Town of Natick - Board of Selectmen Minutes 10/27/08

PRESENT: John Ciccariello, Joshua Ostroff, Carol A. Gloff, John Connolly. Absent: Kristine Van Amsterdam

WARRANTS: Payroll warrants were signed by the Board of Selectmen on October 27, 2008 in the amount of $1,730,084.30. This figure was included in total warrants signed by the Board of Selectmen of $3,285,911.04.

Representing American Girl Boutiques, Inc. in their application for a common victualer’s licenses for premises at the Natick Collection at 1245 Worcester Street was American Girl Vice President Wade Opland.

Mr. Opland told the Board that American Girl was planning on opening a 22,000 square foot store on October 31, 2008. The store included a dining room and an area for parties where a full menu would be served. The menu was a fixed price and offered healthy alternatives. There would be a brunch, lunch, dinner and a desert bar. The bistro would hold special events, i.e. dinner with Dad. It was about creating memories.

Mr. Opland noted there was a party planned for this Friday with about 400 people in attendance and the whole grand opening weekend would benefit Children’s Hospital.

Although this application was separate from the one day alcohol license previously issued to American Girl for the opening party, Mr. Ostroff questioned if there was concern about pre-teen girls being around alcohol.

Mr. Opland responded that this was done with all their stores and there hadn’t been any concerns.

Asked if American Girl would be looking for a beer & wine license, Mr. Opland responded that they had beer & wine licenses in their flagship stores, but this store wasn’t big enough for beer & wine.

A motion was made by Mr. Ostroff to grant American Girl Boutiques a common victualer’s license for premises at the Natick Collection, 1245 Worcester Street. Seconded by Ms. Gloff and unanimously voted.

Mr. Ciccariello announced that visiting hours would be held from 4:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28, 2009 at Everett’s Funeral Home for Morse Institute Library Director Paula Polk. The funeral services were scheduled for noon on Wednesday and departments would be allowed to close on Wednesday to attend the services.

Mr. Ostroff noted that he had talked to Town Counsel about a letter to the editor of a newspaper regarding a state ballot question and Mr. Flynn recommended getting advice from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance and the District Attorney concerning the Open Meeting Law.

The OCPF had no issues with this if the letter did not use or imply the use of Town resources such as letterhead, Town computers or email addresses. The District Attorney advised that a letter that was potentially signed or even discussed by a quorum of the Board should be discussed in a public meeting of the Board whether the letter was also signed by former members of the Board or any other citizens.

Mr. Ostroff stated that he would like to invite Board members who were interested to look at a draft letter and if a member wanted to sign onto it, great. He asked that members let him know now or right after the meeting and he would be glad to share the draft with them. He noted that he had asked Ms. Van Amsterdam about signing the letter, but she can’t do it because of her job.

Mr. Ostroff moved to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing matters pertaining to litigation. Seconded by Ms. Gloff. A roll call vote was unanimous in favor of the motion and the Board retired to executive session at 6:20 p.m. after announcing the meeting would not return to open session except for purposes of adjournment.