March 19, 2007
Present was James C. Lehan, Jonathan P. Smith, Ramesh H. Advani, and Jack Hathaway, Town Administrator.
Jim Lehan called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Jack Hathaway read the agenda contents.
LYNN TOKARCZYK – TAX INCREMENT FINANCING (TIF)
Present was Lynn Tokarczyk, Business Development Strategies and Paul Keating, Jr., owner of Elite Foods located in Norfolk. Stephanie Mercandetti, United Chamber of Commerce, who will be assisting on the project also sat in on this session of the meeting.
Paul Keating spoke. He is looking for a TIF from the Town. He presented a powerpoint explaining his business and what he intends to do. He lives in Norfolk with his wife and children. He has owned Elite Foods for approximately 7 years. He is a distributor of foods for the military. He provides foods to commissaries, etc. He has a $40 million business. They support Norfolk businesses. He has 15 full time employees. Paul is now at Country Crossing and is expanding and will be moving to Shire Park on Route 1A.
Lynn said that they would like incentives to help him. Luke Joannides, owner of Shire Park, was present as well. Lynn explained this TIF program was instituted in 1993. This company won’t put a shovel in the ground until they have these tax incentives. Lynn said this is a state program. You would be a partnership with the State. It would be a 5% investment tax credit, based on their capital investment. Capital would include machinery and equipment. TIF is a sliding scale of increment tax scale. The sliding scale is based on the new tax revenue. It would be a minimum of 5 years and maximum of 20 years. They submit a proposal. 5% tax credit and TIF. Lynn said that for companies to remain in Massachusetts, they need a TIF. They look at the cost factor.
This will work as the first TIF in Norfolk. She said they may be presenting the proposal tomorrow.
Ramesh is very supportive and said he would be happy to roll out the velvet carpet because he is already in Norfolk and lives here. He is anxious to see the proposal.
Lynn said Paul will hire five new qualified residents from Norfolk. That is a requirement.
Jim shares Ramesh’s comments and said he supports this and wants businesses to look at us in a favorable way. Jim supports businesses in Norfolk and to help them stay here.
Jonathan said that he is looking forward to seeing the proposal and what he has in mind. Jonathan said he is looking at this in a different way. Jonathan said that we don’t lose anything now, but it changes the projections of tax revenue. Jonathan felt that we should be able to do this on a vacant piece of property. He feels that there is a caution there that he wants to consider when doing the proposal. He said that we have to make sure town meeting understands and that they know what they are voting.
PLANNING BOARD – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (EDC)
Planning Board members present were Tom Poppey, Tom Burke, Steve McClain, and Art Spruch.
The Boards interviewed the following candidates: Kim Eldred, 10 Lantern Lane; Jennifer Troutman, 21 Chicatabut Avenue; Kenneth Squires, 36 Ridge Road; Bob Nicodemus, 7 Diamond Street and Mike Kulesza, 18 Creek Drive.
Jonathan Smith moved to appoint Kim Eldred, Jennifer Troutman, Kenneth Squires, Bob Nicodemus and Mike Kulesza to the Economic Development Committee, term expiring June 30, 2007. Tom Poppey seconded for discussion. Jonathan said he hopes this Committee will give a report under Committee Reports at Town Meeting. It was a roll call vote: Jonathan Smith, aye; Jim Lehan, aye; Ramesh Advani, aye; Tom Poppey, aye; Tom Burke, aye; Steve McClain, aye; and Art Spruch, aye.
Jim Lehan talked about the Planning Board article. Jim Tomaszewski of the Advisory Board was present for this discussion. Jim Lehan said that he felt this should be a committee report as opposed to a warrant article. Tom Poppey said their rationale was that they set very aggressive goals for spring town meeting. They did not feel comfortable with where it was.
They want to just take this one piece, with more to follow later.
Jim T. said they would like to see this as a committee report. He would like to see committee reports earlier in the meeting where there would be people available. He would want it Indefinitely Postponed. Bob Nicodemus said that he would not have a problem defending this on town floor and asking for a vote. Jim T. said they did not have an issue with this, he said that they were trying to avoid discussion on town meeting floor.
Jonathan agreed that it should be a warrant article. He gave a few language changes. Art said they will be airing this twice more before town meeting. Ramesh agreed with Jonathan. It will be a warrant article.
REVIEW OF THE WARRANT
The Selectmen, Jack and Jim Tomaszewski reviewed the warrant articles in detail.
ACTION ITEMS
Norfolk Recreation requests permission to use Town Hill for their summer concerts on Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 8 p.m. from June 7th through August 16th. Ramesh Advani moved to grant permission to the Recreation Commission to use Town Hill for their summer concerts on the dates provided by Ann Proto. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
Ramesh Advani moved to grant permission to the Norfolk Community League to conduct their annual run/walk prior to the start of Community Day on June 9th at 9 a.m. They will follow the traditional route and secure police detail through Chief Stone. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
Ramesh Advani moved to approve a Reserve Fund Transfer submitted by Remo Vito, DPW Director in the amount of $5,544.00 for the Landfill/Leachate Removal account for pumping the lagoons at the Landfill as mandated by DEP. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR REPORT
Jack gave his bi-weekly calendar.
Call and Wait – next phase of deadline is March 31st. They need to be at 50%.
Ramesh and Jack attended the joint project thru MAPC with Norfolk/Walpole. This was a study of the Route 1A corridor.
Jack and Jim will attend the Perambulation of town bounds in Foxboro at 9 a.m. on April 21st.
Jack asked about buying a command vehicle for the Fire Department. Town Meeting last year approved a Ford Tahoe, which will be upgraded to a Ford Expedition, but the Board of Selectmen made a decision to delay that until the future. Capital Outlay approved the vehicle, but we don’t need to go through the town meeting process. Chief Bushnell and Jack request that they be allowed to purchase this vehicle in FY’08 with the authorization town meeting had given. They wanted to be sure the Selectmen were okay with this. This will be a borrowing. There was discussion about the trickle down effect of vehicles. The current Chief’s vehicle will become Car 2 for the Fire Department, and the current Car 2, which is a 1995 Ford Bronco will go to the Building Dept.
Ramesh Advani moved to allow the purchase of the command vehicle for the Fire Department as discussed. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
Jonathan noted the Cable Advisory Committee has a survey on the town website. He asked residents to review this and send it in. The Board discussed Committee funds regarding an attorney for cable discussions.
At 10:57 p.m., being no further business, Ramesh Advani moved to adjourn the meeting. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
This is a true and accurate record of the Selectmen’s Meeting of March 19, 2007.
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Jonathan P. Smith, Clerk
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