Board of Selectmen      
Meeting Minutes  
August 18, 2008
Present: Selectmen; William Martell, Edward Martin and James Huber, Administrative Assistant Kim Leahey,
Chief Fleury, Mary Carey of the Gazette, John Trickey, Fred Vanderbeck & Gwen H. of the Finance Committee, Richard Hall and Lieutenant Thomann and other members of the public.

Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m.  

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ed Martin made a motion to accept the minutes of the Selectmen’s meeting held on July 14, 2008 and James Huber seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously and the minutes were accepted.

LIAISON REPORTS

• Police Department: Chief Fleury passed out statistics for the month of June 2008. Fleury and Selectman Martin also reported that $1,100 had been needed to maintain the Impala cruiser.
• Fire Department: Ed Martin, FD liaison, reported that the plumbing system of the tanker truck had been replaced for a cost of $6,000.
• Rhodes Building & DPW: Bill Martell, liaison, reported that everything was “okay”.
• School Committee: Liaison Jim Huber reported that the most recent School Committee meeting had been cancelled.
• Library: Huber reported that the Trustees had not met since the last BOS meeting.

ENERGY COMMITTEE
Selectman Huber reported that the Energy Committee (the EUR) had met twice. They will be trying to put together a plan for the Community Center identifying any issues and suggesting solutions. One key issue which has been discussed is the presence of mold in the downstairs offices. Spray foam has been discussed as a method of mitigation for the problem. The EUR will be continuing the discussion and Huber will report on their findings at future BOS meetings.

VETERANS’ AGENT
Pelham’s new Veterans’ Agent Kathy Pollard attended the meeting and introduced herself to the Board. Kathy has worked in Amherst for about 14 years and has served as their Veterans’ Agent for the past year.  Kathy proposes to work out of her Amherst office to service Pelham’s veterans. The Board discussed the transference of records from former agent Rod Raubeson. Administrative Aide Leahey reported that she had sent two letters and received no response from Raubeson. Selectmen suggested that Leahey contact town counsel and solicit their recommendation regarding the ‘next step’. Kathy Pollard asked that she be given the opportunity to contact Raubeson herself to see if she can bring about a resolution to the issue. Selectmen agreed to give Pollard the opportunity to speak with Raubeson before town counsel is notified.

APPOINTMENTS
Ed Martin made separate motions to appoint the following people to the positions noted, Jim Huber seconded all motions and they passed unanimously.

• Dan Robb to the Historical Commission for a three year term.
• Karl Martini to the Historical Commission for a three year term.
• Alice Suprenant to the Council on Aging for a one year term.
• Ryan Fitzemeyer, to replace Randall Gauley, as Health Inspector for a term of one year.

DPW
Ed Martin made motions to accept the bid awards, as recommended by DPW Chief Rick Adamcek, for Bituminous Concrete (Picked Up-All States Asphalt/In Place-Palmer Paving Corp) and for Stone Seal (All States Asphalt), Jim Huber seconded. Motions passed unanimously and Selectmen signed the bid award/extract of minutes for Leahey to return to the Hampshire Council of Governments. Leahey will also inform the companies that have been awarded the contracts.

Selectmen spoke of the formation of a committee to look into the purchase of a new bucket loader. The Capital Planning Committee is also involved in this effort. At the suggestion of Selectmen and John Trickey of the Capital Planning Committee, Leahey agreed to send an appeal for publication to the Gazette and also to post an appeal on the website. Selectmen agreed to take up the formation of the committee at the next meeting scheduled for the eighth of September. Chairman Martell, the DPW liaison, informed the board that he has no experience which he believes would be of use to the committee and would prefer that Mr. Huber, if he is willing, join the committee in his stead. Mr. Huber agreed.

John Trickey reported that the Capital Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday, August 28th and could approve publication of the pleas after that meeting. It was further decided that applications from interested citizens would need to be received by September 5th in order to be considered at the September 8th meeting of the Selectboard.

TRENCHING
Leahey informed the board that the town has been notified by counsel that new excavation and trench safety regulations have been approved by the legislature and are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2009. The town needs to designate a “trench permitting authority”. The statute does not require a specific method for making the designation; the appointment can be made by the Selectmen. It was agreed that Rick Adamcek, DPW chief, is the likely candidate for the position. Chairman Martell, DPW Liaison, said that he will speak to Adamcek in the coming days/weeks about assuming the position. The matter will be taken up at the next Board meeting. 

CRUISER COMMITTEE
Members of the “Cruiser Committee” were present and reported that, after soliciting information from surrounding towns a decision had been made to recommend the lease/purchase of a Ford Expedition instead of a Chevy Tahoe. The Committee reports that the lease price of the Ford is $6,800 (approx.) and reminded the Board that $7,000 had been appropriated at Town Meeting for this purpose.

There was considerable discussion regarding what had been approved at Town Meeting, what information the committee had been provided with and, whether or not the committee and the Town were made aware that equipment to outfit the vehicle would be purchased separately for $8,000 using monies that Chief Fleury had saved and earmarked from his FY 08 operating budget.

Selectman Huber felt that the committee had been led to believe that the vehicle that they ultimately agreed upon would cost a total of $26,000. Chief Fleury reported that it was necessary to purchase universal equipment for the new vehicle at a cost of $8,300. Although Huber felt that the final cost of the vehicle should have been presented as $35,000, Fleury maintained that this was a cost that he had anticipated and informed the town and committee of. He was able to use ‘excess’ funds from his FY08 budget for the purchase so the Town, therefore, need only approve/expend $26,000. Fleury also maintained that he had on several occasions provided quotes which listed “item by item by item” so there “should have been no confusion”.

Selectman Martin suggested that, for the future, the Department make an effort stay with the ‘same basic’ vehicle, i.e. from Chevy to Chevy or from Ford to Ford, so that the equipment is transferable from vehicle to vehicle. Chief Fleury reminded the Board that the current vehicle is over ten years old and equipment, other than the radios and siren, was not transferable due to age and design improvements.

John Trickey of the Finance Committee informed the Board that he felt the ‘excess’ funds from the Police Department’s FY08 budget “should have gone into Free Cash and then been appropriated back out” for the purpose of purchasing the equipment.

Huber and Martell suggested that the Cruiser Committee hold another meeting to review all of this information. Both Huber and Martell would attend. They suggested that they would hold the meeting on Wednesday, August 20th at 7:30 pm. Tony Cohn-Haft would be told of the meeting by Leahey.

PERSONNEL ISSUES
Leahey reported that the Board has received no response to the three certified letters that it has sent to call firefighter “JJ” regarding his continued disability payments and the need for physician documentation. Ed Martin made a motion to hold an Executive Session on Monday, September 8, 2008 for the purpose of discipline of “JJ” and/or possible termination. Jim Huber seconded the motion, it passed unanimously. Leahey will mail the notice to “JJ” both by Certified Mail/Return Receipt and by First Class ‘regular’ mail as advised by Town Counsel.

OLD BUSINESS - COMPUTER SECURITY
Jacob Braun of WakaDigital attended the meeting to discuss his computer security proposal and to address the issue previously brought up regarding the possibility of his company doing work for the town and whether or not that presents a conflict of interest given that Jacob is a call firefighter in town.

Jacob supplied copies of a “DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST BY SPECIAL MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEE AND APPROVAL BY OF (sic) EXEMPTION AS REQUIRED BY G. L.C.268A, §20(c) AND §20(d)”.  The form had been signed by Richard Hall, then chairman of the Board and Jacob on September 25, 2007. Jacob also supplied a letter that he has written which detailed the specifics of the statute cited. The documents support the notion of WakaDigital being able to contract with the town, irregardless of Jacob’s current position within the town.

Mr. Huber wanted to hear from Town Counsel regarding whether or not they had ever reviewed the situation and he also insisted that the town should solicit quotes from two other computer security companies. Huber also wanted to have the Town Hall personnel try the simple back-up method of using flash drives; one for each computer.

OTHER BUSINESS
Ed Martin made a motion to have Fall Town Meeting on Wednesday, October 22nd at the Old Town Hall at 7 p.m. Jim Huber seconded, motion passed unanimously.

It was further decided that Warrant Articles would be due by October 1st.

Kim informed Selectmen that DPW Superintendent Rick Adamcek has suggested that the Town needs to get in touch with ADT, our security company, to change the “Authorized Persons” listed and the password. As of now, the people listed (Mary Comtois and Thomas Brezinski) are no longer employed by the Town.

Selectmen talked about wanting to speak to Adamcek to learn which buildings are involved but decided to authorize Leahey to get in touch with ADT and give them Ed Martin’s name and Adamcek’s as the new “authorized persons” in the meantime.

The Selectmen discussed the increase in expenses for the Town; for instance, DPW supplies such as salt, liquid salt and sand have experienced increases which, if we have a ‘normal’ winter season, will mean an increased expense of $16, 977.50.  

Selectmen asked Leahey to write a letter to department heads asking them to “exercise restraint” due to the rising cost of commodities, etc.

Selectmen directed Leahey to ask Assessor’s Assistant Martha Leamy if there are now “qualified” assessors in Town. A letter had been received from the State which said that Pelham had no qualified assessors. The Selectmen want to be sure that Jackie Fleury and David Goldin have attended the training and passed the exam so that the Town is in compliance.

Huber inquired as to when a “Round Table” meeting would be held. Martin and Martell informed him that it is characteristically held at the first Selectmen’s meeting in January.
The Planning and Zoning Boards do not attend.

Huber inquired if the other Selectmen felt that it would be alright for him to pursue Charter Communications regarding internet access. The Selectmen agreed that he could. Chairman Martell wondered if Belchertown Town Administrator Gary Brougham might be of help in this regard. Huber wondered if Charter would be willing to okay an extension up 202 and if Comcast would ‘sign off’ on it.

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 8:30pm. Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Kim Leahey
September 1, 2008