Town of Otis
Select Board Meeting Minutes
February 26, 2019
Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room. A quorum is present and the meeting is being recorded.
Present: Select Board Chair Don Hawley, Selectman Gary Thomas, Selectman Bill Hiller, Town Administrator Becky Stone, Jim Wilusz, Jim Crandall, Steve Nelson, Jeff Gamelli Jr., Lisa D’Orazio
Approval of Minutes: The February 12, 2019 Select Board meeting minutes were unanimously approved as written.
Board of Health: 71 North Gate Island – Steve Nelson noted all abutters had been notified. A well variance had been requested, but the owners also chose to voluntarily upgrade their septic system as well in case they choose to sell later on. The well setbacks for two abutters are affected: 77 North Gate Island has a well setback of 52 feet, 67 North Gate Island is a 95 foot setback, 61 North Gate Island is over 100 feet of setback, and the owner has a 52 foot setback. They want to use the existing plumbing with cleanouts and direct that line to a new jet system into a new geo-flow drip irrigation system. The old septic tank will be crushed. The new pump chamber will be 38 feet from the lake. The new system will be a 50% reduction for an existing 3 bedroom home. The next door neighbor (77 North Gate Island) has minimal access to their property so in this case, the previously approved plans for 77 North Gate Island need to be completed before work begins on 71 North Gate Island. Also, the contractors will be restricted to not compact any soil at 71 North Gate Island by using track mats for the system at 77 North Gate Island. Minimum setbacks will exist for both new systems at 71 and 77 North Gate Island. Jim Wilusz is requesting three well variances (2 abutters and owner), plus the usual maintenance contract requirements for the new jet bat system and two year well testing, with Steve working out which home will be responsible for which well testing. The Select Board unanimously approved the Board of Health request with the conditions set forth by the Board of Health.
Waste Oil Discussion: Jim Crandall presented DEP’s take on what was required if waste oil was not collected. After discussion, the board unanimously decided to keep the waste oil storage vault locked and to post a notice that the town would no longer be collecting waste oil for disposal.
Committee Appointments: Both appointment requests were unanimously approved for appointment.
Retirement Letter Discussion: Lisa D’Orazio will be retiring from her three town positions of Selectmen’s Secretary, Planning Board Clerk, and Deputy Election Clerk, as of June 19th. She gave advance notice to the board so they could make a determination as to what they’d like to do before budgets were set for next fiscal year.
Other:
Road Closures: After the wind storm on Monday, residents were complaining that only one end of Route 23 was closed to traffic and both ends should have been. First, the Select Board pointed out that Route 23 is a state road, not a town road, and that was the state’s responsibility, and their resources were probably stretched too thin to cover everything with how much wind damage there was in the area.
Age Friendly Initiative: Lisa took a message for the Council on Aging after they had left on Monday and mentioned it to the Select Board in case they felt it should be opened to others as well as the COA. The Select Board felt the COA presentation would be sufficient.
Adjournment: At 7:29 pm the Select Board unanimously adjourned the Select Board meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Selectmen’s Secretary, Town of Otis
List of Documents
- A copy of the two appointment requests for Celebrations and ZBA Alternate will be filed with these meeting minutes.