Board of Selectmen
May 18, 2009
A meeting of the Board of
Selectmen was called to order by Chairman Joseph Montecalvo at 7:00 PM,
The Pledge of Allegiance was
recited by those present.
Approval of Minutes.
March 23, 2009 [Executive Session] - A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Marzec to
approve but not release the March 23, 2009 Executive Session minutes as
presented with the readings omitted.
Vote yes/Unanimous.
April 13, 2009 - A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Melia to approve the April 13,
2009 minutes as presented with the readings omitted. Vote yes/Unanimous.
April 13, 2009 [Executive Session] - A motion/Mr. Marzec, seconded/Mr. Nolan to approve but
not release the April 13, 2009 Executive Session minutes as presented with the
readings omitted. Vote yes/Unanimous.
May 5, 2009 - A
motion was made and seconded to approve the May 5, 2009 minutes as presented
with the readings omitted. Vote yes/Unanimous.
Citizens’ Comments/Input. None
Jocelyn Cowan, Driscoll’s
Lane/Vote to sign Release Deed. A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to execute a release deed to Jocelyn Cowan for property
located off Driscoll Lane and shown on Northbridge Assessors’ Map 24 as Parcel
130, pursuant to the vote of the Town under Article 3 of the warrant for the
Fall Annual Town Meeting of October 28, 2008, said deed to be delivered to the grantee
upon receipt from the grantee of the purchase price of $2,600, payment for the
Town’s legal fees in connection with the transaction, advance taxes as required
by Section 63A of Chapter 44 of the General Laws, the executed disclosure of
beneficial interest form required by Section 7 of Chapter 40J of the General
Laws, and the executed Arson/Tax Delinquency Statement required by Section 77B
of Chapter 60 of the General Laws. Vote
yes/ Unanimous.
South Middlesex
Annual License Renewals [Pool Tables, Bowling &
Billiards]. A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to approve the annual renewal of Sparetime Recreation
Bowling License subject to the payment of all outstanding liens. Vote yes/Unanimous. A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Marzec
to approve the annual renewal of Sparetime Recreation Billiards License subject
to the payment of all outstanding liens.
Vote yes/Unanimous. A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to approve the annual renewal of Pichel Holdings Inc. d/b/a
Hawk’s Nest Tavern’s Pool Table License subject to the payment of all
outstanding liens. Vote yes/Unanimous. A motion/Mr. Marzec, seconded/Mr. Ampagoomian
to approve the annual renewal of MLJJ, Inc. d/b/a The Gray Barn’s Pool Table
License subject to the payment of all outstanding liens. Vote yes/Unanimous.
Whitin Community Center [Gary Wood]/Request a one-day
Beer & Wine License for an Outdoor Music Concert on Saturday, September 12,
2009 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM (Rain Date:
September 13, 2009 from 2 PM to 5:30 PM). A motion/Mr. Melia, seconded/Mr. Ampagoomian
to approve the Whitin Community Center’s one-day Beer & Wine License for an
Outdoor Music Concert on Saturday, September 12, 2009 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM (Rain
Date: September 13, 2009 from 2 PM to
5:30 PM). Vote yes/Unanimous.
Armenian Apostolic Church/Request permission to hang a
banner over Church Street from August 3, 2009 to August 17, 2009 to advertise
their Annual Picnic to be held on August 16, 2009. A
motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Marzec to grant permission to the Armenian
Apostolic Church to hang a banner over Church Street from August 3rd to August
17th to advertise their Annual Picnic to be held on Sunday, August 16, 2009. Vote yes/Unanimous.
John Morin [Wedding Ceremony]/Request permission to
use the
Town Manager Evaluation. Chairman
Montecalvo mentioned that the Board of Selectmen each filled out a performance
evaluation form on the Town Manager in which there were 8 criteria they had to
rate the Town Manager on. They used the
following scale: 1) Unsatisfactory – Is not meeting the minimum standards of
the position of Town Manager; 2) Needs Improvement – Is meeting the
requirements of the Manager’s role, but improvement is needed to move an issue
forward; 3) Satisfactory – Is meeting the requirements of the Manager’s role;
4) Above Satisfactory – Understands the issues and is addressing the same; 5)
Outstanding – Clearly exceeds what is required and expected by the Board. After a brief discussion regarding the
evaluation structure of the Town Manager, Chairman Montecalvo announced the
Selectmen gave the Town Manager an overall rating of 3.5. Chairman Montecalvo then stated that they
need to discuss his new goals and objectives for FY 2010 at a future Board of
Selectmen’s Meeting. A motion/Mr. Nolan,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to accept the Town Manager’s Evaluation. Vote yes/Unanimous.
Executive Session Minutes/Vote to release. Selectman
Melia feels that there is no need to involve Town Counsel again and to just
release the minutes as requested by the citizen. He feels that the Town has spent enough money
on this issue. Chairman Montecalvo
suggested that Town Counsel review the minutes to determine which Executive
Session Minutes can and cannot be released to protect the town. A motion/Mr. Nolan, seconded/Mr. Marzec to
release the Executive Session minutes pertaining to the High School
construction project upon the review of Town Counsel and Town Manager
Kozak. Vote yes/Messrs. Nolan,
Ampagoomian, Montecalvo, and Marzec. Vote no/Mr. Melia.
Status of Trading Post Liquor License. Town
Manager Kozak mentioned that a letter has been sent to the owner of the
property advising him to contact us so that a discussion can take place on the
status of the Trading Post Liquor License at a future Board of Selectmen’s
Meeting. Town Manager Kozak also
mentioned that he has been in contact with the Trading Post’s Attorney and
Realtor regarding the sale of the property.
Selectman Melia recommended that the town move forward on taking the
liquor license back. Chairman Montecalvo
suggested that the Town Manager move forward with initiating a “show cause
hearing” for the Trading Post. The Board of Selectmen will discuss this further
at their next meeting.
Sewer Billing/Present:
Richard Sasseville, DPW Director.
Mr. Sasseville reported that during
the past several months there have been a number of discussions regarding the
fairness of the Town’s sewer billing practices particularly regarding the
impact of outdoor water usage, which does not contribute to flow within the
sanitary sewer system. Some of these
discussions involved re-establishing the former abatement policy for outdoor
water usage and/or the ability to install second water meters to measure
outside water usage. These various
discussions have all concluded with a desire for people to “only pay for the
services they actually received”. While
abatements and/or second meters may achieve some level of fairness, they would
do it at a cost to both the Town and to the customer. In an effort to explore other means of
achieving greater fairness in the method of sewer billing, he offered several
other billing methods that would provide equity among the ratepayers. It is important to note while reviewing these
various rate structures that reducing the rate for higher volume users shifts
the cost to the lower volume users in order to generate the required revenue to
fund the operation of the sewer system. Flat Rate Billing: Under this rate structure, all customers
would pay a flat rate for each quarter.
The rate would be determined by dividing the amount of revenue to be
raised from user charges by the number of sewer accounts and dividing the
quotient by four. The result would be a
flat quarterly rate charged to each customer.
Example: Number of customers 3,145
Required
revenue from use charges $1,900,000
Annual
charge = $1,900,000/3,145 = $604.16
per year
Quarterly
charge = $151.04
per qtr
By
comparison, a customer using an average of 3,000 cf per quarter under this rate
structure would pay $604.16 per year compared to $580.32 per year under current
rates. The break-even point for this
rate structure is 3,200 cubic feet per quarter.
All customers using an average of 3,200 cf per quarter or more would see
their annual cost go down and all customers who average less than 3,200 cf per
quarter would see their annual cost go up.
This represents a significant shift in the cost to lower volume
users. This rate structure could be
modified to lessen the impact on low volume users by retaining the current rate
steps for volumes of 800 cf per quarter or less and 2,000 cf per quarter or
less. Without showing the math, the
quarterly rates under those conditions would be as follows:
800
cf or less $60.50
per qtr
2,000
cf or less $89.18
per qtr
Over
2,000 cf $180.62
per qtr
By retaining only the step for 800 cf or less the rates
would be as follows:
800
cf or less $60.50
per qtr
Over
800 cf $168.31
per qtr
Fixed+Variable
Cost Billing: The operating costs of the Sewer System are a
combination of fixed costs and variable costs.
This rate structure establishes a fixed charge to customers to cover the
fixed cost of the sewer system and a variable rate based on usage to cover the
variable costs to the sewer system.
Fixed costs are those that are not related to the flow through the
plant. Examples of fixed costs include debt service, wages, salaries and
employee benefits, transfers to the General Fund, heating fuels, vehicle fuels,
vehicle maintenance, professional services and portions of costs associated
with electricity and plant and collection system maintenance and repair. Variable costs include electricity for pumps,
blowers and disinfection equipment, chemicals, sludge disposal and portions of
plant and collection system maintenance and repair costs. Based on a review of historical expenditures
for the sewer system I estimate that approximately 80% of the system’s expenses
are fixed costs and 20% are variable costs.
Using these percentages and historical billing information from calendar
year 2008, I can calculate the fixed and variable rates used for this rate
structure.
Example: Number of customers 3,145
Required
revenue from use charges $1,900,000
Revenue
from fixed charges (80%) $1,520,000
Annual
charge = $1,520,000/3,145 = $483.30
per year
Quarterly
fixed charge = $120.83
per qtr
Revenue
from variable charges (20%) $380,000
Annual
usage over 2,000 cf (from 2008) 177,473
hcf
Variable
rate = $380,000/177,473 hcf= $2.15
per hcf
Using
the above example, customers using 2,000 cf or less per quarter would pay a
fixed charge of $120.83 per quarter or $483.32 per year. This compares to the current charges of
$242.00 per year for users of 800 cf or less per quarter and $356.76 for users
of 2,000 cf or less per quarter. Under
this rate structure, all customers using less than 2,000 cf per quarter would
pay significantly more each quarter than under current rates. Those using more than 2,000 cf per quarter
would pay $120.83 plus $2.15 per hcf for all usage over 2,000 cf. A customer using an average of 3,000 cf per
quarter under this rate structure would pay $569.32 per year compared to
$580.32 per year under current rates. As
in the earlier example, under this rate structure, the cost is shifted to the
low volume users. Again, we could retain
the current rates for low volume users with the following effect on the rates:
800
cf or less $60.50
per qtr
2,000
cf or less $89.18
per qtr
Over
2,000 cf (per qtr) $207.73
+$1.46 per hcf
Once again, by retaining only the step for 800 cf or
less the rates would be as follows:
800
cf or less $60.50
per qtr
Over
800 cf $132.40
+ $1.37 per hcf
Winter Quarter Billing: Under this
rate structure, customers’ user charges are calculated using only their winter
quarter consumption. Customers would be
billed the same amount four times a year.
The winter quarter billings are for those billing periods that end in
January, February and March. In the
example below, I am using the fixed charges in the current rates, which are
$60.50 per qtr for 800 cf or less and $89.18 per qtr for 2,000 cf or less. Using CY 2008 billing histories I can then
calculate the variable charge of the proposed rate.
Example: Number of customers 3,145
Required
revenue from use charges $1,900,000
Number
of customers using 800 cf or less 544
Number
of customers using 2,000 cf or less 1,338
Number
of customers using more than 2,000 cf 1,248
Revenue
800 cf or less – 544 x $60.50 x 4 = $131,648
Revenue
2,000 cf or less – 1338 x $89.18 x4 = $477,291
Fixed
charge revenue over 2,000 cf – 1,248 x $89.18 x4 = $445,186
Total
fixed charge revenue $1,054,125
Required
revenue from variable charges $875,875
Total
volume over 2,000cf (2008 winter quarter) = 35,082
hcf
Total
volume over 2,000cf (4 quarters per year) = 140,328
hcf
Variable
rate = $875,875/140,328 hcf= $6.25
per hcf
A
customer using an average of 3,000 cf per quarter under this rate structure
would pay $606.72 per year compared to $580.32 per year under current
rates. Customers using less than 2,000
cf per quarter would see no change in their annual cost. All customers averaging over 2,100 cf per
quarter would see their costs increase moderately. To facilitate comparisons between the above
rate structures I have attached a spreadsheet, which shows the quarterly
charges for different volumes of usage.
The charts clearly show how the costs are shifted by the various changes
in rate structure. Since 95% of all
billings are less than 7,000 cf per quarter, I have only included information
up to that volume of usage. There are
other alternatives to these rate structures as well as a variety of adjustments
and modifications that can be made to these rates. At this point, the Board must decide if they
wish to change the rate structure or change current policy. The bottom line is that the total revenue
generated by user charges must be maintained in order to insure the financial
integrity of the Sewer Enterprise Fund.
After a brief question and answer period, a motion/Mr. Ampagoomian,
seconded/Mr. Nolan to take the proposal for the Sewer Billing rate and move
this item out of discussions and place under decisions. Vote yes/Unanimous. A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian, seconded/Mr. Marzec
to accept the Winter Quarter Billing Rate Proposal as presented by the DPW
Director, Richard Sasseville. Vote
yes/Unanimous. Mr. Sasseville mentioned that he would put together the rate
sheet and the Board of Selectmen could adopt that specific rate structure at
their next meeting.
Town Manager’s Report. 1) Community Service Program – thanked
the Sheriff’s office for the work that was performed by their Community Service
Program in cleaning and raking the public cemeteries in preparation for the
upcoming Memorial Day holiday. 2) Bike Auction – mentioned that on
Saturday, May 30, 2009 @ 9:00 AM, the Northbridge Police Department will be
hosting a Bicycle Auction. There are
approximately 30 bicycles in various conditions. 3)
Flood Insurance Rate Map – notified the Board that the Town Planner and
Building Inspector have attended a workshop on the new flood insurance rate
map, which will be made available for a comment period. A representative from the Department of
Conservation and Recreation will be attending a Board of Selectmen’s meeting to
review the changes to the flood map. 4)
Stormwater Discharge Permit – DPW Director Richard Sasseville has been attending
meetings regarding the Environmental Protection Act’s Stormwater discharge
permit program. Mr. Sasseville is
requesting the Board of Selectmen to appoint a committee to work on the new
requirements for this permit. He
recommends a representative from each of the following: BOS, DPW Director, Town
Planner, Building Inspector, Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Board of
Health and Finance Committee. 5) Update on the State Senate’s
proposed local aid package – if passed, the cut would be detrimental and would
be $484 million below the 2009 level; cuts would include a reduction in Chapter
70 money by $79 million, eliminating the Quinn bill and community policing
reducing special education, regional school transportation funds, and library
grant money. Town Manager Kozak informed
the Selectmen that he is planning to send a letter addressing his concerns on
the proposed cuts. 6) Charter Communication’s consent to Charter Reorganization –
discuss whether or not the BOS would like to go forward with the consent
process of Charter’s restructuring on their bankruptcy protection. 7) Trustees
of Soldiers’ Memorials – provided notification of committee vacancy. 8) Memorial Day Parades – The
Northbridge Veterans’ Council will begin at 10 AM and the Oliver Ashton Post
#343 will begin at 11:30 AM
Selectmen’s Concerns. Selectman Ampagoomian 1) Reminded the residents in town that tomorrow May 19,
2009 is Election Day. 2) Asked if the Police, Fire, DPW and
Board of Health have filed their Emergency Management Plans with the Civil
Defense. 3) Provided the FEMA Website (Grant for Fire Station) for Town
Manager to review. 4) Asked if the Town received any notification from the school on
how they are planning to handle the situation [bus incident] that took place on
Friday, May 15, 2009, and then on Monday, May 18, 2009 and why did it take so
long for the school to notify the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen of what
transpired. 5) He would like to be notified when the Worcester County Sheriff’s
Community Service Program is in town. Selectman Nolan 1) Asked Town Manager
Kozak for a status on the damage that was done to the High School fields. Town
Manager Kozak responded that he provided the information to the Town’s Insurance
Company, however, the contractor that was finishing work at the High School
ended up taking care of the fields. 2)
Asked Town Manager Kozak if there would be any stimulus money for municipal
side projects and Town Manager Kozak replied “no”. Selectman
Melia 1) Asked if there is a timeline on the security for Town Hall. Town Manager Kozak mentioned that he received
four quotes and that he would be meeting with the DPW Director Richard
Sasseville to review and then award the contract to a Company. 2)
Asked Town Manager Kozak if he has given any more thought to his custodial
idea? Town Manager Kozak stated that he
plans to discuss the custodial issue with the School Department and his
Department Heads in the near future. 3) Ross Rajotte Bridge Update – when is
the start date and how long will it take to complete? Town Manager Kozak said that the start date
is FY2010 and will take about a year to complete. DPW Director Richard Sasseville will look
into this project and provide an update at a future meeting. Selectman
Marzec 1) mentioned that a citizen approached him regarding a light in
front of Dunkin Donuts along with the noise level with trucks coming and going
early in the morning with supplies. 2) Reported that a storm drain at
Correspondence. Stimulus Package - Chairman Montecalvo
mentioned that all adults who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security
Income benefits, including disabled adult children are eligible for
$250.00. If you don’t receive this
amount by June 4th, please go to www.socialsecurity.gov.
Executive Session. A motion/Mr. Nolan,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to go into Executive Session under M.G.L. Chapter 39, S.
23B#3 Contract Negotiations (Teachers Union) and M.G.L. Chapter 39, S. 23B#3 Litigation
(Pegasus Holdings) -- to reconvene in open session. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Marzec/ Yes; Mr. Melia/Yes; Mr.
Nolan/Yes; Mr. Ampagoomian/Yes; and Mr. Montecalvo/Yes.
Open Session Adjourned: 8:22
P.M.
Executive Session
Convened: 8:25 P.M.
Executive Session
Adjourned: 8:56 P.M.
Return to Open Session: 8:57
P.M.
The
Board returned to open session to make the following votes:
A motion/Mr. Ampagoomian,
seconded/Mr. Marzec to direct Town Counsel to obtain a judge’s order to remove
individuals living at the property known as “The Old Northbridge Nursing
Home”. Vote yes/Unanimous.
A motion/Mr. Marzec,
seconded/Mr. Nolan to include in the compensation to Mr. Theodore Kozak, Town
Manager, a 3% raise in salary, to match the amount given to all other town
non-union employees. Vote yes/Unanimous.
A motion/Mr. Marzec, seconded/Mr.
Ampagoomian to adjourn the open session.
Vote yes/Unanimous.
Open Session Adjourned:
9:02 P.M.
Respectfully
submitted,
Daniel
Nolan, Clerk
/dg