Prudential Committee Meeting
Committee Members Present:
Robert Ronzio, Chairman; Jerry Summit, Vice Chairman; Gilles Beaudoin; David
Bonney; Marty Feit, Clerk-Treasurer
Committee Members
Absent: Michael McEnerney
Public Present: Eva Bonney, Celia
Boucher, Ron Boucher, Bill Brownhill, Joyce Brownhill, Bob Fishell, Deb
Fitzgerald, Murielle Forster, Robert Guevin, Dennis LaChapelle, Howard Lerner,
Gail McGeer, John McGeer, Nina Salamon
Meeting called to order at
Mr. Bonney reports that the
Division of Elections has gotten involved with the election scheduled for May
12th. He will know more from them on Monday.
Mr.
Feit reports that the minutes for the April 7th meeting will be done
by Tuesday. Minutes of the March 24th meeting are reviewed by
committee members. <<Something goes
wrong with the tape while committee members are reviewing the minutes and when the recording resumes Mr. Ronzio is
asking for a second to approve the minutes of the March 24th
meeting.>> A second is heard.
Mr.
Bonney states that he was told by the A.G.’s office that the alternate
committee member can sit in when a regular member is absent. He says that a
request was made for this to happen at the March 24th meeting but
this is not reflected in the minutes. <<Transcriber’s
Note: Ms. Brownhill requested before
the meeting was officially called to order that Mr. LaChapelle be allowed
to sit in Mr. Bonney’s place. That is why it was not reflected in the
minutes.>>
Mr.
Ronzio says that Ms. Brownhill did make that request and Mr. Feit says he will
be put into the minutes.
Mr.
Ronzio calls for a vote to approve the minutes; three “Ayes” are heard on the
tape; the motion is approved.
<<There is another blip in the tape here and
when it resumes Mr. Ronzio is talking about the Attorney General.>>
Mr.
Ronzio says he has not seen anything in writing from the A.G. regarding the
rules for alternates sitting on the board and that the interpretation by this
board and previous boards is that alternates may not sit in the absence of
regular members. People all talk at once here. Mr. Ronzio asks Mr. Bonney to
provide something in writing from the A.G.
Mr.
Summit moves to approve the minutes of the April 21st meeting; a second
is heard and the motion is approved unanimously by the three members who
were present at that meeting.
Public Participation
Mr. Guevin asks the purpose
of alternates. Mr. Summit says it’s in case someone resigns or leaves for some
other reason; the alternate is to fill that position. Mr. Ronzio reads the
passage from the bylaws backing this up.
Mr.
McGeer speaks to the composition of the Prudential Committee as it was
originally set up. He says the board was set up to have two alternates – one a
voter and one a non-voter. They represented other people on the board on local
issues. He says the only vote was by the three Prudential Committee members. He
adds that an alternate could sit in if he was a registered voter; if someone
did resign or there was a tie vote or someone couldn’t vote.
Mr.
Feit reports that he and Mr. Bonney went to the storage facility and looked at
the old minutes. They found there were always five members on the board and
they were all voters. Mr. Bonney tries to say something but Mr. McGeer speaks
over him saying that he gave Mr. Ronzio the papers from the original meetings
and asks that they be brought in to consult. Mr. Ronzio says he shared some of
that documentation with other people; most of it had to do with meetings that
took place at Town Hall and much of it had to do with Mr. Andrews. Mr. McGeer
asks if there was a file there about Mr. Tallberg. Mr. Ronzio says what he
remembers seeing had to do with the Town of
Ms.
Brownhill says she realized that previous boards did things incorrectly and
asks if it wouldn’t be prudent to now start to do things correctly. She is
specifically speaking with regard to alternate members. Mr. Ronzio says the
board is still awaiting written contact from the A.G. Ms. Brownhill asks Mr.
Ronzio why he doesn’t contact the A.G. and he replies that the bylaws seem
clear to him. Ms. Brownhill says that the Act says that two assessed people,
non-registered voters can sit on the board, but state law says that
non-registered voters can’t vote on the board. Mr. Ronzio says he has been
attempting to correct what has been done wrong and to ensure that things are
done according to law. John McGeer says among the three Prudential Committee
members, the only time the Chair is supposed to vote is in case of a tie
between the other two. There is communal discussion about the number of
committee members, alternates, and
Ms.
McGeer says that if an individual votes in an election and that individual is
not a registered voter that is fraud and the person can be fined and/or
arrested.
Mr.
Boucher asks when the roads will go out to bid. Mr. Ronzio says various members
of the board have been asked to provide samples of bid proposals and he has one
from the City of
Communications
Letter from the Elections
Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth received on the 3rd. It was addressed to Mssrs. Ronzio and
Feit. It requests that they contact the division no later than
Mr.
McGeer asks for clarification of what the May 12th election will be
for and there is discussion of the survey that was sent out. Mr. Ronzio says
the Prudential Committee, using guidance from the attorney, took a vote to see
if they could proceed with changing the voting requirements. He says the
attorney’s interpretation of the law was that they could do this.
Mr.
Bonney asks for a copy of the letter from the Election Bureau. Mr. Feit says he
will provide this.
Letter
from the Conservation Commission –The
letter is an Enforcement Order issued to the SFNA,
Mr.
Brownhill asks who is responsible for getting permits to do work on the roads –
the Road District or SFNA? Mr. Ronzio says he has a generic Notice of Intent
form that can be filed for the Road District like the Town has. Mr. Brownhill
repeats his question of who is responsible for the permit. Mr. Ronzio says
there seems to be a conflict between what Ms. Vsetecka (the Chair of the
Conservation Commission) has told him and what other members of the
Conservation Commission have told him and Mr. Andrews regarding culverts that
are actually storm drains and do not impact wetland areas. He says a culvert
that crosses a road that is dry except for when it rains is not in the same
category as a culvert that crosses a road that continuously has water in it. He
was told by the Conservation Commission that a culvert that continuously has
water in it would fall under the Wetlands Act. He says that many of the culverts
that have been installed are dry storm drains and Mr. Andrews, in discussions
with Ms. Vsetecka was told that permits were not required for these. He asks
Mr. Andrews if this is correct.
Mr.
Andrews says that last Tuesday he met with Ms. Vsetecka and was told that
permits were required. He asked if this was true even though they’re storm
drains. She said if the water is coming from or entering a wetland then a
permit is required. Mr. Andrews asked how they deal with emergencies and she
told him “we don’t have the answer for that” and that was why they were going
to refer it to the DEP. He said she explained to him that an Emergency Order
could be obtained but the emergency had to exist first. He says that Ms.
Vsetecka told him that a Notice of Intent had to be filed on the Lancelot Dam
situation. He pointed out to her that there were some conflicting areas there .
. . that there are some people who said we’re not going to spend money on
something that belongs to the SFNA. Mr. Andrews says he asked Ms. Vsetecka if
she wanted to lose the lake and the dam or if she wanted to get the culvert
opened up.
<<Tape #1 ends here and when Tape #2 starts Mr.
Bonney is speaking.>>
Mr.
Bonney says, “She told me . . . if you get it on the agenda then you can go and
talk about it.” Mr. Andrews responds that if it gets put on the agenda then
it’s no longer an emergency, then it’s a full blown NOI. Mr. Ronzio says he was
also told by other committee members, both in meetings and after meetings, that
a contractor could be hired to come in to “roto-route” the culvert. He says
this wouldn’t work because the culvert was collapsed. Two voices point out that
the Fire Department was there and Mr. Ronzio repeats, “The culvert was
collapsed.” He says when the water was bubbling up through the road and the
water was washing down the side and created a trench Mr. Andrews dug up a small
portion of the road to see what was there. He says some individuals had gone
into the culvert with some kind of a rod to find where the blockage was and that
put the blockage in the middle of the road. This was dug up and a temporary
patch was put in the culvert where the collapsed portion was and the water
resumed flowing through. Mr. Andrews says he explained to [Ms. Vsetecka] on
Tuesday that this was a “band aid approach”. He says it will probably require
engineering and a lot of work because of Dam Safety.
Mr.
McGeer says that at a previous meeting the board had said, “Let’s go and fix it
and we’ll deal with them later.” Mr. Ronzio says there are lots of people who
do that, including the Town.
Mr.
Brownhill asks again who is responsible for the permit. Mr. Ronzio says this
will be determined at the May 17th Conservation meeting. Someone
asks if the Conservation Commission has an emergency person to contact. Mr.
Ronzio says, “We have attempted over the last several months to deal with
issues that we perceived as being an emergency. The Conservation Commission
said, like Mr. Andrews said, ‘They’re not emergencies until they fail.’” He
says then, “So rather than being preventive and proactive they want the thing
to fail and then that’s the way they’ll deal with it.” There is discussion of
anecdotal and personally witnessed problems with the Conservation Commission.
Someone
reads from a letter to the Road District from eighteen years ago which says,
“the Sherwood Forest Road District has no right to divert water from or onto
anyone’s property; the District can only maintain or replace the culverts that
were in existence at the time of the District’s formation. Also before any
waterway can be disturbed it has to be approved by the Conservation
Commission.” Mr. Ronzio asks for clarification of what the letter is. Mr.
Summit states that it says that the culverts are the responsibility of the
District and adds that the committee has a copy of that letter.
Mr.
Andrews says he spent six years on Conservation Commission and he has never
heard of a generic permit. He asks if it is something new and Mr. Ronzio says
it must be. He says an engineer will have to be hired to state in the
application what has to be done to replace a culvert. Mr. Andrews says the Town
spent over $12,000 on engineering last year to file NOI’s.
Mr.
Bonney says he spoke with Mr. Fuller (the Chair of the Board of Health) about
the well [on Prince John]. Mr. Feit says he’s had communication with Mr. Fuller
and is still unclear as to what is being said by the Board of Health. Mr.
Ronzio says, “He sent us a letter saying that the Board of Health issued a well
permit to Henshaw Artesian Well Drilling, which is not even the well driller
that we were talking about. . . . After
he signed the letter he comes back and he says, ‘We received a copy of a letter
sent to you from
Building Committee Report/Office
Storage – Mr. Bonney says he has
found a site on Minstrel’s way. It belongs to the town and was up for sale at
the last auction.
Culvert Survey – No action taken.
Road
Roads Resurfacing Projects – No action
taken.
Equipment Purchase Feasability Study – Mr. Bonney says this is still ongoing.
Primary/Secondary Roads – Mr. McEnerney has been working on this. Committee
members present consult the map and agree that the only change needed is that
Jester to Bowman to Minstrel and down Prince Paul Path and over to Old Carriage
needs to be designated as a primary traffic route. Sir George is designated as
a Primary road; committee members agree this should be changed to Secondary.
King
Someone says he has a piece of property on
Someone asks about houses that have burned down but
have not been cleaned up. She is told that is the responsibility of the Town.
Mr. Ronzio points out that the Town’s Demolition Fund on the budget for the
upcoming Annual Town Meeting is being recommended to be cut back to $500, when
it was $10,000 several years ago. He advises concerned individuals to show up
at the Town Meeting and voice their concern.
Someone asks how the flow of traffic is being gauged
for the purposes of designating Primary/Secondary roads. Mr. Ronzio says that
doing a traffic count would require the hiring of outside services. He says the
map is available for anyone to look at and he doesn’t think anyone would
disagree with the roads that have been designated as Primary. The Secondary
roads would receive the second greatest amount of attention and the Tertiary
roads would still be plowed, etc., but not as much attention would be given
them.
Mr. Boucher asks about the condition of Jester’s Lane.
Mr. Ronzio responds that there are pot holes on roads throughout the
Mr. Summit will update the Road Priorities map.
Memorandum of Understanding:
Mr. Bonney expresses concern about the District’s
attorney seeking to move toward combining the SFRMD and the SFNA. He quotes a
letter from Aaronson & Lucido which says, “. . . to expand the scope of the
district to include not only road maintenance, but also the maintenance of the
ponds, beaches, lakes, dams, and the power to own property . . .” Mr. Ronzio
examines the document and says it is to the SFRMD, not to SFNA. Mr. Bonney says
he never received a copy and, as a committee member, he should have. Mr. Ronzio
asks the date of the letter. It was written in 2005. Mr. Ronzio says two of the
members of the current board were board members then.
Mr. Summit makes “a proposal that we set up a
committee to act on SFNA with regard to a Memorandum of Understanding between
the two organizations.” A second is made; the motion is passed
unanimously.
Mr. Ronzio advises that as a sub-committee, this
committee is still responsible to act according to the Open Meeting Law; the
meetings must be posted; 48 hours must be given before any meeting taking
place. Someone from the floor says there should be someone on the committee
other than board members. Mr. Brownhill will be on the committee.
Someone asks if $79,000 has been spent already to fix
the roads that were washed out. Mr. Ronzio says that he previously reported
$78,250 in damage; that information went to the state. He says Mr. Andrews has
been working to make the roads passable. A question is asked about how
Deteriorating Condition of the
Spillway at the South End of Little Robin – Mr. Beaudoin
viewed this last week. Mr. Bonney asks when spillways became the responsibility
of the Road District.
<<Tape #2 ends here. Tape #3 opens
with several people talking at once.>>
Mr. Ronzio gavels for order and says it is like other
road situations; things overlap back and forth between the SFNA and the Road
District and a Memorandum of Understanding is needed to clarify these things.
Extensive discussion ensues about animosities generated previously between
various factions in the
Budget Preparation for FY 2008 – Mr. Ronzio says agreement must be reached on this
today so that the warrant can be drawn up for the Annual Meeting. Copies of the
proposed budget are consulted. The current overall proposed increase is 2.38%.
Mr. Bonney asks about putting in a line item for the Road Improvements. There
is discussion of the advisability of doing this. This moves into a discussion
of the quality of the work that was done in the last year. Mr. Ronzio says the
roads can never be improved without a long range plan.
Mr.
Ronzio questions Mr. Feit on the amount ($6,927) which is put in for the Town
of
Mr.
Feit says his feeling is that taking money from Winter Roads and General Roads
for Improvements leads to trouble. He points out that’s what happened this
year. The debate resumes on having a line item for Improvements. Mr. Ronzio
speaks to what is an improvement vs. what is maintenance, saying that
everything done to date has only been maintenance. Communal discussion ensues.
Mr.
Summit moves to “Approve the budget for FY 2008 at Two hundred
thirty-eight thousand, six hundred dollars ($238,600); motion seconded; unanimous
approval.
Warrant for Annual District Meeting – Mr. Ronzio says the document just approved is part
and parcel of Article 1 and reads from same. Article 2 is election of
Prudential Committee members: Regular
Resident – 1 person, 2 years; Regular Non-resident – 1 person, 2 years;
Alternate Resident – 1 person, 2 years. Up this year for these positions are,
respectively, Mr. Ronzio, Mr. McEnerney, and Mr. LaChapelle.
Mr.
Ronzio says a Special Meeting must be done in conjunction with the Annual
Meeting to close out the end-of-year budget business.
Mr.
Summit moves that the SFRMD Annual Meeting be held on Saturday, June 16th
at
<<Transcribers Note: There is discussion of having the Special
Meeting at
Mr.
Summit moves that the SFRMD have a Prudential Committee meeting on the 26th
of May at
Road Superintendent’s Report – The Road Superintendent is not present.
Mr.
Summit suggests moving the Road Superintendent’s Report up so that it is given
earlier in the meetings. A motion is made to move the Road
Superintendent’s Report up to a spot after the Reading of the Minutes and
before Public Participation; seconded; unanimous approval.
Mr. Feit reports that there
is currently $120,498 in the bank account. There is $78,236 in the checking account
and the Money Market account has $62,039. The total in the treasury is $140,000.
The bills outstanding are $19,778. Deposits from Berkshire Bank when he took
over (6/29) to present were $314,000. That is because there was excess money
carried over from the previous year. Mr. Feit reviews the current warrant and
board members sign it.
Mr.
Bonney asks about tracking the expense incurred to repair flood damage. Mr.
Feit says that Mr. Ronzio did the report for the state all himself and got it
submitted to the state in a very short period of time and deserves recognition
for that. The District should get back 75% of about $78,000 and judging from
the last time this happened there will be about a five month waiting period for
that money. Bills received from Andrews for flood related repairs come to about
$64,000. Jerry asks that copies of the bills be sent to the board members.
Mr.
Feit reports that he has gotten a commitment from the bank for a loan against
the funds in the Money Market. It is a six month loan at 6.30% and the funds
will be put into the District’s account on Tuesday. Mr. Bonney opines that the
decision to get the loan should have gone to the people and there is discussion
of this. Mr. Ronzio and Mr. Bonney shout at each other. Mr. Feit explains the
approval process the loan had to go through at the bank and says he obtained
the loan as legally as he knew how.
There
being no other business to conduct, Mr. Ronzio calls for a motion to adjourn. A
motion is made to adjourn; a second is made; unanimous
approval.
Meeting adjourned
Respectfully Submitted
Marty Feit
Clerk-Treasurer
__________________________________
Robert Ronzio, Chair Date
__________________________________
Jerry Summit, Vice Chair Date
__________________________________
Gilles Beaudoin Date
__________________________________
David Bonney Date
__________________________________
Michael McEnerney Date
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