MINUTES
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
OCTOBER 3, 2006
PRESENT: PersonNameSarah Cannon Holden (chairman), Sara Mattes, Gary Taylor
STAFF: Tim Higgins (Town Administrator), Debra Parkhurst (Administrative Assistant)
Welcome & Introductions: The meeting opened at timeHour19Minute307:30 PM. The Chairman welcomed the public, reviewed the agenda and action items for the meeting.
Announcements: Ms. Mattes announced that on Saturday, October 7, there will be a work day with the Conservation commission for Browning’s Field from timeHour9Minute09 AM to timeHour15Minute03 PM, in preparation for the Lincoln Horse Show.
Mr.Taylor announced the first meeting of the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust on October 5 at timeHour19Minute307:30 PM.
Appointments
7:30 p.m. placeCityLincoln Cable Committee: Public Hearing – Verizon Application for Cable Television License
PRESENT: Bill Hewigg (attorney), Jim Cunningham (Cable Committee), Peter Bowman, Vice president for External Affairs, Jim McGrail, Telecomm Insight Group
Town Administrator Higgins gave brief context and background to the hearing. placePlaceNameAssistant PlaceTypeTown Administrator Anita Scheipers has presented a written summary report. Town Counsel Bill Hewigg said that the end product is the result of six to seven months of negotiations. The Comcast license is the model, however there was still a fair amount to be negotiated.. The Committee succeeded in putting together a 15 year license, which includes providing cable to the entire town with free drops to the public buildings. One percent of the gross revenue will be paid to the town over the term of the license. The following issues were negotiated since the last meeting:
placePlaceName1. Lincoln PlaceNameSudbury PlaceTypeHigh School will have a connection, but connection will come after negotiations finalize in placeCitySudbury. They will be put in the PEG Access.
2. Comcast standard service includes free public drops and service for 49 channels. Verizon will be the same.
3. Each school will be identified for its own drop. Hanscom is subject to license from the Air Force on federal property. They can designate this to the lease holder on these properties. Minuteman Tech is in placeCityLexington and Verizon expects that they will be on line next month..
4. Mr. Cunningham had requested two drops, one for the Town Hall and one for the PEG room.
Discussion turned to strand maps. Mr. Bowman said this is a huge street map that shows where the drops are. There is a map in the placeCityWoburn engineering Office. Officials can review them by coming to their office or they can bring them to placeCityLincoln, but these are highly confidential. He added that this protects the infrastructure; it would not be good to have the main feeder routes made public. A franchise manager will be assigned to the Town and the latest phone numbers will be provided. The Selectmen asked the lowest height allowed for a wire. Verizon will get this information. Discussion followed on pricing for the different services, noting that the lowest FIOS service is $13.00 a month. The price range can go from $13.00 to $100.00 a month. Sara Mattes suggested they get some information to the Council on Aging for their newsletter. The Board asked what this means for people who get their service over the older copper wires and if switching to FIOS
prevents one from using a third party telephone carrier. Verizon answered that they have built out the fiber to all the homes. If a customer orders FIOS, then the practice is to take the copper wires out. However, overall, the copper infrastructure is in place. If a customer asks to stay on copper we will allow it. Verizon has an obligation to provide the network for the wholesalers. Copper and FIOS can co-exist within the same conduit. Discussion continued on connectivity and uses within the home. Concern was expressed about loss of service during a power outage using FIOS (electrical loss) versus copper lines, where phone connectivity is not lost. Mr. Cunningham said that COMCAST provides free internet service to the libraries and schools that is not in the license. Can Verizon offer something similar? Verizon said that this is outside the scope of the License agreement, but the Verizon Foundation or Mr. Bowman’s office can address such items. Mr. Taylor asked about
scheduling Verizon customer service. Mr. Bowman noted that in this situation Verizon is the second or third provider and must compete on price and service. So far they have been issued 19 licenses, with 12-13 communities served, and have had positive feedback. The system is 80% built out and aerial service is available right away. The underground service depends on if there are conduits or just pulled wires. Other variants, such as ownership of multi unit dwellings, also affect the completion of the system. The hearing was opened to the public at timeMinute15Hour88:15. Residents of Oak Meadow noted that they are a community of 26 homes with the road held in common ownership. Mr. Bowman said that they will work with the neighborhood. They will need permission to run the infrastructure. He reiterated that it is in Verizon’s interest to make the system available as soon as possible. They have five years to complete
the system. Ed Rolfe of addressStreetSilver Hill Road said he uses FIOS for his telephone service and has had one battery failure that was replaced right away. He asked if they would reconsider their senior discount. Mr. Bowman said that Verizon believes it is a form of rate regulation and do not give those discounts. Mr. Hibben has already ordered service, but is concerned that his house, at 150’ from the street, is outside their 125’ range. Verizon representatives said that it is their objective to have the customers sign up for FIOS and would like to work with him. Other residents were looking forward to improved phone service through FIOS and the hope to get cable at a lesser cost.
Mr. Taylor made a MOTION Ms. Mattes seconded to grant the cable license for Verizon as negotiated by the Cable Committee. The Motion passed unanimously.
Board of Assessors Re: Annual Tax Classification Hearing
PRESENT: Edward (Buffer) Morgan, PersonNameEllen Meadors, John Robinson
Mr. Higgins said that each year the Selectmen invite the assessors in for a Tax Classification hearing as a pre-requisite for issuing tax bills. The Commonwealth requires that the Assessors submit the classification for preliminary certification. The major discussion involves selecting the residential factor within the split rate. The Assessors said that this year they had a question on affordable housing valuations. There will be a change and taxes will increase. The Assessors and the Lincoln Foundation have tried to be proactive and have met with people affected by the change. Mr. Morgan also said said that residential values have fallen by 3% and the commercial values have fallen by 7 %. If the split rate stayed the same, commercial taxes would go down slightly. The proposal is
to increase the commercial from 1.25 to a 1.30 factor. Mr. Taylor said he was concerned that the commercial rate has gone up over several years, and while it is important to focus on residential, the Town should not ignore the commercial. The Boards discussed having an earlier hearing date to allow for more discussion of the split rate. Discussion then returned to the tax issue for low income housing. Mr. Taylor suggested looking at homestead exemption. The Assessors noted the difference between Lincoln Woods (one assessment) versus Battle Road Farm (single family ownership). Many owners were under the impression that the assessment would be fixed at their value when it was purchased. PersonNameEllen Meadors has inspected the master Deed, which spoke about equity growth. Taxes have to go up as equity increases. Some units may be bumped out of affordability. Where the discount rate is at 50%, affordability is
preserved; less than that, the affordability is in jeopardy. The Board suggested there may have to be a community discussion on what can be done locally. Ms. Meadors said that all the affordable units were put in a separate category, and then assessments were raised. The Board proposed a future meeting with all the key players (Lincoln Woods, Battle Road Farm, Selectmen, Housing Commission, Lincoln Foundation, etc.).
· Ms. Mattes made a MOTION, Mr. Taylor seconded to ACCEPT the Assessors Recommendation to shift the Tax Burden to a 1.3 factor (30% burden to commercial) and to adopt the residential tax rate as recommended by the Board of Assessors. The Motion passed unanimously.
· Ms. Mattes made a MOTION, Mr. Taylor seconded, NOT to adopt an open space discount, as recommended by the Board of Assessors.
· Ms. Mattes made a MOTION, Mr. Taylor seconded NOT to adopt a residential exemption as recommended by the Board of Assessors. The Motion passed unanimously.
· Ms. Mattes made a MOTION, Mr. Taylor seconded, NOT to adopt a small commercial exemption as recommended by the Board of Assessors. The Motion passed unanimously.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Higgins reported that the convening meeting of the Housing Trust will be Thursday at timeMinute0Hour88 AM. They are still recruiting for an at large member.
Discussion
The Board discussed the upcoming placePlaceNameSpecial PlaceTypeTown meeting and State of the Town on November 4. There will be four articles for the Special Town Meeting (zoning for North Lincoln- Deaconess; Zoning for placeSouth Lincoln – Mall, funding for Master Planning, and Water Conservation Fund. Following discussion, Mr. Taylor made a MOTION to approve the Warrant for the placePlaceNameSpecial PlaceTypeTown meeting on dateMonth11Day4Year2006Saturday, November 4, 2006. Ms. Mattes seconded, suggested a plan for communications with the Town. The Motion passed unanimously.
Discussion followed on the State of the Town which will focus on town facilities and assets protection.
Liaison Reports
Ms. Mattes reported on the recent HATS meeting that focused on legislative updates. Jay Kaufman said they are looking for funding to study municipal utilities. placeCityConcord is a case study that shows it is a viable option. Mark Siegenthaler, Bedford Selectman, reported on regional transportation, and the possibilities of sharing between towns. Mr. Taylor suggested that HATS might be used to talk to the MBTA about transportation, in anticipation of housing and smart growth potential in south placeCityLincoln.
The Meeting adjourned at timeHour22Minute010 PM
Submitted by Debra Parkhurst
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