Town of Natick - Board of Selectmen Minutes

After the introduction of the Board, Mr. Ciccariello explained that each candidate would be given an opportunity to make an opening statement, would be asked a series of standard questions with follow-up questions from the Board, and then allowed to make a closing statement.

In his opening statement Jordan H.F. Fiore told the Board that he was one of those people who went to law school never intending to practice law and was interested in looking into a vocation in government. He had legislative experience and academic experience but it would be helpful to have run something. He had a legal background and a Master’s in history. Natick was a convenient location and he had interest in the community and this type of work.

Mr. Fiore responded that he would like to get administrative experience on the municipal level and had been looking at things in the local and state government beyond the part-time elected positions he has held over the years. It was a good interim position that presented neither a risk to him or the municipality.

There were election warrants that have to be approved. The Town Clerk had to see to precinct workers and work in connection with the Registrars. The Town Clerk had to be involved in the disbursement and receipt of nomination papers and see that the voting sites were set up properly and properly staffed. His other was a precinct warden for about 40 years and he was involved in counting votes so he witnessed a lot of the process first hand. He had a good idea of exactly what was involved and how to go about doing things.

Mr. Ostroff inquired if Mr. Fiore had any experience with different types of voting machines. Mr. Fiore responded that when he first started voting there were hand counted paper ballots. Later it went to the punch card system and now in Taunton they were using a scan ballot which a lot of communities use.

Asked by Mr. Ostroff if he had any thoughts on how to improve voter turnout particularly in municipal elections, Mr. Fiore felt that a lot came down to the enthusiasm of the candidates. In small Towns publicity was key. Information should be disseminated through the cable but there was only so much government itself could do. The Town needs to recruit candidates that generate enthusiasm, i.e. the last presidential election, people were motivated.

Mr. Fiore felt the Town Clerk dealt with different regulations and equipment and needed to be literate and had to be either knowledgeable or inquisitive of systems and operations of government. He also felt the Town Clerk needed to know not only the regulations of the business but the emerging technology that was coming about. So much had changed in how the Town Clerk operates just in the last 15 years and the Clerk had to keep up with it.

Mr. Fiore responded that the Town Clerk was involved in assisting in the preparation of the warrant and the posting of it. From Natick’s Charter the Town Clerk acts as the clerk or secretary of Town Meeting and maintains the minutes and serves as an advisor to the Moderator on protocols.

Mr. Fiore stated that he thought cross training was very important as you didn’t know when you would be forced to make some decisions or when people will leave and you had to fill some gaps. Having sat on a City Council and School Committee and a number of non-profits, he was aware of things in employment policy and you need to know things about collective bargaining. What he didn’t know, he knew enough to ask and he thought he knew whom to ask.

Mr. Fiore believed customer service needed to be prompt, attentive, courteous, and objective. Even someone who seemed extremely eccentric needed to be treated with a level of respect and given an adequate explanation for why something could or couldn’t be done. He (Mr. Fiore) had experience as a museum guide and did a little security work so he was aware of first impressions. He has used the Town clerk’s Office and visited the Secretary of the Commonwealth and similar places that provide public records and knew knowledge, courtesy and respect went a long way.

Mr. Fiore advised that he was responsible for Taunton coordinating a GIS system. In 1988 or 1989 when mapping systems were first enacted he kept pushing to get one through. It took years but it came. He served as Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and turned it into a community pride event. Abraham Lincoln spoke in Taunton in 1868 and a square was dedicated to him. He also got the African American Club involved and set up a collection of pennies to purchase gift cars for Veterans Services to give out.

Mr. Ciccariello noted that Mr. Fiore’s resume indicated that he saved Police jobs when layoffs were intended. Mr. Fiore explained that was quite awhile ago and it got to be involved in a juggling act. Between unfilled sports and people out on IOD, the city was down 10 officers. It was a situation where they deferred the purchase of equipment and changed some deployment and over time saved people. Taunton’s budget was $150-160 million and a few bucks could be found if you look hard enough.

Mr. Fiore told the Board that he had witnessed the conversion work that’s been done. Almost every Registry of Deeds in Massachusetts was on line and he knew the person in the Secretary of State’s Office that helped coordinate that across the state. In his practice he didn’t keep that much in paper files. He would discuss with other agencies that have done similar things and he thought he knew a lot of the logistics involved and understood the timing would have to be done in phases. Also with the new technology the decision had to be made whether to archive things further back than you had to. That was a policy question.

Mr. Ostroff inquired as to what experience Mr. Fiore had and what would be his approach to make all information available to the constituents through the web site. Mr. Fiore noted that he was working on a blog for his church and had studied a lot of web sites. He thought Natick Town Clerk’s site was pretty good. As more vital records got into electronic format, he thought it would be nice if they were on line. He felt he had been enough of a consumer that he could look at what was sitting in the Office and what was on the site and decide what could be done.

Mr. Fiore’s response was almost immediately. He had a couple of court dates set up and as long as he could arrange some coverage or flexibility of being gone for a few hours, he could start almost any time. A lot of his current professional work could be done after hours or weekends.

Mr. Ostroff inquired as to Mr. Fiore’s familiarity with the laws the Town Clerk was charged with enforcing such as the Open Meeting Law. Mr. Fiore indicated that he was and had been involved in getting things to the Town Clerk for posting. When he was the President of the City Council the Clerk prepared the agenda and it contained items that should not have been put into the public record. He removed it, but another member decided it should be publicized and gave it to the press and got an opinion that if it was made available to the Council it was a public record. He told his fellow Council members that he was a little nervous about some of the things being put into e-mails because they were a public record.

In his closing statement Mr. Fiore said he hoped he answered the Board’s questions satisfactorily. This was the type of work he would love to do and he thought he could do a good job. It was a great opportunity for him to get a level of experience he wanted and he thought it was a great opportunity for the Town to get a level of academic and political experience.

Given the opportunity for an opening statement, Onorina Maloney thanked the Board for having her and for the opportunity. She noted that she was the former Town Clerk in Groton. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was 11 years old. She was an Honor Society student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bentley College and had attended the Dale Carnegie Institute. She had been employed at HP, got married, and then had to leave to be the full-time caregiver to her mother. At Groton she started as an assistant and got the opportunity to be Town Clerk. She became a certified national image consultant and felt she could make a strong contribution to the Town of Natick.

Mr. Maloney’s response was, ‘lot’s of preparation’. The Town Clerk had to abide by all of the Mass General Laws. She was a true believer in building a relationship and that was how she successfully ran seamless elections in Groton. If appointed she would identify all the key players and meet with them. She believed in project management at its best and she had proven success at that.

To Mr. Ostroff’s inquiry as to her experience in evaluating voting machines, Ms. Maloney noted that all machines had to be tested and that was how they were evaluated. She always tested her machines well before the official ballots came in.

Ms. Maloney asked if Natick had purchased new machines, and was told by Mr. Ostroff that Natick’s machines were 10 years old and the Town was grandfathered in using them. She noted the Town was at risk of machine failure, but she was a Dale Carnegie graduate and she saw it as the worst that would happen was having to count them by hand. Natick had 10 precincts and those wardens and precinct clerks need to be trained. She noted that she was always at the polling locations and had the good fortune of never having anything major happen. She had one incident where one of the clerks in inserting an absentee got it caught. Testing the machines was key.

Ms. Maloney listed the first as an upbeat attitude along with thoughtful leadership and being able to motivate your staff. The Town Clerk had to be a people person. It was her belief the Town Clerk was the ambassador for the Town. The Office was usually the first door people went to for information and she considered that a great honor.

Ms. Maloney noted that Natick’s structure was a little different than what she was used to, but she believed the function was the same. She would like to get to know the Moderator since they would be working quite closely together.

Ms. Maloney stated that she believed in cross training, but her staff had specialized duties. Her management style was very open with no surprises. She didn’t believe evaluation time should be a surprise to any employee and she was lavish with praise. She had a great staff and they went way beyond the call of duty for the office.

Ms. Van Amsterdam inquired if as Town Clerk Ms. Maloney had a formal evaluation process and established goals for all her staff. Ms. Maloney’s reply was, “yes”. Asked if she crafted those herself, again Ms. Maloney replied, “yes”.

Ms. Maloney found that to be the life of a Town Clerk and something she has been doing. It could be very stressful, but she was very organized and paid attention to detail and knew who her go to people were. She always conducted her elections cleanly and seamlessly and everything else you just deal with it with a smile and composure.

Ms. Maloney advised that the first thing she did was write a mission statement. She became the first Town Clerk to utilize the Conservation Preservation Act. She also updated the By-law book and started Happy Birthday packets for 18 year olds that increased voter registration and prepared a Welcome to Groton packet for newcomers.

Ms. Van Amsterdam inquired as to how the staff helped implement the innovations. Ms. Maloney noted the Code was a huge project. She sought out the help from the former Town Administrator and went to all board, committees, and commissions. Her staff was on board all the time. In her opinion she elevated the bar of customer service and her staff embraced it.

Noting from her resume that she (Ms. Maloney) had served as passport agent, Ms. White inquired if that system was already in place when she became Town Clerk in Groton. Ms. Maloney advised that it was. In follow-up Ms. White asked if it was revenue producing and Ms. Maloney stated it was huge. The office was open Monday nights and on the 1st and 3rd Saturday until noon and a lot of people came in. She believed the revenue was around $69,000-70,000. It was extra work for the staff but it pulled in a lot of individuals who don’t have time to go to their home town for passports.

Mr. Ostroff inquired as to how her customers were able to use the web site and Ms. Maloney responded that you could never cut down on telephone calls. When a voter calls she would never say it was on line. She worked with IT to revamp the web site and it was pretty comprehensive right now with all the minutes, the election results, a report of the voter turnout, the code, history and she believed there were some efforts now to put the historic volumes on line as well.

Mr. Ostroff asked about the administration of the open meeting and public records laws and Ms. Maloney responded that she was a stickler with the 48 hours although she didn’t believe it had been an issue in Natick and was not an issue in Groton. When she swore in any elected or appointed official, she gave them the Open Meeting Law. She was big on education so the public was educated as well as the officials.

Mr. Ciccariello explained that the Board of Registrars consists of two Republicans and two Democrats. Currently there were two Republicans serving on the Board of Registrars and Town Counsel has advised that whoever was appointed Town Clerk couldn’t be a Democrat.

Mr. Hickey told the Board that he had not prepared anything formal. His background was primarily government and he was a lawyer in private practice. He has lived in Natick since his second year in law school. A couple of years ago he applied for and was appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals and thought it was a good opportunity to give back and use his background for the benefit of the Town. It has been an experience he has enjoyed and thought he contributed positively.

Mr. Hickey continued that at this point he was considering a transition. He was in real estate law and intended to continue to be a real estate lawyer but he had a background in government and was interested in civic affairs and thought of himself as detail oriented and a meticulous record keeper. It was a bit of serendipity to see this notice and thought it would be a close fit and something he would do well. He understood the importance of details, record keeping and paying attention to the technical aspects. He also had an administrative background in government.

Mr. Hickey responded that the word interim was as much of an interest as the Town Clerk’s position. As described the Town Clerk’s position was pretty mundane and it sounds bland but it was a critical position for the Town. He thought he would bring an appreciation for the importance and someone who could be trusted to handle those responsibilities.

Mr. Hickey stated that he didn’t think he had much interest in running for the position or holding the office for decades but he could bring an energy to steward the position to spring. He believed the Board would want to find someone who was not focused on the politics but doing the job.

Mr. Hickey noted that he had not worked in a Clerk’s office or handled these duties and had technical questions, but understood the requirement of posting notices and that the ministerial and procedural focus would be focused on the calendar.

Mr. Ostroff then asked if Mr. Hickey had any thoughts on how to improve voter turnout in municipal elections. Mr. Hickey stated that he could go on for hours about that. At this level it was somewhat driven by whether there were hot issues on the ballot, i.e. an override or a mascot. To him the numbers nationwide were a bit of an embarrassment. People were free to vote or not to vote and he didn’t prescribe to do anything but provide the information and get it out so Town residents would have an easy time to understand why their vote was important. Whatever could be done within reason he would hope to do.

Mr. Hickey listed the willingness to listen and learn from others. He was sure the employees in the Clerk’s Office had a wealth of information and he was a good listener and a quick study. He jumps in and quickly becomes qualified. The other important qualities on which the Town Clerk was relied upon to do were attention to detail and appreciation of the statutory requirements.

Mr. Hickey said he understood the Town Clerk posts the members of Town Meeting and keeps a record of the members and verifies they were residents. The Clerk was required to keep open and available the records of Town Meeting and it was his understanding the Town Clerk would be in attendance and keep the records of what transpired and notify the Attorney General or Secretary of State of Town Meeting action.

Mr. Hickey stated that his preference would be that everyone in the office had certain areas of responsibility that they did and knew well. There needed to be some instances for covering for vacations or otherwise. At 23 he was asked to run a State Senate office and thought the job was over his head.

In his first job when he was the face of a State Representative’s office, Mr. Hickey noted there was one chance not to make the person cynical or feel unappreciated. He always went out of his way to solve people’s problems and always went the extra mile. To him customer service was incredibly important. When people come before the ZBA, he would like to think they were all treated with respect and courtesy and professionally.

Mr. Hickey responded that as an associate at a big law firm he had 13-15 active matters on his plate until the economy fell and then he had much less to do but typically his day was trying to keep everything moving forward. He did that with energy, with focus, and by delegating and relying on the smart people around him to assist. He had children and responsibilities and there was lots of multi tasking.

Ms. Gloff inquired as to why Mr. Hickey would consider taking the Interim Town Clerk position and Mr. Hickey responded that based on the macro and micro economics he had been considering a complete switch. Things have been bad out there in what he did. Deals were dying because of financing. It will come back but not quickly enough and he was notified that he would be losing his job at some point this spring. It was scary but also exciting. He took stock of his resume and not many people were looking for commercial real estate lawyers and looking at this position he decided why not do it for a year.

Mr. Hickey didn’t know of any innovation he had implemented in the sense of new technology but the first thing that came to mind was his focus and prioritizing of training junior people. At his firm there hadn’t been a lot of training. It was sort of by trial and error. It built character but he focused on junior associates and training and went out of his way to involve them in his transactions. He enjoyed the teacher’s role.

Mr. Hickey responded that the system he employed at work to manage his files was an ongoing joke of how ruthless he was with managing papers and sending them to dry storage as opposed to scattering his papers all over the floor. He knew where everything was and how it was catalogued. He could find anything he had done in two years and didn’t think it would be rocket science to develop electronic records. He was sure a lot of residents would like to have access to records from home and he would think it would be a simple measure of scanning and posting the documents. Boston did it with high school students for summer work. The technology exists for taking paper and archiving it.

Mr. Ostroff inquired if Mr. Hickey had a view for how the Town Clerk’s web site might be improved or information made more readily available to the residents through the internet. Mr. Hickey responded that he has found the Town Clerk’s web site a bit sparse although the information on it appears appropriate and he didn’t see any glaring omissions. He noted that he had mixed emotions about making everything available from the comfort of one’s computer available. It wasn’t a bad thing for people to know where Town Hall was and have that personal interaction. He hadn’t spent a great deal of time looking at it (web site).

Mr. Ostroff inquired if Mr. Hickey had received advice that he (Mr. Hickey) would need to resign from the ZBA. Mr. Hickey responded that he hadn’t received any advice, but he looked at it himself and believed elected officials couldn’t be elected to something else but it didn’t preclude them from another capacity.

When asked by Mr. Ostroff about his familiarity with the Open Meeting and public records laws in terms of the Clerk’s duties in enforcing them, Mr. Hickey said he was very familiar with the Open Meeting Law and its requirements. The intent was to promote transparency, but he didn’t know that the Town Clerk enforced the Open Meeting Law. He had countless discussions with other ZBA members that if the ZBA wasn’t doing something if it would run afoul of the Open Meeting Law, but he couldn’t think in three years that the Town Clerk had been instrumental or involved in enforcing it. The ZBA sought advice from Town Counsel.

Mr. Ciccariello noted that presently there was a four member Board of Registrars and the Board was advised by Town Counsel that as there were two Republicans serving the Town Clerk could not be a Republican. A candidate could be any other party or un-enrolled.

Mr. Connolly found it interesting that Mr. Hickey stated in his letter of application that he would not accept the pay until April 2009 so the taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for on the job training. He found Mr. Hickey’s charm and sense of humor refreshing.

In his closing statement Mr. Hickey thanked the Board for having him here today and found it an honor to be considered. Two weeks ago he wasn’t considering the position, but was now very excited and thought it would be interesting and hopefully he would knock everyone’s socks off by doing a good job. He had a diverse background although nothing that was direct Town Clerk experience, but a number of things in his background would serve him well. He enjoyed the Town of Natick and planned on being here for a long time.

Town Engineer Mark Coviello noted that the Board had requested some revisions to the Street Opening Permit policy to allow in some special cases for residents to connect to natural gas while there was still a moratorium on their street. Those changes have been made. There were also changes in the policy to tie into the trench permit regulations.

Mr. Coviello pointed out that the specific language the Board asked him to revise was page 10 to allow the option of a detail officer or a certified road flagger. Also included was Attachment 4 which was the trench permit that would be issued in conjunction with any street opening whenever someone came in for a street opening there would be a corresponding trench opening permit. He was working to make it available on the internet.

Ms. Van Amsterdam recalled seeing a memo relating to the Traffic Safety Officer making a determination whether to use a detail or a flagger. Ms. White believed the memo was from the union and she was passing that through labor counsel to make sure there was clarity on that issue – what the law may allow vs the contract.

Mr. Ciccariello questioned if the Police Chief made the decision or the Traffic Safety Officer. If it was the Traffic Safety Officer, Ms. Van Amsterdam thought that may be part of the union’s objections. Given what was just received from the union, Ms. Van Amsterdam asked if the Board could talk about it. Ms. White believed the collective bargaining agreement stipulated the Police Chief, but Ms. Van Amsterdam pointed out the language in the policy said ‘if in the determination of the Traffic Safety Officer’. To her it seemed as though that individual was making the decision not the Police Chief.

Ms. Van Amsterdam thought it still raised the objectivity issue. This (use of flagmen) was an issue that was very contentious and if it was solely dependent on the chief and the issue of flagmen was an issue the union was coming out very strongly against, in how many instances would a Police Chief go against the union and say it was not necessary to have a detail.

Ms. White noted that the opportunity to have a flagger, to the extent it may or may not exist in Natick, was recent. Historically the determination has always been in the hands of the Chief and that would remain unchanged from the historical practice. The only question was might it sometimes be someone other than a Police officer. That was a question for labor counsel – what the collective bargaining agreement does or does not allow.

It was Mr. Ciccariello’s understanding that the legislation passed was very specific and only had to do with State highways and roadways. Each community still had to deal with their own Town owned roadways. Route 135 was a State highway and the determination could be made to use flaggers.

Ms. Gloff thought the Board requested this paragraph be inserted or modified and Mr. Coviello put in what the Board wanted. She didn’t know if the Town would ever get to the point where a flagger would be acceptable in Natick, but she didn’t see a problem having that wording in there. The question was if it should say Traffic Safety Officer or Police chief.

A motion was made by Mr. Connolly to table until there was a review from labor counsel. Mr. Ciccariello seconded for discussion. After some discussion the motion failed on a 1-4-0 vote. Mr. Connolly voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Ciccariello, Mr. Ostroff, Ms. Van Amsterdam, Ms. Gloff were opposed.

Mr. Ciccariello saw them as two different issues. At some point in time the issue of the contract would have to be dealt with as to whether it should be flagmen or Police officers. The letter said the Police Chief makes the decision and he may designate someone else but that was the Chief’s discretion. He (Mr. Ciccariello) would add the wording ‘Police detail officer or certified road flagger’ because if the decision was made to do something through the contract the wording was in there and the policy wouldn’t have to be revised. The issue was changing Traffic Safety Officer to the Police Chief or his designee and the Chief could designate whoever he wanted.

Ms. Van Amsterdam noted that she wasn’t here for this discussion and raised it from the standpoint that if in the future the use of flaggers were allowed, her concern was historically it had been the Police Chief and at some point the Board may want the decision to use details vs flaggers to be made between the Police and the Town Administrator.

If the Board set the policy but didn’t review it every year, Ms. Van Amsterdam questioned how the Board would make certain the decisions made (regarding use of details vs flaggers) were objective and in the best interest of the Town from a safety and fiscal standpoint. That burden would be solely placed on the Police Chief.

Mr. Ciccariello pointed out that the policy allowed for many things most of which were the responsibility of the Town Engineer. In terms of reviewing it annually, he would expect the Town Engineer to review it annually and come back to the Board and make suggestions based on the year’s past experience. For some things the Traffic Safety Officer was responsible, i.e. deciding how to close off the street, the barriers. To him who decides when to have a Police detail was ultimately the Chief.

A motion was made by Ms. Gloff to accept the policy as written with one change. On page 10 Traffic Officer be changed to Police Chief. Seconded by Ms. Van Amsterdam. The motion passed on a 4-1-0 vote. Mr. Ciccariello, Mr. Ostroff, Ms. Van Amsterdam, Ms. Gloff voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Connolly was opposed.

Ms. White referred to a memo in the packet that talked about the designation of two trench officers – the Town Engineer for public ways and the Building Inspector for private property. Mr. Coviello recommended the designation of a third – the Board of Health Director for trenches involved in septic systems. Ms. White advised that she concurred with Mr. Coviello’s recommendation.

With the correction of a typo Mr. Ostroff moved approval of the minutes of the July 28, 2008 meeting. Seconded by Ms. Gloff. The motion passed on a 4-0-1 vote. Mr. Ciccariello, Mr. Ostroff, Ms. Gloff, Mr. Connolly voted in favor of the motion. Ms. Van Amsterdam abstained.