COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Sherwood Forest Road Maintenance District
Prudential Committee Meeting
Saturday, January 5, 2008

Committee Members Present: David Bonney, Chair; Bill Brownhill, Co-Chair; Gilles Beaudoin, Jerry Grondin, Jerry Summit; Marty Feit, Clerk-Treasurer; Dennis LaChapelle, Road Superintendent

Public Present: Al Barvenik, Eva Bonney, Ron Boucher, Joyce Brownhill, David Devane, Nancy Devane, Howard Lerner, Robert Ronzio, Ann Tuleja, Art Tully, Edward Woodin

Meeting Opens

1. IAW-MGL-CH39-SECTION 23C

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM 12/1/07

Mr. Beaudoin was not present at the 12/1 meeting. Minutes will be corrected to reflect this. Motion made and seconded to accept the minutes of the 12/1/07 meeting as corrected; unanimous approval.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT
Mr. Feit reports on current balances, amounts spent, and amounts owed. Waiting for overlay report from accountant for road taxes to go out. Accountant’s work on stabilization fund and free cash should be done and approved by DOR in the next two weeks. Federal gov’t has not yet approved money for the state so MEMA funds not received yet. Motion made and seconded to accept the treasurer’s report; unanimous approval.
 Warrant Approval

No motion made.

4. ROAD SUPERVISOR’S REPORT

1 Roads & Waterways
o Ongoing winter maintenance going well. Roads are cleared the whole width of the road and the dry hydrants are open. Discarded culverts on the sides of the roads will have to be removed when snow melts.

2 Road Sign Placement
o Kathy Stevens from the State has told Mr. LaChapelle that in order to replace signs, all signs in the Forest must be replaced with ones with larger letters. She is working to see if Chapter 90 money can be obtained for this. Sign replacement must go out for bid. Mr. Feit reports that Andrews had no signs belonging to the district.

3 Ice
o Icy roads can not be effectively sanded while it is still raining.

5. OLD BUSINESS

1 Special Meeting Date 2/2/08

o Alternate Non-Resident
o Approval of Free Cash from 2007/2008
o Establishment of Stabilization Fund for Free Cash
o Land on Minstrels Way
o Eliminate Money Market account and put those funds into a Savings account.
 Mr. Brownhill will deliver the warrant to the constable for posting.

2 Checking Account Alternate Deb Fitzgerald
o Someone else should be chosen. Mr. Bonney will check with the attorney for proper procedure on this.

3 Web Site
o Mr. Feit submits information to the web master for posting to the web site. The warrant for the upcoming special meeting will be posted there.

6. NEW BUSINESS
Contract Open Bids 1/14/08, 1 P.M.
o Will take place at Town Hall. Mr. Feit reports who bid packages have been sent to. Question of what kind of notice must be given for this. Mr. Bonney will check with Town Clerk.

7. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

1. Mr. Boucher says the need for larger lettering on signs was known as much as two years ago.
2. Ms. Tuleja asks about status of insurance on the roads. Mr. Bonney reports the attorney says it is advisable to have some but it is not advisable to go in with any private entity for it.
3. Ms. Tuleja asks for clarification of the issue of land on Minstrels Way.
4. Mr. Lerner asks about a map showing road maintenance priority and says Mystic Isle Way is consistently being 5. one of the last roads to be done this year. Mr. LaChapelle will discuss this with the contractor.
6. Mr. Ronzio asks about lack of answers to questions in minutes. Mr. Feit says the cd of the minutes is available to anyone who would like to listen to it. The printed minutes are an encapsulation of the meeting.
7. Mr. Ronzio speaks about the tax bills being late.
8. Mr. Ronzio asks if there is a sand/salt mix being used on the road and how it is being stored. He says it is being stored too close to a body of water.
9. Mr. Ronzio speaks of the selectmen disallowing sand/salt storage on another piece of property a month ago. Mr. LaChapelle says he decided he didn’t want it there.
10. Mr. Ronzio would like a copy of the bid package to be sure it is readable.
11. Mr. Ronzio says the minutes are not distributed in a timely manner.
12. Mr. Boucher says the original cd of a meeting should not be given out.
13. Ms. Tuleja says public participation should be accurately reflected. Mr. Feit says his personal lawyer said that minutes should be just encapsulated with an audio copy stored in a safe place to give out to anyone who would like to here it.
14. Ms. Tuleja asks about legal liability of sand/salt storage.
15. Ms. Devane asks where plowing starts, saying she has had problems getting out.
16. Ms. Devane asks about having sand stationed at critical points along the roads.
17. Ms. Devane says maintenance of the mailbox area is inconsistent. Ms. Tuleja says she will look into this to determine responsibility.
18. Ms. Devane says the town’s minutes are summarized.
19. Mr. Ronzio says the road by the mailboxes is a town road and the mailboxes are either on town or private property.
20. Mr. Ronzio says the contractor who is doing the plowing said at several meetings that he had storage space outside of the Forest.
21. Mr. Lerner asks for clarification of $45,000 received. It was back taxes/property sales.
22. Mr. Lerner says there is no mention of having a backup signatory in the bylaws but that an emergency meeting can be called and a new signatory chosen in 48 hours.
23. Mr. Boucher says let the lawyer answer the question of a backup signatory.

8. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to conduct, a motion is made and seconded to adjourn. Unanimous approval.

The meeting is adjourned

Respectfully Submitted

Marty Feit
Clerk-Treasurer

/bl