Town of Otis
Select Board Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2016
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room. Chair Roberta Sarnacki stated the meeting was being recorded.
Present: Roberta Sarnacki, Bill Hiller, Don Hawley, Chris Morris, Larry Gould, Terry Gould, Michael Ernst, Hank Wingate, Hal Kobrin, Walter Engels
Approval of Minutes: The January 25, 2016 All Boards and the January 26, 2016 Select Board meeting minutes were approved as written. Don Hawley abstained from the All Boards minutes. The Executive Session minutes were both unanimously approved as written.
Verizon Pole Hearing #1A1GP0V: No one from Verizon was present at this meeting so the Pole Hearing was tabled and will be rescheduled.
Sign the March 1, 2016 Presidential Primary Warrant: All three Select Board members signed the warrant and this will be given to the Town Clerk for posting.
Berkshire Mosquito Control SRB-3: The Select Board once again unanimously approved signing the Letter of Support. Roberta signed the letter.
Other:
School Board Budget Meeting: The preliminary school budget was reviewed and Otis had a 4.1% increase while Sandisfield had a 3.8% increase. Teachers union discussions will begin again in fall of 2016. $26,000 is budgeted for a private vendor to plow their parking lot, Medical insurance is now at a 70/30 cost split and went up $66,000. Michael was hoping we could maybe get them a better rate from their budgeted $24,000 for their auditing if they used the company that Town Hall and the Library uses. At the end of the budget meeting, Sandisfield requested a 2% reduction from last year’s school budget.
School Delays: Several Select Board members received calls that the elementary school was not delayed last Friday due to the weather. Everyone acknowledged that the timing of the storm was bad. Roberta recommended the school business office use its best judgment and err on the side of caution. The decision should be a joint decision in their office even if the high school buses have already been sent out. The Select Board agreed and asked Lisa to send them a letter stating this.
Town Pole Surveys: MBI vetted several companies and were planning to have an MOU ready for the towns by now but we have not seen anything yet. Otis plans to move forward in March.
St. Paul’s Church: Hank presented historical information on the Episcopal Church. The Historical Society does want to designate this as an historical site because of its relevance. It was a sister church to the Old North Church in Boston and was for summer use only. Hal is hoping the Episcopal Diocese will choose to deed the church back to the town and then the town can declare it an historical site. We need to wait for the diocese to make a determination on this.
OSRP Letter: Hal asked the Select Board to sign the last piece needed for the State to accept our revised Open Space and Recreation Plan. The letter was signed and will be submitted to BRPC.
TIPs and TAC: Hal noted that the month of February is the open period for next season and Chris and Derek need to get their new projects entered. This money is separate from Chapter 90 money.
Complete Streets: Hal is hoping we can use some of this to interface with actions in the revised Master Plan. The next step is to create a policy for the town.
Printer Repairs: We are anticipating a repair bill of $1800 for the color printer in the Selectmen’s Office. The Hardware line item has enough left to cover this bill, but Technology wanted the Select Board’s approval to spend this from that line item since it is over $300 and was not planned for. The Select Board requested a list of the items that are needed to bring the repair to this amount.
Joint Finance Board/Select Board Budget Meetings: Preliminary meetings were discussed and everyone agreed Tuesdays were good for all members. Initial meetings are scheduled for February 23, 2016, February 29, 2016 and March 8, 2016, all at 6:00 pm. All meetings except February 29 will need to be concluded by 7:00 pm for regular Select Board meetings. Additional meetings will be scheduled as needed.
The Select Board meeting was adjourned at 8:35 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary
Town of Otis
List of Documents
A copy of the signed warrant for the Presidential Primary will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the signed Berkshire Mosquito Control SRB-3 declaring Otis’ support will be filed in the Selectmen’s office.
A copy of the Complete Streets Funding Program and the TIP Request for Input will be filed with these meeting minutes.
A copy of the signed Letter of Intent to Participate in the Household Hazardous Waste collection program will be filed with these meeting minutes.