Town of Otis
All Boards Meeting Minutes
February 22, 2016
The meeting was called to order by Don Hawley at 6:30 pm in the Town Hall conference room. It was announced the meeting was being recorded.
Present: Selectman Don Hawley, Selectman Bill Hiller, Joann Austin, Lyn Minery, Michael Ernst, Jim Crandall, and Sandy Pinkham
Maintenance: They finished painting the Town Hall gym and kitchen and touched up the halls. They cleared brush from the area and the hard plastic recycling container has been delivered and they submitted their grant paperwork for reimbursement. They have received portable recycling containers that are available for event use and need to be requested through Maintenance. They had two grinder pump calls this month and the motor on the auger blew and was replaced under warranty. They flushed the instant hot water heater so they don’t overheat – part of their regular maintenance. Don noted they need to meet to go over the details of the contracts for the Transfer Station. They decided to meet with Finance also right after
Thursday’s Energy meeting to discuss this topic.
School: The water pressure pumps are in the Capital Budget but they didn’t make it to next year. This is a dual pump system and are seventeen years old and they didn’t make it through the cold snap. Replacing them will give the school a better design where one pump is off when the other is being used. The low bid for the new system is $31,200 from Pittsfield Pipers and that does not include electrical or plumbing hookups. With those included, the cost should be closer to $42,000. The money should be available from their E&D account.
Town Clerk: The Presidential Primary is next Tuesday. The State has initiated on-line voter registration this year and we had voter changes and new registrations – the primary should be very busy. Lyn has already received a record number of absentee ballots and they may have to be hand counted. The State has ballot issues this year. The ballots were digitally printed and the ballot machine can only read offset printed ballots. Lyn has issued 133 dog licenses so far this year and the second census mailing has gone out. Roberta is handling the Constable/Officer pay until the end of the current fiscal year and then Lyn will budget for it.
Fire Dept.: They have had a few calls, mostly smoke detectors going off and dead batteries. There have been no issues due to the cold snap. They are continuing to train. They had impact training with residential solar panels tonight and Tolland invited them tomorrow night for Structure Fire Impact training. They are being recertified in CPR at their next meeting. The new truck is expected the end of May. Don asked what the standard was for notifying drivers that personal vehicles were responding to fires. Some residents have recently not known they were blocking emergency responses. Don asked if there was something that could be purchased in bulk to identify emergency responders in their personal vehicles when they are going to a call.
Planning Board: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is the current topic of discussion.
Energy: They are having a meeting next Thursday at 5:00 pm.
Finance Board: Budget meetings begin tomorrow.
Zoning Board: They have two issues to hear on March 7th at 7:00 pm.
Technology: They submitted an application for a grant to rewire the Town Hall for security, backup, and update a firewall which will also include switch updates and remote access capability. We should know by late March. The quote has been issued for pole surveys and responses are due in this week or next.
Lisa made one last request for everyone to submit their annual town reports by Thursday if they have not already done so.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis