January 31, 2006
The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at 7:30 P.M. in the Sharon Town Offices with Acting Chair William A. Heitin and Selectman Walter Joe Roach and Benjamin E. Puritz, Town Administrator. Selectmen David I. Grasfield was not in attendance.
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M.
Notes from the Acting Chair
Acting Chair Heitin announced that Chair Grasfield would be unable to join us this evening. It was reported that he was at a meeting at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical School representing the executive officers and boards of selectmen of the school district during the bargaining process.
Approve Minutes
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to approve the Minutes of January 17, 2006, including Executive Session, as printed.
Annual Town Meeting Articles - Gordon Gladstone, Standing Building Committee
Mr. Gladstone, Chair of the Standing Building Committee, was present to recommend that three placeholders be left on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Items discussed included:
Standing Building Committee is not a proponent of any article;
placeholders for three projects are being requested and may be warranted if bids come in at such amounts that we do not feel we have sufficient funds to go forward, and this will allow the request for more money at the May Town Meeting and not wait 6 months to start these projects pending approval at the November Special Town Meeting.
projects are defined as (1) community center renovations; (2) abatement of hazardous materials at the Wilber School; and, (3) replacement of the roof at the Middle School due to reworking of HVAC system which left holes in fireproof walls and now must be brought up to code and the School Committee may not be able to find the funds in operating budget; and,
funds for the Middle School roof may be available from Capital Outlay.
Mr. Puritz announced that he would have a final list of Warrant Articles ready for next week.
Approve Banner - Cottage Street School PTO
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to approve a banner for the Cottage Street School PTO for the dates of March 13 - 19 in the first position.
Action Items
Selectman Heitin requested that the Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical School’s (SERVTS) Selectmen’s representative to the school’s bargaining committee should be added as an Action Item. He stated that in the past, this was filled by an off-member of the Board and not the Chair, and that Chair Grasfield was absent this evening due to attendance at the SERVTS meeting. Selectman Roach suggested that a letter be sent to Superintendent Hager requesting that the Bargaining Committee change its meeting night from Tuesday evening. Letter was to be held pending action item review and discussion by David Grasfield.
Award Bids for Annual Town Report & Town Meeting Warrant
The Board reviewed Memo and related information provided by Katherine Byrne, dated January 25, 2006.
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to award the bid for the printing of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant to Overnite Printing, Foxboro, MA, the low bidder, with prices ranging from $46.75 per pages for 52 pages up to $41.90 per page for 80 pages.
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to award the bid for the printing of the 2005 Annual Report to Commonwealth Printing, Newburyport, MA, the low bidder, with prices ranging from $44.85 - $37.65 per page photo-ready copy with no extra costs per halftone.
Town Administrator Performance Review
This item has been deferred.
Review of Employee Health Insurance
Selectman Heitin discussed bringing in a consultant for an independent review of the Town’s employee health insurance program. He listed companies that he and Mr. Purtiz had already been in contact with that may provide this type of consultant services. The list included: Towers Perrin, Mercer, Watson Wyatt, DBR, J.H. Albert, and Longfellow Benefits.
He stated that we would like them to accomplish the following:
1. compare structure of our program vs. other communities
2. compare benefits of self-insured program vs. premium based
3. understand what is driving health care crisis to date
4. look at stop loss insurance for major catastrophes
Selectman Heitin discussed drafting a formal request to the FINCOM to understand the Scope of Services they might be interest in and to have a representative from FINCOM identified to work collaboratively with the Board.
There will be a meeting with our current claims monitoring representative from Cook & Company to get the figures and the details. Ira Miller, FINCOM, requested that this meeting be before the next Priorities Committee Meeting on February 16.
Mr. Puritz discussed issues re health insurance budget and the health insurance trust. He further stated that there will be a meeting with staff to get information compiled and the following week there would be a meeting with FINCOM. Ken Goldberg, FINCOM, stated it would be helpful for one person of FINCOM to attend this initial meeting. Mr. Puritz stated he would prefer to get the information assembled and put in cogent form for a meeting before FINCOM.
Mr. Goldberg wanted to know what the problem is with a member of FINCOM observing the meeting. Mr. Puritz stated that certain staff level activities would be more productive conducted at the preliminary stage. Selectman Heitin stated that it is his preference to give Mr. Puritz a week to digest the information and make it coherent before presenting to FINCOM and/or the public one week later.
Installation of a Guard Rail on Beach Street
Selectman Roach noted Memo from Peter O’Cain, Assistant Town Engineer, dated January 24, 2006, re installation of a guard rail on Beach Street (near the tennis courts at the high school) for protection of pedestrians on the sidewalk. Mr. Puritz stated that in the absence of objections, Mr. O’Cain would be moving forwarding with this. On objections were noted.
Avalon Bay LIP Application
Selectman Heitin stated we have received the LIP Application from Avalon Bay and that the Board will be reviewing it and hopes to turn it around quickly.
Cancel Meeting of February 21, 2006
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to cancel the meeting of February 21, 2006, during school vacation week.
Memorial Park Beach
Mr. Puritz announced that Phases 3 & 4 plans for the Memorial Park Beach Landscaping project are near completion. He discussed the addition of low-level lighting to open up the area for public use year round. Project should be completed before the June beach opening.
Town Election - Community Center Renovation
Selectman Heitin announced that we are waiting for the results of the Town Election for the renovations of the Community Center and suggested that we reconvene in Open Session to announce the results.
Executive Session
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing items of Real Property Acquisition, Collective Bargaining, Pending Litigation, bargaining for non-union personnel, and at the conclusion thereof to reconvene in Open Session to announce the election results.
Roach, aye; Heitin, aye;
The Board recessed to Executive Session at 8:00P.M.
The Board reconvened in Open Session at 8:12 P.M.
Election Results
Selectman Heitin announced that the votes were a 2-1 margin (973-479) in favor of a debt exclusion ballot question for the renovation of the Sharon Community Center. Both he and Selectman Roach thanked the people, boards and committees for their time and efforts to get this project approved.
Adjourn
VOTED: (Heitin/Roach) Voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:16 P.M.
Heitin, aye; Roach, aye.
| 
