MINUTES
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Monday, December 10, 2007
PRESENT: Gary Taylor (Chairman), Sarah Cannon-Holden, Sara Mattes
STAFF: Timothy Higgins (Town Administrator), Debra Parkhurst (Administrative Assistant)
Welcome & Introductions: The meeting opened at 7:30 PM. The Chairman welcomed the public, reviewed the agenda and action items for the meeting.
Announcements:
· Ms. Mattes announced a HATS meeting for Thursday, December 10, 2007 in the Donaldson Room, Lincoln Town Offices. The subject will be zoning reform and transportation issues reviewed by the MPO.
· Mrs. Holden announced that deadlines to register to vote in the presidential primary have been moved forward due to the move of the Primary to February 5. The last day to register is January 16.
Appointments:
Green Energy Committee: Barbara Buchan, Ed Kern, Miles RusellRussell, Elizabeth Cherniak, and Christopher Fields. Mr. Snell was unable to attend.
Mr. Higgins introduced the Committee by explaining that the initial focus was to improve energy use on Town buildings and explore new technologies. The Committee decided to take a more holistic approach to involve the wider community. Ms. Buchan explained the Committee has applied for a grant with Assistant Town Administrator Scheipers as the point person, but they have not yet heard back from the DEP. They decided to begin work on assessing town buildings. Ms. Mattes asked if the town owned homes could be added to the list of town buildings under energy assessment, particularly as an example of what can be done in a single family home. Discussion followed on hiring a professional to assess how energy is used. Mr. Higgins added that he thinks citizens are willing to wait for a longer return on investment. Chris Field said they ran an energy audit on the library and noted 55 areas for improvement. He also said the Town should encourage compliance with the State law
prohibiting the idling of automotive engines, noting that Lexington has received some grant money to pursue this. As a start, the Town could ask the DPW and private contractors to observe the “no idling” law. He added that Massachusetts is the worst state for asthma and idling should be discouraged at the schools. Discussion turned to local initiative on this issue, particularly in raising awareness. Practical issues include enforcement and signage. The “no idling” rule could definitely be used at the schools, the Transfer Station, the Library and the Mall. Mr. Higgins will speak with the Police Chief and RLF (MALL). Ed Kern and Miles Russell discussed site evaluation at the school complex, noting that the best site is the Smith School. Filling the roof with Solar Photovoltaic (PV) would gain a 30 to 40 kw system at a cost of $250.00 to $350,000 with a useful life of 20 years. This would
provide the school with 5% of their power needs. Discussion turned to financing a system. Mr. Kerns noted that California and New Jersey provide great incentives. In those areas there are power purchase arrangements involving a financier, middle man, and customer. Mr. Kern did not know if that is possible in Massachusetts. A company named Solar Power Partners is interested in Massachusetts, but has not done any work yet in Massachusetts and will generally with $350,000 systems. Discussion turned to building codes, and if something could be done with the local bylaws to encourage energy and water conservation. Action items include encouragement of the “no idling” bylaw; exploring PV at the School; a “walk through” of the Library and other municipal buildings.
Open Forum: No one was present for this session.
Town Administrator’s Report:
a. Town Meeting Planning – the Annual Report is due in early January
b. Route 2 didn’t we talk about Rt. 2 at this meeting? Not sure. If we did I will fill in – with assistance from Tim.
c. Deaconness Project – Mr. Higgins reported on the Deaconness groundbreaking ceremony, noting they are taking great care to preserve aspects of the site, including an Apple Orchard that was moved. There was a reception at the Pierce House with many future residents (from Lincoln) included as well as members of the Sisters of St. Anne, who originally owned the site and saw this use as a fulfillment of what they had earlier hoped for. The construction schedule estimates 22 months.
d. ZBA Vacancy – One candidate, Jay Hersh, has withdrawn. The remaining candidate and the ZBA Chairman will attend the Selectmen meeting on December 17.
e. School Emergency Access/Egress – the Rizzo Family has offered an existing path /roadway on their property to be used for the school egress. The road will require some minor modification and will handle a cruiser or ambulance. Mr. Higgins is working with Town Counsel, the school and the Rizzos to draft an agreement.
Discussion:
a. FY 09 Budget – The Budget Forum was held last Wednesday at the Hartwell Building. The Town side may need to reduce by $43,000 to be incompliance with the base budget. Mr. Higgins said that Sudbury is in a financial crisis, and will have to go for an override, or the School budget will be cut resulting in significant loss of staff. Mr. Higgins reviewed key elements of the Lincoln town preferred budget. Mr. Higgins said that he and Mr. Taylor will meet with the FINCOM regarding the GASB planning, and they may ask the Town for the ability to set aside funds. GASB needs to be reflected in planning for the future. Mr. Higgins briefly discussed how differently this is handled by various communities. Mr. Higgins said that the second FINCOM workshop is scheduled for
January 15th. He added that there is good communication between the Lincoln FINCOM and the Sudbury FINCOM. The FINCOM will be considering the merits of an operating override as well as a debt exclusion. Mr. Taylor said the Town needs to figure out priorities and the competing interests.. Mr. Higgins commented that there is a balance here, noting that Moody’s does not like to see debt too high or too low noting that a community must be seen as taking care of its infrastructure. The Board discussed the use of modeling and communication between the financial committees and the town. The Board asked if there is communication between Capital Planning and the Long Term Planning Group. All agreed that Capital Planning is not just for large equipment, but also or future planning for the departments, including school and municipal building needs. This provides a better sense of when to borrow (or not).
b. At Risk Properties Committee – a meeting was scheduled for next Wednesday, December 12, but will be postponed. The Board discussed timing, noting that there was not sufficient time before Town Meeting to receive and understand the impacts of various planning scenarios. They would urge the Planning Board to think of a fall time frame, should there be any zoning changes proposed.
c. Ad Hoc traffic Committee – The first meeting was convened. Most of the members are experienced from other traffic committees in the Town. A new member has worked on issues regarding Trapelo Road in Waltham. The Committee will meet next on January 14 at 8 AM.
d. Mr. Higgins reported that if there are no new accidents involving the railroad crossings, then Lincoln may fall below the threshold and may not have to move forward with the proposed changes to those crossings. However, they are moving forward with planning, just in case.
e. Mr. Higgins reported on a MAGIC sponsored workshop he attended with Ms. Mattes in Acton. The Workshop focused on Zoning Reform and featured Assistant Secretary for Economic Development and Housing, Greg Bialecki, who discussed the history of zoning and future objectives. Mr. Higgins and Ms. Mattes will follow up with him regarding Hanscom and the role of defense technologies. This was followed by a MAGIC meeting in Concord, also focused on Zoning Reform. The State has proposed “10 Principles” to follow, that may not fit all communities. While the State incentive calls for all communities to develop master plans following these principles, it could also create dense, transit oriented and homogenous communities. The State might create two sets of
standards for development planning.
Action: Hired Equipment for Snow Removal Contract for 2008 Winter Season:
Ms. Mattes made a MOTION to approve the Snow Removal contract as presented in a Memo to Tim Higgins, Town Administrator from Chris Bibbo, Street Superintendent, dated November 30, 2007. Mrs. Holden seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.
Correspondence:
The Selectmen thanked Lt. Kennedy, Detective Wentworth and Officer Carlo on their diligent detective work and investigation of several burglaries in the area and in cooperation with other police departments in the Metropolitan Boston area.
Minutes: Deferred
Warrants: approved and signed.
The meeting adjourned at 10:00 PM.
Submitted by,
Debra Parkhurst
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