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DOCUMENT : 2011-12-06-minutes-4789.txt
BOARD    : select-board
DATE     : 2011-12-06
KIND     : minutes
OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2011-12-06-minutes-4789.txt
TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_12062011-4789
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===OCR macOS Vision===
===PAGE 1===
Ernie - new program on Chanel 9 cable station exploring the Cowdrey Conservation Land later this evening and again later in the
week.
Dave - Giftmart Announcement - The holidays are fast approaching; the third annual PTO sponsored Giftmart is on Saturday,
December 17th. The Lunenburg Giftmart was created in 2009 because of a need in our own community. Due to a lagging economy we
all find ourselves facing choices about where our money will go. There are families in our community who have no resources for
traditions such as gift giving. Through the generosity of individuals and businesses Giftmart offers an opportunity for families in need to
"shop" for free. The committee is collecting new, unwrapped items such as: Toys Holiday decorations, sports equipment or team
apparel, toiletries, clothing (coats, sweaters, mittens, books, gloves, pajamas), holiday attire, DVDs, arts and crafts, CDs, ANYTHING
YOU WOULD GIVE OR LIKE TO RECEIVE IS APPROPRIATE. Donations can be dropped off at the Lunenburg Public Library, the
Boys and Girls Club at the Chester Mossman Teen Center and at New Outlooks through the week ending 12/16. To also be posted on
the website.
Tree Lighting ceremony on the lower common tomorrow evening @6:00 PM.
APPOINTMENTS
7:30 PM Amory Phelps, applicant for appointment to Historical Commission - of 123 Leominster Road came before the board for
an interview as she is interested in serving on the Historical Commission. Interested as she lives in the historical district and in an
historic home and would like to give back to the community in that regard. She was a district sales manager for Xerox and has lived in
many different states and gravitated to the historical communities. Has lived in Lunenburg for 12 years and believes she has a lot to
offer the community.
Dave commented that we had another applicant in a couple of weeks ago and as such the members would like for a full board to be
present before making their appointment.
CURRENT BUSINESS
1. Review request to extend Cell Antenna Lease by T-Mobile for Town Hall location - lease coming up for renewal and Kerry is
following up with Town Counsel. She has surveyed local communities and we are on the high end of what other communities are
receiving. Noted that they are looking for a 20% decrease in the rent. Still reviewing the information and will work to finalize for the
board.
2. Request to Adopt Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement - Board will review the attached information that they received tonight.
According to Kerry the state is looking to have all 351 communities to "opt in" to this program as members we could access equipment
that neighboring communities may have if and when it is needed,. She has had the document reveiwed by department heads and they
are recommending the board adopt both the DPW and Public Safety Mutual Aid Agreements. She would like to address this again in
January in order to be able to schedule people to come in to discuss with the board
Ernie noted the lack of abutting cities not being on the attached list and questioned if there is any particular reason or whether they just
haven't gotten around to accepting the agreements yet. Kerry will contact our neighbors that are not on the list and question what their
intentions are with regards to these two laws.
3. Request to Abate Ambulance Bill, Bill Number LB119675 - $199.97 applicant received service in March 2011, Medicare has
made payment and the $199.97 is the balance due and applicant meets the eligibilty to have this bill abated. Ernie move to abate in the
amount of $199.97, Steve seconded, voted unanimously. Dave questioned status of information on the ambulance billing increase that
was requested previously from the Fire Chief. Kerry will check into this.
4. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues - no minutes. Warrants; #33 12,
12/6/11 - $215,646.58, #34 12, 12/7/11 - $158,633.40 &
#12P12, 12/8/11 - $671,355.74, also second quarterly water billing commitment reveiwed and signed.
===PAGE 2===
• IV
to begin forming the "School Building Committee".
• Loxi is also reviewing the projected enrollments and the Superintendent will provide
more information at the School Committee meeting tomorrow evening.
6. Department Reports - DPW Director Jack Rodriquenz provided an update on the storm cleanup and Townsend Harbor/Mulpus
Road intersection.
According to Jack, MEMA advised us of the state bid vendor, AshBritt and we were able to obtain their services and worked with them
initially on the emergency clean up, which was at no cost to the town as MEMA picked up the costs for the initial cleanup within days of
the storm. Decision was made to continue with AshBritt in lieu of going out to bid as we had compiled an estimate on the debris within
the right of way. High end cost projection then was at $250,000. There was since then the time lapse and the pressure mounted to
remove roadside debris asap. A vote of this board allowed the residents to bring their debris curbside to get rid of the debris but by
allowing the residents to bring their debris caused the volumne to double and triple in some areas. Needless to say, the original
numbers are drawied now by the increased volume. As such, the original estimate is likely to double. O'Brien Environmental Services
Iso state bid vendor) has been responsible for calcultina the actual hangers and debris within the roadway. The material goes
ancaster and as such we were able to share the expense of the monitors who gage the loads that come in from our town. DPW ha
been out each and every day cutting and chipping and removing those hangers. Provided a cumulative totals provided from O'Brien's.
Police details and monitors are part of each cleanup crew and is part of the FEMA reimbursement. They also work a full day on
Saturday and Sunday. Estimates that we're just over 1/3 completed, northeast section of town was the hardest hit.
Kerry questioned 1/3 of town or 1/3 of debris and according to Jack, we're at 1/3 of the town. He estimates that the cumulative totals
estimate now many more days would be involved in the cles up as its dificult to know how many trucks crews all be in town. We had
planned on a December 15' date and they're still holding close to that date, weather permitting
Ernie questioned how we could have a faster response so that we don't have this type of response from the residents that would
increase the debris within the right of way; a faster way to get the inspection done so that we don't have this accumulation of debris.
Jack would like to piggy back with Leominster for pre-disaster contract for cleanup as they are currently working on drafting a bid
document and would therefore already have a vendor available to set into motion clean up processes faster. People should take care
of their own property, they seem to have an expectation as a result of the ice storm that the town is going to take care of the debris. Flip
side is, is this something that we're going to provide to our residents?
Ernie questioned if we were to go with the Leominster bid, would we still be eligible for reimbursements?
id, would we stil be eligible for reiml
According to Jack, they (vendor) would be required to follow the (MEMA/FEMA) guidelines. The appropriate way to be prepared is to
have a vendor in place. Residents should know that for every pile that is put curbside, it ultimately will be a cost borne by the residents
of the town.
Kerry noted that if we had a vendor in place, it would have saved us days but not weeks. We couldn't have gotten out much more than
a week sooner based upon the information that was received from MEMA/FEMA. It's a very difficult and frustrating issue to deal with as
telling people not to put debris by the side of the road is not going to prevent them from doing that. We're either going to do it, or not
going to pick it up and don't know how we don't do it.
That is why Ernie is questioning why and if we could get a faster response to limit the amounts that are placed out there.
Kerry believes that we have to communicate to MEMA and FEMA what our needs our as she believes their response was much faster
from the 2008 storm, we need them to react faster.
According to Jack, there is a protocol that the vendors would have to comply with and noted that we're a service community and not
here to judge what people do.
Dave noted that the reason the board decided to go with the cleanup the way we did was because we're anticipating FEMA
reimbursement and as the days went on the piles got higher and higher. We took the information that was given to us and waited for
FEMA to give us the information and we moved forward. Either way we're going to have a substantial amount of money that we'll have
to come up with to clean up the town and we'll have to deal with this in the spring town meeting.
===PAGE 3===
workload done would be to contract out many of the duties or have them provided by a part time seasonal laborer. This was the
process that we did this past year and agreed that we would follow this again next season. Two other vacancies, equipment operator
and facilities maintenance postions are both being advertised and anticipate having those positions filled by the end of this year.
Ernie requested a project list from the DPW Director on all the projects that they are involved with and where each one stands, special
projects that should be on a schedule, so that they don't get put aside. Kerry does have a draft and it was her intent that during the
budget process, this will be submitted. She is putting together on an annual basis, the workload, say in the spring and given the current
staffing levels how long would it take to complete three months worth of work.
Ernie would like to know where the particular problems lie and how could we get them organized and accomplished in a timely manner.
Steve questioned whether there is currently a work order system in place and according to Kerry we do and have been more diligent in
utilizing this system.
Update on Street Light Issue - Kerry has continued to work with Unitil on this, will provide future update.
Update on October Storm -
Update on Temporary Fix to Mulpus Road / Townsend Harbor Road intersection - Kerry will schedule tree trimming and
installation of signage with the DPW Director.
OLD BUSINESS
COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS
1. Historical Commission -
EXECUTIVE SESSION
None
UPCOMING MEETING SCHEDULE
December 13, 2011
December 20, 2011
Being no further business board voted unanimously to adjourn Regular Session at 8:20 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Caron-Gustus, Chief Administrative Assistant
Board of Selectmen
===PAGE 4===
Chief Admin. Asst.
MEMORANDUM
To: Board of Selectmen
KAS
From: Kerry A. Speidel, Town Manager
Date: December 6, 2011
Subject: DPW Staffing Levels
You have requested that I provide an update on staffing levels within the Department of Public
Works. The Department employs the current staff.
Administration:
1. Director, Jack Rodriquenz
2. Administrative Assistant, Amanda Moore
Facilities:
3. Facilities Manager, James Breault
4. PT Building Maintenance, Vacant
Sewer Enterprise:
5. Sewer Business Manager, Barbara Lefebvre
6. Sewer Technician, Corey Dowd
Highway
7. Highway Supervisor, James Gendron
8. Equipment Operator, Joe Progin
9. Equipment Operator, Mike Roberts
10. Equipment Operator, Vacant
===PAGE 5===
. Cemetery:
Fleet Maintenance:
11. Cemetery Supervisor, Greg Bingham
12. Dana Thibeault, Mechanic
13. Greg Smith, Mechanic's Assistant
... Parks:
14. Parks Supervisor, Vacant** duties contracted out or provided by temporary, seasonal
labor, per agreement with the Parks Commission
Presently there are two vacancies: Equipment Operator and PT Building Maintenance. Both
positions are currently advertised and the positions are expected to be filled be the end of the
calendar year. The Equipment Operator position recently became vacant when the incumbent,
Greg Smith, transferred from that position to the Mechanics' Assistant position last month,
upon the retirement of Peter Fiandaca. The PT Building Maintenance position had been filled
on a temporary basis with the anticipation that the temporary employee would be converted to
regular status, however, the incumbent was let go for performance issues.
It is my intent to include funding for a FT Building Maintenance position in the FY13 budget, as
well as to include funding for a minimum of one additional staff member within the Highway
Division. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
/kas
===PAGE 6===
Chief Admin. Asst.
MEMORANDUM
To: Board of Selectmen
From: Kerry A. Speidel, Town Manager
Date: December 6, 2011
Subject: Municipal Electric Aggregation
Last week, we received approval of our Municipal Electric Aggregation petition filed with the
Department of Public Utilities on March 24, 2011. The approval process was lengthy, far
lengthier than anticipated, due to the fact that our petition was considered by the DPU with
similar petitions filed by the Town of Ashland and the Town of Lanesborough. These two
communities are served by National Grid and Western Massachusetts Electric Company,
respectively, who were not as prepared to address the issues of aggregations, as was our
electric utility provider, Unitil.
Upon receiving approval of our petition, Colonial Power, our consultant, immediately solicited
bids from electric supply brokers. Bids were received from ConEdison Solutions and Gexa
Energy. These bids are "indicative bids," meaning that they are not 100% firm until a contract is
signed. Based upon these bids, it appears that the best option to accept is a 1-year lock from
ConEdison Solutions at a rate of 7.41 cents per kWh. Colonial Power indicated that rates this
low on the retail market, haven't been seen since prior to Hurricane Katrina, which was in
Spring 2005. As such, I have asked Colonial Power to prepare the contract documents for
signature.
Unitil has recently bid its supply for the period of December 1, 2011 - May 31, 2012. Unitil
received a bid of 8.175 cents per kWh. This savings of 0.765 cents per kWh translates into a
savings of approximately $7 per month for the average household.
As a point of reference, the Town receives a rate of 6.96 cents per kWh under its municipal
building aggregation plan. This rate is more competitive for the following reasons:
1. We are able to procure supply on a wholesale market due to the size of the aggregation;
and
===PAGE 7===
2. The payment risk to the wholesaler is nearly non-existent as all customers in the
aggregation are municipalities.
If enough municipalities aggregate their residential and commercial supply, we may have an
opportunity to bid on the wholesale market at some point in the future.
We are in a position to offer this rate effective January 1, 2012. Next week, all Lunenburg
customers will receive notification from the Town of this opportunity. Included in the
notification will be an "Opt-Out" card. Anyone not wanting to participate in the aggregation
can simply return the Opt-Out card. An Opt-Out card can be submitted at any point in time.
This is truly a great opportunity for Lunenburg residents and businesses to save money by
participating in the Municipal Aggregation Plan.
/kas
===PAGE 8===
Jan-May 2012
0.0771
Jan-Dec 2012
0.0741
Jan 2012-Dec 2013
0.075*
Jan 2013-Dec 2013
NA
Jan 2014 - Dec 2014
NA
Jan 2012 - Dec 2014 NA
0.07751 (Res)
0.07524 (Comm)
0.07516 (Res)
0.0731 (Comm)
0.07694 (Res)
0.07475 (Comm)
0.07851 (Res)
0.07619 (Comm)
0.08236 (Res)
0.07987 (Comm
0.07853 (Res)
0.07625 (Comm