Back to Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes 2008
April 22, 2008
Regular Session 5:10
Ms. Tully, Mr. Riley, Ms. Burns
Public Hearing on Application of Verizon New England Inc.
Ms. Tully requested Mr. Conrad introduce the committee and others involved in the Verizon negotiations. He did so and then informed the Board that the bottom line is that a contract was negotiated in four months and provides $400,000 in capital money for expenses as well as the maximum allowable 5% of gross revenues commencing January 1, 2010. This will continue until the Town signs an agreement with Comcast when the reimbursement rate will be set to the same rate as that Comcast is providing. He said the Cable TV Committee will now go to Comcast to negotiate a continuing contract with them.
Mr. Colon from Verizon provided a general overview of the contract provisions. Mr. McGrail reviewed the milestones during the negotiations. Mr. Solomon, Special Counsel to the Town, advised the Board that the license could have been for 15 years under state law but he feels it is in best interest of Town to have 10 year agreement. The build out will cover a substantial portion of town within 2 years. After that another two to four years to complete the entire system throughout the Town. License preserves all the power consistent with federal law. The service area is the entire town. Verizon has made a commitment to make service available to the entire town and is obligated to get a signal from Town Hall, the Library and the High School to future access studio. If it is in town Verizon will connect to studio as long as they are providing cable service in that area. It is important to note that the Town would not be foreclosed from having a joint studio outside of town if Verizon has a license with that community and the area is to be served by Verizon and that it is commercially reasonable.
The Public/Educational/Government (PEG) grant is $400,000 in total. Verizon has agreed to disucss PEG access on demand and to discuss placing the PEG programming schedule on the electronic programming guide. These are first in the country provisions that will be very helpful down the line. Mr. Conrad said they are working with the Verizon Foundation for a grant to fund a project to combine high school students and seniors to teach them how to operate digital equipment. The first project will be a documentary to be filmed and shown on the public access channel.
Ms. Burns thanked everyone noting that the talent and knowledge available to the town has been great. She expressed her hope to have a mutual process including other towns to build the studio. Mr. Riley asked Verizon representatives about the time for service build out and for a commitment going forward on underground utilities. Ms. Tully commented that it is a good contract for the Town and she was particularly pleased to hear the build out is such that some people can get on line in the very near future.
Lauren Healy Sullivan, a resident of Hingham and an employee of Verizon, said that she has tested this product for the past three years and has found it to be a fantastic product. Mr. Rabuffo, a Verizon retiree, noted that the aerial service represents 75% of the homes in town and that is to be completed within two years.
Voted - Board of Selectmen as cable licensing authority of the Town hereby issue and approve a Cable TV License to Verizon New England Inc.
Fire Station Building Committee Final Report
Ms. Ferrante reported that the project was finalized ahead of schedule and will most likely have a small balance to return to the town. There is a small punch list left but no major issues. The Board thanked the committee for all the work.
Hingham Town Homes
Mr. Issadore appeared before the Board and said he was substituting form Mr. Hastings who is on vacation. The proposed project has been voted on and approved by the Board of Appeals. All that is left for the ZBA to do in to write up the decision. Under the LIP program this was supposed to be approved by the Selectmen before this went to DHCD.
He noted that the units have been reduced is size according to what the Board wanted. Ms. Tully mentioned that there seems to be a stumbling block regarding the stone wall in
front of the Hersey House. Mr. Issadore said that although he attended the Board of Appeals hearings he did not remember hearing any discussion about the stone wall or pile of rocks in front of the building and that the ZBA did not require that the stone wall remain. With the landscaping, Mr. Hastings feels the wall or rocks along the edge of the property will detract. Ms. Letitza-Eddy said the ZBA did not require that the stone wall remain but there was a condition that within thirty days of the issuance of decision Mr. Hastings would deliver rocks or stockpile the rocks for use by the Historic Districts Commission. Ms. Tully asked Mr. Issadore if Mr. Hastings would agree to the condition that the rocks remain.
Ms. Young said the Historical Commission sent a memo to the Board of Appeals asking that the stone wall be retained. It continues on in front of the church next door and around the corner. The wall is also reflective or the wall at Fort Hill Street cemetery. Mr. Riley said that he attended the hearings and there were two issues that were important to the HDC – not moving the Hersey House and the wall remaining intact. He noted that Ms. Corey brought up the wall again and Mr. Hastings said if you the Town wanted to leave the wall the way it is he would not touch it. Mr. Riley said that unless Mr. Hastings agrees to leave the wall intact he would not vote yes on this project. Ms. Burns said that this is not a pile of rocks it is the kind of wall you see elsewhere around town. She noted that the reason the Board retained approval authority was for just this type of detail. Mr. Riley suggested that he would like to see this go back to the Board of Appeals and having the language regarding the wall taken out. Mr. Issadore noted that the current design reflects less massing and the reduced the size of the units as well as Hersey House not moving, as requested. Ms. Burns said that those items satisfied the concerns the Board had, but she would prefer to have a written agreement about the stone wall with Mr. Hastings since she is not confident about a verbal agreement with Mr. Hastings. Ms. Colantonio said that she is glad that the stone wall is being preserved but is terribly upset about the process. She noted that in 1976 the Selectmen asked that care, custody and control of the property be given to the Council on Aging.
Ms. Tully said the Board has gone through an entire process and the Board would be re-formed prior to this coming up again. She suggested that the approval be voted subject to a written agreement. Ms. Tully said it would be unfortunate for this to come to a vote where not one of the original selectmen will be around to vote on it. Mr. Issadore proposed that the vote be made subject to the wall being preserved and maintained. Ms. Burns said it is not easy to get rid of Town’s assets and it should not be easy – it should be difficult. She said if Mr. Issadore’s client had earned the general respect that we could work this out things might be different. Mr. Cristello pointed out that the Board is meeting on Monday and Tuesday evening next week and, if the necessary written agreement was received, it could be voted at that time.
Voted - to request Mr. Hastings provide a written agreement to preserve and maintain a wall as is.
Continuation of a Public Hearing re: Street Acceptance for Hill Top Road
Mr. Stigliani had provided reports on the remaining items. The wall has not been removed but it will be. Previously, Mr. Pattavina brought the problems regarding drainage from Hill Top Road onto Thaxter Street to the Board’s attention. There is possible a flat spot on the end of the road that may have been rolled a little too much and flattened it out. Mr. Riley said it appears that when they rolled it they took the crown out of the road. Intoccia Construction will make repairs and work on the crown to bring it up ¾ of an inch. Mr. Stigliani said that regardless of what the elevations show the roadway must be corrected to make sure the drainage goes into the catch basin. Ms. Lacy noted the Town is still holding $37,000 and she is confident that they will do the job.
Voted - to lay out, as a town way, Hill Top Road, a way beginning at the intersection of Thaxter Street extending approximately 1,106.58 feet, more or less, in a southwesterly direction as shown through a turnaround as shown on a plan entitled: “Roadway Acceptance Plan & Profile, Hill Top
Road, Hingham, MA” dated October 12, 2007, prepared by Coler & Colantonio Inc., Engineers and Scientists, as revised from time to time.
Metro Boston Hazard Mitigation Plan
Chief Duff explained that this is a project that has been running for 3 or 4 years. It is up to communities to develop a pre- mitigation plan. The MAPC has just recently completed that plan which deals with dam safety, winter storms, hazardous substances, and the like. The Chief said the plan is great and he recommends that the selectmen adopt the plan. The pre-mitigation would deal with flooding issues, seawalls, etc. As Emergency Management Director Chief Duff got to oversee the creation of the plan which identifies the critical structures throughout the town – dams, schools, the Turkey Hill water supply water tanks, etc. There are a series of measures that can be taken. Mr. Cristello suggested that a subcommittee of the LEPC or key department heads decide what the priorities are and where the focus should be. These would be for Federal and state grants available for projects.
Voted - to adopt the Metro Boston Hazard Mitigation Plan, Annex for the Town of Hingham.
Chief Duff said there is an emergency management drill on Sunday morning. The accident will be between a school bus and a train because it is the worst possible scenario. The Chief also announced there is a no burning permitted due to the extremely dry weather.
On Monday afternoon three members of the Fire Department responded when a 30 year old worker fell into a silo in Abington and had some severe injuries. Technical rescue team Dave Levenson, Steve LaChance and Steve Murphy responded and helped extricate the man.
Ms. Tully said that last week she noticed a meeting around the grade crossing at Hersey Street. She called and determined that the Town had not been invited. Deputy Chief Olsson and a representative from the Police Department went over and were informed that it was an internal MBTA meeting. The T determined that the Town’s issues regarding this grade crossing cannot be addressed. Ms. Tully said that this is not a satisfactory answer and strongly suggested that the Board get back to MBTA and say that the meeting should be held again and the Town will bring its own experts. Mr. Cristello said he did talk to the T today and told them that we were unconvinced that this could not be addressed.
Parking regulations Ms. Burns said she had been concerned about the proposed regulation of the merchants lot. She spoke to Judy Sneath and suggested a four hour limit. The merchants felt that four hours would not do the trick. They suggested three hours.
Voted - to amend the Traffic Rules and Orders of the Town of Hingham, adopted by the Board of Selectmen on May 31, 1939, and subsequent amendments thereto, be and hereby are further amended as follows:
ARTICLE V. SECTION 7–TIME LIMITED IN DESIGNATED PLACES
Limit Merchants Parking Lot to three hour parking with an exemption by parking sticker for merchants/employees of businesses based on geographic location but not including the North side of North Street.
Selectmen/Town Administrator Reports
Mr. Riley noted that everyone was working very hard on preparation for town meeting. He also recognized Ms. Tully for her six years on the Board of Selectmen and the guidance she has given.
The Board voted, by roll call vote to adjourn to executive session to discuss real estate not to return to open session this evening.
Mr. Riley –yes
Ms. Burns – yes
Ms. Tully – yes.
Open session adjourned 7:15 pm
. Betty Foley, Clerk