Board of Seletmen
Meeting Minutes
April 13, 2009

Meeting called to order at 6:03 p.m.

Approval of Meeting Minutes:

Selectman Martin motioned to approve the minutes of the March 23rd meeting with one minor change/Huber seconded/motioned passed unanimously.

Selectman Martin motioned to approve the minutes of the April 2nd meeting/Huber seconded/motioned passed unanimously.

Liaison reports:
Police and Fire: No report.

Schools:  Huber reported that a letter is being drafted regarding whether or not the possibility of a school closing exists. This is in response to the concern created by recent newspaper accounts.

Library: No report.

DPW: Chairman Martell reported that Superintendent Adamcek and his crew have be cleaning up the winter’s salt and sand from the roadways.

Town Hall: Martell reported that Collector/Treasurer Edna Holloway has been out on a medical leave. Martell reported that an arrangement of flowers had been sent to Holloway and that the Board and employees of the Town had received a Thank You from Holloway.

Other Business:

• Admin. Leahey presented a letter from resident James Duda requesting a one-day liquor license for a charitable fundraiser that will be held at his home on Saturday, May 2nd.

Selectman Huber motioned to approve a one-day license for May 2, 2009 from 6 p.m. to midnight/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.

• Appointment of the “Tractor Committee”: the following names were presented as people interested in serving on the committee to determine and recommend a new tractor for the DPW;

Rick Adamcek, Doug Lynch, Bill Martell, Charles (Tom) Stockwell and John Trickey.

Selectman Martin made a motion to appoint the interested parties to the “Tractor Committee”/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.

• Appointment of the “Cruiser Committee”: Selectmen decided that, since they have the names of the interested parties, they would appoint the Cruiser Committee so work can begin researching a vehicle to serve as a police cruiser. The following residents were appointed:

Gordon Palley, Ed Martin, Chief Thomann, Umass Police Chief Whitehead (a town resident), and David Goldin.

Selectman Martin made a motion to appoint the aforementioned people/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.

Other Business:

• Leahey presented a letter from resident Rosemary Agoglia requesting to be appointed to the Pelham Cultural Council. Selectmen asked Leahey to contact the Council and request a letter of resignation from the member that Agoglia is to replace.

Review of the Town Meeting Warrant: (note: The warrant was rewritten and article numbers were changed subsequent to the meeting and before posting)

Selectmen reviewed the Warrant for the May 2, 2009 Annual Town Meeting:

• Articles 1-3 and 5-8 are “standard”, no changes or edits needed.
• Article 4 is deferred until June 13th
• Article 9 is recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 9/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 10: “standard”.
• Article 11 is approved by the Capital Planning Committee and recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 11/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 12 is recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 12/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 13 is approved by the Capital Planning Committee and recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 13/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
•  Article 14 is recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 14/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 15 is recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article15/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 16 is recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 16/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 17: “standard”
• Article 18: (renumbered to be Article 11) Since you cannot increase an allocation on the floor of the meeting, it was decided to allow the moderator to reduce the figure: $247,108.63 by $10,000 if Article (10-renumbered) passes.
• Article 19: “standard” – procurement of an audit in FY10 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. Recommended by the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen
• Articles 20 – 22 were deemed “standard”. Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Huber motioned to recommend Articles 20 – 22/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Articles 23 – 25: Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Martin motioned to recommend Articles 23 – 25/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 26 is required by law and must pass. It is approved by the Capital Planning Committee and recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectmen Martin made a motion to recommend Article 26/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 27: recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Huber motioned to recommend Article 27/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 28: Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Martin motioned to recommend Article 28/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.

• Article 29: DPW’s request for funds to purchase a new tractor: Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Martin motioned to recommend Article 29/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 30: DPW’s request for funds to purchase a new riding lawn mower. Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Martin motioned to recommend Article309/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 31: Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Huber motioned to recommend Article 31/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.

At this point, Selectmen discussed the order of Articles and decided to list the Capital articles first, the Amherst Road article and then the Free Cash articles.

• Article 32: Amherst Road. Huber motioned to sign the Order of Alteration/ Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Article 33: Re: Medicare Part B. This represents a savings for the Town. Recommended by the Finance Committee. Selectman Huber motioned to recommend Article 33/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.

Selectman Marti made a motion to sign the warrant as amended/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.

Other Business:

• Funds “frozen” on November 3, 2008: Selectman Martin made a motion to release the monies previously frozen/Huber seconded/motion passed unanimously.
• Selectman Huber made a motion to appropriate $200,000 for the Capital Expenditures and Stabilization Fund/Martin seconded/motion passed unanimously.

Selectman Martin made a motion to adjourn/Huber seconded/meeting adjourned at 7:32p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Kim Leahey