April 23, 2018

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm in the Town Hall conference room. It was announced the meeting was being recorded.

Present: Chairman Bill Hiller, Don Hawley, Becky Stone, Michael Ernst, Terry Gould, Jim Crandall, Rich Phair

Energy: The $900,000 wind contingency account CAN be used to pay the solar project bills. This has finally been confirmed by both Bond Counsel and the IRS. We will need to vote at Town Meeting that the town has approved using the wind contingency money for this. This also means the town can move forward with the solar projects we have put on hold. We have not yet received any turbine revenue as yet, but expect some soon.

Finance Board: Budgets are done. Basically, everything was basically level-funded for next year. The budget only increased by $100,000 and is well within the 2 ½%.

Fire Dept.: They got their new computer. The old cruiser is now ready to be used as the Rescue Truck. They have a red light for the dash until they can get the light bar retrofitted. This will be used for medical calls until the official Rescue Truck is repaired. Most everything is in the cruiser except for the air tanks needed to refill the air packs at a fire. The new Rescue Truck chassis is on order and the repair vendor is planning to use the old box on the new chassis. Other additional problems that were missed on the first appraisal will be covered by insurance. New air tank equipment that meets the current fire code will be mounted on the box before the Rescue Truck is fully repaired. We are hoping for September delivery, but it may be more realistic to expect it back in October or November. Don recommended the Fire Dept. go through the repairs carefully, even if we have to hire a consultant, because originally our insurance had planned to total the Rescue Truck.

Maintenance: Spring cleanups have begun. They painted the inside rooms in the Main Fire House, fixed meeting room floors, fixed a water line in Harmony Hall and handicap railings there, fixed a sink at Town Hall, worked at the Library with refurbishing and rearranging it, put in a keyless lock at the Fiber hut in East Otis, regraded around the East Otis Fire House, and set goose decoys out at the Town Beach. Full maintenance crew is back to work. All remaining stuff from the trailer at East Otis Fire House is gone.

MLP: Quick Books has been installed so we can now cut checks for MLP vendors.

Planning: They heard preliminary information from a group of entrepreneurs who want to establish a marijuana farm on Algerie Road near the Bonnie Brae Girl Scout camp. The farm would be a wholesale vendor and would use approximately 10,000 square feet of greenhouse space with security lights. We asked them to come back with a plant plan, an operational plan, and a financial plan. The town would get 3% of the gross revenue.

Police Dept.: Bill read the email Roberta sent. Kops ‘N Kids Kamp was huge success. They went to a Red Sox game, saw a Pirate Play, and rode the Bushnell Carousel. They had visits from the Otis Fire Department and Otis Rescue Squad, and also visited with three K9 teams from Easthampton, Holyoke, and Longmeadow Police Depts. Call volumes remain steady.

Technology: Six preliminary homes in the Phase 1 area were hooked up to work out any problems and individual homes should get fiber installed down Pine Road beginning next week. The Lieutenant Governor will be here on Thursday to have a ribbon cutting event at the East Otis Fire House.

Zoning Board: There is no May meeting.

During discussion it was noted May’s All Boards meeting would be scheduled for Memorial Day so the board decided to cancel the May All Boards meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lisa D’Orazio

Selectmen’s Secretary

Town of Otis

List of Documents

A copy of the email from Roberta Sarnacki, Otis Police Chief, will be filed with these meeting minutes.