LINCOLN BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 14, 2005
Gary A. Taylor, Chair
Sara A. Mattes
Sarah Cannon Holden * (joined meeting near the end of Executive Session)
Timothy S. Higgins, Town Administrator
Donna M. Adam, Recorder
Mr. Taylor called the regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen to order at 7:12 p.m. At 7:15 p.m. the Board voted to go into Executive Session, pursuant to M.G.L., C. 39, S. 23b, Re: Exemption #3—to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation, stating that the Board will return to open session at the completion of such discussion. Ms. Mattes made the motion; Mr. Taylor seconded the motion, and after both members voted individually as ‘aye’, the Board entered into Executive Session at 7:17 p.m.
RETURN TO OPEN SESSION: Mr. Taylor reconvened the meeting at 7:30 p.m., reviewed the evening’s agenda, and introduced the evening’s first appointment.
APPOINTMENTS
Accessory Appointment Task Force: The Selectmen’s first appointment was with members of the Accessory Task Force (B-J Scheff, Buck Creel, and Bob Domnitz) to discuss how the town might better promote residents to rent their accessory apartments using the Greater Boston and DHDC guidelines of 30% of income. Eighteen units have been identified as possible participants. Homeowners participating in the LLIP would have to sign on for fifteen years and abide by other state-mandated rules. The town would recognize each homeowner participating in the LLIP with an annual $1,000 honorarium. Potential expansion of the program may be considered based upon results of initial efforts to gain participation. The Committee plans to make a report at Town Meeting outlining the program.
Rural Land Foundation: The Selectmen’s second appointment of the evening was with members of the Rural Land Foundation (Amalie Kass, Jim Henderson, and Geoff McGean). The RLF previously met with the Selectmen on January 31st at which time they requested an addition 6-to-10 parking spaces at the mall in order to meet the ratio or retail space to parking space required due to an unanticipated additional 1,500 square feet in the configuration for the new post office. At the January 31st meeting the Selectmen stated they would commit the spaces to the RLF in some sort of a MOU that would reflect contingencies retaining some flexibility as to how the parking spaces are managed. Mr. Henderson explained to the Board that when the request for 6-10 more spaces was made (on 1/31/05) the second floor
design was not complete. Since that time the design for the full building is complete and it became apparent that the relationship between gross square feet and net square feet was incorrectly estimated creating a need for more spaces (17) to satisfy the 4.2 per 1,000 gross square foot of commercial space. In response to BOS questions, representatives of the RLF restated their commitment to pursuing affordable housing as an integral part of the mall redevelopment project. The Selectmen approved the request, in concept, to lease 17 spaces to the RLF conditioned upon the RLF moving forward with both of the projects, the retail and housing component.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
Railway Crossings: Mt. Higgins gave an update on the status of the quiet zone at the railroad crossings. VHB is taking a more detailed look at the implications of installing medians at the crossings. In the meantime it appears that the FRA effective date has been pushed back beyond April 1st. Based on when Mr. Higgins gets a commitment from VHB as to when they will finish their report, Mr. Hggins will bring the matter back to the Board
BRAC Grant: There will be a HATS Meeting, tomorrow evening (Tuesday, February 15th, 7:00 p.m. at Bemis Hall). Sasaki Associates and their sub consultant team will be making the first official public presentation to the HATS Board. They will review the scope of work, the deliverables, the time frame, how long for the public input process and then at the end of the meeting HATS will have an opportunity to meet with Attorney David Knisley and to start to talk about how to go about developing an appropriate legal strategy to guide the whole process.
Data Collection for Long Range Plan: Mr. Higgins has reached an agreement in principle with one of the staff members to organize the data collection effort around a potential long range plan for the town.
Town Vehicle Policy: Mr. Higgins has talked with the Water Board and urged the Chairman to take the matter back up at their next meeting to make sure that the existence of the policy is acknowledged and that the staff is instructed on adherence to the policy.
DISCUSSION
Town Meeting Warrant Review: The Town Administrator and Selectmen reviewed the Warrant prior to the Board taking a formal vote to sign it. They discussed the removal of several previously proposed articles, and the reasons for their removal. One additional article, to transfer funds from the stabilization fund, was added to the warrant. A motion was made by Ms. Mattes, seconded by Ms. Cannon Holden and on a roll call vote on which each member voted ‘aye’, the Selectmen accepted and signed the Town Meeting Warrant.
Budget Update: The Finance Committee recommended the following: $118,000 K-8 budget ; $152,941 Selectmen’s budget; $187,835 l/S budget, and $31,295 Library budget totaling $490,071. The Selectmen engaged in discussion regarding override versus no override budget scenarios. A motion was made by Sarah Cannon Holden, seconded by Sara Mattes and on a roll call vote on which each member voted ‘aye, the Selectmen voted to finalize the amount of the override budget at a figure of $490,000.
Liaison Reports:
Ms. Cannon Holden raised the question posed by the Planning Board of the Selectmen formally appointing Rosamond Delori and Thomas DeNormandie as the Town’s representatives to the Route 2 planning and implementation process. Mr. Higgins will schedule the matter for a future agenda.
Ms. Mattes and Jay Kaufman have been involved in working with the Governor’s office, Senator Kennedy’s Office and the Legislature to craft language for a bond bill for $261,000.000. We came to a unanimous agreement that was sensitive to community concerns, and addressed the needs of the Hanscom project. Governor has signed the bill. The Governor’s office also acknowledged that there were issues of concern outside of the scope of the bond bill both the Lincoln and Bedford and that those issues which fall outside of the bond bill will be taken up by his office separately.
Ms. Mattes recently participated in a National Day of Prayer at the Base. It was a lovely event and Ms. Mattes was very impressed to see how strong a community spirit exists at the base and thanked the base for offering their hospitality to Lincoln.
Potential Conflict of Interest Issue: The Selectmen received a ‘Disclosure of Financial Interest by Municipal Employee’ form from Board of Appeals member Joseph Greeson disclosing that he is currently employed by the Boston Post Office. The Rural Land Foundation is currently seeking approval from the Board of Appeals to expand space at the Lincoln Mall, a portion of the project which would provide additional parking space for the local post office and therefore under M.G.L., C. 268A 19 the Selectmen are required to make a determination if this would pose a conflict of interest. The Selectmen deemed Mr. Greeson’s relationship with the post office to be immaterial.
ACTION ITEMS:
Minutes of January 24, 2004 were approved.
Weekly Warrants were signed.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
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