August 28, 2017

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: Select Board Chair Bill Hiller, Selectman Don Hawley, Selectman Gary Thomas, Jim Crandall, Russ Loring, Jim Ebitz, Michael Ernst, Jeanne Randorf

Celebrations: They have started planning the Sup ‘n Swing event for spring 2018.

Cultural Council: The annual Arts Festival will be held this coming Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Farmington School and will have food and music as well as the vendors. The new cycle for grant applications will begin Sept. 1^st and end October 15^th.

Energy: The towers are currently being transported through New York and are supposed to be delivered this week, but we have not gotten a confirmation on that yet.

Maintenance: The project for the East Otis Fire House has excavation scheduled from Oct 2^nd to the 11^th and paving will begin Oct. 12^th. This is the end of the paving season and if the project is not started then, it won’t be done until the spring. The cemetery mapping for Norton Road is complete and this is the last cemetery in town to be mapped. The new truck has been delivered and is being outfitted. We had issues with the running boards so we are getting new ones. Chipping is done, pot holes have been fixed, both compactors had new micro switches installed, we changed vendors for the rigid plastics, brush has been cut, we had one burial and sold four lots and set their cornerstones. The Town Hall fire alarms have been serviced for the year, roof has been maintained and leaks repaired, and they have trimmed the hedges and serviced the mowers even though they are still mowing every two weeks.

Municipal Lighting Plant: Nothing new to report.

Planning: They have their next meeting scheduled for Sept. 11^th and will be discussing the revisions to the Sign By-Law. We had a Form A on a lot in East Otis for August.

Rescue Squad: Things are starting to slow down. They had a prescription drug and sharps turn-in on August 19^th and while they did not have a lot of people, they were shaking the jug to get more pills in it. There is also an upcoming opioid addiction talk happening at the school from one of the Boston Celtics but the date is not known. One new EMT has gotten all licensing and is now learning the field work, so this one should be on board in another week or two. Another EMT is ready to test for licensing and the squad is confident all licenses will be earned.

Technology: Westfield should be putting in three or four poles in the East Otis Fire House for the fiber hut, then they can dig for the conduit and Derek will finish digging for the hut. Verizon has unofficially said they will be done with Phase 1 in October, but this was originally planned for end of August. The state is keeping an eye on Verizon. The bid award for fiber construction is currently being finalized and the contract will soon be signed.

Zoning Board of Appeals: Everything is okay.

Assessors: Nothing new to report – they are doing their job.

Michael asked who policed the Reservoir and was informed it was the MA Environmental Police. Michael noted there were several people doing illegal things on the Res.

Don brought up the discussion we had at the last Select Board meeting about the dog kennels for the Animal Control Officer. He had heard Becket may be willing to share their kennels for our use. Don asked if Chris could contact Becket’s Town Manager and Bill decided he would contact Becket tomorrow. It was also noted that other towns in the area use a veterinarian’s kennels and charge the dog owners for the bill. It was also noted that if the owner is not found, the town has to pay the kennel expenses.

Don also discussed a conversation he had regarding the East Otis Schoolhouse. The back of the building is rotted and it will be less expensive to rebuild it to look as it should look. Jim is also ready to hire an architect to go over the entire building and get a scope of work with associated costs to present to the Select Board.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:11 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lisa D’Orazio

Selectmen’s Secretary

Town of Otis

List of Documents

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