Town of Otis
Select Board Meeting Minutes
July 26, 2016
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.
Present: Don Hawley, Bill Hiller, Chris Morris, Terry Gould, Kathy Carroll, Larry Gould, Peter Kolodziej, Russ Loring, Chris Tryon, and David Hart
Approval of Minutes: The July 12, 2016 Select Board meeting minutes were unanimously approved as written by Bill and Don.
Board of Health: 341 Brookman Drive: Peter and Chris Tryon are requesting both a well and septic variance because they are replacing the existing house, but using the same footprint as the original house. With the current design, the abutter’s well is 92 feet from the new septic. The abutter was present at the meeting and stated that 92 feet was acceptable to him. Pete recommended that Chris Tryon tweak the design for maximum feasible compliance and to reduce the number of variances. Larry noted if the redesign causes the house height to be raised, then the redesign may have to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals either for setback or height variances. Either the new design or the current design will need to have a new drilled well because the existing well is in the middle of the lot and is too near where the new pre-treat IA bat system has to be located. Both Don and Bill agreed that the current design with the 92 foot setback from the abutter’s well is approved as long as the standard maintenance agreement for the system is required and as long as the standard two years of testing both the owners and abutters wells is included. However, if a new design is drawn up, then that redesign may need to be brought forward again depending on the variances required with the new design.
Other:
Recreation Expenditures: Kathy Carroll wanted to know why Rec cannot get a check cut against their expense account to use for purchasing goods for the Gingerbread House Event and the Easter Egg Hunt. Chris and the Select Board explained that the Dept. of Revenue (DOR) does not like credit card use in municipalities and we had a heck of a time getting them to approve our debit card. In order to use the debit card, Karen needs to know in advance how much to apply to the card and only she and Chris Morris are authorized to make expenditures with it. The debit card cannot physically be used at any store. Chris also suggested that if Recreation knew how much they needed to spend ahead of time, maybe a bank check could be cut for the exact amount and used to pay for the merchandise when picked up. Chris was also requested to send a notice to Patricia stating the Weight Room at the Rec. Center is out of commission.
Sewer Commitment Letter: The letter for FY 2017 was presented to the Select Board for approval and signatures. The sewer rates remained the same from the previous fiscal year. Both Don and Bill signed the commitment letter.
Everyone congratulated Russ on his birthday and Russ thanked everyone for their support and stated what a great time everyone had that day.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
List of Documents
A copy of the signed Sewer Commitment Letter will be filed with these meeting minutes.