbury Board of Selectmen
August 24, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Members present:  Chairwoman Elaine Puleo, Al Springer and Eric Stocker.
Also Present: Administrative Assessor Kenneth Holmberg, Town Administrator Rebecca “Becky” Torres and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge, recording.

Meeting opened at 4:00 P.M. 
A motion was made and seconded to go into executive session for reason #3 – potential litigation, and to resume open meeting following:  Puleo – aye, Springer – aye, Stocker – aye.

At 4:22 PM Selectmen resumed open meeting.

Topics
1.  How to handle the use of legal funds:
* For at least the last 10 years, the Town Administrator has made decisions on use of legal funds except for extraordinary situations.
* Types of routine legal questions that the Town Administrator would approve:  Personnel issues, discrimination, review of contracts, it varies
Becky:  Selectmen need to know what is going on.  How should she communicate the same information to every Selectman without use of email?  When should a meeting be called to decide on the use of legal funds?  Answers included:
* For routine legal matters that won’t cost a lot, just go forward.
* If the Town Administrator feels an urgent need to call the Attorney, go for it.  
* If there is a major problem that will cost a significant sum of money and there is time to call a meeting to get feedback, then the Selectmen should be notified. If the question is time-sensitive and the Selectmen can meet conveniently and quickly they will.
* With some questions there are no options.
Should you go forward or should you not?  And who authorizes funding?  Selectmen may not agree with a department’s decision to go forward.
* In any situation, the Town Administrator can at least make a preliminary call to Town Counsel to evaluate what the recommended course of action might be, how much it might cost to go forward, how long it would take, and if there are better options to pursue

2.  Letter from Daryl Cupak concerning speed bumps at Lake Wyola:
* Concern that someone (children) could be killed by large trucks traveling on Lakeview Road.
* Wants speed bumps.  (Visited his summer home after the first speed bump was removed and before the second bump was installed.)
* Wants hedges trimmed back as much as possible.
Selectmen instructed the Town Administrator to tell Mr. Cupak that the town is working on his request.

3.  Saturday, August 22, 2009 Church Tour:
* The morning tour was attended by Al and Elaine.  Eric stopped by in the afternoon for a second tour.  Elaine described the building and repairs as “amazing.”

4.  Proposed photovoltaic solar array:
* Becky reports that the Daily Hampshire Gazette reporter Nick Grabbe interviewed her regarding the proposed photovoltaic array behind town hall and to expect a story in the paper.
* Becky reports a conversation with Library Director Mary Anne Antonellis who said that:
o The library will not select a site before January.
o The Select Board should move forward with the array behind town hall and if the town hall is the preferred site for a library, they will work around the solar array.
* Becky received only positive responses from the people with whom she has discussed the array.
* Anticipate savings of $600 to $1,000/year.  There will be no power feed back into the grid unless it’s a quiet day on a Sunday when there is little Town Hall activity.
* Use of a larger inverter and any other parts needed to accommodate a larger system, depending on cost, would be preferred to allow room for later growth.
* Eric reports his son Jake claims that some power companies will put a photovoltaic array on the roof and lease the array to the property owner.  The company will sell the power to the property owner cheaper that what the property would normally pay.  Eric will look into this option.

Meeting adjourned at 5:06 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,


Leslie Bracebridge
Administrative Secretary
081216 Select Board 2