Town of Otis
All Boards Meeting Minutes
April 25, 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, Sandy Pinkham, Terry Gould, Jeanne Randorf, Keith O’Neil, Derek Poirier, Russ Loring, and Walter Engels
Assessors: Things are going well. The Real Estate and Personal Property abatements are processed. They are updating Personal Property information and have begun valuations. There are 345 properties that need spring inspections. A new person has been hired to do the inspections. These properties are part of the RRG contract and are part of the regular group.
Council on Aging: They are a wonderful group and meet on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Cultural Council: They will be having their annual tag sale the end of May. Chris Kellor’s Great Encampment is also happening in May at the school and is open to the public. The fifth grade class will be camping overnight and will live as if in the 1700’s. Different events will happen on Saturday.
Energy: Road and turbine sitework is ahead of schedule. The area is posted to keep people out so construction work can be completed. The turbine is being built by the manufacturer and we expect delivery in fall and it will be constructed on site in November. It will take 22 trailer truck loads just to bring in the crane needed to erect the turbine.
Finance Board: Budget meetings are now concluded and this was an easy budget season.
Fire Dept.: They have been busy with brush fires – they just fought a grass fire in Blandford. Otis burning season was been shut down two weeks ago due to the dry conditions. They had mutual aid calls in Tolland and Sandisfield and a structure fire in Becket. The Annual Steak Roast is planned for the last Saturday in August.
Highway Dept.: Stumps have been removed from Lee-Westfield Road and the transfer station. They have begun working on Pine Road and have completed one course and should have blacktopping completed by Wednesday next week. All sanders have been removed from their trucks, washed and desalted the trucks. They have received their Chapter 90 money and West Center Road to the transfer station and Pearl Road are on that list. Other small roads may be done if there is money left.
Historic: The boundary rock between Otis and Becket may be underwater along Route 8 by Camp Lenox near Shaw Pond. This information was discovered in a letter written in the 1880’s. There is also an Indian Head Rock on Brookman Drive by #10 that they want to investigate as well. The Otis Historical Society, a separate entity from the town commission, will have their first official meeting next Wednesday and plan to meet the last Wednesday of each month at 1:00 pm.
Maintenance: They have done tree trimming, brush removal, and spring cleanup on all town property. Sanicans have been ordered for the town beach and goose deterrents have been put up. Spring maintenance has been done on all equipment. There has been one burial at the cemetery and one pad poured for a monument.
Police Dept.: Roberta submitted an email report that was read by Lisa. Kops ‘N Kids just completed 6th Annual camp and was a success. They saw Blue Man Group and got a meet-and-greet afterwards. Officer Pettibone has qualified to enter Firearms Instructor School and is attending in Pittsfield. Call volume is steady. Officer Whiting responded to a motor vehicle accident where the car was on fire. He and a bystander were able to pull the driver from the burning car, saving that person’s life.
School: School vacation was last week. The pathway between the school and the Highway Dept. is cleared and the school thanks everyone for a simple solution to a really complex problem. The School Committee has officially appointed Tom Nadolny as the new Superintendent/Principal. He will take over for Jo Ann when she retires.
Technology: They met last Thursday and voted to recommend both applicants for appointment. Larry has some equipment that we need for the turbine and it can be used for us to do our own pole surveying for the broadband project. Larry is training on it today.
Zoning Board: They have a new chairman and had a hearing last month with another scheduled for May.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:04 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
List of Documents
A copy of the email sent to Russ Loring from RRG will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of Roberta’s email report of the Police Dept. will be filed with these meeting minutes.