LINCOLN BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 28, 2005
Gary A. Taylor, Chair
Sara A. Mattes
Sarah Cannon Holden
Timothy S. Higgins, Town Administrator
Donna M. Adam, Recorder
Mr. Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:30, and reviewed the evening’s agenda.
APPOINTMENTS:
PUBLIC HEARING: Verizon Utility Location / Lexington Road North. The Board welcomed Mr. Daniel Fitzgibbons, Manager of Rights and Way for Verizon. Verizon is petitioning the Board to place conduit underground on Lexington Road North to service the Hobbs Brook subdivision. The Board voted to approve the petition.
As an aside, Ms. Mattes expressed concern with the permitting process as the Board of Selectmen approved a Conservation Restriction on what they believed to be a final plan. This current permit application is an example of an alteration of the project previously brought to the Board. Mr. Taylor will be in touch with the Planning Board regarding the serial processing of sub-divisions that requires signoffs from various boards.
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE: John Koenig, Chair, Peter von Mertens, Ken Hurd and Colin Smith of the Community Preservation Committee presented their FY’06 plan for expenditure of Community preservation funds as well as bonding. This year the Committee received proposals which come close to matching the amount of money available in the fund. The Committee presented a list of five projects totaling $1,436,415 which they will review and consider approving at their public hearing on March 8th. Mr.~Koenig briefly explained the each of the five projects. The first is to build a two-family home on Lot #41 on Sunnyside Lane and add an accessory apartment to Lot #32 on Sunnyside as well as buy down of one or more condominiums for affordable housing purposes. The second is for conservation
efforts in the purchase of the Harrington/Roee property. The third and fifth items prompted lengthy discussion and questions from the Selectmen as they are requests for (a) funds to replace the library roof on the Gund addition and (b) funds for an engineering study for the library’s historic vault repair. Mr. Smith explained that when the roof was originally done, in order to save money a ‘new product’ was used and that product has proved to be unreliable and is failing. The second request is to get a mechanical engineer to come in and design an air conditioning system for a room the library plans to convert in to a real storage area in which to store the Town historical documents. The fourth project, a request to restore a horse riding ring, although initially supported by the CPA, may in fact not be eligible for CPA funds since Mr. Higgins questioned whether it fell under the CPA guidelines. Mr. Higgins will research whether or not
it is an eligible CPC expense.
The CPA is considering borrowing as a way of financing a number of projects which has the advantage of spreading the cost of CPA projects over a number of years. The upgraded bond rating and current low interest rates make this an attractive option. Ms. Cannon Holden pointed out that only the town portion of CPA can be used to repay debt. The Selectmen expressed support for appropriate bonding of CPA funds.
OPEN FORUM: No one took advantage of opportunity to use the Open Forum to speak with the Board.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:
BRAC Grant: The first public hearing under the pre-BRAC planning process was held last week. The meeting was focused on Attorney Knisely’s overview of the BRAC process and the legal and strategic considerations. Attorney Knisely emphasized the central role the Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) plays in controlling what happens under a closure scenario and strongly urges that we begin thinking how we would like the LRA to be constituted now and that we have discussions with the state as soon as possible. The goal is to have sorted out the politics prior to the September/October timeframe. The second public meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 24th.
Town Budget: The Budget Committee has finalized a schedule of public outreach meetings. Each entity will also write an open letter to the ‘Journal’.
Nike Site: Conveyance is moving along. Property needs to be transferred from GSA to the National Park before it can be transferred to the Town and that has just happened, so things are proceeding.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Town Meeting:
-Warrant has been posted
-Ballot Question has been filed with the Town Clerk
-first draft of Motions have been presented to the Board
-Honor Roll – Mr. Higgins will discuss with the Moderator
-Bright Light Award—Mr. Marsh put forth Mr. Higgins and staff to be the first recipients; the staff has chosen to donate the check to the Lincoln Scholarship Committee
-Mr. Higgins will make a first cut at assigning who will speak to which article and bring it back to the Board next week for refinement
Mayors for Peace: The Selectmen had tabled this at their last meeting and each had the opportunity to read the material in depth. After discussion, it was decided that Ms. Cannon Holden will research prior Town Meeting votes relative to nuclear disarmament, and the matter will be brought back before the Board at their next meeting for review and action.
Liaison Reports:
Next week Ms. Mattes will be prepared to report about the Heck property and its potential tear down.
Ms. Mattes reported that HATS will be meeting this Thursday. One of the things we will be discussing is that MASSPORT will be launching another another ESPR on the civil air field. The last ESPR was done in 2000 and it was an exhaustive process and very frustrating. It was frustrating because Massport was supposed to scope what it perceives to be growth scenarios—low, medium, and high levels of growth, and then they are supposed to play out what they need to study to see various impacts of these scenarios on the environment. Then they hire consultants to do the studies and the consultants file reports which show no adverse impact on any growth scenarios. All documents are filed with MEPA, but MEPA did not have sufficient staff to process the findings. The HATS Selectmen are entertaining the thought that we
should decline, since the ESPR has proved to be a flawed process. Relying on Ms. Mattes’ experience in dealing with this matter in the past, the Board Agreed that it is not in the Town’s best interest to participate in another ESPR.
Ms. Mattes advised the Board that she and James Henderson request to pass over the establishment of an Agricultural Commission (presently Article 33 on the Warrant). Instead, she and Mr. Henderson plan to form a study committee ; Ms. Mattes will draft a charge for the proposed study committee and she will notify all people who were present when it was discussed to step forward and participate in the proposed study committee.
Ms. Cannon-Holden will attend a meeting of the Pierce House Committee this week and will report back at a future meeting. Mr. Higgins updated the Board--an agreement in principle has been reached with the Caretaker of the Pierce House--a new contract should be in place by July 1st.
Ms. Cannon Holden reported she attended a meeting hosted by Congressman Ed Markey on the Social Security system. She complimented Mr. Markey for a very good presentation of the subject matter.
ACTION ITEMS:
Appoint Route 2 Advisors: Sarah Cannon Holden moved that the Board vote to appoint Rosamond Delori and Thomas DeNormandie as Route~2 Advisors for the Town. The motion was seconded by Sara Mattes and on a roll call vote on which each member voted aye, the motion was passed.
Reappoint Constables: A motion was made by Sarah Cannon Holden and seconded by Sara Mattes and on a roll call vote on which each member voted ‘aye’ the Selectmen voted to reappoint Robert P. Millian, Jr. and Barbara A. Hartnett as Constables for the Town of Lincoln.
Confirm Selectmen’s Meeting Schedule: The Board cancelled two previously scheduled meetings (March 28th and April 18th) and added a meeting on April~11th.
Minutes: The Selectmen approved, as amended, the minutes of February 14, 2005.
The Selectmen signed the weekly warrants.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
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