OPEN SESSION
CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING
Administration Building
One School Street
Sharon, MA 02067
Present: Allen Garf, Paul Izzo, Abigail Marsters, Andrew Nebenzahl, Suzi Peck and Paul Pietel
Absent: Peg Arguimbau, Sam Liao, Colleen Tuck
Mr. Nebenzahl called the meeting to order at 7:22 p.m.
ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS
Approve Minutes
MOTION: (Izzo/Garf) Moved to approve the Open Session minutes from the meeting of March 16, 2009 as revised and submitted to the Committee. Vote was five in the affirmative. Abigail Marsters abstained.
MOTION: (Izzo/Garf) Moved to approve the Open Session minutes from the meeting of March 23, 2009 as revised and submitted to the Committee. Vote was six in the affirmative.
Acknowledge Correspondence
There was no correspondence to come before the Commission at this time.
Meeting with Dennis Mann, Fire Chief
Mr. Nebenzahl thanked Mr. Mann for taking the time to meet with the Commission and explained that the mission of the Commission is to take a holistic view of the town’s government and make recommendations on how to organize and structure Sharon’s government going forward. Mr. Nebenzahl asked Mr. Mann what, in his opinion, works well, what could be improved and what areas should the Commission concentrate on. Before beginning the discussion, Mr. Mann distributed his answers to the Commission’s survey and gave a brief overview of his service to Sharon.
Mr. Mann has been the Fire Chief for the past 12 years and was promoted to Chief from within the ranks of the Fire Department, moved to Sharon in 1955 and has recently relocated to Medfield.
Mr. Mann spoke specifically to Fire Department issues:
• Current structure of the Fire Department is not an issue other than the on-going requests for additional firefighters and resources in order to adequately service the town.
• Chief Mann maintains a good collaborative working relationship with all town/school boards and committees as well as collegial relationships with surrounding community fire departments.
• The Fire Department relies heavily on ambulance revenue to pay for staffing as well as ambulance equipment and supplies.
• The Priorities Committee has recommended funding for 4 additional firefighters. The request will then go before Town Meeting for a vote to approve the funding.
• With only one fire station, some emergency responses are longer than the recommend guidelines call for. Some emergency response times can be as long at 9-10 minutes. A 3-4 minute response time is the standard.
• Staffing level should be 2 firefighters per 1,000 residents.
• Currently the Town has 22 firefighters on staff (20 are licensed EMT). Hopefully, with approval from Town Meeting for additional staffing, 4 new firefighters would be added bringing the total to 26 firefighters. When asked how Chief Mann would inform the community prior to Town Meeting on the need for additional staff, Chief Mann responded information would be disseminated through the newspapers and local cable.
• Currently the Fire Department is only equipped to respond to one emergency at a time.
• Chief Mann sees the need for a comprehensive staffing and needs assessment of the Fire Department conducted by an outside organization.
• Chief Mann would have liked to be included in the early talking/planning stages of large town projects such as Rattlesnake Hill, Brickstone, Sharon Commons, Avalon Bay, etc., particularly if the projects impact the limited resources of the Fire Department. A suggestion would be to require an impact statement, paid for by the proponent of the project, as part of the process in granting permits.
• There was a brief discussion on a strong Fire Chief vs. a weak Fire Chief, particularly in relation to hiring and firing authority. A strong Fire Chief, once appointed by the Board of Selectmen, becomes the hiring and firing authority for the Fire Department. A weak Fire Chief is also appointed by the Board of Selectmen; however, the Board of Selectmen is the hiring and firing authority for the Fire Department.
• There was a brief discussion on the pros and cons of having a civil service Fire Department. Sharon’s Fire Department employees are not civil service. Under civil service, there are specific rules for the promotion process as well as a lengthy process for hiring and firing.
• Additional responsibilities of the Chief is that he is also the Emergency Management Director, which requires additional time to insure that people are adequately trained for local emergencies in the handling of hazardous materials, in response to natural disasters (i.e. hurricanes, etc.)
Mr. Nebenzahl, on behalf of the Charter Commission members, thanked Mr. Mann for an informative discourse. Mr. Mann left the meeting at 8:15 p.m.
Meeting with Paul Linehan, Chair of the Capital Outlay Committee
Mr. Nebenzahl thanked Mr. Linehan for taking the time to meet with the Commission and explained that the mission of the Commission is to take a holistic view of the town’s government and make recommendations on how to organize and structure Sharon’s government going forward. Mr. Linehan distributed to the members a printed overview of the Capital Outlay Committee, the mission statement, the FY 2010 debt pay down plan, and the 5-year draft plan. The Capital Outlay Committee is comprised of members from the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, School Committee and Planning Board. The Town Administrator and the Finance Director are ex officio members.
A copy of the Advisory Report of the Consolidated Facilities exploratory Committee was also distributed to the members. It is Mr. Linehan’s opinion that to maintain buildings in the town, there should be a facilities manager, similar to the school department’s model. The school department employs a full-time director of maintenance and operations to oversee the school department facilities district-wide. Facilities managers are a valuable resource to the Capital Outlay Committee/process.
Mr. Nebenzahl opened the discussion by asking Mr. Linehan to describe what the Capital Outlay Committee is charged with, what works and what should be addressed by the Charter Commission.
Mr. Linehan responded that much works well and over the years the process continues to be refined. The capital process is approximately 4-5 months. Over the years, a more collaborative relationship has evolved among the town/school boards and committees. The Capital Outlay process, in particular, has been a successful model. The five-year plan is for town sectors. The Town Administrator and the Board of Selectmen assess the long-range needs of the town.
One of the goals of the Capital Outlay Committee is to collaborate with the town to serve in an advisory capacity on use of town buildings.
Mr. Linehan presented an over-view on the mission of the Capital Outlay Committee, which include:
• Consider requests of a value of $10,000 or more and a minimum life span of 5 years.
• To prioritize the allocation of resources on a town-wide basis.
• To coordinate long-term capital planning
• To maintain the town’s fiscal well being
• To help maintain the town’s capital assets and municipal services
• To recommend to the town the allocation of limited funds for capital purchases
Specific Goals:
• To use a 6.5% guideline of the town’s corresponding yea’s annual budget (less overrides, debt exclusions and water appropriations) for the capital budget.
• To shift funding from a debt-based model to a direct purchase to avoid incurring interest and issuance expense.
There was a Q&A on key points of Mr. Linehan’s presentation. There was a brief discussion on the Town Meeting process and the possibility proponents of warrant articles submitting a brief overview to Town Meeting.
Mr. Nebenzahl, on behalf of the Charter Commission members, thanked Mr. Linehan for an informative discourse. Mr. Linehan left the meeting at 9:12 p.m.
OTHER BUSINESS
There was a discussion among the members on the presentations of Chief Mann and Mr. Linehan.
Mr. Nebenzahl stated that areas of discussion at the April 6th meeting would center on the following questions:
1) What problems or concerns about town government have been uncovered during the course of our deliberations?
2) What practices and procedures have been identified which should be preserved in form or in substance?
3) What are the values that each of us would like to see advanced by the Charter?
Mr. Nebenzahl asked members to forward their responses to either him or the recording secretary prior to the April 6th meeting.
Eric Hooper, DPW Director, is also scheduled to meet with the Commission on April 6th.
Mr. Curran informed the Committee that he is in the process of scheduling a meeting with town representatives from Andover.
There being no further business to come before the Commission at this time, Mr. Nebenzahl asked for a motion to adjourn.
MOTION: (Marsters/Peck) Moved to adjourn. Vote was six in the affirmative.
Open Session was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
Submitted on behalf of the Charter Committee by: Helen Campanario, Recording Secretary to the Charter Commission