Board of Selectmen’s Meeting

September 5, 2007

 

A meeting of the Board of Selectmen was called to order by Chairman William Audette at 6:00 PM, Northbridge Town Hall, 7 Main Street, Whitinsville, MA.  Present:  Messrs. Montecalvo, Marzec and Ampagoomian.  Also present:  Theodore D. Kozak Town Manager.

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by those present.

 

Fall annual Town Meeting [October 23, 2007]/Vote to place the articles on the warrant. Present:  Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mary Frances Powers.  Town Manager Kozak provided the Board of Selectmen with a copy of the articles for their review while he read each article aloud.  Article 1:  To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for the High School Fields and Linwood Avenue detention pond restoration projects; or take any other action relative thereto.  Chairman Audette questioned the wording of article 1 and suggested that this article be under the direction of the Building, Planning and Construction Committee. Selectman Davis agreed and asked that the following verbiage be added to line 2, after restoration projects; “under the direction of the Building, Planning and Construction Committee”.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Marzec to place Article 1 as amended on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 2:  To see if the Town will vote to accept the provisions of Section 5K of Chapter 59 of the Massachusetts General Laws in order to allow the Selectmen to establish a program whereby property owners over the age of 60 on July 1st of any given year may provide volunteer service to the Town, at the State minimum wage, in exchange for a reduction in their real estate tax bills of up to $750 per Fiscal Year, in addition to any other abatements for which they may be eligible; or take any other action relative thereto.  A motion/Mr. Marzec, seconded/Mr. Ampagoomian to place Article 2 as presented on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 3:  To see if the Town will vote to amend the vote taken under Article 3 of the 2007 Spring Session of the Annual Town Meeting (June 12, 2007), appropriations and transfers under the Omnibus Budget Article as follows:  NON-DEPARTMENTAL: Line 40: Employee Insurance Benefits; By decreasing the amount previously raised and appropriated by $15,000.00 and transfer said amount to new Line 40A Life Insurance; or take any other action relative thereto.  Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mary Frances Powers suggested changing the wording to the following:  “By transferring $15,000.00 from the sum previously raised and appropriated the amount from Line 40 Employee Insurance Benefits the sum of $15,000.00 to a new Line item 40A Life Insurance”;  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Marzec to place Article 3 with the following verbiage “by transferring the amount of $15,000.00 from Line 40 to Line Item 40A Life Insurance” on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 4: To see if the Town will vote to amend the vote taken under Article 3 of the 2007 Spring Session of the Annual Town Meeting (June 12, 2007), appropriations and transfers under the Omnibus Budget Article as follows:  NON-DEPARTMENTAL: Line 40: Employee Insurance Benefits; By decreasing the amount previously raised and appropriated by $______________; or take any other action relative thereto.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Marzec to place Article 4 as written on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 5: To see if the Town will vote to amend the vote taken under Article 3 of the 2007 Spring Session of the Annual Town Meeting (June 12, 2007), appropriations and transfers under the Omnibus Budget Article as follows:  NON-DEPARTMENTAL: Line 43: Stabilization – By increasing the amount previously raised and appropriated by $_______________; or take any other action relative thereto.  Mary Frances Powers, Chairman of the Finance Committee suggested changing the wording of line 4 above to:  “by transferring from available funds from the treasury the sum of “.   A motion/Mr. Marzec, seconded/Mr. Davis to place Article 5, as amended above, on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 6:  To see if the Town will vote to appropriate from the proceeds of the sale of surplus property account the sum of $10,000 for the purpose of purchasing mechanic’s tools for use by the Department of Public Works for maintenance and repair of departmental vehicles; or take any other action relative thereto.  Selectman Davis suggested changing the wording to the following: “to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate a transfer from available funds and/or the proceeds from the surplus account the sum of $10,000.00 for the purpose of purchasing mechanic’s tools”.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Ampagoomian to place Article 6 as amended on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Messrs. Davis, Marzec, Ampagoomian and Audette.  Vote no/Mr. Montecalvo.  Article 7:  To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money to fund a complete appraisal of the Aldrich School building located at 14 Hill Street, Whitinsville, MA; or take any other action relative thereto.  A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Montecalvo not to place Article 7 on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 8:  To see if the Town will vote to transfer from available funds (free cash) the sum of $237,000 to account number 26043000-424820 School Choice Tuition; or take any other action relative thereto.  Selectman Montecalvo mentioned that Article 8 is the same as Article 16 however, Article 16 is asking for $16 dollars more.  Mary Frances asked the Board of Selectmen if the School Committee voted to place the Articles 16 & 17 on a warrant at a posted meeting.  That said, she suggested that the Board of Selectmen ask the School Committee to submit minutes on how the vote went on these two articles.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Montecalvo not to place Article 8 on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Article 9:  To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money to fund Town Hall security and ADA accessibility projects; or take any other action relative thereto.  Selectman Marzec suggested changing the wording of the article to read, “to see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds to be expended by the Town Manager a sum of money to fund Town Hall security and/or ADA accessibility projects.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Marzec to place Article 9 as amended on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Messrs. Ampagoomian, Marzec, Audette and Davis.  Vote no/Mr. Montecalvo.

Article 15:  To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Northbridge incorporated into its Zoning Bylaws by rezoning from Heritage (H) to Business One (B-1) the Aldrich School property located on the corner of Hill Street and Cottage Street designated as 14 Hill Street, Assessors Map 15-A Parcel 131 and consisting of 35,312 square feet; or take any other action relative thereto.  A motion/Mr. Davis, seconded/Mr. Marzec not to place Article 15 on the Fall Annual Town Warrant.  Vote yes/Unanimous.  Mary Frances Powers, Chairman of the Finance Committee asked if a decision was made on the $19,000.00 that the Town received from the Blackstone Valley Vocational Tech School. She requested a copy of the ruling from the Department of Revenue dated May 15, 2006 [rebates].  That said, she asked that the Town Manager submit the documentation from both the School Committee and Conservation Commission [articles] that they in fact acted at a publicly posted meeting.

 

Board of Selectmen & Town Manager’s Goals and Objectives/Evaluation Process. Chairman Audette mentioned that he received some feedback on the Town Manager and asked that Selectman Montecalvo assist him with how to start this process.  Town Manger Kozak read aloud his goals and objectives.  Each Board of Selectmen provided the Town Manager with their suggestions, additions and/or deletions with respect to his goals and objectives. Chairman Audette will sit with Town Manager Kozak to determine the most important goals and place in some sort of order.

 

A motion/Mr. Montecalvo, seconded/Mr. Ampagoomian to adjourn the meeting.  Vote yes/Unanimous.

 

Meeting adjourned:  8:15 PM

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                            Joseph Montecalvo, Clerk

 

 

dg/