Town of Otis
Select Board Meeting Minutes
February 28, 2017
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room, is being recorded, and we have a quorum.
Present: Chair Roberta Sarnacki, Selectman Don Hawley, Selectman Bill Hiller, Chris Morris, Michael Ernst, Peter Kolodziej, Jim Wilusz, and Walter Engels
Approval of Minutes: The February 14, 2017 Select Board meeting minutes were unanimously approved with a few words changed. The February 14, 2017 Maintenance Interview minutes were unanimously approved as written.
Board of Health: Peter and Jim gave some background information on what was going on with certifying septic installers in Berkshire County and in Otis. These are based on local requirements, not state requirements. Initially, the septic certification program and continuing education units were issued through TriTown at no cost, and then BCBOHA took over and started charging extra fees for both the certifications and the classes. Both Peter and Jim agreed initial certifications need to stay in place. TriTown is proposing holding free classes in Town Hall for CEUs and issuing the recertifications from here. Then Heather can issue compliance payments. They are also considering possibly crediting CEUs for being in business for a certain length of years. Installers are better able to attend classes from January through March in their off season. And with TriTown conducting the classes, they can be tailored to what the installers need to be trained on. Chris also noted that we need job descriptions written by Peter and Jim for the Health Agent position so we have it in our Job Classification system in case we ever need to hire someone for that position.
So. Berkshire Chamber of Commerce: For $200 the Town of Otis can become members and forms were emailed to Chris today. Don was looking around and he thinks the plot of land in front of the Recreation Center would be a good central location. The Select Board unanimously voted to become contributing members of the So. Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. Chris will fill out the forms and submit payment.
So. Berkshire HHW Letter of Intent: The Select Board unanimously voted to again participate in the Household Hazardous Waste program for FY’18 and Roberta signed the Letter of Intent.
Appoint Alternate to Conservation Commission: Renee Dube was unanimously appointed by the Select Board at Conservation’s recommendation to be their Alternate Commission member.
Other:
Town Counsel: The Board asked Chris to get in touch with Jeremia to find out what we need to legally do to annex some land from the school and transfer it back to the town. We hope to use this land transfer for establishing a new safety complex in town. The School Superintendant is on board with this request.
MBI: We just recently heard that MBI is planning to release the allocated design grant money to the Town of Otis for our broadband project in addition to the construction funds.
School Budget: The Otis Select Board would like to meet with the Otis Finance Board and both the Sandisfield Select and Finance Boards to coordinate a budget solution for school building maintenance and handling turbine benefits. We would like to invite everyone to the March 14th Select Board meeting.
Police Interviews: Roberta would like to schedule these for March 22nd. Everyone agreed.
Town Report Dedication: A draft of the proposed dedication was submitted to the Select Board. It needs changes. The selectmen also picked their preferences for the cover.
Berkshire Co. Selectmen’s Assoc.: A notice of the Annual spring meeting was provided to the Select Board.
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 photo of the proposed Chamber of Commerce kiosk will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of Renee’s appointment application and the email from Conservation requesting her appointment will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the draft dedication will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the Berkshire County Selectmen’s Association dinner meeting announcement will be filed with these meeting minutes.