Select Board Meeting Minutes
Otis Town Hall
Conference Room
February 09, 2021
7:00 p.m.
*This meeting is being conducted remotely through Zoom. You must check back within 24 hours of the start time for a link to join.
Pursuant to the Governor’s March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, Sec 18, this meeting is being held via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Every effort is being made to ensure that any member of the public may access the meeting in real time, via technological means. Agendas will be amended to show the link and participation code to access the meeting no sooner than 48 hours before. Recordings and/or draft proceedings of the meeting will be available on our website as soon as possible.
Attendees: Chair Bill Hiller, Selectmen Larry Southard, Selectmen Gary Thomas, Brandi Page, Heather Morgan, please see addendum for other participants
Call to Order.
7:00 PM
Approval of Select Board Minutes, Jan 26, 2021
Gary Thomas requested a sentence from the minutes under item Community Center Account be removed due to it being a false statement. Larry and Bill agreed to remove the sentence. The remaining minutes were approved.
Community Center Account
Gary disagrees with Town Counsel’s opinion. He believes the money was voted on to be used for a Community Center. He referenced the language of the vote used each year to put away $5,000. He said it was intentionally kept vague as there were a few ideas floating around at the time. Now that it is proposed St. Paul’s will have “Otis Community Center” in the title Gary feels it’s appropriate to use the money toward this project. Terry Gould mentioned she didn’t think the town voted on St. Paul’s church being used as a Community Center. Diane spoke about the deed transfer and would like to look back at the town meeting minutes. Diane also expressed this money would be very beneficial the Otis Preservation Trust’s fundraising and helping to bridge the gap for the matching funds. Bill Hiller believes the town’s people should vote on what the funds from the Community Center account should be used for at Town Meeting. Larry Southard feels it should be tabled until another meeting to give the Selectmen time to look over the documentation. All agreed to table the discussion until a future meeting.
Joint Budget Meeting Schedule
The Joint budget meetings to draft our FY22 budget are scheduled every Thursday at 6:00 pm from February 11th – March 25th. All agreed.
Open Meeting Law Complaint
Bill spoke to acknowledge the Open Meeting Law complaint that was filed for the Jan 26th meeting. People not being able to join due to the participant cap on the Town’s Zoom account was felt to be a violation. The Town has since upgraded its account to hold 500 participants and has drafted a response to the Attorney General’s Office and the filer. The Board agreed they were good with the response. Larry Southard, as a private citizen of Otis, spoke and responded to the rude comments that were made at the last meeting by some of the meeting’s audience.
Review and Approval of Warrants.
Any topics not reasonably anticipated by the Chair at the time of the original posting.
None
Adjournment.
7:36
Respectfully submitted by,
Heather Morgan
Selectmen Secretary, Town of Otis
List of Documents
Open Meeting Law Complaint
List of Meeting Attendees
Attendees of the February 9th Selectmen’s Meeting Heather Morgan
Shari Lamanna
Edward Herbst
Tim Nardi (Tim)
Bonnie Peel
Kait Gallup
Roger
Lynn Vedovato
Glenn Greenough
annodonnell
Kathryn Zimmerman (Kathryn)
Suzanne Smiley
Betsy Gallup
Brandi Page
Gina Placek
Karen Robb
Janna Deveny
Annie Farson
Elaine & Dan Hunter
Donna’s iPad
Kenneth
Pam Henry
Ralph Huber
Phil Magovern
Irene Gilman
Mark
Cathy Cleaveland
Fred Ryon
Jill Sweeney
Kelly Taylor
Mark Lamanna
Michael Ian
Lauren Tacke-Cushing
William Hiller
Lauren Harrison
Donna Salwocki (Zoom user)
Kait
Cynthia Gaylord
Alanna Harrison
Irene Gilman
Jim Henry
Paige McCullough
Heidi Johnstone
Larry Southard
Jessica Paddock
kim
Michael Failla
Debra Ann Pollack# MD
Patricia Rizzo
John Weldon
Doreen Hoddinott
Flo Magovern
William Sturges
Larry Gould
Kait Gallup
Terry Smith
iPhone Larry
Patricia Rizzo
Alanna Magovern Regester (Nicholas Regester)
Therese’s iPad
Will Salwocki
Jeffrey Harrison
Rick Lawlor
Christophe Pichard (Christophe)
Jim Rider
Jeffrey Dressler (jeff)
dunhillone@verizon.net
James R. Adams
i713222
katherine wippert
Susan Lopatkin
Suzanne Bauer
kpichard
Don Goss
Christine Lawlor
Donna Thomas
Frank Tolopko
Jim Rider
Aaron Sturges
Daniel Wollman
debrapollackwollman
Kathleen Duffy
jamesshirley
townsgr
Erika Nardi
Debra Ann Pollack# MD
Janna Deveny
Brian O’Donnell
Liz Nardi
Jeff Tacke
John Cox
David Vogel
Mary Ann Buchanan# Ed.D.
judi
Pattie Hallberg
LH1
The Thomas’s
Teresa O# MD
15169720921
Jeff Fligelman
Joe Mama
18606143140
Frank Rizzo
sonia
No cell tower!
Georgia Massucco
pampace
Lyn Obrien
Kathryn Nash Nash’s iPhone
Ian Lennard
Tyler Weldon – CDOT
User