Town of Sharon
Community Preservation Committee
Meeting Minutes of 10/19/11
Amended and Approved on 2/23/12
Sharon Town Hall
Filmed by SCTV
Committee Attendees
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Corey Snow, Chair |
Jane Desberg, Treasurer |
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A new Conservation Commission Member needs to be appointed |
Susan Rich - absent |
|
Allen Garf - absent |
Anne Bingham |
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Marc Bluestein |
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Others
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Alice Cheyer |
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Meeting Initiation
Chair Snow called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM and the legal invoice payments for Gelerman Buschmann were discussed.
Projects - Historic Fire Truck
Chair Snow said that at the last meeting of the CPC, the initial vote was taken regarding the application for the antique fire truck as presented by Dave Martin of the Sharon Fire Department and J.J. McGrath of the Sharon Police Department.
The initial vote was “Ms. Rich moved that the CPC provide funding for the purchase of the antique fire truck with conditions we have answers of who will own it and where it will be stored. It will be $25,000 for the truck and $5,000 for the trailer. Ms. Desberg seconded the motion and the Committee voted 4-0-0 in favor of purchasing the antique fire truck.”
Chair Snow said there was a question on who the initial owner would be and that it is the Town of Sharon.
Mr. Bluestein said he is not in favor of spending CPC funds for this project. He is however in favor of bringing this to Town Meeting. He is torn about paying for the upkeep and storage of the fire truck.
Chair Snow said that projects have to be approved by the CPC in order to be passed to Town Meeting.
Ms. Desberg moved that the second vote be taken to approve that the CPC provide funding for the antique fire truck in the amount of $25,000 for the truck and $5,000 for the trailer and that the Town of Sharon is the owner. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion and the Committee voted 3-1-0 in favor. Mr. Bluestein was opposed.
Wilber School. Park
Ms. Desberg spoke with Town Engineer, Peter O’Cain expressing her concern that if the DPW did not use CP funds initially to create the Wilber Park then they could not come back and ask for additional funds. Mr. O’Cain said he was aware of this. Chair Snow indicated that if the park were created with CPA funds it would need to be restricted as a park.
CPC Website
Ms. Cheyer provided several suggestions for changes to the website via a handout. Ms. Rich had previously stated that she would update the submittal form/direction sheet. Ms. Cheyer wants the project spreadsheet updated. The Committee agreed with her suggestions of what to keep and what to delete. Ms. Levitts will work with the Sharon Webmaster regarding deleting certain items on the website.
Bylaws
Ms. Bingham said she read through the bylaws and felt they were neutral. She commented that CPC Bylaw4 is good if you want to continue with a two vote system but she does not see that it is necessary.
Chair Snow said that if a member cannot attend, they can give feedback at a subsequent meeting and this allows for more information to come from the community to make a compelling case for a project. He said the rule has been suspended when the full committee voted.
Ms. Cheyer also suggested that the Committee accumulate funds so they can make a large expenditure. She also suggested meeting with small groups to think of ways to improve the town.
Chair Snow said the historically this was not an issue until last year because the funds that came in went out to pay for debt payments for Billings land. For the rest of this year, there are Horizons payments which accounts for one half of what monies come in. He said that the initial philosophy was to spend and borrow because there was the opportunity to pay the debt before it was taken to the bond market was held in short term status. It worked to our benefit in cost. We were also able to reduce borrowing by taking cash on hand. We are now shifting to the point where funds are being accumulated for future use starting next year. He said our philosophy by default has been passive, projects have come in; we could go out and do projects.
Ms. Desberg said the key word is community, in CPA. The philosophy is to fund both smaller and larger projects. We want people to come in with applications. She said she would hate to turn someone away in order to stock pile funds.
Ms. Bingham suggested she would like to build up funds to buy property but do so without a lot of borrowing. Ms. Bingham said that the language proposed by Ms. Cheyer clarifies there are two separate votes.
Ms. Bingham moved to amend the CPC Bylaw 4 as written by Ms, Cheyer. It will say “The Committee will take no action regarding recommendations for expenditures or action by the Town Meeting unless the action has been voted at a committee meeting and that vote has been ratified at a subsequent meeting held at least 7 days following”. Ms. Desberg seconded the motion. The Committee voted 4-0-0 in favor of the motion.
CPC Application
Ms. Bingham reiterated that Ms. Rich had agreed at the last meeting to take a look at the application and make revisions. This will be added as an agenda item to the next meeting. The Committee agreed the application needs to be made more user friendly.
Minutes
Ms. Desberg moved to approve the meeting minutes of 10/5/11 as written. Mr. Bluestein seconded the motion and the Committee voted 3-0-1 in favor. Ms. Bingham abstained as she was not at the 10/5/11 meeting.
Other
Chair Snow indicated that he has interest in stepping back from being Chair of the Committee and would like to transition to someone else.
Next Meeting Dates
To be determined
Meeting Adjournment
Ms. Desberg moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 PM and Ms. Bingham seconded the motion. The Committee voted 4-0-0 in favor.
Attachments
1. Alice Cheyer October 19, 2011 suggested website changes