SB Meeting Notes Tues, Sep 2023

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5:32 p.m. Appointment—Joe Saladino re: snow plowing services

• Joe of ​Saladino Property Management attended and expressed his interest in working with the town. Has already seen the roads.
• Addressing one Select Board concern, he stated that the same driver will plow a standard route and there will be a backup who also knows the route. The driver lives in Shelburne and will have a truck with him.
• Joe expressed concern about mud time as all his vehicles are 550s and don't do well in the mud. He will work with the highway dept for a solution.
• Sue Lively wants to be sure about the chain of command: Jeff Johnston first, then Hilma and SB
• SB members discussed the contract and will update with any revisions, and then  sent to Joe for his review and possible changes.

6:00 p.m. MTRSD—request for changes in District agreement

• Budge Litchfield pointed out that the original agreement was written before there were Choice and Charter schools
• DESE uses foundation enrollment for the purpose of determining all types of enrollment-based education funding.  [Foundation enrollment is a count of the number of pupils for whom a school district is financially responsible on October 1st of any given year.   It is comprised primarily of local resident schoolchildren attending their community’s local or regional school district.  However, it also includes students for whom the district is paying tuition, such as those at Commonwealth charter schools, other school districts, special education schools and other settings.   It does not include tuitioned-in students from other districts, because their home districts are paying for those students’ costs. ]
• Five district towns have voted yes to the agreement, Plainfield, Shelburne, and Heath are 3 out of 8 towns that have not voted yet.
• The intent of the new formula is to "level the playing field" by including the choice and charter students in enrollment numbers for all towns.
• Ken Rocke expressed concern that this change could have significant financial impact on Heath in the future. He would like to better understand the methodology.

Rowe School Committee—request for shared expense of late bus cost. Right now Rowe pays the full cost for Heath, Charlemont and Rowe students and have done so for many years.

• This was not budgeted for this year. The SB will send a letter to Rowe explaining that we can include this in our next budget process, but it is too late for this year.

6:45 p.m. Bylaws and Enforcement—discussion of need for more extensive bylaws for mobile units and discussion regarding enforcement policy for bylaw infractions. (Held in conjunction with the Planning Board, the Board of Health, and the Police Chief.)

• ​Robyn: Complaints come in many ways and get funneled into the SB.  Residents need to understand how a complaint should come in, and how and when action should be taken. "Zoning issues only get dealt with when there is a complaint not as a matter of addressing issues as they are observed." This is not necessarily how it should be, but short of canvassing all properties, this seems the only way possible at this time.  The is a question as to who is responsible to enforce which by-law.  Ownership is not always clear.
• Sue Lively: we may need to prioritize what gets addressed in what order
• Doug: Zoning Board has to be complaint driven, observation does not work as we don't have the resources to go around and investigate.  Need to start the communication with everybody at once. ZB is going to go through the zoning laws looking for things they need to work on. Must start with letter to the town stating what needs to get cleaned up and with some time frame for people to correct. ZB has no enforcement authority. They go to Jim Hawkins. 
• Sheila: are we only addressing trailers right now.  BoH is currently concerned about some septic issues. 
• Does the SB address anonymous complaints?  Not in the past, not a formal rule.
• Doug: make a policy that the boards do not have to reveal the name of person complaining.  Removes need for anonymous.  A complaint must be verifiable.
• Define jurisdiction of an issue and the who/how of verification. 
• Sheila: need ways to help residents comply. Need to make sure in our fairness that all properties are covered.
• John, police chief: people who haven't complied probably won't comply. Will be a high cost in legal fees. There are tons of problems in Heath.
• Alice: the trailer on 8A in right-of-way should just go.  Trash is an easy one to fix (in winter it is visible).
• Next steps for boards and how can SB help: 
  • update what we have
  • must prioritize, can't tackle it all at once
  • problem is not our bylaws, it is enforcement
• Should have a tiered approach: health issues first, old cars leaking oil, septic problems. trash in yard less so.

BoH - Towns around have been updated to moderate for COVID. There are no free test kits anymore. People should be wearing N95 when in a group. BoH is not getting data except through hospitalization.
​Review Minutes: 8/8/23, 8/22/23
Other Business
Disclosures of a Special Municipal Employee—vote to approve

• Approval of a disclosure by  a person who holds more than one paid position in the Town. S
• Alice Wozniak is disclosing that she is an Assistant Assessor which is a paid position, Clerk of Boards which is a paid position, a Finance Committee member, and holds another position.
• SB approved.

11 Bellor Road LLC—update on legal fees reimbursement and fence compliance

• A check from one farmer in the amount of $12,728 to the Town has been made out and should be at the Post Office as of September 5.
• Cannabis Commission is changing how communities are paid for community  impact - State will get more and towns will get less. 
• SB members will review agreements with developer and farmer for Sept 19 SB meeting. Only True Cannabis is actually working.
• When there is a failure of fa armer to meet requirements of the agreement the Town needs to have recourse.

Salt Shed—update on feasibility study

• Robyn met with Brian and went through the garages and salt shed
• Town needs to pull together budget numbers for both locations. We have existing reports on both locations (existing and Bray Rd)  from various sources.
• Current fire depart building is a tear down. Fire trucks could go into the existing hwy garage. 
• There is cost for drainage for existing salt shed site than originally thought.

Study of ADA access to Sawyer Hall—discuss resident offer

• SB approved the letter of response to the resident regarding the proposal.

ARPA Funds—update on use

• Criteria for use—as long as the SB declares the money is for compensation for lost revenue the money can be used. It can be used to buy a truck.
• Jeff Johnston now has direction to start looking for a truck.

FCCIP - Franklin County Cooperative Inspection Program email notification

• The FCCIP provides state-mandated building, electrical, and plumbing/gas inspection services (or a subset thereof) to 16 Franklin County towns and is responsible for zoning enforcement in 15 towns.  The program’s mission is to provide participating towns with professional inspection services by certified inspectors and to be a clearinghouse for information regarding building, zoning, plumbing/gas, and wiring requirements.