Town of Otis
All Boards Meeting Minutes
February 22, 2010
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm.
Present: Chairman Don Hawley, Andy Pyenson, Donna Thomas, Chris Morris, JoAnn Austin, Lyn Minery, Bill Dyer, Diane Dyer, Hank Wingate, Mary Anne Cicchillo, Tom Ragusa, Bill Taylor, Dan Hamill, Chris Bouchard, Sonia Morrison Kobrin, Roberta Sarnacki, Russ Loring
Chairman Don Hawley announced at the start of the meeting that those who have not submitted their budgets need to get them in. Also, the Town had just been notified today that we were awarded the $150,000 grant that we applied for to use in conjunction with the grant for the energy upgrades to the Town Hall. Chairman Hawley also announced that the Town Hall will not be available for outside activities from the early spring until the energy upgrade has been completed on the building. This is because the gym will be used to house materials for the upgrade, and the conference room will be utilized to handle employees when each of their offices is in the renovation process. JoAnn Austin announced the school would make arrangements to be available, but they will need
to have the school free during the month of August to prepare for the new school year. This means the Community Garden will not be able to use the Town Hall grounds until after the upgrade has been completed. The town needs to discuss other locations with the Community Garden group to relocate the garden this year.
Assessors: They are plugging along. A few people have applied for abatements. The office is making money.
Bicentennial Committee: A few glitches have come up here and there. The Barry Hawley books are in and are ready for sale at $15.00 each in the Town Clerk’s office. They still need a list of the locations of the historical places along the bike tour stops – Bob Rosen needs this list. The games need sponsors for each one to volunteer to set up and supervise the games.
Town Clerk: The Rabies Clinic will be held March 13th in the town gym and micro-chipping for your pets will also be available that day for a $30.00 fee. Rabies shots are $12.00 each. Annual License list has been sent out to the Division of Local Services. The second town census mailing is getting ready to be sent out due to over 150 households not responding. The Division of Local Mandates has asked for all costs and expenses for the Special Election and Primary. They are compiling all of this information and we may be able to get a full reimbursement for those elections. Bulletin Board notices need to be time stamped in the clerk’s office before posting.
Fire Dept: There were a few calls, nothing too major. The Buffalo is still being worked on, and there is still hope it will be running for the Bicentennial parade.
Highway Dept: It has been a challenging winter – the crew has encountered snow drifts where none had existed before. The landscape has changed from the damage of last year’s ice storm. $3 Million of the state funds for the storm are going to 11 towns around the Boston area, while only $2.5 Million is being disbursed among 140 communities outside of the Boston area. Come springtime, we need to establish an eight foot square base for the Bicentennial sculpture being created by Mr. Chandler.
Historical: Tom Ragusa presented the finalized topographic map showing the path of the Great Road (aka the Knox Trail) through the Town of Otis. The commission has decided a good name for the Otis section of the trail would be the Knox Freedom Hiking Trail. Tom is still working on the interpretations of the various cellar holes he has found along the trail. He thought it would be nice if the Town presented a certificate of appreciation to Bob Brown, the gentleman who volunteered a lot of his time to help Tom chart the three mile trail.
Library: Everything is running smoothly. Elder Services came by to inquire about sponsoring someone for training on a volunteer basis. And the Incorporation papers for the library were finally found. Diane Dyer presented the selectmen with a framed copy of the papers. The papers were found hanging up on the wall in plain sight the whole time everyone was trying to find them.
Police Dept: Both new vehicles are in town and in service. Brian Arnold has been hired as a per-diem police officer for the town. Members will be doing In Service training this month and next. The new police Dept. patches have arrived and were given to the selectmen. The status of the two old vehicles will be discussed at the next select board meeting.
Recreation: The Rec. center will be submitting a capital expense warrant item of approximately $5,000.00 for the annual town meeting for developing the Knox Freedom Hiking Trail. This project will install a permanent walking trail for the scenic road, probably in phases. Moorings are becoming a problem at the Town Beach. The Rec. Commission needs to get in touch with DCR to see what can be done to both satisfy the residents and keep the moorings from encroaching on the public swim area. The Beach stickers for 2010 will be the Transfer station stickers. If someone wants only the Beach Sticker, it will only be $5.00.
Rescue Squad : Chris Bouchard will bring up the EMTs on duty for the Bicentennial. Medical Control at Fairview Hospital still needs to sign off in order for the town to apply for a three year waiver for first responders. Two people need to be enrolled each year to keep this going. Regionalization is still of interest, but is on hold until the waiver issue is settled. Mutual aid with Sandisfield seems to be turning into primary care and that wasn’t the original intention of mutual aid.
Scholarship Committee: All checks except one have been sent out to the award recipients. The remaining student has yet to respond.
School: The town and the school office will start going through the budget this coming Wednesday. There have been no roof leaks this year. The second floor rug, which is ten years old, is pulling up in some spots and is becoming a safety hazard, so it has been put into the budget. Also, the door locksets are going to need to be replaced.
School Committee: JoAnn Austin is doing a great job with the budget cuts.
Technology Committee: The fiber optic consortium for the Western Mass. Communities has supplied a warrant article to be placed on the annual town meeting for the fiber network. The article is asking the town to give the select board permission to join a consortium of towns forming a group to guarantee fiber optic internet, television, and telephone service to every home who wants it. No one will be left out. None of the towns will be funding this group. However, the group will need to borrow federal money at a low loan rate. Once the loan is paid off, any revenue will be paid back to each participating town based upon the number of residents using this service. People will be paying the same amount or less as what homes are currently paying for. And fiber will be able to upload and download a lot faster than what we currently have. This will give our students a far more competitive edge than what they currently have, as well as enhancing service to home businesses. The
Vermont rural group gave a presentation of what they have already successfully implemented. We are looking to have this article on the annual town meeting warrant.
Census: The Census will be conducting training at the Recreation Center this week. The US Census is looking for a good count of our population so we can properly represent our community for government services and delegate representation. The Census is also conducting testing one day a week at the town hall and is looking for residents to take the exam.
Energy Committee: We have a $200,000.00 grant to insulate the town hall and a $150,000.00 window grant for the energy upgrade to the Town Hall for this year. We have just gone out for bid on the project this week. We will have a Special Town Meeting in March to explain the upgrades to the town hall and we will need additional money to complete this project. There are also plans for an informational meeting the week before the special town meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio, Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
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