Present: Ed Melanson, Chairman; Harvey Nasuti, Vice-Chairman; Dan Winslow, Member; Ellen Friedman, Member. Absent: Vida Holmes, Member.
Ed Melanson called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. at the Town Hall in Room 124.
Mr. Melanson confirmed with Selectman John Smith, who was present as an observer, that contract negotiations for Director of Public Works could be discussed in Executive Session, in the presence of Mr. Vito.
Mr. Melanson continued the meeting with the Open Public Forum. Mr. John Olivieri asked a question regarding the potential use of wind power in Norfolk. Mr. Vito will speak with power companies and other agencies to see if there is any possibility of obtaining grants in this area. Mr. Melanson closed the Public Forum portion of the meeting, and continued with the Department of Public Works Director’s Report.
Mr. Vito began with mentioning that Russell Tierney, of WhiteWater Associates would be at the meeting of March 20, and so deferred “Water testing report information and procedures” until that time.
Regarding sources for water, Mr. Vito noted that he spoke with Dufresne & Henry to set up drilling & testing on some well sites in town, and also the Gold Street well area. He also called Representative Richard Ross’s office to look at the state well located on Union Street. Representative Ross will contact the Wrentham State School to schedule a meeting with Mr. Vito and himself.
Mr. Melanson asked about the Millis connection. Mr. Vito stated that after running the numbers, it would be advisable to hold on this at this time. There is a $600,000 booster station and connection fee, and then $35,000 a year just for the “privilege,” before any usage. Mr. Vito further suggested that a satellite well within 200’ of the Gold Street well would not require any permitting, and may be the quickest, easiest way to get redundancy, and give us latitude to investigate other options. Mr. Melanson questioned whether shutting off all of our own wells, and buying solely from Millis might be an option. Discussion continued, and consensus was reached that Gold Street would be the quickest and easiest, and would still have start-up costs comparable to or less than Millis, with the
benefit of investing the capital back into our own town. Other wells in town could begin the 3-5 year permitting process at this point, as well.
Mr. Vito suggested that Dufresne &Henry can do a rate study, and make suggestions on what we can do in-house to improve efficiency. Mr. Melanson asked if it would be advisable to request quotes from other firms for providing us this service, and all concurred.
Mr. Vito stated that he has spoken with Town Administrator Jack Hathaway, and expects to have the FY’04 audits in a couple of weeks.
Discussion began with regard to the FY’07 Department of Public Works Budget. The first item to be considered was Expansion of the DPW Facility within the Capital portion of the budget. Mr. Vito addressed reconsideration of the Article for Annual Town Meeting regarding building expansion. Mr. Vito reviewed the Board’s suggestion from the February 27, 2006, Board of Public Works Meeting to combine the Proposed FY-07 Article for the Department of Public Works Office Building Expansion with the Proposed FY-08 Article for the Highway Garage Expansion. Mr. Vito further noted that the Recreation Department potentially will have a $500,000-600,000 building request, which they plan to pay for with user fees. He suggested packaging all three building requests together, thereby requesting $1.7
million, with the appeal of borrowing only half of that amount, with the balance to be paid for by Water retained earnings and Recreation user fees. Mr. Melanson suggested that this would not be in line with the Board’s decision last week to finance water projects over the lifespan of the project.
Mr. Melanson asked that the building expansion requests be weighed against the Vehicle Replacement request, and perhaps to choose one or the other for the Annual Town Meeting. Discussion continued with regard to vehicle replacement, and it was decided that the Board defer the building expansion request until next year. Mr. Vito will speak to the Capital Outlay Committee as to the best way to proceed with regard to building expansion.
Discussion continued with regard to the DPW Capital Budget. Highway Division: Engineering Design - Freeman/Centennial Access Road remains on hold. Water Division: Meter Replacement Program and Pine Street Water Main Extension – funding will be requested on Warrant as voted at BPW February 27, 2006, meeting. Solid Waste Division: Cover/Containment for Leachate Ponds - would pay for itself through reduced pumping costs in 6-7 years; Mr. Vito will discuss with Capital Committee. Grounds Maintenance – also to be presented to Capital by Mr. Vito. Mr. Winslow brought up potential parking space revenue to offset parking lot maintenance costs. Vehicle Maintenance: Tire machine & balancer – will be presented to Capital.
Discussion continued with regard to the FY’07 Operational Budget. The Organizational Chart was discussed and will be corrected by removing the Assistant DPW Superintendent. The Highway Assistant Foreman position will be shown with a “dotted line” since it will not exist once it is vacated.
Mr. Melanson questioned salary adjustments for the Union Personnel. Mr. Vito explained that we moved away from the automatic step system, and allowed progression via a merit system.
Mr. Melanson questioned the fact that the Road Maintenance program does not break even. Mr. Vito explained that the remaining balance at the bottom of each sheet should be carried forward to the next year, and noted that the budget sheets would be changed accordingly.
Mr. Melanson requested that a Retained Earnings sheet be included with the Water budget.
Discussion continued with regard to DPW responsibility for Vehicle Maintenance and Fuel for all Town departments.
Mr. Melanson questioned why we are carrying salary for a Water Maintenance Operator for an entire year, as well as contract maintenance salary for the entire year. Mr. Vito will revisit this item.
Mr. Melanson questioned whether renegotiation of the Solid Waste Contract would affect expected revenues or expenses. Mr. Vito replied that the current negotiations are for FY’08.
Mr. Melanson requested further clarification on Grounds Maintenance costs. Mr. Vito will revisit this item.
It was agreed to defer discussion of the DPW Superintendent job description to the next scheduled meeting.
Recycling/Transfer Station newsletter was discussed briefly. Changes suggested via e-mail will be looked at and incorporated where possible.
It was decided that Mr. Vito would draft wording for three articles, to be reviewed by Town Counsel: To use retained earnings for meter replacement program; to rescind surplus amounts approved, but not borrowed; to consolidate surplus borrowed funds for use in completing the Rte. 115 water main project.
Mr. Melanson made a motion to go to Executive Session for the purpose of discussing personnel contract negotiations, and would return to open session only for purposes of adjourning. A roll call vote was taken. Ed Melanson, aye; Harvey Nasuti, aye; Ellen Friedman, aye; Dan Winslow, aye; and it was so voted.
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