| COMMONWEALTH
OF MASSACHUSETTS
Sherwood Forest Road Maintenance District
Annual Meeting
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Committee Members Present:
Robert Ronzio, Chairman; Jerry Summit, Vice Chairman; Gilles Beaudoin;
David Bonney; Michael McEnerney; Marty Feit, Clerk-Treasurer
Public Present:
Richard Aglietti, Justin Bailey, Laura Bailey(?), Albert Barvenik, Fran
Barvenik, Guy Bensen, Paula Bergeron, Eva Bonney, Celia Boucher, Ron Boucher,
Bill Brownhill, Joyce Brownhill, Charles Clemons, Margaret Clemons, Patricia
Clemons, Claire Daigle, William DeLomer (sp?), David Devane, Nancy Devane,
Jennifer Discowicz, Laurie Discowicz, Paulette Feit, Jim Fennell, Ruth
Fennell, Gail Garland, Hollis Giles, Mario Godbout, Steven Grondin, Robert
Guevin, Angela Hilton, Al Labonbard, Sandra Labonbard, Dennis LaChapelle,
Edward LaForest, Robert LaValle, Blanche Lennington, John Lennington,
Howard Lerner, Gail McGeer, John McGeer, Ruth Rosenthal, Steve Rosenthal,
David Siefer, Kathleen Seifer, Joan Sobol, Caroline Summit, Juston Townson,
Kim Van Buren, Set Yergatian
Mr. Rosenthal reviews ground
rules. Mr. Feit, District Clerk, calls the meeting to order (time not
specified). Mr. Rosenthal is nominated and seconded to be Moderator of
the meeting; approved unanimously. Mr. Rosenthal reads the warrant for
the meeting.
Article One
To see if the District will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of money
as needed to defray the expenses of the District for the ensuing year
and to fix the salaries and compensation of all elected offices elected
offices as provided by Section 108 of Chapter 41 as set forth in the attached.
Article Two
To cast votes in the District election for the election of candidates
for the following offices whose terms expire at this meeting.
One Regular Resident – Two Years
One Regular Non-Resident – Two Years
One Alternate Resident – Two Years
Article One is moved
and seconded. Ms. Brownhill asks if line items will be read and
if amendments can be made to them. At the desire of the group Mr. Rosenthal
reads the line items:
Appropriation Chart
The Moderator opens the article
for discussion.
Mr. LaChapelle speaks to the Engineering Expense. His remarks don’t
make it to the tape.
Mr. Boucher questions the Contract Services line. Mr. Feit says not enough
money was put into it for 2007 so it has been increased for 2008. Ms.
Devane asks for an explanation of Contract Services. Mr. Feit says that
transcription of minutes is one thing, also any repairs that would be
needed. He gives as an example the hiring of a recording secretary to
go to the FEMA briefing. Mr. Brownhill asks about the Audit line item.
Mr. Feit says that the accountant will be doing the audit on an annual
basis now and that he has said that $1,000 per quarter will be sufficient.
The audit is done by the accountant, along with the Clerk/Treasurer and
the DOR representative.
Mr. Summit answers a question which did not come through on the tape,
saying that the additional $2,000 in the Insurance line item is for liability
insurance on the roads. He says the current insurance costs are workers
compensation, liability insurance for board members, and bonding for the
Clerk/Treasurer. Mr. Guevin asks why the Road District should carry liability
insurance on the roads when it is not the owner of the roads. Mr. Summit
says if there is a major accident on the roads that the District would
probably be sued first and the SFNA second so the money is for the defense
of potential law suits. Someone asks if the contractor doesn’t carry
liability insurance for such things. Mr. Summit says it is an open question
as to who will be responsible for covering a law suit in the end –
the money in the budget is to handle that defense.
Hearing no further comments on Article One, the Moderator calls for a
vote.
Ms. Brownhill expresses confusion regarding the proceedings. She did not
understand that amendments could be made during the previous discussion
period. The Moderator says that since she did raise the question earlier
and has said she did not understand the procedure, at the will of the
group, he will allow her amendment to be brought forward.
He asks voters if they wish to permit an amendment. Voters unanimously
express the desire to allow this.
Ms. Brownhill wishes to amend the Engineering Expense line item. The Moderator
interprets her request to be “to restrict the Engineering Expense
line item of $7,500 to be used exclusively for Waterway Maintenance”.
There is discussion of this, much of which does not make it to the tape.
Mr. Ronzio raises a point of order, saying that what needs to be done
is to reduce the Engineering Expense to zero and increase Waterways to
$27,500. The Moderator verifies with Ms. Brownhill that this is her intent.
The amendment is moved and seconded. There is more discussion, again much
of which does not make it to the tape. Mr. Feit says his understanding
of Waterways is that it has to do with culverts and ditches on the sides
of the road. Mr. Summit says that to the best of his knowledge no engineer
has previously been brought in to look at the waterways. He says he would
assume that money in the Waterways account could be spent on waterways
engineering should the Prudential Committee deem it necessary. Mr. Ronzio
says the Sherwood Greens Road District had an expense for this very kind
of thing and it cost them between $5,000 and $7,000 for the required engineering
study.
Ms. Garland questions the reason for the amendment. Ms. Brownhill says
it is her understanding that proper maintenance of the waterways is one
of the most important factors in proper maintenance of the roads so she
would like to see the money in the Waterways account. Ms. Lennington says
that it is her understanding that the Forest will be having to file a
Generic Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission for ongoing
work on the culverts and other waterways and that a portion of that application
does require professional engineering so perhaps the thing to do is to
restrict the Engineering Expense to engineering for waterways only and
then that money can be used for the engineering required in the Generic
NOI. The Moderator asks what a Generic Notice of Intent is. Ms. Lennington
says that a Notice of Intent is a form that is filed with the Conservation
Commission whenever anyone who owns property in or near waterways or wetlands
wants to do any work there. Her understanding is that a Generic Notice
of Intent is a form which can be filed by towns or communities with the
Conservation Commission to cover all of the routine work needed on culverts
and waterways over the course of the year so they would not have to come
before the commission for every single incident.
The Moderator says here that he would like to explain a procedural item
before going forward.
Tape #1 stops here; when Tape #2 starts the Moderator is explaining that
an amendment can be either pulled by it’s maker or amended further.
Mr. Grondin speaks but his comments are not caught on the tape. Mr. Ronzio
confirms that a Generic NOI will have to be filed and that it will require
the hiring of an engineer. There is more discussion which is lost to the
tape. The Moderator restates the desire of someone from the floor to reconsider
the amendment and restrict the Engineering line item to engineering for
waterways only. Ms. Brownhill wishes to hold her motion as it is. The
unknown speaker withdraws her suggestion. Mr. Bailey speaks but his comments
are not picked up.
There being no further discussion, the Moderator calls for a vote on the
amendment on the floor. It is passed by a hand vote 35 to 11. Engineering
Expense is reduced to zero; Waterways is increased to $27,500.
Discussion on Article One resumes.
Mr. Bonney makes a motion to reduce Contract Services from $2,000 to zero
and to increase Petty Cash from $100 to $2,100. Mr. Boucher seconds. Discussion
ensues, much of which is not picked up on the tape. Ms. Lennington speaks,
saying that a large part of the Contract Services line item is currently
going to pay her for transcription services and that, as a taxpayer, she
is not in favor of money being spent on this. She points out that, to
her knowledge, taking minutes of meetings has always been a normal part
of what the Clerk/Treasurer gets paid for and she feels that paying a
third party now to transcribe the minutes is setting an unwanted precedent.
She does feel, however, that the Contract Services line item should be
kept in the budget – just not at such a high amount. There is considerable
further discussion on this. Finally Ms. Devane proposes reducing Contract
Services to $1,000 and increasing Petty Cash to $600. Mr. Bonney agrees
to this. The amendment is put to a voice vote and passed unanimously.
The total of the budget is thereby reduced to $238,300.
Mr. Al Kendall speaks from the floor saying that he is very upset that
the budget deliberations are being done now rather than earlier in the
day as originally scheduled. He says he was told there would be an election
and that is why he came but he has to leave soon to go to work.
There being no further discussion on Article One, the Moderator re-reads
the budgeted amounts as amended and calls for a vote. The article is unanimously
passed by voice vote.
The Moderator moves on to Article
Two, requesting nominations for Regular Resident – two year term.
Linda Shaw is nominated and seconded. Bill Brownhill is nominated and
seconded. John McGeer is nominated but declines the nomination. There
being no other nominations a vote is taken by secret written ballot.
While the vote is proceeding, the Moderator requests nominations for Regular
Non-Resident – two year term. Gerry Grondin is nominated and seconded.
Steve Sabo is nominated and seconded.
The result of the election of Regular Resident is: Mr. Brownhill –
36; Ms. Shaw – 14.
There being no other nominations for Regular Non-Resident, a vote is taken
by secret written ballot. While the vote for Regular Non-Resident is proceeding,
the Moderator requests nominations for Alternate Resident – two
year term. Dennis LaChapelle is nominated and seconded. Linda Shaw is
nominated and seconded. There being no other nominations a vote is taken
by secret written ballot.
The result of the election of Regular Non-Resident is: Mr. Grondin –
36; Mr. Sabo – 14.
The result of the election of alternate Resident is: Mr. LaChapelle –
35; Ms. Shaw – 15.
There being no further business
to conduct, a motion is made and seconded to adjourn.
The meeting is adjourned at 2:35 PM.
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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