Selectmens Meeting Minutes 09/17/2019
Board of Selectmen September 17, 2019
Chairman Joseph Pacheco called the open meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. in the meeting room at Veterans’ Memorial Town Hall, 558 South Main Street. In addition to Chairman Pacheco, Selectmen Marie Smith and Patricia Riley were in attendance.
Ms. Riley led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance and Mr. Pacheco informed everyone that the meeting was being recorded live by RayCAM.
Acceptance of the Minutes
Ms. Riley made a motion to accept the minutes of the meetings held on September 9th, 10th and 11th, 2019, as printed. Mrs. Smith seconded and Mr. Pacheco made it unanimous.
Department Heads and Committees
Fire Chief Bryan LaCivita was present to give his first monthly report. He explained that during the month of August, the department responded to the following: 77 fire-related calls including fires, motor vehicle accident investigations, and public assists; 181 ambulance calls including medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, and public assists; and 127 miscellaneous calls including inspections, fire alarm work and other items of note. Mutual aid calls included two instances when ambulance assistance was given, one time received, and one time when fire assistance was given to the City of Taunton for a house fire on Harrison Street. He also reported that one firefighter was out with an off-duty injury from August 13th to September 12th. The department received a CERT grant for $2,500.00 and Kevin Moreira purchased equipment with the funds. The department also received a S.A.F.E. (Student Awareness of Fire Education) Award for $3,754.00 to teach students from Pre-K to Grade 8 about Fire Prevention and Life Safety and a Senior Award for $2,400.00 to teach Senior Citizens about smoke detectors, the dangers of hoarding, carbon monoxide detectors, and fall hazards. Chief LaCivita also thanked Marcus Baptiste for allowing the department to use his vacant building for training purposes and he congratulated Cody Medeiros for completing EMS training.
Mr. Matt Tanis, Raynham Health Agent, was present to update the Board on the EEE situation. He stated that the State has decided to do a third round of aerial spraying for mosquitos starting tonight, September 17th, and continuing for the next several nights, weather permitting, between the hours of 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. They will be using the same insecticide, Anvil 10 + 10. They will concentrate on the critical and high-risk areas only and Raynham is completely in the spray zone. They still detected a positive EEE sample on September 15th and West Nile Virus has also been detected. Borden Colony was recently sprayed by ground spraying and that will be done again on Friday night. Lowes has again donated cans of insect repellant, which can be obtained by Raynham residents at the Board of Health Office.
Completion of Old Business
Interim Town Administrator Gordon Luciano reported that the Building Committee met to discuss the Fire Station Expansion Project proposal that was presented last week and consider what direction the Town should take at this point. He explained, “The Committee came up with an action plan. The first step is to ask the Board to request the Police Chief appoint three members of his department to the Building Committee. The next step would be to explore different site options. As part of that, we would want to consider a joint public safety building option or two separate buildings, one for police and one for fire. We would like to invite members of the Police Department to take part in that discussion. Once we get a consensus on the type of facility or facilities, we would know what type of site you would want, how large it would need to be, and what location would work. One of the things that the Fire Chief will do is start some data collection. Chief LaCivita then explained, “We are going to see where most of our calls come from to decide where a centralized location could be in order to find the best site.” Building Commissioner Robert Iafrate added, “We are really juggling whether we need one or two buildings and we’re looking for a spot that’s also easily accessible for members of the public who are going to use this building. We will be looking at a couple of different locations and come back to the Board in a couple of weeks with some recommendations.” Mr. Luciano commented, “We have a good committee and I am very encouraged. We will do the right thing for the future of this Town. It’s safe to say you are in very good hands with this group.” Mrs. Smith stated, “I would prefer to see them together and not separated and we just need to find a piece of land that the town has or can purchase.” Ms. Riley stated that it sounds as if the Building Committee is heading in the right direction by looking at all options. Mr. Pacheco stated that he would like to see the Board suggest a funding level for a Fall Town meeting article for the project as Building Committee member Dan Andrade suggested at last week’s joint meeting. Mr. Pacheco explained, “I think that amount would be $1.2 million, and I would like to get a consensus from the Board tonight to allocate that sum.” Mrs. Smith asked what the funds would be used for. Mr. Pacheco replied, “That would be for this project. When you’re talking about a project of this size, it’s undoubtedly going to be a debt exclusion and any money we can put aside now will offset the cost of the total project and therefore lower the tax burden on the residents. I think the most fiscally sound thing to do is to take the free cash we have now and spend it wisely on a project, as opposed to saddling the taxpayers with an additional $1.2M in taxes.” Mrs. Smith said, “I would rather wait until the Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee have gone through their process to see what is needed.” Mr. Luciano said, “I have put in a place holder with the Capital Planning Committee for $1.3 million for that reason, and they will get back to the Board with a recommendation. It is under consideration and it was submitted to both Committees.” Mr. Pacheco said, “I think the viability of this project is going to be judged in part by how we handle the impact this is going to have on the taxpayers and if we miss an opportunity to save them $1.2 million, I think it will be a failure on this Board’s behalf.” Ms. Riley stated that Chairman. Pacheco’s recommendation sounded like the prudent thing to do, but she would like to hear from the Capital Planning and Finance Committees before taking a vote. Mrs. Smith said, “They are already holding that amount in abeyance, so they should go through their process.” Mr. Luciano further explained, “They have every article that was submitted from every department and I put that in as a place holder for consideration; so, they will incorporate that with all their priorities. Three things could happen. They could say that we can’t do it. They could say that we can cover what we believe is sufficient for the other capital requests and still meet that goal. The third option is, if a couple of the articles drop off, which would free up some additional money, then the Finance Committee and Capital Planning could increase that amount.” Mr. Smith said, “That is why I want them to get through their process. I’m not against it.”
Appointments
A request was received from the Finance Committee to appoint Daniel McNally as a member for a term to expire on June 30, 2020. Mrs. Smith made a motion to appoint, Ms. Riley seconded, and Mr. Pacheco made it unanimous.
New Business
Mr. Pacheco said, “We have discussed the two candidates, William McKinney and Graham Waters, for the Town Administrator’s position and the Board made the decision to put this on the Agenda for this evening for discussion and a potential vote on naming a permanent Administrator contingent upon successful contract negotiations.” Mrs. Smith said, ‘Before I make any comments on the position, I want to thank the Selection Committee. They have brought us two diversified and great candidates, both of whom are qualified for the position, and I think either one of them would fit nicely here. I found, in my mind, that one candidate was a little more impressive to me and I vote for Mr. Waters for Town Administrator.” Ms. Riley said, “I would echo Mrs. Smith’s comments and commend the Search Committee who took 24 candidates and narrowed it down to two extremely well-qualified candidates. I believe either one could do the job, but I was very impressed with Mr. Waters from his educational background and experience. For almost every question that was asked of him, he could draw on some experience he had in New Carrollton or Coventry. I thought his ideas were spot on. His attitude and enthusiasm and the research he did about Raynham were all very impressive. He also reached out to our former Town Administrator, Mr. Buckner, and spoke with him for about a half hour and Mr. Buckner was impressed with him as well. I think he is the right person at the right time, and I would second the nomination of Graham Waters for Town Administrator.” Mr. Pacheco said, “I would agree with my two colleagues. We had two well-qualified candidates who both in unique ways could do the job and to me there was one candidate, and that was Mr. Waters, who far and away exceeded expectations. My litmus test is the passion for Raynham, and he demonstrated that for someone who was not overly familiar with Raynham coming into this process.” Mr. Pacheco said he also conferred with Mr. Luciano who indicated that he would feel comfortable handing the keys over to him, following the transition period. Mr. Pacheco continued, “I’m delighted this process is over and we can move forward on a permanent basis.” Addressing Mr. Luciano, Mr. Pacheco added, “I’m sad to see you depart as you have been a phenomenal asset to this Board, this Town and me personally. I haven’t said it enough that I appreciate you, Mr. Luciano, and your willingness to come out of retirement and pinch hit for us.” Mr. Luciano thanked Mr. Pacheco. Mr. Pacheco stated, “There is a motion and a second on the floor, and I will make it unanimous and that will be contingent upon successful contract negotiations.” Mr. Pacheco asked, “Is the Board amenable to having Mr. Luciano and I conduct the negotiations?” Ms. Riley said, “I will make that motion.” Mrs. Smith seconded. It was so voted unanimously. Mr. Luciano will notify the candidates and set up a meeting for negotiation of the contract.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Luciano reviewed the Interim Town Administrator’s Report.
The Fall Town Meeting will be held on Monday, October 21, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at the Raynham Middle School. The meeting will be primarily focused on capital expenditures. The warrant will be on the October 1st Selectmen’s Meeting agenda for approval. A draft warrant will be provided to the Board prior to that date. Once the warrant is approved and signed, Mr. Luciano will forward it to the printer to prepare a draft for review. Once that step is completed, the warrant will be printed in booklet form and mailed out to each residential box holder. Mr. Luciano is exploring with the printer the cost of increasing the print size to 6x9 instead of 5x8, to make the warrant easier to read and eliminate articles being cut off. He explained that it would be an experiment since the Fall Town Meeting warrant has fewer articles than the Annual Town Meeting warrant, and “if it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to the old format in the Spring.”
Upcoming Meetings
The next scheduled Selectmen’s Meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 24th at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall meeting room. The Capital Planning Committee will continue the process of reviewing articles for the Fall Town Meeting on Wednesday, September 18th at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall conference room.
Selectmen’s Report
Mrs. Smith attended an event at American Legion Post 405 on Sunday. She stated that “the food was very, very good.” Mrs. Riley said that she attended the 21st Annual Raynham Pride Day and it was another successful event. Both Raynham Police and Fire were there, as well as many other community groups and businesses and the weather was perfect. She offered thanks to Kevin and Shirley Ellis for all of their efforts planning and coordinating the event. Mr. Pacheco said he attended Raynham Pride Day as well and he said it was a great turn out. Mr. Pacheco also stated, “Just to keep the Board in the loop, I’m the Chairman of the Bristol County Advisory Board and I have also been appointed to the Personnel Board.”
Adjournment
At 7:27 p.m., Ms. Riley motioned to adjourn the Open Meeting for the performance of administrative duties, signing of Bills and Warrants and move into Executive Session in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 30A, Section 21, to discuss strategy with respect to, or in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel and to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so decides, with no public business to be conducted afterward. Mr. Pacheco made it unanimous and noted that, “We will now go into Executive Session with no business to be conducted afterward. Mr. Luciano added that the Board would come out of Executive Session only to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Murphy, Recording Secretary