# select-board — 16 documents, concatenated for reading and search # # This is a CONVENIENCE BUNDLE, not a source. Every document below is # published separately and byte-identically; cite the individual file, # whose path is given in each header, rather than this bundle. # Index of all boards: https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/minutes/INDEX.txt # The town's own scanned original is linked per document. ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-10-agenda-5061.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-10 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-10-agenda-5061.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01102017-5061 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN January 10, 2017 7:00 PM – Town Hall Bilotta Meeting Room, Second Floor AGENDA In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. 7:00 PM PUBLIC COMMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS APPOINTMENTS 7:05 PM Cannabis Cultivation Discussion- Brian Striar 7:20 PM T. Williams- Application for a Common Victualer License CURRENT BUSINESS 1. New Public Records Law –effective Jan. 1, 2017- Records Access Officer(s) designation discussion 2. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues 3. Committee Reports: Board of Health; Building Reuse Committee; Cable Advisory Committee; Capital Planning Committee; Conservation Commission;Finance Committee; Library Board of Trustees; MART Advisory; MPO; Planning Board; PACC; School Committee; School Building Committee; Sewer Commission; Storm Water Task Force; ZBA 4. Town Manager Reports or Department Reports -ACO Quarterly Report INTERVIEWS/APPOINTMENTS/ RE-APPOINTMENTS/ RESIGNATIONS Acting Town Manager Appointments: Inspector of Wires – John Biery, 15 Crescent Road, Lunenburg Assistant Inspector of Wires- David Stone, 83 Arbor Street ADJOURN UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE January 17 February 7 February 14 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-10-minutes-5061.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-10 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-10-minutes-5061.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01102017-5061 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall January 10, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met in the Lunenburg Town Hall, Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Paula Bertram, Member and Acting Town Manager Adam Burney Not present: Phyllis Luck, Member The meeting commenced at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Toale announced the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast is tomorrow from 8-11 a.m. at the Eagle House Senior Center. Cost is $2 per person. Take-out is available. There is a member at large position vacancy on the Senior Citizen Property Tax Work Off Committee. Anyone with tax knowledge is an added plus but this is not necessary to fill the position. If you are interested in serving please submit a talent bank form to the Board of Selectmen office. Forms are in Town Hall or on the website. John Baker, 53 Chase Road, presented to express opposition to any kind of a marijuana store being opened in Lunenburg following the passing of Question #4. Sue Doherty, Council on Aging Director, came in to clarify the Sand for Seniors Program. This was started by Outreach Coordinator Faith Anderson about three or four years ago. The purpose was to provide 5 gallon buckets of sand to elders aged 60 years and older and disabled people who find it difficult to get out and sand their driveways and walkways. This is being done in conjunction with the Fire Department which received a grant for smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. They deliver the sand and while there inspect the detectors to make sure they are in working order. The grant will pay for new detectors for those in need. This program does not replace the public access sand suspension at Public Works. She stated if you can't get out and get your sand, contact the Senior Center. Anyone looking for sand can contact all local sand and gravel businesses. APPOINTMENTS Cannabis Cultivation Discussion Brian Striar of Striar Development Corporation and Four Daughters Compassionate Care appeared about a proposal for a cannabis cultivation project. Mr. Striar primarily a real estate developer, was awarded a license in Sharon in June 2016 to construct a 31,000 square foot building and medical marijuana dispensary. He stated he is exploring constructing a greenhouse for marijuana cultivation in Lunenburg and was seeking feedback from the Board. The project would be a 200,000-400,000 square foot greenhouse with a 30,000 square feet warehouse for processing and storage. Ms. Bertram asked if the facility would be for cultivation of medical or recreational marijuana. Mr. Briar stated he would prefer to do both. She asked if the processing would include edibles. He stated there would be a processing element in the warehouse for drying, curing and processing/packaging for edibles and for shipping to other locations. Mr. Alonzo asked if the Town medical dispensary bylaw allows for something of this size and is it just for medical use. Mr. Burney stated according to section 4.1642, cultivation and/or agricultural processing is allowed in all districts by right if the applicant is eligible for protection under section 4.13(b), the agricultural ===PAGE 2=== exemption under the town bylaw and M.G.L. c. 40A § 3. Any cultivation in a building requires a special permit for the construction of the indoor facility. He can grow the marijuana outside without a special permit. Mr. Alonzo asked since the Town has no bylaw to address Question #4, can the Board limit where those medical and recreational products go from the Town's perspective. Mr. Burney stated due to the language of the law, no special permitting for retail sales can be instituted. He did not believe there is any way to regulate where the products go. Mr. Alonzo asked Mr, Striar if he had any experience in growing. He replied he did not but he has hired professionals from California. Mr. Striar stated he did not want to lock himself into just medical marijuana. He stated if Lunenburg was not interested in this, he will go away. He stated this project could potentially employ 50-100 people if they are able to build it out to the maximum capacity of 400,000 square feet. We would offer $1.00 per square foot to the Town annually for allowing him to do the project. He stated he was trying to get out ahead of the opportunity. There's going to be a lot of tax money and benefits. Mr. Alonzo stated because the town doesn't have anything in place he would be hesitant to move forward. But if Mr. Striar wanted to go forward with just cultivation he would not be opposed to it. Mr. Ebersole asked if warehouse processing is allowed under our current bylaw. Mr. Burney stated the bylaw states agricultural cultivation and processing; he would have to do further research on the definition of agricultural processing. Mr. Ebersole stated he was fine with the cultivation part under the current bylaw but was concerned about the warehouse and when it turns into an industrial use in a residential area. Ms. Bertram stated she wasn't opposed to the cultivation and drying as well but is concerned about the processing type and equipment being operated in a residential area. Mr. Toale stated as a Right to Farm community he was excited in a way about it as a cultivation opportunity. He was concerned about unintended consequences. He was supportive of the cultivation aspect. Mr. Alonzo stated he took Mr. Striar's offer of a revenue source seriously. Mr. Striar stated it was an offer. He could show the Board more information on the processing aspect, but he was willing to take that off the table tonight. He would want a warehouse structure to process the removal of plant material, drying, curing and packaging to move to the next facility. Ms. Bertram asked if he was willing to enter a host community agreement. Mr. Striar stated absolutely but would want to keep it out of medical marijuana/Dept. of Public Health jurisdiction and just let the Town decide what they want. Ms. Bertram asked what would be the Selectmen's role in this. Mr. Burney stated the Board is the representative of the town. Mr. Burney added if down the road there is a medical marijuana aspect of this, the DPH would be looking for the Town's endorsement. Mr. Striar appreciated the Board listening to him and asked how to proceed. Mr. Burney suggested formalizing the plan or a draft before going to the Planning Board. Mr. Striar thanked the Board and exited the meeting. Application for a Common Victualer License for Kabob-e-Licious, 165 Main Street Owner Tarrnum (Seema) Williams presented on behalf of the license application. Mr. Burney stated all fiduciary issues have been cleared up. The office did receive an application for a Bring Your Own Bottle/Carry In permit earlier today but due to posting requirements was unable to schedule this for tonight. Motion: R. Ebersole 2"°: P. Bertram To approve the common vietualer license for Kabob-e-licious Mr. Toale asked Ms. Williams if she was applying for the BYOB permit in place of an alcohol license. She stated yes until pursuing the alcohol license. Vote: All in Favor Ms. Williams thanked the Board and exited the meeting. CURRENT BUSINESS 1. New Public Records Law -effective Jan. 1, 2017- Records Access Officers) designation discussion Mr. Burney stated the new law requires the Town appoint a Records Access Officer and most towns are appointing additional records officers for Police Department and Fire Department due to confidentiality. He stated in general Town Clerks are being appointed. Ms. Bertram asked if Mr. Burney had discussed this with Town Clerk Herrick. He stated he has not. Ms. Bertram asked if this board can bestow the title on an elected official and what if they do not want that title. The Board requested a discussion with the Town ===PAGE 3=== Clerk be initiated first as a courtesy. The discussion was continued until the next meeting. Further discussion ensued about who should be the records access officers) and their duties. It was noted the law denotes the municipal clerk as the RAO. Mr. Burney will contact the Fire and Police Chiefs to get a recommendation for their departments. Minutes of December 13, December 20 and December 27, 2016 were approved. APPOINTMENTS: Acting Town Manager Appointments: Inspector of Wires - John Biery, 15 Crescent Road, Lunenburg Assistant Inspector of Wires- David Stone, 83 Arbor Street Mr. Burney reported as of December 31st, Jim Sharkey had resigned as Wiring Inspector. Mr. Burney has appointed John (Jack) Biery on recommendation of the Building Commissioner. He also appointed David Stone as Assistant Wiring Inspector on the recommendations of Mr. Biery and Mr. Sauvageau. Warrants/Action File Issues The Board signed an Accounts Payable warrant in the amount of $2,183,295.86; a Payroll warrant in the amount of $735,875.18 and a Payroll Deductions warrant in the amount of $514,699.55. Mr. Toale stated he had received a note from the attorney handling the Unitil ice storm case. He would like to meet in Executive Session with the Board. The Board will schedule a session. Committee Reports: Ms. Bertram reported Conservation Commission met on January 4"*. Forester Gary Gouldrup reported on the forest stewardship plan he is preparing for the Lane Property, the large and small town forests, the Cowdry lot and Robbs Hill. He requested a list of goals from the Commission such as recreation, timber harvesting, wildlife management, etc. There was a lengthy discussion about hunting. There were a couple of enforcement orders discussed; one was at 338 Sunset Lane for unauthorized work done within the buffer zone. The individual will be fined $300 per day. A stone wall has to be removed and a remediation plan submitted. If the work is completed by February 1st , they will consider suspending the fine. Another enforcement order was for 675 Reservoir Road. The engineer was there to discuss remediation. They implemented a fine of $7200.00. Planning Board met last night. There was public hearing on 691 Chase Road for the construction and operation of two street hockey rinks. The discussion last night addressed one rink as it is a phased project. Site plan details were discussed. There was also a hearing on 5 & 9 Electric Avenue for Asian Imperial Restaurant for construction of a building addition and an elevated parking lot. Personally Ms. Bertram expressed concerns about groundwater recharge. There was also discussion about the Complete Streets program. The Planning Board is interested further discussion of this. A hearing for 274 Prospect Street is scheduled for January 23ra Town Counsel will be present for that. MPO meets again on January 25'h Mr. Alonzo reported School Building Committee meets tomorrow. There is not much left to discuss as the project winds down. Anything not yet completed is due to weather and will be completed in the spring. Finance Mr. Burney referred the Board to the Animal Control Officer quarterly report. He thanked the board for giving him the opportunity to serve the Town as Acting Town Manager as tonight was his last meeting. The Board thanked him for filling in. Mr. Toale announced next Tuesday new Town Manager Heather Lemieux will be starting in Lunenburg. Mr. Alonzo thanked everyone involved; the Town Manager search committee and all the employees who made sure that we kept government going while we did the search. The Board concurred. ===PAGE 4=== PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Ebersole asked if the solar project for the school had been started. Mr. Alonzo stated he was there today and work on the roof had begun. Motion: P. Bertram To adjourn the meeting at 8:21 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elaire M Peterson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager 2'': T. Alonzo Vote: All in Favor ...... ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-17-agenda-5062.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-17 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-17-agenda-5062.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01172017-5062 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN January 17, 2017 7:00 PM – Town Hall Bilotta Meeting Room, Second Floor AGENDA In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. 7:00 PM PUBLIC COMMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS APPOINTMENTS 7:05 PM Pole Petition – Northfield Road- approximately 1405 feet from New West Townsend Road, installing (2) mid-span poles (1) between pole #93 and pole #94 and (1) between pole #94 to pole #95. (Plan 963-L dated 12/21/2016.) 7:15 PM Pole Petition- Burrage Street- Approximately 590 feet northwest of proposed location to Shaker Court, installing one new pole for service to 331 Burrage Street, Lunenburg (Plan #962-L dated 12/19/2016). 7:30 PM BYOB Permit application for Kabob-e-licious, 165 Massachusetts Avenue CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Open Warrant for May 6, 2017 Annual Town Meeting (Closes on Thurs. March 27th; 4:00 p.m.) 2. Execution of Financing Documents (Bonds: Pavement Mgmt., Sewer, Artificial Turf) 3. Public Records Access Officer (cont.) Records Access Officer Police Dept.- TBD Records Access Officer Fire Dept. - Karen Weller 4. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues 5. Committee Reports: Board of Health; Building Reuse Committee; Cable Advisory Committee; Capital Planning Committee; Conservation Commission;Finance Committee; Library Board of Trustees; MART Advisory; MPO; Planning Board; PACC; School Committee; School Building Committee; Sewer Commission; Storm Water Task Force; ZBA 6. Town Manager Reports or Department Reports ADJOURN UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE January 20-22 MMA Annual Meeting January 24 February 7 February 14 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-17-minutes-5062.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-17 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-17-minutes-5062.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01172017-5062 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall January 17, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met in the Lunenburg Town Hall, Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Paula Bertram, Member; Phyllis Luck, Member and Town Manager Heather Lemieux The meeting commenced at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Toale announced the Finance Appointing committee appointed Cindy Testa, 508 W. Townsend Road, to the Finance Committee making that board a full committee of seven members. Katie Adams, 45 Williams Drive, presented to comment on a recent security scare at Turkey Hill Elementary School. She was surprised to learn the Lunenburg Primary and Turkey Hill Elementary Schools do not have any surveillance cameras. Now that it is public knowledge that there are no cameras, she believed it was important that cameras and a public safety officer are added to those schools. Mr. Alonzo recommended she attend the School Committee meeting tomorrow and make the request there as the schools are under their purveyance. He stated the School Superintendent and staff are reviewing all safety practices and procedures. Michael Ray Jeffreys, 1170 Massachusetts Avenue, presented concerning the cannabis cultivation proposal from last week's meeting. He is an abutter and read aloud a written statement concerning his opposition to the project and presented a letter with other abutters' signatures. He was concerned about the environmental and general impact on the neighborhood. He and the other abutters requested a public hearing be held if this project comes to fruition. Mr. Alonzo thanked him for coming forward. He added if the project is applied for the Planning Board will hold public hearings concerning this. He stated he was not considering the size last week but addressing the initial principle of marijuana cultivation in Lunenburg. He thought Mr. Jeffreys made excellent points. Ms. Bertram stated she did support the concept but also had concerns about it being in a residential area. She urged him and any other abutters to attend those hearings when posted. Mr. Ebersole stated while looking at other town properties in Massachusetts that have dealt with greenhouses on an industrial level and the light emitted; they have actually restricted the hours of operation due to the light glare emitted across property lines. He would expect that to be part of the review process. Mr. Toale appreciated Mr. Jeffreys coming forward; this is why we heard Mr. Striar's proposal last week, to get a feel from the town. Mr. Jeffreys stated he believed this is here to stay but there is a responsible framework for it to be developed within the community but we have to mindful of where this is going. He thanked the Board for their time. APPOINTMENTS Pole Petition - Northfield Road 12/21/2016.) Mr. Toale opened the hearing and read the pole petition aloud. To All Interested Parties: In conformity with the requirements of Section 22 of Chapter 166 of the General Laws (Ter. Ed.), you are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held at the Town Hall, 17 Main Street, 2nd Floor, in the Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Lunenburg, MA, on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 7:05 P.M. upon petition of Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company for permission to erect or construct, and a location for, a line of wires, poles and such other fixtures as may be necessary to sustain or protect the wires of the line, for the transmission of electricity, upon, along, across, or under the following public ways of said Town: LOCATION Northfield Road- approximately 1405 feet from New West Townsend Road, installing (2) mid-span poles (1) between pole #93 and pole #94 and (1) between pole #94 to pole #95. (Plan #963-L dated 12/21/2016.) ===PAGE 2=== Location approximately as shown on plan attached. Jim Dee of Unitil presented for the petition. He reported there are a number of houses being built in the area and the span between poles is currently over 400 feet. The Board discussed and requested the pole petition plan be amended to show residential driveways. Motion: P. Bertram 2"' R. Ebersole To continue the hearing until January 24, 2017 at 7:05 p.m. pending additional plan information be provided Vote: All in Favor Mr. Toale opened the hearing for Burrage Street and read the following: To All Interested Parties: In conformity with the requirements of Section 22 of Chapter 166 of the General Laws (Ter. Ed.), you are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held at the Town Hall, 17 Main Street, 2** Floor, in the Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Lunenburg, MA, on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 7:15 P.M. upon petition of Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company for permission to erect or construct, and a location for, a line of wires, poles and such other fixtures as may be necessary to sustain or protect the wires of the line, for the transmission of electricity, upon, along, across, or under the following public ways of said Town: LOCATION Burrage Street- Approximately 590 feet northwest of proposed location to Shaker Court, installing one new pole for service to 331 Burrage Street, Lunenburg (Plan #962-L dated 12/19/2016). Location approximately as shown on plan attached. Motion: P. Bertram 2nd: T. Alonzo To continue the hearing until January 24, 2017 at 7:15 p.m. pending additional plan information be provided Vote: All in Favor Mr. Dee will return with revised plans for both petitions. Application for a BYOB Carry In Permit for Kabob-e-Licious, 165 Main Street Owner Tarrnum (Seema) Williams presented on behalf of the Bring Your Own Bottle Carry In Permit. She stated she was applying for her business located at 165 Massachusetts Avenue. Mr. Toale asked Ms. Williams if she was applying for the BYOB permit in place of an alcohol license. She stated yes until pursuing the alcohol license. Mr: Ebersole stated according to the Bring Your Own Bottle Policy, Section 4.02 (4) she is obligated to wrap and seal the bottle for the patron. Was she prepared to do so? She stated she was. Motion: P. Bertram 21d: T. Alonzo To approve the BYOB Carry In Permit for Kabob-e-licious at 165 Massachusetts Avenue. Mr. Ebersole asked about the hours of operation. Discussion ensued. Ms. Bertram amended her motion to include the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mr. Alonzo seconded the amendment. Vote: All in Favor Ms. Williams thanked the Board and exited the meeting. CURRENT BUSINESS 1. 1. Open Warrant for May 6, 2017 Annual Town Meeting Motion: T. Alonzo To open the Annual Town Meeting warrant and close it on Thursday March 27th at 4:00 p.m. 2nd: P. Bertram Vote: All in Favor 2. Execution of Financing Documents (Bonds: Pavement Mgmt., Sewer, Artificial Turf) Finance Director Karen Brochu presented on the borrowing documents. There is a bond anticipation note for the Middle/High School project in the amount of $2.5 million to carry through to project completion and the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) audit. We are at the 95% completed portion of the grant. The Town will not receive any additional reimbursement until the audit is completed. The interest rate is 1.09% and the amount of interest paid until January 2018 will be $27,250. Motion: R. Ebersole 2': T. Alonzo ===PAGE 3=== To approve the bond anticipation note as presented Vote: All in Favor The second document is for a bond issuance in the amount of $2,580,000 which comprises three items: the pavement management plan, the artificial turf field and a portion of the sewer project that was ineligible through the Mass Clean Water Trust. The amount for pavement management plan is $1,675,000 with a 2.92% interest rate for fifteen years. The tax impact is $30 - $34 annually for an average home valued at $267,500. Next is for the artificial turf field in the amount of $760,000 with an interest rate of 2.88% and the term is for twelve years. Lastly, the sewer portion amount is $145,000 with an interest rate of 2.92% for fifteen years so it will coincide with the repayment schedule of the Mass Clean Water Trust. Motion: REbersole 2"d:P. Bertram To approve the bond in the amount of $2,580,000 as presented Vote: All in Favor The Board thanked Ms. Brochu and exited the meeting. 3. Records Access Officer Discussion (cont.) Town Manager Lemieux stated she was happy to work with Executive Assistant Peterson to be Records Access Officer. Two other department names were submitted for Records Access Officers. ,Motion: R.Ebersole 2*: P. Bertram To appoint Lt. Michael Luth (Police Dept.) and Karen Weller (Fire Dept.) as Records Access Officers Vote: All in Favor Motion: P. Bertram To appoint Heather Lemieux as Records Access Officer 2nd: R. Ebersole Vote: All in Favor 4. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues The Board signed Minutes of January 10, 2017. The Board signed an Accounts Payable warrant in the amount of $348,922.25. Action File: Mr. Alonzo reported it has been brought to his attention that some residents applying for solar installations are being charged by Unitil a $300 study fee because Unitil is saying their circuit may not be sufficiently equipped to handle further solar installations without equipment modifications and/or upgrades. If a new transformer is needed it will cost the homeowner an additional $1000.00 to replace it. He stated he would be calling one of their municipal representatives to verify this. He stated residents are looking to take advantage of renewable energy to lower their bills and reduce the carbon footprint and at every turn meet with something else from the utility company. Ms. Bertram stated if this is the case, we need to place this on an agenda and have Unitil come in. Mr. Toale presented a thank you letter from the Board for signatures to James Sharkey, former Inspector of Wires, due to his recent retirement. Committee Reports: Ms. Luck reported the Lifelong Learning Advisory Committee is seeking community interest for possible adult education workshops. There is a survey for residents on the website, at Town Hall and the Public Library. They are looking for ideas. The School Committee voted on the 2017-2018 school year calendar and finalized facilty use fees. They gratefully accepted an anonymous donation of $10,850.50 to the Turkey Hill School to add a mobile lab cart. The PTO donated $32,000 that they collected over a few years until the school was finished They passed it out to three different schools. The Strategic Framework Steering Committee met on the 9th. They are looking at creating a vision for the schools that will guide programs and expenditures for the next ten years. The Zoning Board of Appeals is seeking a member, There is an associate, Shelia Lumi, who is interested in filling the vacancy. They granted a Special Permit for the installation of 60 ground mounted solar panels at 615 Leominster Road. They granted a Special Permit for the removal of a three family home and replacement with a three unit condominium at 654 Massachusetts Ave. Another Special Permit was granted for the demolition of a home at 70 Oak Ridge Road and replacing that with a new home. There was a request to demolish a building at 55 Spring St. ===PAGE 4=== Storm Water Task Force met on the 12th '. It was an education/outreach workshop format. Sarah Cammer is resigning from the Task Force for personal reasons. The Storm Water Task Force meets on January 26" with consultant, Design Consultants, Inc. to discuss progress on their work. Mr. Alonzo reported Cable Advisory will meet on January 23d at 5:30 as they did not meet on Martin Luther King Jr. day. Finance Appointing Committee appointed an excellent candidate to the remaining vacancy so the membership is complete. Mr. Alonzo stated he was getting great feedback on the functionality of new Middle/High school. Mr. Toale reported Building Reuse Committee meets on the 30#h. Capital Planning met this afternoon. It was their last meeting to hear department requests. On the 24* , they will work on prioritization and submit recommendations to the Town Manager. PUBLIC COMMENT: There was no further comment. Motion: P, Bertram To adjourn the meeting at 8:05 p.m. 2''': T. Alonzo Vote: All in Favor Respectfully submitted, Elave m. Pelerson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-24-agenda-5063.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-24 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-24-agenda-5063.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01242017-5063 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN January 24, 2017 7:00 PM – Town Hall Bilotta Meeting Room, Second Floor AMENDED AGENDA In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. 7:00 PM PUBLIC COMMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS APPOINTMENTS 7:05 PM Pole Petitions for Northfield Road (continued) 7:15 PM Pole Petitions for Burrage Street (continued) 7:30 PM Class II Auto Dealer License Renewal Request; Nuttings Body & Frame Co. 7:45 PM Jeff Smith – Cemetery Commission/DPW Regulations CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Amend ATM warrant closing date to Thursday March 23rd at 4:00 PM 2. Discussion/vote on Community Compact Application 3. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues 4. Committee Reports: Board of Health; Building Reuse Committee; Cable Advisory Committee; Capital Planning Committee; Conservation Commission;Finance Committee; Library Board of Trustees; MART Advisory; MPO; Planning Board; PACC; School Committee; School Building Committee; Sewer Commission; Storm Water Task Force; ZBA 5. Town Manager Reports or Department Reports INTERVIEWS/APPOINTMENTS/RE-APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS EXECUTIVE SESSION M.G.L.c.30A §21; To discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the Chair declares so. (Unitil Ice Storm) ADJOURN UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE February 7- Workshop meeting February 14 February 21 February 28 – Legal Counsel RFP reviews- High School ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-24-agenda-5079.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-24 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-24-agenda-5079.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01242017-5079 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== Select Board Meeting- Executive Session1. ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-24-minutes-5063.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-24 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-24-minutes-5063.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01242017-5063 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall January 24, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met in the Lunenburg Town Hall, Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Phyllis Luck, Member and Town Manager Heather Lemieux Not present: Paula Bertram, Member The meeting commenced at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT: Ms. Luck reported burning permits are available through May 18. They can be obtained by going to the Fire Department section on the town website. Mr. Ebersole stated he and other people from Lunenburg attended the Women's March in Boston on Saturday. It was quite a spectacular event. He stated we need to work together in this country and hoped that some of the things that came up at that event will help. Katie Adams, 45 Williams Drive, commented on student safety and the recently proposed marijuana greenhouse project. Ms. Adams stated she holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy and is a registered pharmacist. She has been a stay at home mom for the past ten years. She stated Massachusetts has legalized marijuana but we need to remember it is a drug with side effects and consequences. She did not think we should allow a marijuana farm a quarter of a mile from our new school. Regarding school security, she did attend the School Committee meeting last week and expressed concerns about the lack of surveillance cameras at the two elementary schools. The schools are planning on installing cameras at both locations. As a parent, she would like to see a school resource police officer in the schools. She requested additional funding to provide for this position. Mr. Toale stated this is the time of year when we put budgets together. It is a good time to be reviewing this and he appreciated Ms. Adams coming in. APPOINTMENTS 7:05 PM Mr. Toale stated the pole petitions from last week's meeting were continued to tonight but the representative was not present. He opened the hearing for the pole petition on Northfield Road. Motion: R. Ebersole To continue the hearing to February 14 at 7:05 p.m. 2°°: T. Alonzo Vote: All in Favor Committee Reports: Ms. Luck reported the Strategic Framework Steering Committee meeting was postoned to February 6 due to the weather. The School Committee met on January 18" and during public comment two parents expressed concerns about the need for camera surveillance at the two elementary schools. Superintendent Calmes stated she would be moving the request to Capital Planning. There was a presentation on the preschool program and one on a donation of a field house to be attached to the refreshment stand to be named in honor of deceased student A.J. Robbins. The committee has given a provisional approval to the project and anticipates a formal approval when the project is further along. They requested monthly updates on the plan. The committee discussed the budget; Supt. Calmes stated the FY18 budget will reflect a $1,172,864 increase over FY17 with a total budget of $19,628,762. The Central Mass Regional Stormwater Coalition steering committee meeting was postponed today to February due to the weather. ===PAGE 2=== Mr. Alonzo reported Cable Advisory Committee met and reviewed the Public Access Cable Committee's proposed business plan to be presented during negotiations for the renewal of the Comcast cable contract. The public hearing will most likely be in mid-May. Finance Committee meets in two weeks. Regarding the School Building Committee, there have been some drainage issues reported in the students' school parking lot. There is not much to be done to resolve this until winter is over. There were also some problems with some of the smart boards. They are working with the manufacturer on this. Mr. Toale reported Capital Planning met this afternoon and created an initial prioritization of all the requests. He noted the school did move the surveillance cameras request to this year. The next step is to present their recommendations to the Town Manager and Finance Committee. Mr. Toale opened the pole petition hearing for Burrage Street at 7:15 p.m. Motion: T. Alonzo To continue the pole petition for Burrage Street to February 14* at 7:15 p.m. Mr. Toale requested the time be amended to 7:10 p.m. Mr. Ebersole amended. 2nd: R. Ebersole Vote: All in Favor Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues There were no minutes for approval. The Board signed a payroll warrant in the amount of $726,019.98; a payroll deductions warrant in the amount of $160,394.54; a Middle/High School construction warrant in the amount of $732,083.42 and an accounts payable warrant in the amount of $629,014.82. Action file issue: Ms. Luck asked about Town Manager performance reviews and updating the form before it is needed again. Mr. Toale stated the Board should review their goals at the same time. This will be addressed at a future workshop meeting. Town Manager Report: Ms. Lemieux reported she has met with the Fire and Police Chiefs, the DPW Director, Land Use Director, Town Accountant and the Treasurer/Collector. She has also met with representatives of MIIA, the Town's insurance company, John DiNapoli from Unitil, some residents who needed assistance and attended two Capital Planning meetings. On a more informal note she has spoken with town employees and department heads in order to introduce herself. She has also spoken with Joel Bard of KP Law and Marc Terry of Mirick and O'Connell to be briefed on pending legal cases. She will meet with them in person at a later date. Tomorrow. she will be attending an admin board meeting at the Devens Regional Dispatch Center and will tour the facility. She will attend the pancake breakfast at the Senior Center on February 8" as well as the Council on Aging meeting on February 14th Ms. Lemieux and Executive Assistant Peterson attended the MMA meeting in Boston this weekend. Ms. Lemieux attended the Labor Law Update and District Management of Your Downtown Revitalization Effort workshops. The latter focused on creating a vibrant downtown and on three case studies of business improvement districts in Amherst, Taunton and Beverly. It created a public/private quasi-partnership to sustain that development. Ms. Lemieux has received one FY18 budget request so far and the deadline for submittal is Thursday, January '. She will be meeting with that department tomorrow and she plans on blocking off time next week to meet with all the departments to review their budgets. Ms. Lemieux reported the Town received eight responses to the Legal Services Request for Proposals. She offered to create a list of questions in preparation for the February 28"h meeting when the Board will see 10 minute presentations from each firm. She asked the Board members to submit any questions to her to compile by the next meeting. Further discussion about the interview format ensued. Ms. Lemieux reported the Police Union Memorandum of Understanding was received by her today and it just requires one more signature from Attorney Terry. She reported free cash should be certified by the MA Dept. of Revenue by the end of the week. Ms. Lemieux reported she received a resignation effective February 6 from the Building Commissioner on Monday. She will be working with Land Use Director Burney on filling the position. ===PAGE 3=== 7:30 PM Class Il Auto Dealer License Renewal Request; Nuttings Body & Frame Co. The licensee was not present for the renewal request. The Board read a memo from Executive Asst. Peterson on why the renewal was late. Mi. Alonzo stated given the reason, he was willing to allow the late renewal but was disappointed the applicant did not appear this evening. Mr. Ebersole added if this happens in the future the Board would expect the applicant to appear before the Board. Motion: T. Alonzo 2": R.Ebersole To approve the renewal of the Class II Auto Dealer License for Nutting Frame and Body Co. Vote: All in Favor Ms. Lemieux continued with her Town Manager report, specifically on the Community Compact Program. This Best Practice Program is a voluntary, mutual agreement between the Town and the Administration (Commonwealth). In a best practice compact, a community will agree to implement at least one best practice that they select from a variety of areas. Applications to enter into the Community Compact program are accepted on a rolling basis. It would be preferable to enter into the Community Compact by February 15* as that would make the town eligible for the IT Grant that is due April 15. A community can choose up to three best practices. After reviewing a variety of things in Town and the ideas that align best with the Board's goals, she suggested the creation of an economic development plan, completion of a Brownfields inventory so the community is aware of all abandoned and underutilized properties, conducting site assessments to determine the nature and extent of a contamination and developing a plan of action or regionalization of animal control services. The Town would over a two year period implement the best practices they selected. Ms. Luck suggested implementing stormwater management measures so that land use regulations help promote infiltration, control flooding and reduce pollution since we are already working on that. She also suggested addressing filtration and inflow to reduce unintended storm and wastewater in the system and the cost of treating it. Mr. Ebersole stated other than the abandoned gas station in the center of town, he was not aware of any other brownfields. Mr. Toale stated preparing a capital improvement plan that reflects the community's needs caught his eye. Further discussion ensued. Ms. Lemieux moved on to the Efficiency and Regionalization Grant Program. The town can apply for one individual application (an efficiency measure) and participate in one multi-jurisdictional application (regionalization of a service or other collaborative effort). She stated a need that has been identified as a possible application under this program is a permitting software that would be utilized by all applicable town departments (Planning, Building, Conservation, Sewer, Highway, Board of Health, Board of Selectmen, etc). This would streamline the process, all departments would be able to view the application. Every parcel in town would be able to be identified. For an individual application efficiency measure, grant funding goes up to $100,000, which is the approximate cost of the implementation of that software. For the multi-jurisdictional application, grant funding goes up to $200,000. The Town could choose to submit an application for the regionalization of Animal Control Services. The advantage of applying for Regional Animal Control under this grant program instead of the Best Practice program is that awards can be up to $200,000 and the Town could be eligible for the first year's costs, building of a new kennel, and possibly a new Animal Control vehicle. Fitchburg would be the lead community with Lunenburg. Townsend is also interested in participating. Motion:R. Ebersole 2nd: T. Alonzo That the Board provides a letter of support for both applications to the Town Manager Vote: All in Favor After discussion, the Board added prioritizing best practices for the Community Compact to the February 7" agenda. 7:45 PM Jeff Smith - Cemetery Commission/DPW Regulations Mr. Smith did not appear for his appointment. Ms. Lemieux stated Mr. Smith has concerns about accessibility to the cemetery and some public safety concerns. He has attended multiple Cemetery Commission meetings, met with the Town Manager and Police Chief Marino. The Board asked to reschedule Mr. Smith for another night. ===PAGE 4=== Mr. Toale reviewed the upcoming meeting schedule for the Board. PUBLIC COMMENT: There was no further comment. Mr. Toale read the Executive Session reason aloud. EXECUTIVE SESSION M.G.L.c.30A §21; To discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the Chair declares so. (Unitil Ice Storm) Motion:R. Ebersole 2"°: T. Alonzo To enter into Executive Session and adjourn afterwards Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Mr. Toale-aye The meeting adjourned at 7:53 p.m. ***********************Executive Session Minutes are Separate******************************* Respectfully submitted, Elaiiem Piterson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-01-24-minutes-5079.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-01-24 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-01-24-minutes-5079.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01242017-5079 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN Executive Session Minutes Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall January 24, 2017 Present: Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Phyllis Luck, Member; Town Manager Heather Lemieux and Attorney Robert Bowen Not present: Paula Bertram, Member The meeting commenced at 7:53 p.m. Attorney Bowen updated the Board on the Town of Lunenburg v. Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company (Unitil) suit regarding the December 2008 ice storm. The Town alleges that Unitil caused it to suffer significant expenditures during the storm; violation of the Public Utility's tariff; negligence, gross negligence, or willful conduct; negligent and/or intentional misrepresentation; breach of contract or quasi-contract and violations of M.G.L. c.93A. In 2011 the Town filed the lawsuit seeking recovery for two sets of damages; the cost of public services the Town provided in the wake of the storm, the majority of costs related to tree/vegetation removal from roads and public property and damage to town-owned property. The Court decision is as follows: • the court found no private right of action under the tariff; there is no case law for this particular statute, • no negligence claims and no duty for the gross negligence claims (the court found the tariff bars negligence claims) the court also found no duty to trim trees to keep them off public ways, • no damages identified flowing from the alleged misrepresentations, • damages are speculative and not recoverable under the Municipal Cost Recovery rule • property damages and c. 93A claims were dismissed. Mr. Bowen will do further research and contact Unitil. He has also noticed an appeal as a placeholder on behalf of the Town to preserve the Town's position. Motion: R. Ebersole To exit Executive Session and adjourn 2"d: T. Alonzo Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Mr. Toale-aye The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elaiiem. Peterson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-07-agenda-5064.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-07 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-07-agenda-5064.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02072017-5064 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN February 7, 2017 7:00 PM – Town Hall Bilotta Meeting Room, Second Floor AGENDA 7:00 PM PUBLIC COMMENT CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Roads Workshop a) Pavement Management Plan b) Stormwater as it relates to the Pavement Management Plan and update on MS4 Permit c) Complete Streets 2. Community Compact Best Practices Prioritization Discussion 3. Discussion on draft RFP’s for sale of Town Owned Buildings (Ritter Memorial Building, Town Hall, Primary School, Brooks House, and the T.C. Passios Building) 4. Amend closing date/time of ATM warrant to Thursday, March 23rd at 4:00 p.m. 5. Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues APPOINTMENTS Sewer Commission Board Clerk- Melanie Rich ADJOURN MEETING SCHEDULE February 14 February 21 February 28 (6:00 PM) - Legal Counsel Interviews HS Collaborative Room March 7 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-07-minutes-5064.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-07 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-07-minutes-5064.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02072017-5064 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall February 7, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met in the Lunenburg Town Hall, Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Paula Bertram, Member; Phyllis Luck, Member and Town Manager Heather Lemieux Also Present: Adam Burney, Land Use Director; Greg Bittner and Damon McQuaid, Planning Board members; Jack Rodriquenz, DPW Director and Carl Luck, Sewer Commission Chairman The meeting commenced at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Toale called the meeting to order. Roads Workshop Ms. Bertram reported on the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting, specifically Transportation Improvement Projects (TIP). MPO advanced the Lunenburg Route 13/Chase Road resurfacing project from FF Y2019 to PFY 2017 and increased the funding amount by approximately $1 million dollars (with a corresponding reduction in funding for FFY2018). Ms. Lemieux will write a letter of support to MRPC for TIP Amendment #3 (Route 13/Chase Road resurfacing project). DPW Director Rodriquenz provided handouts to the Board and updated the debt exclusion roads list, the pavement management plan, provided a five year paving history and available funding. $537,000 was spent in FY2016 on main roads. The spring construction season will amount to $1.7 million dollars and on there are the Chase Road and Summer Street projects. He identified roads that would be good candidates for the Complete Streets Program and Stormwater. Debt exclusion funds used on stormwater expenses totaled $87,947.32. He stated White Street and the Pearl Brook Road areas would be another area for installing sidewalks. Mr. Rodriquenz will need to outsource in order to complete all the scheduled road projects. Ms. Bertram thanked him for his presentation and stated she was onboard for the Complete Street program. Mr. Toale asked for the debt exclusion road list to be updated at future intervals and provided to the Board twice annually. In order to inform residents of the paving schedule, notices will be placed on public access, the website and notices will be mailed to affected residents. Complete Streets There was a brief discussion on the program and general agreement to move forward. Ms. Lemieux, Mr. Burney and Mr. Rodriquenz will work on a draft policy and present at a future meeting. Discussion also ensued on downtown walkability, parking, bicycle lanes and narrowing roads to slow traffic down. Community Compact and Related Grant Programs Discussion arose on which "Best Practices" to focus on. Sewer Commission Chairman Luck requested the Board to consider Addressing Infiltration and Inflow to reduce unintended storm and waste water in the system and the cost of treating it. The three chosen were Citizen Engagement: Implement a Citizen Engagement Co- Creation Plan (focused on enhancing residents' ability to participate in and influence decisions made by their local government; Water Resource Management; Implement Stormwater Management Measures (so that land use regulations help promote infiltration, control flooding and reduce pollution) and Information ===PAGE 2=== Technology/Strategic Planning: Implement a Cyber Security Training Program (that ensures staff is aware of, know how to prevent and to respond to cyber security threats. Discussion on Draft RFP's for the Sale of Town Owned Buildings (Ritter Memorial Building, Town Hall, Primary School, Brooks House, and the T.C. Passios Building) Mr. Toale outlined the schedule and stated the plan is to put out five Requests for Proposals (for sale of each building). Further discussion on an evaluation committee and final wording ensued. Amend Closing Date/Time of Annual Town Meeting Warrant Motion: R. Ebersole 2'd. T. Alonzo To amend the closing of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant to Thursday, March 23* at 4:00 p.m. Vote: All in Favor APPOINTMENT Ms. Lemieux informed the Board that she had appointed Melanie Rich as Sewer Commission Board Clerk to record meeting minutes. Motion: R. Ebersole 2nd. P. Luck To ratify the Town Manager appointment Discussion ensued on whom Sewer Department Business Manager Barb Lefebvre reports to and Town Manager Lemieux felt that an organizational chart should be created. This led to a discussion on the need and importance of performance evaluations for town employees. Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Mr. Toale- no, Ms. Bertram - no, Mr. Alonzo-abstained Due to the vote, the motion failed for lack of majority, the appointment will be effective 15 days from the notice of appointment (2/15/2017). Minutes/Warrants/Action File Issues The Board signed an Accounts Payable warrant in the amount of $495,496.40 and a Payroll Deductions Warrant in the amount of $512.481.01. The Board signed Minutes of January 17 and 24, 2017. Motion: P. Bertram To adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m. 2": P. Luck Vote: All in Favor Respectfully submitted, Elaine I Peterson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-12-agenda-5136.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-12 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-12-agenda-5136.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02122017-5136 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN Tuesday, December 17, 2019 7:00 PM – Town Hall Bilotta Meeting Room, Second Floor REVISED AGENDA 12/12/19 4:45 PM In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 7:00 PM PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE I. PUBLIC COMMENT***  BOARD  PUBLIC II. ANNOUNCEMENTS III. APPOINTMENTS 7:05 PM Request to hunt with firearms in Small Town Forest, Cowdry Conservation Area and Lane Forest by George Burden and Paul Lane 7:15 PM Common victualler license application for KCM Donuts d/b/a Dunkin Donuts, 400 Electric Ave. IV. INTERVIEWS/APPOINTMENTS/ RE-APPOINTMENTS/ RESIGNATIONS V. TOWN MANAGER REPORT VI. CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Minutes/Warrants/ Action Items 2. Committee Reports VII. OLD BUSINESS 1. Annual License Renewals 2. Request for Rain Date for Boot Drive for Salvation Army on December 21st VIII. UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE IX. PUBLIC COMMENT***  PUBLIC  BOARD X. ADJOURN *** Per Policy, Public comment is limited to 15 minutes, with no more than 3 minutes per speaker except at the discretion of the Chairperson. ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-14-agenda-5065.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-14 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-14-agenda-5065.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02142017-5065 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-14-minutes-5065.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-14 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-14-minutes-5065.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02142017-5065 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== 81J410 Ant BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, Town Hall February 14, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met in the Lunenburg Town Hall, Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room, as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Phyllis Luck, Member and Town Manager Heather Lemieux By remote participation: Paula Bertram, Member Others present: Finance Committee members, Terri Burchfield, John Henshaw, George Martin Capital Planning members: Damon McQuaid, Karin Menard Town Accountant Karen Brochu The meeting commenced at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Toale announced Ms. Bertram has requested to participate remotely by telephone due to physical illness this evening. He telephoned her and welcomed her to the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT Ms. Luck congratulated Turkey Hill Lions Club President Lisa Normandin who received a Lion's Club prestigious award at their annual meeting last Saturday. Mr. Alonzo lauded the DPW crew for keeping the roads clear through the successive snowstorms and public safety personnel for keeping everyone informed. Mr. Toale read the following announcement from the Town Clerk office: In anticipation of the Annual Town Election on Saturday, May 20, 2017, the Citizens Party Caucus will be held on Monday, March 20, 2017 at the Turkey Hill Elementary School; 129 Northfield Road at 7:00 P.M. Anyone interested in running for office should attend the Caucus, and if nominated, will be placed on the ballot. Those who are not nominated that evening may pick up nomination papers from the Town Clerk's Office. Those papers must be returned to the Town Clerk with a minimum of 42 valid voter signatures on or before Thursday, March 31, 2017 at 4:00 P.M. Offices to be filled are (2) SELECTMAN FOR 3 YEARS; (2) BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBER FOR 3 YEARS; ASSESSOR FOR 3 YEARS; (2) SEWER COMMISSIONER FOR 3 YEARS; (1) SEWER COMMISSIONER FOR 1 YEAR; (2) SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR 3 YEARS; PARK COMMISSIONER FOR 3 YEARS; COMMISSIONER OF TRUST FUNDS FOR 3 YEARS; CEMETERY COMMISSIONER FOR 3 YEARS; (2) LIBRARY TRUSTEE FOR 3 YEARS AND PLANNING BOARD MEMBER FOR 5 YEARS. Annual Town Census should have been returned to the Town Clerk by now; if you did not receive a census form, please contact the Town Clerk at 978-582-4130 or stop by the office at 17 Main Street and fill one out. Lastly, the 2017 dog licenses are due April 1" and will be available by the middle of February. 7:05 PM Pole Petition (continued) Northfield Road Unitil Representative Jim Dee was present for the pole petition. He noted the revised plan with the driveways indicated on it. He stated 2 mid-span poles would be installed 1405 feet from West Townsend Road; one pole would serve 1048 and 1054 Northfield Road and the other would serve 1034 Northfield Road. Mr. Ebersole noted the poles would not be in the owners' driveways. Motion: R. Ebersole 2n°: T. Alonzo To approve the two pole locations Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Ms. Bertram - aye, Mr. Toale-aye 7:10 PM Pole Petition (continued) Burrage Street Mr. Dee stated this pole would serve 331 Burrage Street and a common drive to a second lot. Motion: R. Ebersole 2"d. T. Alonzo ===PAGE 2=== To approve the pole location Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Ms. Bertram - aye, Mr. Toale-aye Finance Committee Chair Terri Burchfield called the Finance Committee meeting to order, stating a quorum was present. Capital Planning Presentation to Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen Capital Planning Chair Toale stated the committee is composed of Heather Sroka (School Committee Rep.), Karin Menard (Clerk/Member at Large), John Henshaw (Finance Committee Rep.), Damon McQuaid (Planning Board Rep.) and himself. Under Facilities Maintenance there is a request for painting Town Hall amounting to $87,750 and one for painting the Senior Center for $18,300. A request to remove underground fuel tanks at the DPW totalled $110,000, another for Building Automation at the Public Safety Building was for $15,250 and a request to paint the Teen Center amounted to $16,750. The Capital Planning Committee is recommending the Senior Center and Town Hall painting and the fuel tank removal totalling $216,050. Mr. Toale reported under Department of Public Works there is a playground replacement request for $12,000, a GMC dump truck in the amount of $53,767 and a Ford pick-up truck in the amount of $43,124. Capital Planning is recommending the playground project and the GMC dump truck totalling $65,767.00 Under the Fire Department, there are requests for a replacement Command Car totalling $60,000, replacing Engine 4 totalling $615,000 and Ladder 1 totalling $890,000. Capital Planning is recommending purchasing the Command Car at $60,000. Under Police Department, requests are for eight tasers totalling $10,500, (2) police cars totalling $111,000, an All Terrain Vehicle in the amount of $17,000 and Riot Gear totalling $20,000. Capital Planning is recommending the tasers and police vehicles totalling $121,500. Under School Department, there are requests for asbestos removal at Turkey Hill Elementary School in the amount of $145,000 and a school surveillance system amounting to $52,370. Mr. Toale reported we have heard since the intial request for the surveillance system that the school may have an alternative on how to pay for that. Capital Planning recommends the asbestos removal at $145,000. Under Technology, requests are for a Police fingerprinting system amounting to $25,000; town-related computers amounting to $10,000 and school-related computers amounting to $36,000. Capital Planning is recommending the finger printing system in the amount of $25,000. All requests totalled $2,349,111. The FY2018 recommended capital expenses total $633,317.00 Additional recommendations from the committee are to move smaller items into the operating budgets of the individual departments to allow for trade offs; to allot available cash over Capital Planning recommendations to a reserve fund for bigger items in future years and to continue to explore financing options. Ms. Bertam asked Mr. Toale to expand on the other option that the school may have for purchasing the surveillance system. School Superintendent Loxi Calmes reported that at the last school committee meeting, Facilities Director Londa had reported the school budget had a surplus in the line for natural gas account due to renegotiations on the rate. Ms. Bertram asked about the Technology requests, typically in the past these were funded through the Capital Plan to ensure coordination of technology and making sure it fit in the IT network. If departments are working on their own, how are we going to ensure the compatibility with the network? Ms. Lemieux reported that in the preliminary budget tonight you will see it in the IT operating budget. Ms. Bertram asked what is the Building Automation for in the Public Safety building. Mr. Toale stated it was for computerized control of lighting, heating, etc. ===PAGE 3=== Finance Committee Chair Burchfield asked if the operating budget included the $46,300 for computers in the technology budget and if it included both school and the town. Ms. Lemiuex stated it did but only included the $10,000 on the Town side. The $36,000 would go into the school budget. Finance Committee Vice Chair Mark Erickson asked was there any attempt to prioritize the second priority items for the future. Mr. Toale stated if we had any funding above the $633,317, we will set up a reserve fund; for the big items we would require special financing. Town Manager Fiscal Year 2018 Preliminary Budget Presentation Ms. Lemieux stated this budget was a challenge to put together in such a short time. She thanked the department heads for their cooperation. She stated there are some disclaimers and a number of assumptions in this recommended budget that will be firmed up as we get closer to Annual Town Meeting such as state assessments, insurance renewals, state aid, free cash estimate when certified, some budgets not submitted yet, the Monty Tech assessment and the FY'17 ice and snow deficit spending. The goal in preparing this recommendation was to create a balanced budget that reflected a minimum of level services with certain above level service expenditures. Those reflect the Town's need for increased public safety services. The recommendation covers all contractual salary increases, as well as employees covered under the salary administration plan. It meets the Town's financial policies including maintaining a minimum amount of 5% in stabilization and is a balanced budget based on the use of recurring revenues for operating costs. One of the challenges we face is the state aid figure; right now we only have the Governor's proposal for state aid. On the expenditure side, the liability, workers compensation, police/fire injured on duty insurance coverage figures are all estimates given by our insurance providers. The budgets that were not received by the deadline were level funded. Revenue sources include property tax, state aid, local receipts and other revenues totalling an estimated $39,850,595. Ms. Lemieux noted that under State Aid, the Smart Growth 40S amount was kept in the budget but this number may have to be removed from revenue and expenditure if not awarded. Free cash will not be used for the operating budget but will be used to offset capital items, the contribution to Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) with the balance to be placed in a special purpose stabilization fund. Expenditures are a reflection of the cost of providing a level of services to residents of all ages in the community, to visitors travelling and doing business in Town and maintaining and improving our facilities. As a town we provide services to students, provide health and human services to senior citizens and Veterans, recreational services and public safety to all. The focus is how we provide these services not on the number of employees we have. The balance is to provide the best level of services within our available resources. Expenditures include departments, retirement assessment, non-appropriated costs such as cherry sheet offset charges, allowance for abatements, tax title and state and county charges. Also included is the Sewer Enterprise, solid waste disposal services and cable access. All of which are offset by sewer betterments, bad fees or Comcast subscriber fees. The capital requests and other warrant articles that have a financial impact also have to be included on the expenditure side but are proposed to be offset by free cash. The above level services requests we have received this year include the following: $31,000 for general government for services to recruit new growth costs, small claims court costs and to increase the band width for data backup, $228,000 for Police Department request to hire three additional police officers; $575,000 for Fire Department request to hire six full-time Firefighter/EMTs and their training costs; $38,000 for Dispatch weekend coverage; $36,000 for DPW for a mechanic's assistant; $9,000 for the Council on Aging Outreach Worker pay versus grant funding; $3,000 for Library reclassification and an additional three hours for one staff person $1.1 million for the Lunenburg Public Schools to fund the Superintendent's/School Committee recommended budget. ===PAGE 4=== Right now for Annual Town Meeting warrant articles we have the Capital Planning Committee's recommendations amounting to $633,317. Ms. Lemieux is recommending to proceed with the priority 1 capital requests to be funded with free cash and using the balance to be used for any general fund articles, placing $100,000 into the OPEB trust fund and depositing the balance into a stabilization fund account that will fund future capital items. Other FY2018 Expenditures include Non-Discretionary Debt Service and Unclassified such as Insurance estimates. There is an estimated 10% increase for Police/Fire Injured on Duty and Workers' Compensation; 5% increase in General Liability and 6% increase in health insurance renewal. We should receive final figures by mid March/early April. The largest percentage of our health insurance costs is due to retirees; this is on a calendar basis and we used the same increases as last year. Less Discretionary and Discretionary Expenditures include one additional police officer and one additional firefighter/emt, increased training for Fire and Police, additional funding in the Assessors' and Tax Collector's budgets that will increase personal property new growth and recoup uncollected taxes; funding in Information Technology to increase the bandwidth to ensure offsite backup and move hardware updates to the operating budget from the capital budget; $50,000 for pavement management and includes the recommended school budget. Finance Committee will be reviewing these in more depth at their meetings. Ms. Lemieux presented a five year tax rate impact on an average single family home's assessed value with and without debt exclusions. Conclusions: This budget fully funds all contractual obligations, is balanced based on recurring revenues for operating costs and maintains level services with two additional employees. The recommended budget does not fully meet service needs as recommended by department heads and includes the Governor's proposal for state aid. Ms. Lemieux reported the Finance Committee will begin a detailed review of the FY'18 budget on February . The House Ways and Means Budget will be received by the end of April and the Senate Budget will be received by the end of May, so we will not have final figures for Annual Town Meeting on May 6" Finance Committee members Erickson and Burchfield thanked Town Manager Lemieux for her presentation. Further discussion ensued on the stabilization accounts and the budget. Mr. Toale also thanked the Town Manager for pulling this budget together in such a short time. The Finance Committee adjourned their meeting. Approval of Requests for Proposals for Town Building - Building Reuse Committee Mr. Toale reported the committee has an aggressive schedule to get the Requests for Proposal on the Town Buildings out. The first step is to discuss the wording on the RFPs themselves. Mr. Toale wanted to thank Land Use Director Burney and Ms. Lemieux on their work on the RFPs. Ms. Bertram expressed concern about the availability of parking at the old Primary School, She reminded the Board about the Lunenburg Historical Society coming to a meeting and expressing concerns about the need for parking spaces. Discussion ensued about options. Ms. Bertram asked about a Selectmen serving on the Building Reuse evaluation committee. Mr. Ebersole volunteered to serve. Ms. Bertram also sent out some grammatical errors that need to be corrected. Motion:T. Alonzo 2'': R. Ebersole To approve the RFPs as submitted with grammatical corrections and to add one Seletmen member to the committee Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Ms. Bertram - aye, Mr. Toale-aye Discussion on Legal Counsel Presentations Ms. Lemieux reminded the Board that the presentations will be on February 28". Nine firms have responded. Eight firms can make the 28" but Joel Bard of KP Law has informed Ms. Peterson that he cannot make that date. He has requested an alternative date and seeking feedback from the Board. The Board requested another KP Law representative appear on the 28" Mr. Toale stated this meeting will be taped by Public Access. Minutes/Warrants/Action File Issues There were no minutes for approval. The Board signed an Accounts Payable warrant in the amount of $47,167.34, an Accounts Payable in the amount of $229,698.08 and a Payroll warrant in the amount of ===PAGE 5=== $765,437.48. There were no action file issues. Committee Reports: Ms. Luck reported most meetings have been postponed due to the snowstorms. School Committee meets tomorrow and Storm Water Task Force meets on the 23'd. • She will be attending the steering committee of the Central Mass Regional Stormwater Coalition tomorrow morning. Mr. Alonzo reported Cable Advisory meets on the 27";, Finance Committee is meeting Thursday and hearing from Land Use and Council on Aging on their budgets. School Building Committee met on Wednesday and did not have much business other than signing invoices. The new smart boards that were malfunctioning were doing so due to vibrations. Additional bracing will be attempted to correct this. Other items need to wait until spring. Mr. Ebersole reported the Library Trustees continue to update their policies, specifically use of their public room as well as children in the library without parental presence. Sewer Commission continues working on inflow and infiltration and grease trap compliance. Ms. Bertram reported MPO is meeting tomorrow and will be voting on the TIP amendment which includes funding for Chase Road. She requested a letter of support be sent to MRPC in advance of the meeting. Ms. Luck requested a future agenda item address a policy for opening up road surfaces. Town Manager Report: Ms. Lemieux attended a Council on Aging meeting and one item discussed was the Lunenburg Stroll. The purpose of this event was to bring more visitors to Lunenburg specifically the Senior Center, Teen Center, Historical Society and Library as well as local businesses. The Council on Aging is looking for support from this Board as well as more volunteers. Before they proceed they want to ensure there will be more involvement in the event. Ms. Lemieux volunteered to work with the various groups as she thought it was a good event to continue. She moved on to the Request for Proposals for Town counsel. After reviewing the RFPs in more detail she found a number of the critical questions are addressed in their proposals. Questions may be limited to follow-up questions regarding the RFP. She will be sending the Board a list of questions that they might want to ask in addition to the ones outlined in the RFP before going on vacation. Ms. Lemieux reported Adam Burney will be Acting Town Manager in her absence for the week of February She congratulated Fire Chief Sullivan and the Fire Department on being awarded a State Student Awareness for Fire Education (SAFE) grant in the amount of $3,951.00 and a Senior SAFE grant in the amount of $2,596.00. Mr. Toale stated the Town is seeking volunteers to help out with the Memorial Day Committee ceremonies. Anyone interested should call the Board of Selectmen office with their contact information. He reported there would not be a quorum for the February 21" meeting. Available board members will need to come in on next Tuesday to sign the payroll and accounts payable warrants. Public Comment: Mr. Alonzo wanted to thank Ms. Bertram for being the first Selectman to participate in the remote participation process of tonight's meeting. Motion: T.Alonzo To adjourn the meeting at 8:31 p.m. Vote: Ms. Luck-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Ebersole-aye, Ms. Bertram - aye, Mr. Toale-aye 2"d: R. Ebersole Respectfully submitted, Claim Beleron Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-28-agenda-5066.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-28 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-28-agenda-5066.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02282017-5066 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN February 28, 2017 6:00 PM – Town Hall Lunenburg Middle/High School 1025 Massachusetts Avenue High School Collaborative Room AGENDA PUBLIC COMMENT/ANNOUNCEMENTS APPOINTMENT- Reserve Police Officer- Erin K. Considine APPOINTMENTS 1. Request for Proposals for Town Counsel Services Interviews 6:00 PM Miyares & Harrington LLP-Tom Harrington & Christopher Heep 6:20 PM Murphy Hess Toomey & Lehane LLP- Brandon Moss, Dave Deluca, Kerry Jenness 6:40 PM Kopelman And Associates- Leonard Kopelman 7:00 PM KP Law PC-Lauren Goldberg & Michele Randazzo 7:20 PM Mirick and O’Connell-Marc Terry 7:40 PM Law Office of John B. Barrett- John Barrett 8:00 PM Deutsch Williams-Paul Derensis 8:20 PM Urbelis and Fieldsteel LLP-Tom Urbelis 8:40 PM Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC (formerly Blatman, Bobrowski, Mead and Talerman, LLC)- Adam Costa CURRENT BUSINESS Minutes/ Warrants/ Action File Issues ADJOURN ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-02-28-minutes-5066.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-02-28 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-02-28-minutes-5066.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02282017-5066 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== BOARD OF SELECTMEN MINUTES High School Collaborative Room 1025 Massachusetts Avenue February 28, 2017 The Board of Selectmen met as scheduled with Jamie Toale, Chairman; Robert Ebersole, Vice Chairman; Tom Alonzo, Clerk; Paula Bertram, Member; Phyllis Luck, Member and Town Manager Heather Lemieux Others attending: Adam Burney, Land Use Director The meeting commenced at 6:00 p.m. APPOINTMENT- Reserve Police Officer- Erin K. Considine Police Chief Jim Marino presented Erin Considine and stated he was recommending her appointment as reserve police officer. Ms. Considine has completed the Municipal Police Training Committee, 315 hour Reserve Intermittent Police Academy in West Boylston, Massachusetts. She has served with Townsend, Lunenburg and Fitchburg police departments as an intern. She is currently employed full-time in Townsend as a dispatcher. Motion: R. Ebersole To ratify the Town Manager appointment of Erin Considine to Reserve Police Officer 2": T. Alonzo Vote: All in Favor The Board congratulated Ms. Considine and all present applauded. Request for Proposals for Town Counsel Services Interviews Chairman Toale announced they would be interviewing legal firms for legal services. Nine firms are scheduled in twenty minute time slots with ten minutes for a brief presentation and the other ten for follow up questions. 1) Miyares & Harrington LLP-Tom Harrington & Christopher Heep Attorney Heep stated they are a nine attorney firm located in Wellesley. The firm is almost entirely devoted to municipal law practice. They serve as special town counsel, primarily in land use, environmental or regulatory matters. Mr. Heep and Mr. Harrington stated their firm is large enough to handle all the town's needs, yet small enough to get to know everyone in the firm over time. They pride themselves on their accessibility to clients. They are a collaborative firm, frequently discussing cases for input and are familiar with the issues associated with changing town counsel. Mr. Heep would be the lead attorney and Mr. Harrington would the backup attorney. Mr. Ebersole asked if they would talk about their experience with boards that are pushing for a particular opinion other than yours and a board that is looking for guidance without an opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Mr. Heep stated he frequently works with boards, particularly concerning land use, that have a different position. The key is to get involved early in the case. Mr. Harrington stated he works for the Board of Selectmen; so we work for you and are usually referred to another board. We need to let that board do their work and our job is to show them where things begin and end. Rather than be an additional board member, it's our job to give you the facts and let you make your own decision. Mr. Alonzo asked what the firm's goals are. Mr. Harrington stated they are interviewing to get a tenth attorney but that will be their limit. He added they would never get where they have more towns than available attorneys; they are interested in adding just one or two more towns. Ms. Bertram asked about on-site time; to expand on their three annual training. She asked how often do you have town counsel attend meetings and could you expand on your experience with host agreements? Mr. Heep ===PAGE 2=== and Mr. Harrington stated they are happy to do a handful of training workshops for the town annually at no additional cost. The subject matter lately tends to be the new public records law, the open meeting law, Chapter 61A, as well as specific trainings when there are many new members on a board. Host community agreements are done in different contexts depending on the need. Mr. Heep stated they would not come to meetings unless requested to do so. They encouraged contacting their clients for feedback on their performance. The Board thanked them as they exited the meeting. 2) Murphy Hess Toomey & Lehane LLP- Brandon Moss, Dave Deluca Mr. Moss stated their firm has thirty attorneys; approximately ten practice municipal law. The firm has been in business for over thirty years. Public sector is the bread and butter of their practice. They represent ten towns. They try to take a proactive approach through trainings, client alerts etc. They tend to take a personal approach, will do office hours if necessary. Attorney Deluca stated it's who you feel comfortable with, so we want to make sure you have a close relationship with your attorneys. Your matter will be the most important thing we do that day. They are proficient with land use. He personally does licensing work. Mr. Alonzo asked if you were interviewing firms and you had 20 minutes, what you would ask them. Mr. Deluca stated he would want to know for certain if we called you, who is it that we would expect to get a call back from? What is the chain of command in your office? In this case it would be either Mr. Moss or me. Mr. Ebersole asked if they would talk about their experience with boards that are pushing for a particular opinion other than yours and a board that doesn't have an opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Mr. DeLuca stated he works with town officials who really have no interest rather than wanting to do the right thing. If I can give advice that's right down the middle to keep a board on the rails with respect to hearing everyone out, making sure that everyone's rights are protected and at the same time fashioning a decision, that is right on the law. We are accustomed to managing that and being able to provide advice in the long term that is of benefit to the town. The real value is avoiding litigation. Ms. Bertram asked about the amount of time they spend onsite. In the RFP you stated you would provide two trainings per year and you would provide transition time. Please expand on that and how often you are on site to deal with an entire board. Mr. Moss said trainings are as agreed. Otherwise office hours and being present is open for discussion. Mr. DeLuca stated in general we try to spend one afternoon or morning a month with office hours. Mr. Alonzo asked what kind of towns work best for you- what makes the difficult ones and what makes the easy ones? Mr. Moss stated picking up the phone makes it easier; knowing questions/issues in advance is good. Ms. Luck stated you had another backup attorney, what areas of expertise is this person's? Mr. DeLuca stated she has experience in general law, handling everything from land use, ethics, etc. Mr. DeLuca invited the Board to review their written material and thanked them for inviting them in tonight. 3) Kopelman and Associates- Leonard Kopelman, Brian Winner Attorney Kopelman presented a fee schedule to the Board and gave a brief history on his former firm, Kopelman & Paige. He stated his approach is to be part of the team, to meet with department heads to find out what their concerns are, do a risk analysis and try to get ahead of the problems. There is a lot to be done in a proactive manner; and as an example he spoke about working with the Assessor's office on unknown owner properties. He stated he and Mr. Winner work closely together and they only charge for one lawyer's time. Mr. Winner stated it is the best of both worlds; you get the relationship and access to an experienced lawyer. Mr. Ebersole asked if they would talk about their experience with boards that are pushing for a particular opinion other than yours and a board that doesn't have an opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Mr. Kopelman stated usually there is a phone call with a question like, "can we do this?" and we ask what is it you want to accomplish. Because the answer may be yes, but that is not the best way to do it; or it may be no and we have to figure how to some way to get around it. As a practical matter we are not going to substitute our judgment but we'll give you our opinion. Mr. Alonzo asked what are both of your areas of expertise and what do you do when an issue comes up outside of those areas. Mr. Kopelman stated we have in experience in 90% of general law. Mr. Winner specializes in land use and environmental issues. Assuming you had something we don't know, we can do contracts; someone we know who is top notch. They would agree to keep our firm's rate. We know all the experts in various fields. One area we don't practice in is cable television but we know lawyers who do. We also have access to a labor lawyer. Mr. Kopelman stated they ===PAGE 3=== serve at the whim and pleasure of any board. He added no one has ever terminated his services. Mr. Winner stated as all of you know, I have done a lot of work here in the past; he enjoyed it very much although there were some rocky times. He looks forward to reconnecting. They thanked the Board for inviting them tonight. 4) KP Law PC-Lauren Goldberg, Michele Randazzo, Vicki Marsh Attorney Goldberg stated she was the lead attorney and introduced Ms. Marsh and Ms. Randazzo. Attorney Joel Bard has served as Lunenburg town counsel for many years and he had hoped to be here tonight to meet with you. He did send a brief statement that he asked Ms. Goldberg to read aloud on his behalf. Ms. Goldberg stated obviously Attorney Bard is familiar with the town and board. Ms. Goldberg stated the firm's intention is to have the town interact with a small group of individuals on a regular basis and that would be Mr. Bard, Ms. Randazzo and Ms. Marsh. Ms. Randazzo will serve as a backup attorney. Our goal is to be responsive to any requests you send to us in a short period of time. There really hasn't been a formal backup attorney for the past few years and we feel having Ms. Randazzo as backup gives the town more access. We looked at past years' billings. In general municipal law work, we stop billing at $36,000. The average amount the town has spent over the past five years for general legal work is $23,000. Those areas of expertise are exposure to what's going on the statewide basis; we don't have to start from scratch because we have the attorneys who are staying up to date on current issues. Ms. Randazzo has been at KP Law for most of her career. She has worked with many communities in Worcester County. She has experience in every type of general law area with a strong litigation background. Ms. Marsh has been with KP Law for 17 years and her specialty is real estate law. She has handled a multitude of transactions for the town; easements, license agreements for utility companies, property acquisition, preservation restrictions, etc. She has experience working with state agencies involved in conservation and environmental issues. Mr. Ebersole asked if they would talk about their experience with boards that are pushing for a particular legal opinion other than yours and a board that is looking for guidance without an opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Ms. Goldberg stated the firm takes its role as councilor very seriously, in that we want to bring to you all of your options; the legal options and discuss the potential legal ramifications and implications that each of those options might bring. At the same time if there is a particular outcome that you wish to pursue, once you know what those options are, we will be your advocate for that. If we believe that there is great risk in proceeding down one path versus another, we will tell you that. That's our job and responsibility. Mr. Alonzo asked how many attorneys work for the firm and how many municipalities do they represent? Ms. Goldberg stated they have forty-three attorneys and we represent around one hundred and twenty-five municipalities. Mr. Alonzo asked since you are our current legal firm, what would you be doing differently than you have been doing? Ms. Goldberg stated that is why Ms. Randazzo is specifically listed as the backup attorney in the proposal. We would like to revisit our approach to town counsel services. Our internal controls got a little lax and in looking at who would be a good match, we came up with her. We would like to have a more formal relationship with the board and meet periodically to update on cases and continue to build the relationship with the board and the firm. The Board thanked them for coming in tonight. 5) Mirick and O'Connell-Mare Terry, Brian Falk Mr. Terry thanked the Board for the opportunity to work with their firm so far and to be considered for expansion of that relationship. He introduced Brian Falk as the attorney they are proposing be the town counsel for Lunenburg. Attorney Falk has been practicing municipal law for over ten years. He also serves on the Milford ZBA and has been recognized as a rising star in Massachusetts by Super Lawyers Magazine since 2014. Mr. Falk stated the bulk of his practice is municipal law and land use. We are town counsel in eight communities; seven of which are in Worcester County. There are sixty-five attorneys working in our firm. Four attorneys handle the bulk of the municipal work with a few others who provide backup in specialty areas. We pride ourselves on our accessibility and responsiveness; also on having consistent points of contact. If selected, he would be the primary source of contact for all non-labor matters for the town and would probably be doing the majority of the legal work. When he would have to seek a specialty opinion he would be in the ===PAGE 4=== loop. We are cognizant that we are on your schedule not ours. We are here to work for you. He also finds it very helpful to get a time frame from the client on a particular matter. Mr. Ebersole asked if they would talk about their experience with boards that are pushing for a particular legal opinion other than yours and about a board that might be looking for guidance other than a legal opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Mr. Falk stated if he gives the answer and it's a gray area, I'll let you know where I think it's going to go. I am open and honest and not there to serve an opinion. Mr. Alonzo stated we have been working with your firm on the labor side. What are the pros and cons of having you handle all the legal issues? Mr. Falk stated in the towns where we are town counsel, we also are labor counsel, so we are used to this. The pros are Mr. Terry and I would be on the phone every day checking in on any number of matters. You would get the benefit of that collaboration. I can't think of a down side. Mr. Toale stated he was very pleased with the labor work that this firm has handled for the town. Ms. Luck asked if the backup attorney would still be available. Mr. Falk stated yes. In the rare instance when I am unavailable he would be well informed on any matter. Mr. Alonzo asked if there anything we should know about you that separates you from the other eight firms we are interviewing. Mr. Falk stated the scope of our municipal group; it is a tightknit group. You are getting the benefits of the resources of a larger firm but you will have me as town counsel. Mr. Terry stated we have no idea what other groups have said to you, we have a culture about responsiveness. That is something we are very proud of. We as a firm commit to this. The Board thanked them for coming in this evening. 6) Law Office of John B. Barrett- John Barrett Attorney Barrett thanked the Board and stated his office was based in Townsend. He stated thạt he has thirty years of experience in municipal law. The majority of that he was the assistant city solicitor for Fitchburg for eighteen years and when the city solicitor retired, he was appointed to that position by Mayor Wong. When she decided to step down he retired. He also served as the city solicitor for Gardner for two years, three years for Petersham and as an interim solicitor for Athol. He has represented planning boards, zoning boards of appeal and conservation commissions, so he is familiar with land use issues. He served as the 2010-2011 president for Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association. One thing he could provide the town is accessibility. He stated communication is important. His backup counsel would be Mike Ciotta who was his predecessor in Fitchburg. Mr. Ebersole asked how he would handle a situation where a board that is pushing for a particular position which is contrary to your legal opinion and where a board has no opinion and is looking for advice that may be both legal and business related. Mr. Barrett stated his approach is to make sure the Board has as much information that he can provide to them and his legal opinion of what the law says. As town counsel he would be representing the town and the Board of Selectmen and if you had a position that he thought that was wrong, he would tell you. If you still felt it was against his advice, with any client as long as how you proceed legally, that is your right. If the Board had no opinion, he would give you his legal opinion and lay out all the options and possible consequences. In the end it is your decision. Mr. Alonzo asked what the difference is between city solicitor and town counsel and as a sole practitioner there might be things that come up beyond your expertise, how you would handle those issues and legal questions. Mr. Barrett stated there is quite a bit of difference but the main one is in a town, the executive officer is the Board of Selectmen. In a city you usually have one mayor that is basically the person you deal with. Another difference is there is a city council which is the legislative body versus the town meeting process. He stated one resource he could call on is the Mass Municipal Lawyers Association. They have a list serve that people post issues on. You can usually find someone who has dealt with a particular matter. If it was something that is unique, he would recommend contacting special counsel. He would also recommend the Board devote some funding towards this. Mr. Toale stated you mentioned you kind of retired upon leaving Fitchburg. What percent of your time would be devoted towards Lunenburg? Mr. Barrett stated there would some limitations on the amount of money he could earn working for the town. There would be a limitation of no more than nineteen hours per week on the average; probably around 25% of his time. Part of what he was proposing is using Mike Ciotta as backup. Mr. Alonzo asked if Mr. Ciotta has the same retirement restriction as him. Mr. Barrett stated he did. Mr. Toale thanked Attorney Barrett for coming in this evening. ===PAGE 5=== 7) Deutsch Williams-Paul DeRensis, Rich Hucksom Attorney DeRensis stated the one thing you should remember about us above all the people you are seeing is "practical and loyal." He stated he has been a town counsel for more than thirty years but he has also been a selectman for more than twenty-one years. He has served on a finance committee and a planning board. We have a team of lawyers that we are going to bring to you; all of them are experienced in municipal service in their home towns. We have been in your shoes. We know what it takes to run a municipality from both sides of the table. That's what I mean about loyalty. We understand what public service is and know our public responsibility. Mr. DeRensis stated he was a former president of the Massachusetts Selectmen's Association and he is also currently a board member. He is board member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, now a senior member. He has been appointed by the Governor to advise him on local government affairs. He added he is also a Super lawyer; one of twelve in the New England area in the category of municipal law. We understand you want to get things done. That's what we do, we get it done. Attorney Hucksom has a background in appellate tax board, open meeting law, public records to name a few. Attorney Hucksom has been practicing law for over thirty years concentrating in municipal law and land use permitting law. We try to be proactive to prevent problems. He also attends public hearings on more contentious or complex applications to avoid problems from occurring in the final decision. I often draft decisions for various boards. We have an excellent record of having those decisions upheld when appealed. He has served as Chairman on the Conservation Commission and serves on the Open Space Committee in the town he lives in. He has seen the issues from all different perspectives. Mr. Ebersole asked how you would handle a board that takes a particular position other than your legal opinion and on the other side, a board that doesn't know what they want to do and would be looking to you for a legal and possibly business related opinion. Attorney DeRensis stated our job is to be advisors; our job is not to tell a board what it has to do. Our job is to figure out how to do it legally. So if a board wants to do something against our advice we'll still help them get it done with one caveat. If they are going to do something illegal or criminal, we will not do that and we will bring that to the attention of the Board of Selectmen, the appointing authority or whoever has to be notified. We have zero tolerance for corruption. Attorney Hucksom added the first part of your question is a situation I have encountered many times. One thing that he tries to do is to make them sensitive to the issue of how the advice is received by the board and how they use it. Mr. Alonzo asked how many municipalities you represent and how many attorneys are in your firm. Mr. DeRensis stated he tries to limit it to four or five municipalities because he believes he is going to be involved. You will have a very active town counsel that is there for you. There are twenty-four attorneys in this firm. Mr. Alonzo asked him to expand on loyalty and practicality. Attorney DeRensis stated we will be there for you; we will cover your back and carry you through whatever struggle you are in. Mr. DeRensis affirmed he would be the lead attorney and would be available twenty-four hours, seven days a week. Mr. Toale thanked them for coming in tonight. 8) Urbelis and Fieldsteel, LLP-Tom Urbelis, Carol MeGravey Attorney Urbelis stated for the last twenty five years he has been town counsel for Andover, with a population of thirty-three thousand. For the last eighteen years he has been town counsel for North Andover with a population of thirty-one thousand. He has also served as special counsel for the City of Cambridge representing police officers in civil rights cases. I would be the lead attorney with Ms. McGravey as the backup attorney. Attorney McGravey stated she started her career working in municipal law for the City of Lawrence and served for fifteen years as a city attorney before she began working for this firm in 2002. She also was special counsel to the city of Somerville, particularly in economic development. She is now working in land use, contracts, affordable housing, etc. in addition to working with the other attorneys at the firm. Attorney Urbelis stated thay also have an environmental lawyer on staff. He added he and Ms. McGravey are former presidents of the Massachusetts City Councillors Association which is now the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association. He also cited awards he has received. Mr. Ebersole asked how you would handle a board that takes a particular position other than your legal opinion and on the other side, a board that doesn't know what they want to do and would be looking to you for a legal and possibly a business related opinion. Attorney Urbelis stated we call them as we see them, sometimes our clients don't like that. But we have been successful for so long for the towns we represented because they know they are not going to get the political answer. We understand every town has political considerations but what ===PAGE 6=== you are going to get from us is our best legal advice. We are also proud of the fact that we are not only attorneys but advisors. We kick things around with our clients. We reserve time free of charge to the town several hours a month and come out here and meet with any department heads or committee members just to kick stuff around. Ms. MoGravey stated we are not policymakers, we give legal advice but we also think of ourselves as counselors with regard to you as the policy makers for your town. We realize we are not the final operatives of that issue but we hope to give you good legal advice to guide you with respect to those policies. Currently, the firm is legal counsel to Andover. Mr. Alonzo asked if they were going to expand to more municipalities. Attorney Urbelis stated they are not looking to grow the firm beyond their size. We can do the work that you have. The question was asked, have you ever had to go to a specialty attorney for their services? Attorney Urbelis stated sure, for labor and school work. He does all the land use litigation, a lot of those have been appellate decisions. Mr. Alonzo stated if had to choose from all the firms we are interviewing tonight, how would you separate your firm from other firms? Attorney Urbelis stated first we are capable but I guarantee we will call you back the same day or within twenty-four hours. That is one of the reasons we have been successful; attention to detail and to attentiveness to our towns. Ms. McGravey stated that is why we want to stay small, to give that attention to our towns and be responsive. Our references will confirm that, call them. The Board thanked them for coming in tonight. 9) Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC: Lisa Mead and Adam Costa Attorney Mead stated when they submitted their proposal, the firm was Blaterman, Bobrowski, Mead and Talerman and they were in the midst of transition but they couldn't submit the new firm name at that time. The split was due to two of the firm's lawyers moving toward retirement and private practice. All of our towns and eight of our attorneys came with us. Our goal is to create a municipal law firm providing counsel from the senior attorneys in the firm. Attorney Costa stated his roots are in land use, planning and zoning law. He began practicing with the former firm in 2004. He has also worked on 40B projects across the state as well as 40R smart growth initiatives. They have also assisted with zoning rewrites as well as codification projects. Our firm has eight attorneys and we pride ourselves on all of them being partner level attorneys. We hire experienced attorneys who have practiced municipal law. We have an experienced litigator. We take a proactive role in the communities we represent. We also hold office hours as part of putting the counsel back in legal counsel. This is an opportunity for facetime with the municipalities' public officials. This provides the opportunity to get ahead of problems. We represent the Town of Maynard and Hanson both around the same population-wise to Lunenburg. We also represent Deerfield, on a land use kind of scale similar to Lunenburg. We have represented Lancaster. Mr. Ebersole asked how you would handle a board that takes a particular position other than your legal opinion and on the other side, a board that doesn't know what they want to do and would be looking to you for a legal and possibly business related opinion. Ms. Mead stated where the board is taking a legally untenable position, I would advise the board what the risks are one way or the other. But when they decide how to proceed, we will represent them to the best of our ability. Ultimately you are going to make that decision yourself. On the other hand, a board that doesn't know, is unsure, I would politely suggest or find a way to work into the conversation about what their rights are. One of the reasons our office hours are so important is you get this relationship with folks and they want to ask questions in advance of any future problems. We have eight attorneys and are general counsel to thirteen communities. We represent different sized communities and are not always doing legal work for them. We don't believe we are over taxed because of that. Ms. Mead stated we are also not afraid to hire to fulfill that need. We want our clients to call us and get answers right away. We are really cognizant of what that balance is. Mr. Alonzo asked them what differentiates their firm from the others. Ms. Mead stated it would be the team member aspect of the firm, the counsel aspect and the fact that all of our attorneys are very experienced. We are responsive. Mr. Costa hoped they would reach out to their references. They are pleased with our availability. We pride ourselves on that. Ms. Bertram asked if they would relate their experiences in regard to marijuana facilities and host community agreements. Mr. Costa stated they take guidance from the community. He has worked with boards who have a desire to attract and want to move quickly and don't want to lose that opportunity. He has also represented communities that are unsure, they want to be protected and getting the best deal possible. Mr. Costa stated he has drafted host agreements that have provided payment in lieu of taxes, with an initial payment up front and annual payments based on revenue from the previous year. Other communities have negotiated flat fees. ===PAGE 7=== Locations can be negotiated. We don't know what the future holds for recreational marijuana. Ms. Mead added if you want a level of control after the license is issued, you can have the Board of Health or the Board of Selectmen adopt a local licensing procedure. Ms. Bertram asked if they have done host agreements other than marijuana. Ms. Mead stated they have drafted development agreements for large projects; also for solar agreements. Another example is hazardous waste site cleanup. We had to find the primary responsible party. After a significant period of time we had a three way agreement. Answering Ms. Luck's question, Mr. Costa would be the lead counsel and Ms. Mead would be the back up. The Board thanked them for coming in tonight. Mr. Toale stated their objective was to choose finalists using the RFP ranking criteria. The Board invited feedback on the interviews from Town Manager Lemieux and Land Use Director Burney. They discussed the various firms. Firms that will be called back for a second round will be Miyares and Harrington, Deutsch Williams, Murphy, Hess, Toomey and Lehane, and Mead, Talerman and Costa. References will be checked before they come back. The Board signed the 3'd Quarter Water Commitment. They also signed minutes of February 7 and February 14, 2017. Motion: P. Bertram To adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m. 2nd: R. Ebersole Respectfully submitted, Elainem. Peterson Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2017-03-07-agenda-5067.txt BOARD : select-board DATE : 2017-03-07 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/select-board/2017-03-07-agenda-5067.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03072017-5067 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1===