Back to Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
August 11, 2009
Regular Session 7:00 pm
Ms. Burns, Mr. Rabuffo
Farmers’ Market Update
Mr. Cullings informed the Board that the market has grown a lot during the past couple of years. The new Square Market has been quite successful and both markets have been very well received. Mr. Cullings thanked the Trustees of the Bathing Beach, the merchants, The Hingham Journal, the Police Dept, the Fire Department, etc. for their help this season. He said that the Bathing Beach market has a full parking lot. Two weeks ago 886 people came through the front entrance to the market. This success has raised a couple of issues with congestion in the parking lot. The market has worked very hard to make areas for all to park. The Market is very cognizant that this is the Bathing Beach and the vendors have worked very hard to keep the area along the sand for bathers to park.
Governor Patrick said there are almost 200 markets in the Commonwealth and 40 new ones this year, of which the Square Market is one. He has issued a proclamation saying that August 16 through the 22nd is Massachusetts Farmers’ Market Week. Mr. Cullings said that the citizens in Hingham like to meet the farmers and know where the produce is coming from. From 2002 to 2007 the number of farms in eastern Massachusetts has increased by 27%. Weir River Farm is one of those participating in this growth. He noted that the Square Market has suffered through some terrible weather and repaving. There have been many lessons learned. Closing off lower Main Street creates minimal traffic disruptions. Mr. Rabuffo noted that deliveries can conflict at times with the Square Market. Mr. Marshall advised that this issue seems to have resolved itself. He also reported that after the first week the Market came up with notice to those coming down North and Lincoln Streets. “Artists in the Square” was quite successful and will be done again on August 19. There will be music, chefs’ demonstrations and painting.
Mr. Cullings said that September 26 is the day the Hingham Nursery School will conduct Touch a Truck. During this event last year the market site was shifted to the other parking lot. This year that might be difficult as there is a wedding scheduled for the Bandstand. Other planned events include Burton’s Grill coming down to do a cooking demonstration at a Saturday market and, on August 22nd the Beach Market will partner with the Food Pantry in a “one for me, one for you” program where patrons can purchase items that would be suitable for the Food Pantry.
Voted - to issue a Proclamation proclaiming August 16 through August 22, 2009 to be Farmers’ Market Week.
Grant of Location on Jones Street to National Grid
Dennis Regan, the permit representative from National Grid, advised the board that National Grid would like to replace the steel main in Jones Street with a plastic main. This would tie into a coated steel main on Leavitt Street.
Voted - to grant the petition of National Grid to install and maintain approximately 1,000 feet of 2 inch gas main in Jones Street, subject to conditions outlined in the DPW letter
Public Hearing on the Request of Allan Bora
Representatives of the Light Plant raised some issues relative to the best way to accommodate Mr. Bora’s request for permission to install an underground electrical service to his Free Street home. The Board requested Mr. Paicos to contact Town Counsel and the Light Plant Manager in order to find a resolution to this issue.
Voted - to continue the public hearing until August 19 at 9:00 am.
Cable TV Discussion
Up until a few months ago the only cable agreement was with Comcast. During that time there was a public access studio in Norwell. Recently Comcast has notified the Town that they would no longer maintain the studio in Norwell but would rather put some funds into the Town account to provide public access availability for the town. Many towns set up an independent non-profit community access corporation and some towns do it themselves. There are three channels to be considered: the education channel, the government channel and the public access channel.
Attorney Bill August was asked by the Board to review the cable contract and advise the Board on the various issues. Comcast is getting out of the studio business and they refuse to do the local programming after the licenses expire. He explained that historically there were three options for local programming: non-profit corporation, community run, cable run. The number one option is to set up a non-profit 501 C 3 which is a tax exempt, non-profit. There are many flavors of non-profits. The structure of the non-profit is defined by the Town through articles of organization and by-laws. Action is taken by majority vote of the directors. Usually the ultimate governing body is a 5-7 member board of directors. The composition of this board of directors might include someone from the schools, someone appointed by the Board of Selectmen and others appointed by the Board of Directors. Mr. August said that there are about 155 non-profit access centers in Massachusetts - of those, about 20 are town departments. Some towns still have the cable companies continuing to provide the studio because the licenses have not expired. Under the town charter a local channel committee is created. In some cases the committee can be a Town governmental body of some sort or a non-profit, then there are hybrids. Some communities have non-profits for public access and a separate committee or board to oversee the educational channel; some have the PEG access managing all three. Certain powers may be reserved to the Board of Selectmen and Schools relative to the governmental and educational channels. Even if there is a nonprofit for all three channels, the School Department reserves ultimate authority with respect to the educational access programming and the same is true for the Selectmen with respect to the government channel. Mr. August said the Board of Selectmen is the licensing authority and therefore the ultimate authority on both government and educational channels. He pointed out that the First Amendment and public access channel case law restricts the Selectmen’s authority for editorial control on public access.
The Board of Selectmen can devise the guidelines for the public access channel jointly with the directors. As a non-profit the directors have a fiduciary responsibility to be independent and pursue the best interests of the non-profit. It is appropriate, accepted and recognized that the Board of Selectmen have some oversight. There can be a contract between the Board of Selectmen and the access corporation. Mr. August said that there is a form of contract that has been in use. The overwhelming majority of access corporations are created with the idea of being independent. The Ethics Commission found that a small minority were actually governmental bodies because of governmental control. The main criterion is the composition of the Board of Directors, especially going forward (if government appointed). The initial board may be appointed by the Selectmen but going forward one would be appointed by the Board of Selectmen and one by the Superintendent. The remaining board members are to be elected by the Board of Directors.
There are also regional models. The regional entity operates a joint public access channel, but there are separate governmental and educational channels. Another model is a public access corporation, an active governmental body and an educational access done by the schools. There are an infinite number of options. Weymouth had an educational and governmental corporation but no public access. Dartmouth has a town entity doing combined educational and governmental channels. A town with no public access channel is very rare. Some towns shy away from public access because they feel it is a little controversial. Dartmouth did that but then felt pressure to do some public access on community events.
Mr. Rabuffo asked how funding works across the Commonwealth. Mr. August said it depends on verbiage of the contract. The contract may say the cable company shall pay 4% of gross annual revenue for a non-profit access corporation. In that case, the cable committee and Board of Selectmen went through the decision making process. The Hingham license is a bit more open-ended and it refers to an access designee. This gives more latitude. The Comcast license, like many if not most, allocates funding for Public, Educational and Governmental. The Verizon license is more flexible – public educational, governmental of cable related expenses. Mr. August said the Town would want to consciously do things in such a way to make expenses very cable connected.
The rate of payment is determined by the franchise agreement. The agreement says the cable company shall make annual payments. There is also a funding stream for capital. The operating funds are for annual expenses and capital for bricks and mortar. By signing the license the Board of Selectmen has approved the license. The companies pass through the expense to the extent that it increased under the new contract. They are only allowed to increase the rate by the amount that the new funding for public access is greater than the old funding. The state is supposed to be reviewing this. Many towns have caught them if there is a discrepancy. The existing rates were already structured to cover the cost of the Norwell studio. They can only pass through the difference between the old embedded cost and the new cost. As the total revenue goes up, it is 4.5% of a bigger pot. Many towns have done this type of agreement. Some towns have the percentage tweak down each year. There are some towns that fund a studio. The Town can always amend the license to reduce the payment. Regardless of what the payment is, the cable company rates will be whatever the market will bear anyway. The cable company rates will likely double in the next ten years due to increases in programming costs, etc.
A town could choose to make this entity a non-profit because this is not a governmental function. Local government has other priorities which are more traditional governmental functions. This is often thought of as the assignment of the cable company function. There is a certain natural continuity in giving it to another private entity. The public access piece has a little more freedom and creativity as a nonprofit. For-profit companies don’t do outreach to get members. Non-profits find members and more people get involved. A privatized non-profit insulates the selectmen from liability and the hassle of programming decisions. There is sufficient de facto control.
The overwhelming majority of towns have not had town meeting articles on this. If the legislature had wanted the town to have a say on license terms and conditions they would have given the authority to town meeting, not the selectmen. Licensing activity is within the scope of licensing authority. Some towns with an abundance of caution or for philosophical reasons have drafted town meeting articles. (Hamilton or Wenham) Cable funding is restricted to PEG access and the town therefore seeks authority to use the funding for PEG access purposes.
Ms. Burns asked that if the Uniform Procurement Act would come into play once the Selectmen decide what to do with the funds and it goes to a private entity to provide services or it there is an exclusion for services that are for charitable purposes for communities as a whole. Mr. August said that this is just licensing activity. Some town counsels will recommend a bidding process to see if someone else applies. If the Board of Selectmen approved the budget it would make entity a governmental body which would have complications in way of bidding, payroll and the open meeting law.
Mr. August said it is not as if the Town is breaking new ground. These non profits have been around for some time. He said First Amendment issues are more easily handled by a public access corporation when there is a robust dialogue. If government is managing this type of debate, there is a suspension level. There is a first amendment liability issue also.
Ray Eisenbees asked how broadly the term “cable related expense” is defined. Mr. August said that if the town designates it as a cable related expense is it a fait accompli. This means technology that is meaningfully interconnected to the cable system itself. There must be some solid cable function such as video origination. He said there is an institutional network bucket because it can be in conjunction with items that are cable related. If you are doing non video you must also do video. Some towns push the envelope and some companies have a live and let live attitude but it is not good to go that far afield because it creates risk factors. He said the with cable access you provide training but that does not extend to a teacher to teach it. This type of thing can be an issue in license renewals.
Irma Lauter asked is there a definitive list of cable related purposes and if the funds can be set aside in a reserve account for cable related activities. Mr. August said that it has to be cable related and has to meet the contract terms. In the case of the Comcast funding, PEG access or related. Verizon says PEG access or cable related. He said that with the capital funding it is possible that it could be put it in a cable related fund. Annual funding might not lend itself to being put into a reserve account. Amy Goebel noted that On Demand is not available for Selectmen’s meetings. Mr. August said that this is a computer thing as video hosting is a computer issue. Sandra Peavey asked if the reference to PEG access in the Comcast contract constitutes a requirement for public access.
Country Club restaurant RFP
Mr. Paicos reported that the Country Club Management Committee had reviewed the response to the RFP issue for food and beverage service at the South Shore Country Club and felt that Mr. Elio Ricci’s proposal was a very good one. Mr. Ricci’s plan calls for extensive capital improvements to the food and beverage facility.
Voted - to award the South Shore Country Club food and beverage contract to Elio Ricci subject to successful negotiation of a lease.
Voted - to appoint Robert Orsi as special counsel to the Country Club Management Committee for purpose of negotiations the food and beverage contract.
School Video Program at the High School - Katy Gallagher said that the studio provides classes for Hingham High School students, video services for the students and faculty as well as education-related
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cable programming. Classes provide technical training on equipment, writing skills and 21st century skills, including media literacy. Skills to be taught include oral and written communication, the ability to work in teams and mastery of technology.
Each week the students produce a program that is viewed by all students. They also produce commercials and videos. This year the school program was given a grant to train senior citizens on the video equipment. Students and teachers create various shows and some additional programming has come from Linden Ponds and Hull Wind. Ms. Gallagher said that studio production equipment does not become obsolete as quickly as it does on the consumer level. The proposed purchase of digital equipment will allow the school to become server-based. The video equipment also allows students to hone their interview skills, for both colleges and jobs. Ms. Gallagher would like to exchange programming with other educators through the Mass Organization for Video Educators. Students could assess and critique the programs. Students are exposed to a wider range of technology in the studio and this develops confidence and skills for approaching new technology. The timing is particularly important since the tax credit is expanding the film and television industry in Massachusetts.
Ms. Gallagher said that the cost in recent years has been the cost of the teacher. She is a full time person – part time librarian, part time teacher. This program equips people with skills that they would not otherwise obtain. It also allows kids to explore possible areas of interest. The studio also supports other areas of study.
The Capital Outlay Committee has approved $27,800+ for the school equipment and the equipment necessary to put Channel 10 back on the air. The items not approved were the wiring of other rooms and the studio in the box. Mr. Rabuffo said he would like to see the other rooms in Town Hall wired once the multi room capability is fleshed out in terms of cost. Capital Outlay wants to know what other rooms need to be wired. Mr. Rabuffo asked if Sandy Peavey had spoken to WGBH. Ms. Peavey explained that the first step had to be a decision from the selectmen that yes, the Town does want public access television. Mr. Rabuffo noted that by wiring the rooms that says this is something we should consider airing of all the meetings. Ms. Burns said that a memo will be sent to all board committees and commissions, requesting them to let us know if there is a particular interest that would benefit from televised coverage.
Voted - to appoint Clay Graham to a three year term on the Hingham Scholarship Committee
Voted - to appoint Lucy Jacobus, 11 Pioneer Road, to the Hingham 375th Anniversary Committee.
Voted - to approve the minutes of January 8, 9 and 13, 2009.
Selectmen reports.
Mr. Rabuffo said the Audit Committee arrived at three finalists and it is the recommendation that, subject to negotiations and an engagement letter, that Powers & Sullivan be retained to do the audit for the town. All of the reference came back with high grades. Powers and Sullivan represent many towns including 9 of the24 Aaa communities. The Bare Cove Committee will come to a September meeting to discuss some issues and questions.
Ms. Burns said there was a hearing on the MBTA fare hikes scheduled for tomorrow evening in Braintree but the Governor said all hearings are being suspended. Ms. Burns met with Martha Bewick and they concluded that possibly nothing of import would happen tomorrow. There are some people at the T who think that the last dime should have already been spent on the commuter boat. If there is such a panel Ms. Burns suggested the Board invite them to Hingham and show them what an important part the boat plays in the redevelopment of the Shipyard. Mr. Paicos suggested letting the dust settle a little bit before contacting the T. Mr. Rabuffo will not be here next week.
The Board voted by roll call vote to adjourn to executive session to discuss collective bargaining not to return to open session this evening. Mr. Rabuffo – yes, Ms. Burns – yes.
Betty Foley
Clerk