Town of Otis
All Boards Meeting Minutes
January 25, 2010
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm.
Present: Chairman Don Hawley, Andy Pyenson, Donna Thomas, Chris Morris, JoAnn Austin, Joel Morris, Bill Dyer, Diane Dyer, Lyn Minery, Don Chaffee, Arlene Tolopko, Hank Wingate, Howard Levin, Nancy Levin, Sandy Pinkham, Roberta Sarnacki, Russ Loring
Chairman Don Hawley announced at the start of the meeting that it was budget season and budgets are now due. The sooner they are submitted, the happier the Finance Board will be.
Bicentennial Committee: Planning is going really well. They are fine tuning the weekend to see if there are any gaps. The committee figures they will need about $15,000.00 to complete their plans, with money coming back to the town from the sale of the reprinted Barry Hawley books, which are done and ready to be sold. They made over $12,000.00 with the flags, tee shirts, and cookbooks, and hope to make another $5,000.00 with the Hawley books. The Parade Committee is in the process of planning out the parade. Taste of Otis is going great. Ten to twelve restaurants are planning to participate. Tent rentals (60’ x 100’ area) are currently being priced since this is a rain or shine celebration. The fireworks and all
entertainment is set. The class for the Serve Safe has been given to Lynn Pyenson for classes here in town. The Skate Board base is removable and will need to be disassembled for the Bicentennial weekend.
Assessors: Its abatement season and all is fine.
Building Inspector: The new energy upgrade plans for the Town Hall are almost complete and the total project is estimated at $500,000.00, with a payback to the town over a period of ten years. There is a $220,000 energy grant which has already been applied and they are applying for a $150,000 grant for replacing the windows. There will be a special Town Meeting to present the plans and have the community select the outside color. The old steam boiler will become obsolete and the new furnace should be enough to keep the building heated.
Town Clerk: She was busy with the two special state primary and election. The budget for the annual town election will be tight because of the unplanned expenses for the special elections. Dog license notices have been sent out with the town census and are now due. Donna inquired as to whether the state will reimburse for the special elections. They will only reimburse for the three extra hours for having the polls open, but all Town Clerks are tabulating their costs and the state may reimburse for more than planned. We had a turnout of over 50% for the special election.
Cultural Council: They are now beginning their season and there is a published calendar of events for all of the events scheduled by the OCC. The events include kids’ trips, multimedia theater, the Tag Sale on May 29th, and a Harvest Festival, potluck dinner and dance scheduled for October 16th. The Otis Arts Festival is scheduled for July 25th at the Farmington School. The Community Garden is going strong – March 15th is the deadline for share applications.
Fire Dept: December was busy with both chimney and structural fires. Stainless chimney liners aren’t as failsafe as once thought to be. January was quiet. The department has three new members, and the wildfire gear has arrived, with DCR paying for half of the cost. Brush season has begun and is expected to be busy this year due to a lot of branches remaining from the ice storm. The season runs from Jan 15th to May 1st or earlier if the fire chief determines it is too dry to issue brush permits. Sandy praised all the responders who responded to the Tavernia house fire – they were able to contain it so it didn’t become a worst case scenario. And the coordinated effort from
the mutual aid companies was very much appreciated. With the donations the Volunteer Fire Dept. has received, they have been able to purchase a 2005 Polaris 6 x 6, which has a skid unit to carry water and other necessities, including a stretcher. The town may need to start looking at the cost of replacing its Rescue truck. It is currently fifteen years old, doesn’t have a lot of miles, but has been used heavily. Engine One is a 1992 model, but it’s still in really good shape and runs great.
Historical: Hank noted with great sadness that Richard and Dorothy Theriault had resigned from the Historical Commission, but he was glad to note that we had helped Richard achieve the designation of the 65 Mile Marker as a scenic road so it will be protected from wear and tear. We helped him reach the goal he wanted for the town back in 1972. They will be returning as guides for the Bicentennial celebration. Judy Mabee is the newest committee member and she is interested in digitizing the old records for the town’s archives.
Library: The Maintenance department has done quite a lot to improve the appearance of the library and the trustees are very grateful. Also, Bob Rocke installed the five new computers and monitors for the public’s use. WMECO will be installing new energy saving fixtures tomorrow. The trustees are submitting requests for CWMARS (Central Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing network) so the library can extend its limited collection to the millions of books and resource materials available through CWMARS, which is Commonwealth wide. This will put our students’ on a par with the rest of the commonwealth. In addition to a request of funds from the town,
they are also submitting several grant requests to cover the cost of this application. It was noted we may need to request additional funds under a warrant article for either a special town meeting or the annual town meeting.
Maintenance: They’ve worked on the library, completed the facelift for the Rec. center, and still need to build shelving in the boiler room for the Rec. center. CET came in two weeks ago and insulated the Erbe building, sealed the cracks, but they couldn’t insulate the ceiling because part of the roof needs to be stripped. This will have to wait until the spring. Larry is working with CET to determine if they can do it or if we need a private contractor to finish the job. Andy reminded Don of the Kiwanis Valentine’s Dinner for the seniors.
Planning: There will be no February meeting because there won’t be a quorum. The board is now working very well together. John Kelly from Blandford, who has installed the experimental wind tower and has been instrumental in working with wind energy issues, made a presentation to the board regarding issues related to installing wind turbines and utilizing wind power. He also stated he would be available to help with setting up bylaws for the town on this matter. We’ve gotten model bylaws from Berkshire Regional Planning.
Police Dept: The new Expedition still needs a light bar and push bar installed. The new Police Dept. patches are coming in, the In Service training has begun, the first of three has been completed, department meetings have begun, officers are now working details, and staffing is still in question. The new vehicles have been fitted with State and County digital radio systems. There was leftover grant money that was used for these installations. The handhelds are still good, although some need to be refurbished and fitted with new batteries. Heather has scheduled another Emergency Management meeting. The flyover request for the Bicentennial is in progress.
Recreation: The Rec. center is now adding bowling passes to be issued to residents. We have begun a new Pilates class that is being very well attended. It’s being taught by a local resident and is very popular. We have almost two hundred people signed up to use the Rec. center. There was discussion as to why the Rec. Dept. had hired someone to clean for what appeared to be the rate of $20.00 per hour. It turned out that the person was sanitizing the equipment and children’s toys for a flat rate of $20.00 per week regardless of the time spent cleaning. The timesheets for the Rec. Dept. do not reflect a flat rate category. The Select Board couldn’t understand why someone from outside the town
departments was apparently hired at a rate higher than what the town’s maintenance department was making. The board now understood what was being presented on the warrants, but suggested something like this be brought up at an All Boards meeting in the future to avoid any misunderstandings.
East Otis Church : The ownership is off grantors list of deeds. One deed that Diane Dyer found refers to a “school lot” but since Otis had eight school districts around the 1840’s, it’s uncertain what school is being referenced in the deed. Back then, compensation was usually given for a school lot.
Scholarship Committee: We are getting transcripts in and are getting ready to send out checks. New applications have been sent to the schools for June graduates.
School: Professional Development Day will be held March 12th – this will include the Ethics training that town employees have gone through. JoAnne presented to the board a very detailed list of what the Farmington River School District is doing to cut back on their expenses in order to meet the budget deficit created from the cutbacks from the state. This list included voluntary furlough hours for several employees, as well as early retirees who won’t be replaced. Some programs have also been either cut or scaled back. Our students have benefitted from having the Berkshire Theater Festival in fall residence here. The kids have written their own plays and worked in ensemble productions. There is also a project where afghans
are being knitted for foster children in Springfield, so these children have something permanent to keep with them. The school committee members have also volunteered as substitutes when they have time to help out.
Smart Growth: Ed Partyka has been fantastic, he worked more hours than he billed, and the committee would like to use him again next year to help with new issues for new bylaws. They are continuing with a water area zone around the major bodies of water to make rulings easier for the Zoning Board.
Technology Committee: Next meeting will be Feb. 16th. Before then there are two broadband meetings in Northampton regarding getting FIOS into Western Mass.
The Quilter’s will be asked to present their Bicentennial Quilt at the beginning of the Annual Town Meeting in May.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:23 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
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