June 2, 2008 Select Board Meeting
Monday, June 2, 2008, 6:30 p.m. Music/Language Room at the Middle School
Present: Select Board members Gerry Weiss, Anne Awad, Alisa Brewer, Diana Stein and Stephanie O’Keeffe; Town Manager Larry Shaffer
Ms. Stein announced a benefit concert by Charlie King and
Karen Brandow in support of health care reform to be held June 13th from 7:00
p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the
Mr. Weiss announced that the privately-funded downtown flower pots had returned, thanks to Jackie and Andy Cowls of Andrew’s Greenhouse, and generous donations from Bill Elsasser and the business group “Promoting Downtown Amherst.” Mr. Weiss said that more donations would be appreciated, and said that cash or checks made out to Andrew’s Greenhouse could be given to Mr. Weiss directly or left for him at the Select Board office.
Ms. Brewer announced that a public hearing on the Atkins
Corner Project would be held June 16 at 7:00 p.m. at
Mark Andrews of
Mr. Shaffer said that there is typically a notification
process to abutters of such projects, but that
Ms. Awad asked DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring about
the agreement to repave the road, and what the Select Board’s role is in such a
decision. Mr. Mooring said that when
The vote to approve
Ms. Brewer suggested that Ms. Awad and Mr. Weiss note the reason for their opposition, so that it would be included in the minutes. Ms. Awad said her opposition was because the Select Board is the keeper of the public way and approves street paving, which she said involves a system of triaging the few streets that will be repaved each year among the many that need repaving. She said she might have supported the motion if the Select Board had been involved in the planning discussion, and that it appeared the planning had been going on for some time without Select Board review. Mr. Weiss concurred.
Mr. Shaffer said that in the future he would bring such proposed arrangements to the Select Board in advance. He said that he assumes that the spirit is one of cooperation and collaboration, and that the Select Board’s concern is about the sequencing of the process. He said that he and Mr. Mooring will be bringing a report on all road conditions and the paving sequence to the Select Board, with financing scenarios for making more paving progress. He said that the town is continually falling behind in road maintenance by only repaving a couple of roads per year, and that a comprehensive proposal will be brought forward for consideration.
The Select Board voted unanimously to approve a special
liquor license for a June 8th event at
The Select Board voted unanimously to amend the date of a
special liquor license approved March 10, to change the date from June 18th to
June 19th for an event at
Ms. Awad recommended the reappointment of Ted Rising to the ZBA as an associate member for a one-year term, and said that he is part of an active panel and does not wish to continue beyond that panel’s completion. The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the reappointment.
Ms. Awad recommended the reappointment of Tom Simpson to the ZBA as a full member for a one-year term, and said that was to aid with the workload and transition over the next six months. The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the reappointment.
Ms. Awad recommended the reappointment of Al Woodhull to the ZBA as an associate member for a one-year term, and it was noted that associate members must be reappointed annually. The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the reappointment.
Ms. Awad recommended the reappointment of Sylvia Cuomo to the Public Art Commission for a three-year term. The Select Board unanimously approved the reappointment.
Procedural Motion – Article 20, Part B (6:46)
Mr. Weiss said that the language for the donation agreement and historic preservation restriction relating to the Main Street/Hills Park parcels had been received, and that appraisals were due June 11th, so the recommendation was to postpone consideration of the article until that date. He said that the June 11th date was favored by the Historical Commission and that replies he had received from seeking Town Meeting members’ opinions on two e-mail lists had been overwhelmingly in favor of waiting until then as well.
Ms. Brewer said she was satisfied with the recommendation to postpone but wanted to know what new information would be made available to Town Meeting members in the meantime. Mr. Weiss said that the historical preservation donation agreement would be on the back table at Town Meeting this night (June 2.) Mr. Tucker said the appraisal numbers will be available on the 11th, and that the full report with all the details needed for the State grant application would be ready soon thereafter. Mr. Tucker said that members of the Historic Commission were preparing their positions for the Town Meeting discussion.
Mr. Tucker summarized the donation agreement, explaining
that it would be a contractual agreement in perpetuity on two adjacent lots: the
Ms. Awad asked if the agreement required that the lots be maintained as open space, prohibiting the Town from building on them in the future. Mr. Tucker said that this agreement is about the abutting properties and doesn’t deal with what the Town would do with its lots, if they are acquired, but said that the grant that will be sought requires a deed restriction for the State Historic Commission to preserve the open historic landscape. He said that there could be benches or signage with interpretive historical information, but that there would be no buildings on the proposed park space.
Mr. Weiss noted that no action was needed by the Select Board, because boards and committees don’t typically take a position on a procedural motion.
More Committee Appointments (6:52)
Ms. Brewer recommended approval of Mr. Shaffer’s proposed appointment of Joyce Crouch to the Registrar of Voters for a three-year term. The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the appointment.
Ms. Awad recommended the appointment of Paul Peele to the 250th Anniversary Celebration Committee. The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the appointment.
Ms. Awad moved to rescind the appointment of Frank Wells to the Public Transportation and Bicycle Committee, made May 21st, because the Select Board mistakenly approved a two-year term rather than a three-year term. The vote to rescind and the new vote to approve Mr. Wells’ appointment for a three-year term were both unanimous.
Mr. Shaffer said that members of the Public Shade Tree Commission
and the Kendrick Park Committee had toured the downtown treescape and a
recently-created urban park in
The Select Board used this time to work its way through a backlog of past meeting minutes. In keeping with the practices of this body, Ms. Stein and I abstained from voting on minutes from meetings at which we were not present (in this case, because they occurred before we were elected, though, in fact, both of us were present in an unofficial capacity,) though we did offer edits to those minutes. Additionally, it is Ms. Brewer’s practice to abstain if she has not given due consideration to the minutes.
With considerable discussion and edits, the following were approved:
• The minutes of the March 3rd meeting as amended, in a vote of 2 in favor, 0 opposed, 3 abstaining. (Weiss and Awad voting in favor, Brewer, Stein and O’Keeffe abstaining.)
• The minutes of the March 17th meeting as amended, in a vote of 2 in favor, 0 opposed, 3 abstaining. (Weiss and Awad voting in favor, Brewer, Stein and O’Keeffe abstaining.)
• The minutes of the March 24th meeting as amended, in a vote of 3 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstaining. (Weiss, Awad and Brewer voting in favor; Stein and O’Keeffe abstaining.)
• The minutes of the April 23rd meeting as amended, in a vote of 4 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstaining. (Weiss, Awad, Stein and O’Keeffe voting in favor; Brewer abstaining.)
• The minutes of the April 28th meeting as amended, in a vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed.
• The minutes of the April 30th meeting as amended, in a vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed.
• The minutes of the May 5th meeting as amended, in a vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed.
• The minutes of the May 12th meeting as amended, in a vote of 4 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention. (Ms. Awad had stepped out of the room before the vote; I’m not sure if this is an abstention or an absence.)
• The minutes of the May 14th meeting as amended, in a vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed.
There was discussion of when to meet the following week, assuming the procedural motion for Article 20, Part B were to pass. I wanted to have a regular Select Board meeting at Town Hall on Monday night, and not meet before Wednesday’s Town Meeting session. Everyone else preferred to not resume Town Hall meetings until after Town Meeting is over. It was determined that we would cancel the tentatively scheduled meetings for June 4th and June 9th, and we would meet instead on June 11th in the Music Room, prior to Town Meeting. That meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 7:43 p.m.
Re minutes of May 12: When someone leaves the room and does not cast a vote, this is recorded as an absence.