Town of Otis
Select Board Meeting Minutes
January 10, 2017
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room. It’s being recorded and a quorum is present.
Present: Chair Roberta Sarnacki, Selectman Don Hawley, Selectman Bill Hiller, Chris Morris, Russ Loring, Sonia Morrison Kobrin, Hal Kobrin, Michael Ernst
Approval of Minutes: The December 13, 2016 Select Board meeting minutes were approved as written by Bill and Don with Roberta abstaining.
St. Paul’s Inspection Report: Larry Gould was present when Chris Vreeland from Precision Decisions did the inspection. Structural problems were found and pictorially identified in the report. The church may not be able to support load weight in its current condition and may not be sufficient for use. Don asked if the diocese does plan to turn the church over to the town as he has heard this but has not seen anything in writing yet. He was assured that was the case. Everyone present agreed the town needs to receive the warrant article language from the diocese so the vote can be presented to the town. Bill also suggested we need a more in depth inspection and estimate so we have a more detailed quote for information on the repairs needed to present to the townspeople. In the meantime, everyone believes the church will withstand the winter weather. The Select Board also noted we need to have our building inspector notify the diocese that the building cannot be used. The diocese does currently have the building locked up. The Select Board also encouraged the Planning Board to find money for cleaning up and repairing this building assuming it becomes town property. The townspeople will vote on whether the church becomes town property at the annual town meeting in May.
Election Workers pay increases: Because Massachusetts has passed new minimum wage laws, Lyn has asked for increases for the three pay levels for Elections personnel. Poll workers were requested to go to $11.50 per hour from $10.00 per hour, and Election Registrars, Officials, and Constables from $11.00 to $13.00. All increases were approved with Roberta abstaining from the Constable vote. The Select Board recommended the Town Elections budget for next year should handle the proposed $15.00 state minimum wage increase.
Review ATR Printer cost submissions: Two printers submitted costs for printing of the upcoming Annual Town Reports (ATR). Select Print Solutions submitted a total cost of approximately $2,692.00 and Courier Printing submitted a total cost of approximately $3,110.00. The proposed costs are approximate because there is usually some variation once the process is under way. On top of those costs, we have another $600.00 that will be spent to mail out the reports. Both submissions are within this year’s budgeted amount, including the mailing costs. The Select Board unanimously agreed to go with Select Print Solutions.
Other:
Maintenance Dept: Two people will be departing in the near future. One person will be leaving on January 20 in order to move out-of-state and another is planning to retire. We have a notice on the website and will be getting out ads to newspapers soon. Don cautioned that we wait until we get formal notification of the retirement before advertising for that position, but it was also noted that we were not required to hire for two positions if anything changed. Bill also suggested we contact the second person we liked that did not get hired for Highway and see if that person was still interested.
Police Dept: One of our part-time police officers has accepted a full time position with another department. He cannot remain as a part-time officer with us due to his new position. Roberta would like to advertise for another part-time officer. In the meantime, an officer who is currently working a few hours a month would like to come back at about twenty four hours per week and reinstate benefits. After discussion, both Don and Bill agreed to bring back the officer for more hours and go ahead with the ad for part-time applicants.
Marijuana discussion: Don brought up the fact that recreational marijuana was now legal in Massachusetts and questioned how this would impact the town and zoning. Lisa mentioned that BRPC was running a workshop on this very topic and would forward the information to the Select Board. Hal has already signed up for the workshop and mentioned it to the other Planning Board members.
Reservoir Road Culvert project: Michael asked where we stood with this project and Chris said we are still waiting to hear if we got our next requested extension. This would be our third or fourth one.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
List of Documents
A copy of the St. Paul’s Inspection Report will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the Town Clerk’s email requesting the wage increases will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the town report cost submissions and the mailing quote will be filed with these meeting minutes.