Town of Natick - Board of Selectmen Minutes

BOARD OF SELECTMEN

The meeting was called to order by the Chairman Paul R. McKinley at 7:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Paul R. McKinley, Jeffrey A. Stern, John Ciccariello, Jay H. Ball, Charles M. Hughes.

ALSO PRESENT: Philip Lemnios, Town Administrator; Donna Challis, Secretary;

WARRANTS: Payroll warrants were signed by the Board of Selectmen on September 9, 2002 in the amount of $497,553.61. This figure was included in total warrants signed by the Board of Selectmen of $2,445,084.55.

With corrections as noted, Mr. Hughes moved approval of the minutes of the June 17, 2002 meeting. Seconded by Mr. Ball and unanimously voted.

Mr. Ball moved approval of the minutes of the July 8, 2002 meeting. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

DENISE TOWNE, REQUEST FOR BLOCK PARTY: GRANDVIEW STREET

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Stern, the Board unanimously voted to approve Denise Towne’s request to close Grandview Street on September 21, 2002 from 1:00-7:00 p.m. for a block party.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION: CYCLE FOR HAYLEE RIDE

Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ciccariello, moved approval of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s request to hold the Cycle For Haylee Bicycle Tour through the Town of Natick on October 5, 2002. Unanimously voted.

CONSTABLE RESIGNATION: ANNOUNCE VACANCY

In a letter dated August 15, 2002 addressed to the Town Clerk, Douglas Turcotte resigned his position as Constable. Mr. Hughes moved to post the opening with interviews to take place at the meeting of October 7, 2002. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

Mr. Ciccariello moved to send a letter of thanks to Mr. Turcotte. Seconded by Mr. Hughes and unanimously voted.

NATICK REPUBLICAN TOWN COMMITTEE: REQUEST TO USE COMMON

Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ball, moved approval of the Republican Town Committee’s request to use the Natick Common for a political rally on September 13, 2002. Unanimously voted.

ST. PATRICK CHURCH: REQUEST TO CLOSE STREET

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ball, the Board unanimously voted to approve St. Patrick’s Church’s request to close Hayes street on September 15, 2002, from 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. for a potluck picnic.

Dewey Street/South Avenue Signage

Dewey Street resident Ernest Stone told the Board that he had been trying to get the traffic situation on South Avenue and Dewey cleared up for 20 years. He first worked with Safety Officer Clover, then Sergeant Horning, and most recently Sergeant Davis who told him that he was the only one complaining. Mr. Stone noted that at a safety committee meeting in 1986 Police Chief Arena instructed the DPW to install a barrier at the end of Dewey Street. When the MWRA installed a force main down South Avenue, he (Mr. Stone) was instrumental in getting them to put in a radius and curbstone as well as a sidewalk in front of his house to help keep the cars from turning onto his lawn.

Mr. Stone submitted a copy of a note from a Marcathy Engineering surveying crew describing the number of cars going the wrong way. To Mr. Stone the biggest problem was the signage. There was a sign across from Casey’s Diner, but it was 24 feet from the east side of Hayes and

CITIZENS CONCERNS (contd)

six feet off the curbstone. It was not a big sign and if you were coming up South Avenue, the telephone pole was in the line of vision. At the corner of Mulligan there was a sign that was 15 feet from the corner that says Open to Local Business Only.

Mr. Stone pointed out that when someone saw the sign on Hayes Street, they were already on Hayes Street before they could turn to get out and when someone gets up there, there was no way to go and people turn onto his lawn.

Mr. Stone suggested that a 3x5 sign of a visible color be put on the flagpole on the west side of Hayes Street. The sign should be 13-l/2 feet off the street so trucks could clear. For the sign itself, he suggested that it say NOT A THROUGH WAY with an indication for an exit up Hayes Street.

Mr. Ball recommended that the Board refer the matter to the Safety Committee and ask that the committee report back on this specific item at the meeting nearest to a month.

Mr. Stern stated that he was familiar with the situation and knew it to be a bad situation and agreed that something should be done. Mr. McKinley agreed.

Mr. Stone added that he had been dealing with Sergeant Davis since he came on as Safety Director and according to him the signage that was there was the best he could come up with and then Sergeant Davis says that he (Mr. Stone) was the only one complaining. He was the only one complaining because it was his driveway all the cars came in.

METROWEST MEDICAL CENTER CEO: MARK CLEMENT

Mark Clement, President and Chief Executive Officer of the MetroWest Medical Center, provided the Board with an update on some of the significant changes and improvements that had been made at the Leonard Morse Hospital.

The hospital had adopted three major initiatives – the recruitment of young physicians both in primary and specialty; the clinical program development; across the board capital re-investment in the hospital. Infrastructure improvements were taking place at both hospitals.

Mr. Clement noted that during the twenty months he had been part of the MetroWest Medical Center, through the efforts of a lot of hard working people, they had recruited in excess of 25 new physicians in primary and specialty care. The physician education cycles on a June/July basis and this past July they were able to recruit 15 physicians and almost half went to Leonard Morse. There was a new orthopedic, vascular surgeon, a young well trained pediatrician, obstetrician, pulmonary specialist. When the strategic plan was completed l-l/2 years ago, it identified the need for 40-50 additional physicians to be recruited and they were about half there. Mr. Clement stated that he was confident that when he updates the Board next year they would have met the goal.

On program development, Mr. Clement advised that there was encouraging progress. A million dollars had been invested in developing state-of-the art endoscopy facilities that increased the number of procedures that can be performed more than twofold. Additionally about eight months ago the hospital entered into a relationship with Brigham & Women for a thoracic program. They were working hard to develop and expand vascular services.

Mr. Clement continued that equally encouraging was re-capitalizing the plant. During the twenty months he had been a part of the medical center, he was pleased that Tenet had allocated $25 million for capital improvements to the two campuses. New equipment has been purchased including $1 million for all new anesthesia monitoring equipment. An additional $l/2 million was spent on operating instruments and equipment. Significant dollars have been and will continue to be invested. There was a general modernization that has taken place and they were now working on the exterior and the grounds.

Mr. Clement advised that some changes had been made to improve the service to the patients by adding some amenities. Those changes include valet parking, PAY-TV to patients. He recognized that the job

METROWEST MEDICAL CENTER CEO: MARK CLEMENT (contd)

was not done, but the hospital was attempting to do a better job of listening to the community and responding. Mr. Clement noted that in this difficult environment, the hospital has been able to turn the financial picture around to a financial success. The hospital was operating in the black and they have seen an increasing number of people in the community turning to the hospital. Tenet has selected the MetroWest hospital as one of their outstanding hospitals for the year.

Mr. Clement noted that in their effort to be good corporate citizens in the community, the hospital provided community organizations and the Police and Fire with grants totaling $70,000 and for this year it will be $100,000 allocated in grants.

Mr. Ciccariello inquired as to the plans for the hospital transitional care, and Mr. Clement responded that the plan was to continue to operate it. It was an important role and there were no plans for

changing, altering or diminishing it. In Fiscal 2004 the hope was to be given the capital dollars to do some renovations on patient care floors.

Mr. Hughes asked about the newspaper reports that Tenet might buy out the minority share. Mr. Clement responded that when the hospital was bought from Columbia, Tenet agreed to provide MetroWest Health, Inc. the opportunity to sell its share back to Tenet within a certain time. Tenet continues to offer that and will support what the community would like to do. Tenet does not presume to know what’s best for the community and will do whatever the community feels is best.

Mr. McKinley referred to Mr. Clement’s mention of capital improvements to patient floors and inquired as to when those renovations would be complete. Mr. Clement replied that Tenet has been pleased with the progress over the past several years and was much more bullish on investing in capital improvements. He was optimistic that within the next capital cycle which will be June 2003, that the hospital would be given the capital to do the upgrades. The plan was to replace the carpets, modernize the rooms somewhere within 12-18 months.

In follow-up Mr. McKinley asked if some time next year Mr. Clement was looking at the patient setting being renovated. Mr. Clement’s reply was, ‘yes or in the process’. The summer was the best time because the patient care demands tends to be the lowest at that time.

INTERVIEWS FOR APPOINTMENT TO REPUBLICAN REGISTRAR

Scheduled to be interviewed for appointment as the Republican Registrar were Bea Eaton, Donna Lambert, Karl Schlemmer.

Mr. McKinley explained that several weeks before Ms. Eaton, Ms. Lambert, and Mr. Schlemmer were interviewed by the Board. Two members of the Board were not present and the other members of the Board couldn’t reach a decision. The following meeting Ms. Eaton and Ms. Lambert returned, but Mr. Schlemmer was unable. Since Ms. Eaton and Ms. Lambert have been here three times, his suggestion was that Mr. Stern and Mr. Ball interview the two and then have the Board vote for one of the two. The other members of the Board agreed.

Ms. Eaton stated that she was a 50 year resident of Natick. She had worked for the Red Cross and her husband was on the Board of Registrars.

Ms. Lambert told the Board that she was a 19-year resident of Natick and a member of the Republican Town Committee for 17 years. She started working as a clerk in the 1960’s and did so up until she became the Register of Probate in 1990. She was retired.

Ms. Lambert then told the Board that she thought Ms. Eaton should have the job and she withdrew her name.

Mr. Hughes moved to appoint Bea Eaton as the Republican Registrar. Seconded by Mr. Ball and unanimously voted.

SEPTEMBER 11TH MEMORIAL SERVICE

Director of Human Services Gwen Kermode distributed a copy of the program for the September 11th memorial service on the Common. The program began with the introduction of the Color Guards and the National Anthem. A list of speakers, including the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, the State Legislators and the Police and Fire Chiefs were invited. She explained that at the end of the service on the Common the Color Guards would be retired to join the ecumenical service.

Fire Chief James Brien advised that the Fire Department had scheduled two events – one in the morning at 9:45 a.m. in front of the station. At that service they planned to have a prayer from the Fire Department chaplain, ring of the bells five times, and lower the flag to half mast and raise it again.

Firefighter Daniel Hartwell, President of the Firefighters Union, reviewed the plans for the ecumenical service in the evening. At 7:00 p.m. there would be a small walk from the Middlesex Savings Bank parking lot to St. Patrick’s Church. Fire apparatus will be parked on one side and a police cruiser on the other. Eighteen surrounding towns will be joining Natick and over 100 police and firemen on top of the Natick forces. A reception will follow at the fire station.

Mr. McKinley noted that he had received an invitation to speak and was looking for the thoughts of his fellow Board members. He was a little uncomfortable speaking, as he didn’t know if it was an appropriate place for a Selectman to speak. He could understand the Police Chief and Fire Chief. He noted that he had shared his thoughts with Senators Jacques and Magnani and Representative Linsky, and if the Board agreed, they (legislators and Mr. McKinley) would stand to one side and let the Police and Fire Chiefs do the talking. While he couldn’t specifically speak for the legislators, he felt they were amenable to not speaking.

Everyone indicated his/her agreement.

INTERVIEW FOR APPOINTMENT TO YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD

Valeria Barbier told the Board that she was in her first year at Natick High School but had been a part of the Youth Advisory Board since seventh grade and was part of Kids Connect. She felt it was important for children to contribute to the community and would like to be on the board. This year she would be helping in Natick Days and with the blanket drive.

Mr. Hughes moved to appoint Valeria Barbier to the Youth Advisory Board. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

FINANCE DIRECTOR: MASSACHUSETTS WATER POLLUTION ABATEMENT TRUST INTERIM LOAN

DPW Business Manager John Craig noted that the Board of Selectmen had filed an application for a Water Pollution Abatement Trust Loan for the storm water management project. During the process the Trust came back and said that funds would not be available until November. Bills were due and the Finance Director applied for this loan. It will be a three-month loan to cover the bills until the funds from the trust loan were received.

Mr. Craig confirmed as correct Mr. Hughes’ understanding that this money was being borrowed in anticipation of receiving the money from the State.

Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Craig, moved to approve the Water Pollution Abatement Trust Interim Loan in the amount of $300,000. Unanimously voted.

AWARD OF BID: NATICK PUMP STATION

DPW Director Charles Sisitsky recommended awarding the contract for the purchase of a package sewage pump station to the low bidder USEMCO, Inc. in the amount of $37, 290. Bids were received on January 31, 2002 and he explained that the reason it took so long to make a recommendation was that it was the first time a different manufacturer submitted a low bid for a pump station. USEMCO claimed to have met all specifications and it took awhile to track that down and confirm that

DPW DIRECTOR (contd)

they did meet all specifications. The conclusion was reached that there was no choice but to award the contract to USEMCO.

Mr. Sisitsky was aware that a question had been raised about waiting that long to award the contract and if the bid would still be valid. Town Counsel has advised that as long as the low bidder agreed to abide by that price, it could be awarded. Letters have been received from the low bidder agreeing to hold the price and from Town Counsel offering that opinion.

Mr. Hughes noted that one reason for tabling at the last meeting was to find out what it was. Mr. Sisitsky explained that it was a sewer pump station. Every year 2-3 were rehabbed and the DPW found that it was cheaper to buy a station and have a contractor install it. Once the contract for the purchase was awarded, the installation work would be bid out.

Since this was not the typical station we usually bought, Mr. Hughes asked if that would affect the Town’s ability to maintain it. Mr. Sisitsky responded that he hoped that that was not the case. He noted that the DPW wrote pretty tight specifications and they (DPW) should be able to maintain it.

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ball, the Board unanimously voted to award the contract for the purchase of the package sewage pump station to the low bidder, USEMCO, Inc. in the amount of $37,290.00.

Mr. Sisitsky recommended that the Board lift the odd/even mandatory water ban. Since the imposition of the mandatory water ban, he felt that the citizens had been very cooperative and the use had dropped off. He noted that there was never a serious situation where there would have been a lack of water and now that it was after Labor Day, it was felt that the ban was no longer needed.

Mr. Ball asked if Elm Bank was still shut down, and Mr. Sisitsky advised that it was and would remain shut until the level goes up.

However, the demand for water was down and rest of the wells in Town were able to provide that water.

Mr. Ball then asked if Mr. Sisitsky was asking the Board to lift the mandatory and put on a voluntary. Mr. Sisitsky responded that he was asking the Board to lift the mandatory. When it became voluntary there was nothing to enforce and people were just being asked to continue conserving water. The voluntary only gives a little more guidance, but the effect was the same.

Mr. Hughes moved to lift the mandatory water ban. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

BUS TASK FORCE REPORT

Prior to hearing the Bus Task Force report, Mr. McKinley announced that it was highly unlikely that any decisions would be made tonight. The purpose of tonight was to hear the recommendations and then over the next several weeks, the Board would try to sort it out and come up with a response.

Co-Chair of the Bus Task Force submitted the formal report signed by a majority of the committee. She noted that the task force had been appointed to review the operations and the direction of the bus into the future. She thanked the Board for the opportunity to work with the group. It was a very diverse and large group and represented just about every area of opinion.

Ms. Sussman continued that the task force had discussed many areas and not everyone could agree on everything, but one thing everyone agreed on was the concept of the bus manager. There were two part-time employees – one a coordinator who at times was a strong advocate for the bus and sometimes not. The second was a dispatcher for the request system. The task force felt the most important thing was to combine the two positions into one part-time bus manager and the person should be a strong advocate for bus schedules, maintenance schedules, and routing. Everyone agreed on that.

BUS TASK FORCE REPORT (contd)

As to the primary purpose of the bus, Ms. Sussman advised that the task force felt the primary purpose was for those who had few transportation options. It was also felt that there should be some emphasis to include some of Natick commuters to get them to the trains. Included in the recommendations was a pilot bus route that would go from two areas of Town that would meet a few of the trains in the morning and evening. For the rest of the time, they would recommend modifying the existing bus schedule to provide service on a fixed basis so people wouldn’t have to wait. Each stop would be clearly defined. The exact stops have not been finalized and it was felt that that should be up to the bus manager to do.

Ms. Sussman continued that ridership has continued to grow on the bus system. There were no breakdowns but it was known that a majority of the users were senior citizens and handicapped. Not that much detail work has been done, and it was felt that it would be better to work at providing service and have individuals work with the bus manager on modifying those over a period of time. The work needs to be ongoing.

A member of the task force, Robert Raisch noted that for 13 years the bus service operated without anyone paying much attention to it and then he came along. He felt the task force came to the table with all different agendas and in his opinion what came out of it was not workable for the citizens and he declined to sign the report. He apologized for the people who came tonight because of something he started and he hoped that down the road the bus would be more efficient and serviceable to everyone.

Mr. McKinley questioned if it wasn’t preferable to have multiple agendas. Mr. Raisch acknowledged that it was if the one agenda was to make it an efficient operating service. Some came to the table wanting to make it senior oriented solely or under the guidance of the senior services, and he believed the department it (bus) was in now wanted to be shed of it. He would like to see a transportation area that could deal with all transportation of the Town.

Mr. McKinley inquired as to what Mr. Raisch found unworkable about the recommendation, and Mr. Raisch responded that there was a great amount of senior trips that were extensive in time and take up most of the time and he didn’t think it would be feasible to spread out the equipment and assets to cover. One thing he could agree on was the task force’s feeling that the van service should be dealt with in a more productive manner than it was now. His whole focus was that the existing service be looked at and adjusted taking away the requested stops and making it a more understandable service and make it a commuter serve as well and that didn’t go anywhere.

Mr. McKinley commented that Mr. Raisch’s initial dissatisfaction was the inadequacy of the bus for commuters and the task force addressed that. Mr. Raisch responded that there were a pile of programs suggested, but the task force focused in an area he didn’t think would survive or be worthwhile. He understood that under the task force’s recommendation, two sections of Town would be served – one on the east side and one on the west side. He thought that would be limiting the service to a very confined area. It seemed to get lost in the discussion that there were Natick residents who work in Natick and if the service as recommended was implemented, it won’t service those people.

Kenneth Miller, Co-chair of the task force, clarified that the task force tried to look at all the different markets that could be served. They looked at the seniors, students, commuters, employees. There was a basic premise that the service wasn’t going to exceed the current budget. The Town provides 128 hours of service per week and they tried to juggle it a little to optimize the market served and thought they could recommend that the request service be stopped. The task force thought the route deviations were confusing and recommended having fixed routes which might vary during the day to serve various markets, but fixed so people would know where and when. It was felt that the van service was underutilized and better service could be provided if some van service hours were devoted to seniors. For four hours the van would be at the service of the Council on Aging and the Council could decide what to do, i.e. Monday, Tuesday go to Roche Brothers.

BUS TASK FORCE REPORT (contd)

Mr. Miller continued that the majority of the task force believe the recommendations make sense and can give as good or better service to the people. There were also recommendations related to maintenance, publicity, marketing, and fares and some ongoing oversight of the service itself.

Although she was not sure why the task force was instituted in the first place, Marcia Kaufman told the Board that she offered to be on it because she thought she could bring her experience as bus coordinator for nine years. She agreed with some of the recommendations such as publicity and revolving fund revenue, but she didn’t agree with the total scenario of the format proposed for the bus service because she thought it would happen at the expense of the current ridership. She had tried to present the face of the consumer using the bus because they had no other viable means of transportation. There were seniors who work at the mall, etc. that use the bus.

Ms. Kaufman noted that the proposal offers ten hours per day to train commuters, but six hours per day to consumers who use the bus for errands, shopping, hospital visits, senior center, and getting to and from local jobs. Since most shopping establishments open at 10:00 a.m. and some passengers go to local jobs before 9:00 a.m., the proposed schedule of two buses between 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. was extremely restrictive. Having only one bus from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. for return trips vastly decreases time and route options for riders. The break in service from 1:00-2:00 p.m. was disruptive and shortens the travel day.

The task force recommends alternatives to the described bus service. It recommended consideration of a cab voucher program to replace dispatch or expanded bus service. The task force claims the request service was costly and inefficient.

Ms. Kaufman continued that she had strong reservations regarding abandoning the dispatch and request service procedure and replacing it with a voucher system for those riders unable to access a ‘fixed stop’. Since its inception the Neighborhood Bus has been praised by the MBTA for the fixed stop and request stop combination. In a critique of Natick’s system, the MBTA recognized that the geography and demographics of the town were logical reasons for the route deviation system. The stops were figured into the hourly loops the two buses travel. There were designated request stops in all four quadrants of Town. A voucher system in place of request stops would probably be more expensive to the rider than paying the fare on the neighborhood bus.

For cost-effective purposes, Ms. Kaufman said she agreed with eliminating the dispatcher position as recommended by the task force. To maintain the request service, the responsibilities for dispatching could be assumed by the coordinator.

As to the recommendation of establishing a permanent task force to act in an advisory capacity, Ms. Kaufman felt that continuing the task force for the oversight of the system, even advisory, would make it a little more conflicting and confusing than having a strong coordinator deal with the Director of Community Development and from time-to-time with the Town Administrator. That was what was done for the nine years she was bus coordinator and when it came to changing the schedule or

another department had a need, she would figure out a way to use the resources she had to accommodate the needs. She felt there were ways to work on what we had now and the scheduled could be tweaked. She would not like to see the rug pulled out from people who have been riding this bus for years and years. Those people don’t have another way to go around town. She had no aversion to implementing pilot programs with the resources that were there, but she didn’t want to shut out what’s here and what’s kept the bus going for all these years.

Mr. McKinley noted that the proposal supports having two buses available from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and one from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and asked how that affected what there was today. Ms. Kaufman responded that today Mr. Miller came to the conclusion that the early buses could be used because people were going to different jobs. The ridership was there.

Mr. McKinley then noted that people were concerned that they were going to be losing bus service and asked what it was that they would be losing. Ms. Kaufman advised that in this proposal people were losing

BUS TASK FORCE REPORT (contd)

getting to the mall and starting shopping at 10:00. Their time was limited in how long they can stay because they would be looking for a bus they can take to get them back home before 1:00 p.m.

Mr. Miller acknowledged that a lot of people on the task force didn’t think the one-hour lunch break was a great idea. There was a break now because of shifts. If there were a way to continue service, no one would disagree. He reiterated that the recommendation was not taking anything away, but transferring underutilized resources – taking some of the van service hours and putting it toward providing better service for commuters and four hours of service at the desire of the Council on Aging. The recommendations were for efficiency. Most people don’t think the request stop was a great concept, and he believed that for people to use a service it had to be reliable. The bus has to be there when it was supposed to be and the request system allows a bus to deviate and for someone on the bus trying to get somewhere and the bus has to divert, it can’t be great.

Mr. Miller continued that he looked at the ridership of the early morning bus. There was some significant ridership and he would suggest starting the commuter service to one station rather than two and retaining the early morning bus. The task force was not looking to micro-manage and define everything, but rather to offer some suggestions to be implemented by those running the bus.

Senior Center Director and task force member Diana Ryder, told the Board that she was a minority vote. One complaint she regularly gets was that the trip around Town was difficult to tolerate. The bus maintenance wasn’t great and the bus was uncomfortable. Her opposition was the one bus available in the afternoon. It made the route that much longer for people to get where they need to go. She was in favor of two buses operating all day.

Mr. Ciccariello asked about the taxicab voucher grant, and Ms. Ryder responded that the Senior Center received such a grant that ran until March and then she would reapply. Under the grant within Natick a senior can use a $3.00 coupon for a taxi and if the fare was more than

$6.00, two coupons can be used. The senior would be responsible for the 15% gratuity. For people going outside Natick, there was a $6.00 coupon and suggestion was that they use a livery service. If the fare was more than $12.00, two $6.00 coupons can be used. For a wheelchair, there was a $20.00 coupon for one way.

When asked how much the grant was for and for how many trips, Ms. Ryder replied that the grant was $30,000, but it was for more than just the coupons. She would have to check and get back to the Board on how much was allocated for coupons, but she thought it was around $20,000.

Cedar Gardens resident Margaret Davis shared the difficulty of commuting by bus to a job at SMOC in Framingham. Because of the difficulty it was not longer feasible for her to continue. She also complained about not being able to call for a bus after 12:00 p.m. In addition she would like to have the bus schedules posted in Cedar Gardens, Stop & Shop, Roche Brothers at eye level where they can be read.

Sherwood Village resident Mary Malzonni, felt that the proposal would give the seniors four-hour bus service a day to get to the markets and back. There was a big population of seniors and many were still very active. The seniors don’t just go out to the market and watch TV. They go to the Senior Center and the library, an afternoon movie, bookstore, lunch. If these services were cut, she feared that more seniors would apply for the taxi vouchers and the vouchers would be very limited.

Ms. Malzonni also noted that now there were three different buses to accommodate the needs of different groups so why not consolidate that into two regular size buses and serve the whole neighborhood not just the seniors or commuters. Even if the fares were raised, it might be more economical to consolidate. The seniors need the bus all day long.

As the information referral specialist at Bay Path, Susan Salamoff noted that the most difficult thing was someone getting from one community to another community. From what she heard tonight, if the system and the buses were to be changed and hours eliminated, the Town

BUS TASK FORCE REPORT (contd)

would no longer be treating the senior population with the same respect as we would wish for ourselves. It had to be realized that there were medical appointments and at times people needed more time. She hoped that whatever decision was made that services would be maintained for seniors and consideration given for the Senior Center to be one of the management possibilities whether just for the van or the entire service.

Marie LeBlanc spoke on behalf of her mother who rides the van and if the schedule were changed, she would not be able to go to work. Her mother lost significant site and tried to retire but she couldn’t and somebody told her that the van was starting. It was a Godsend and her mother has been able to go back to work. She hoped the van’s hours would not be changed and her mother not able to continue to work.

Mr. McKinley didn’t recall hearing anything about the van service, and Ms. Sussman explained that the recommendation was to try to utilize the van to a greater extent. There was a mobility grant van and the

partial use of the Recreation van, and the problem was the number of hours all tolled and how to divide them up. That was for the manager to decide.

Mr. McKinley asked if as currently proposed, the service Ms. LeBlanc’s mother uses was still available. Mr. Miller responded that the task force felt the van was underutilized and some of those hours could be devoted to supplement the fixed route service and some subscriber use to whoever was designated to be the recipient. For some people they recognized the use of the van would change, and the task force recommended supplementing with some expanded voucher service. They thought better service could be provided and it would be more cost effective taking a taxi.

Mr. Lemnios noted that the service was expanding a little in the morning to 9:00 vs. 9:45. Mr. Miller advised that that was correct and added that the extra time fit into the 128 hours. Mr. Lemnios then noted that built into the recommendation was an element for the request service so that under the proposal for anybody who needed to go to the doctor, there was a mechanism for that to happen. Mr. Miller responded that that was correct. Asked if it was still within the budget, Mr. Miller replied that he believed the bus would be generating extra revenue, which could be put toward providing subsidized use.

Jerry Pierce, Chairman of the Council on Aging, stated that he had been associated with the Council on Aging for eight years and at every single meeting transportation has been on the agenda. The Council was always thinking and advocating of ways to increase the service. The creation of a task force and having it on the agenda tonight was a good step. He was confident that the Board of Selectmen knew that people need the bus service to go to the doctor, markets, etc. and he didn’t think the Board would take away any service and would only expand the service.

The Chair declined to take any more public comment and announced that the Board would need time to consider the report before discussing it further.

SKIPJACK’S: APPLICATION FOR ALL ALCOHOLIC COMMON VICTUALER’S LICENSE

Before the Board was an application for an All Alcoholic Common Victualer’s License from Lampara, Inc. d/b/a Skipjack’s for premises at 1400 Worcester Street.

Representing Skipjack’s was David Krumsiek.

At the prior meeting a question had arisen concerning the association of Lampara, Inc., SLPP IV, LLC, Restaurant Concepts, Inc. and Skipjack’s. Mr. Krumsiek referred to his letter of September 3, 2002 in which he tried to clarify the relationship between the entities and had enclosed a copy of the Articles of Organization for each. He explained that it was all the same people. SLLP IV, Inc. was the lessee of the proposed licensed premises. It was a limited liability corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth and was organized for the purpose of entering into the least at 1400 Worcester Street. The Co-managers of SLPP IV, LLC were Lampara, Inc. and its sister corporation, Restaurant Concepts, Inc., both private, close

SKIPJACK’S: APPLICATION FOR ALL ALCOHOLIC COMMON VICTUALER’S LICENSE (contd)

corporations. Restaurant Concepts, Inc. was the management company of all three current Skipjack’s restaurants and Lampara, Inc. was the holder of the common victualer’s and liquor licenses.

Mr. Hughes moved to grant Lampara, Inc. d/b/a Skipjack’s a common victualer’s license for premises at 1400 Worcester Street. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

Mr. Hughes then moved to grant Lampara, Inc. d/b/a Skipjack’s an entertainment license for piped in music and cable TV for premises at 1400 Worcester Street. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ciccariello, the Board unanimously voted to grant Lampara, Inc. d/b/a Skipjack’s an all alcoholic common victualer’s license for premises at 1400 Worcester Street.

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ciccariello, the Board unanimously voted to approve David P. Maniscalco as the manager of record for Lampara, Inc. d/b/a Skipjack’s for premises at 1400 Worcester Street.

OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

At the request of the Open Space Advisory Committee, the Board agreed to table discussion until the September 23 meeting.

CHARTER & BY-LAW REVIEW COMMITTEE: TOWN MEETING ARTICLES

Representing the Charter & By-Law Review Committee were the chairman Raphael Herz and Paul Connolly.

Mr. McKinley noted that he had talked with Mr. Herz and it was agreed that perhaps it would be useful if the committee submitted a short list of articles that were of particular interest to the Board and that it be done in a red line document so it was easy to understand.

Mr. Hughes asked about the change in the appointment of the Keefe Tech representatives – who had asked for it and for what reason. Mr. Herz responded that the committee had asked the question themselves. At this point neither the Board of Selectmen or the School Committee made the request to change the appointments. The committee asked if the constituents would be better served if the appointments were made by the School Committee and perhaps it would improve the opportunity for debate of programs at the vocational school.

Mr. Hughes asked if Mr. Herz was saying that the article was just put on the warrant so Town Meeting could debate which way was better. Mr. Herz responded that there had been a debate on the committee of the merits for including this and it was felt that this was of merit to bring forward.

Mr. McKinley noted that the Superintendent of Keefe Tech sent a letter saying that it was not that simple. What’s proposed wasn’t legal and

they would have to change their charter. At least half dozen entities would have to come to agreement.

Mr. Hughes then asked why there was a proposal to change the way the Town maintains delinquent tax accounts with regard to what was used to not grant a license and why change the requirement for the Treasurer to publish. The publication of delinquent accounts has been eliminated and that was the purpose of the by-law. Mr. Herz explained that Article 42 would improve procedures and that was discussed with the professionals in the Town. He could understand the concern about removing some leverage, but questioned if it (publication) brought the Town more revenue. Mr. Hughes felt that a few years ago the mere thought of publication increased collections.

Mr. Connolly noted that that section had been a recent addition and one reason it was done was because there was a different organization in the Town and some distress that collections were not being pursued aggressively. That condition was no longer in effect. It was discussed with the Treasurer/Collector, although he was not saying that that person made the recommendation. The change as proposed suggested that the burden on the Treasurer/Collector was to keep track of

CHARTER & BY-LAW REVIEW COMMITTEE: TOWN MEETING ARTICLES (contd)

everything that was delinquent and the extra effort of making sure it was 180 days or over $1,000 was not effective. The suggestion was that the burden on the Collector should be to keep track of delinquent accounts. Mr. Connolly also noted that he couldn’t recall seeing a list in the paper recently of delinquent accounts being published and some Town personnel said they were very much afraid of making mistakes and that was a reason for not publishing the lists recently.

Mr. Hughes responded that he didn’t know that the procedures had changed that much and he would like to have someone from the Treasurer’s Office tell the Board why they were concerned with putting someone’s name in the paper. It was not just to track who was delinquent, but to begin the lien process.

Mr. Herz called attention to Articles 41 and 42, which he described as an attempt to improve financial procedures. It occurred to Mr. Stern that the Town had recently spent a ton of money with Powers & Sullivan to go over these policies and procedures to update and bring them into compliance with running an enterprise. To have a proposal come before the Board and put in front of Town Meeting without input from Powers & Sullivan struck him as lacking. This was going against what was just done.

Mr. Hughes noted that he was not sure what the changes in Article 42 would do to affect the Board’s ability to suspend or deny licenses to people who were delinquent. The Board tried to revoke licenses on a quarterly basis and Town Counsel said they couldn’t be revoked unless they were a year overdue. Mr. McKinley felt that changing the first sentence to a quarterly report was not a bad idea, but agreed that striking the last four lines was probably a problem.

Mr. Connolly felt it should be noted that the by-law was not trying to describe the financial procedures the affected authorities in the Town should do. In discussion of the current by-law, it was described that what the Town wants wasn’t that effective. It talks about a list

annually, but that didn’t make sense. It was suggested that giving a simple list, it might be possible to get the list to the people who need it more frequently. The important thing was getting the information to flow, but the by-law was not going to say how to do it. The committee decided not to write a by-law of what the licensing authority was supposed to do. The license authority was supposed to check the list and if there were overdue accounts, it was their responsibility to tell the requester they have to check with the Tax Collector to see if it can be resolved. There was nothing in the by-law about what the licensing authority should do.

Mr. Hughes called attention to the article dealing with the qualifications of the Town Administrator and the change to the specific requirements. He noted that that went before Town Meeting a couple of times and Town Meeting decided not to change it. Mr. Connolly advised that it had been changed by by-law and the by-law was more specific about the degree.

Mr. McKinley asked about the change in duties for the constable, and Mr. Herz responded that the committee was trying to make it so the constables don’t have to stretch themselves.

Mr. McKinley then asked about the article concerning the request for Town Counsel services. The way he (Mr. McKinley) saw it, the Town Administrator coordinates the request for Town Counsel services. Mr. Lemnios noted that the article had a laundry list of who can seek Town Counsel services and one way to read it would be that any member of a listed board, committee could seek Town Counsel services rather than the board as a whole or the majority of the board. Mr. Herz felt that was a valid point and something that had considerable discussion. There was value seen to having the ability for anybody to make the request, but in most instances the coordinating body would be the Board of Selectmen or the Town Administrator.

Regarding the change in the Recreation & Parks Commission, Mr. McKinley stated that he couldn’t support it as currently drafted because he felt it fixed the wrong thing.

Mr. Stern stated that he would like to get a take for which of these amendments the Charter & By-Law Review Committee considered to be

CHARTER & BY-LAW REVIEW COMMITTEE: TOWN MEETING ARTICLES (contd)

mission critical for how the Town runs vs. housekeeping or cleanup. Mr. Herz advised that that could be done, but he wouldn’t want to do it tonight. In many cases the housekeeping was also included in major items. Out of the 38 articles only a very few might be considered housekeeping. I.e. Article 54 moving the Wetlands Protection By-Law from one area to another.

Mr. Herz told the Board that he and his committee were here to help the Board understand what they were suggesting. They were not here to be the final say and he would appreciate any help the Board could give to make the corrections and bring them to Town Meeting.

Mr. Connolly stated that there were two for which he was really interested in having the Board’s input. One was Article 27 that spoke to the election process and was a slight revision of what was presented last fall. The other was the appointment process by the Town

Administrator. The Town Administrator makes the appointments and the Board has the opportunity to protest the appointment. In many cases the Board will confirm, but if the Board decided to protest the appointment, the Board was supposed to do it within 15 days and the question was if that was realistic in terms of time. Fifteen days seemed short.

With regard to the primary elections, Mr. Connolly noted that preliminary elections were obviously expensive, but they could also inhibit new people from coming forward with the threat of ‘are you going to cost the Town $10,000’ for a preliminary election. Plus there was very little attention paid to them.

Having run in the last preliminary election, Mr. Hughes disagreed. He thought the press covered it well and he didn’t know of any pressure on people not to run.

Mr. McKinley recommended tabling further discussion until the next meeting.

GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE FACILITY

At Mr. Ciccariello’s request discussion of the golf course maintenance building was postponed until after the golf course financial report was presented. He noted that he was trying to set up a meeting with Mr. Lemnios, Mr. Palmer, Dr. Salamoff (Chairman of the Golf Course Oversight Committee) and himself to discuss how much money was left.

CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENTS MADE BY TOWN ADMINISTRATOR

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Ball, the Board unanimously voted to confirm the Town Administrator’s reappointments of David Baier to the Golf Course Oversight Committee and Russell Thome and Sandra Crossman to the Commission on Disability.

APPLICATION FOR HAWKER’S & PEDLER’S LICENSE: LESTER CHASE

Lester Chase appeared before the Board to request a Hawker’s & Pedler’s license for a mobile food unit in the parking lot at Building 19. Mr. Chase told the Board he had received permission from the landlord, and the Board of Health. Plus he had a special permit from the Planning Board.

Mr. Ciccariello noted that in a letter to the Board, the Building Inspector advised that food was not permitted and the applicant would have to seek relief from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Hughes pointed out that the Planning Board’s decision said it was a permitted use.

Mr. Hughes moved approval of granting Lester Chase a Hawker’s & Pedler’s license for a mobile food cart at the Building 19-l/2 parking lot. Seconded by Mr. Ball and unanimously voted.

BUDGET PLANNING SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATE

Mr. Hughes informed the Board that no meeting of the Budget Planning Subcommittee was planned until after Town Meeting.

SELECTMEN’S CONCERNS

Westborough Beverage Corporation

Mr. McKinley advised that to date the Westborough Beverage Corporation’s petition for a change in manager and officer’s & directors had not as yet been approved by the ABCC. At the meeting of

SELECTMEN’S CONCERNS (contd)

August 12, the Board approved the changes conditioned upon ABCC approval by September 23, 2002 and if the ABCC had not approved the petition by that date, the Board would hold a hearing.

Mr. Hughes moved to schedule a hearing for September 23, 2002. Seconded by Mr. Ball and unanimously voted.

Donation of Conservation Land

Mr. Hughes called attention to a letter in the correspondence from Sudbury Valley Trustees advising that they had been approached by Bill Newton of 92 Kendall Lane about donating a parcel of land for conservation purposes. The Sudbury Valley Trustees encouraged the Town to consider accepting Mr. Newton’s generous offer. The parcel consisted of over 19 acres of land south of Route 135 between Autumn Lane and Newfield Drive.

The Board agreed to have Mr. Lemnios direct Mr. Newton’s letter to Sarkis Sarkisian, Community Development Director for him to take the necessary steps to get the land.

Meeting Room Temperature

Noting the frigid air blowing across his back, Mr. Ball requested that the air conditioning in the meeting room be fixed.

Westgate Christian Academy

Mr. Ciccariello noted that it had been brought to his attention that the Westgate Christian Academy at the East School had brought in some portable classrooms. He thought the lease said they would need to get permission from the Town in order to do that, and asked that it be reviewed with the Westgate Academy to find out why and who gave them permission to use the portable classrooms.

Mr. Stern cited the rash of advertising signs that seemed to be popping up at the local convenience stores with four-foot high bottles of Sprite, Coke. The Town has strived to keep that under control, but it seemed to be getting away from us. He noticed a couple of signs on North Main Street on the sidewalk. He also noticed a number of political signs on public property along Route 9, Oak Street and he took umbrage at people running for political office who think they can just plant their signs. He requested that the Police take the signs down.

Mr. Ciccariello advised that he and the Chairman of the Lookout Farm Advisory Committee were trying to get the committee active again. The terms of a lot of the neighborhood representatives have expired and Mr. Soderholm was trying to find out if they want to be reappointed. They were also trying to schedule a meeting with Mr. Marino and legal counsel.

At Mr. Ciccariello’s suggestion, Mr. Hughes moved to extend the appointment of the Lookout Farm Advisory Committee representatives to December 31, 2002. Seconded by Mr. Ciccariello and unanimously voted.

On a motion by Mr. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Stern, the Board unanimously voted to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing matters pertaining to litigation. A roll call vote was unanimous and the Board retired to executive session at 10:25 p.m. after announcing that the meeting would not return to open session.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 p.m.

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John Ciccariello, Clerk