Back to Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
July 13, 2010
Regular Session 7:00 pm
Mr. Rabuffo, Mr. Riley, Ms. Burns
Questions from the Public
Mr. Patch said that he was concerned that the business at 3 Otis Street was not in compliance with the Zoning By-Law. The Board said they would direct the Town Administrator to look into the matter. Mr. Keyes said that the agenda posting for this evening was not in compliance with the new Open Meeting Law because the matter to be discussed was too vague in the posting. Mr. Rabuffo explained that there was a discussion planned for executive session this evening dealing with a real estate matter for 3 Otis Street and a contract negotiation for the police chief.
Mr. Riley reported that one of the areas improved during the North Street reconstruction is a triangular park at the intersection of North and South Streets. Selectmen Rabuffo was part of a group who found a signpost and sign behind the Department of Public Works building. Mr. Riley explained that the granite is lovely but the sign leaves something to be desired. Bill Sarni prepared a designs for the sign on a pro bono basis. Mr. Riley said that his company would be prepared to donate the construction materials. Mr. Sarni presented two possible designs – one rectangular and one similar to the historical markers. The Board reached consensus on the rectangular version of the sign.
Voted - to authorize Mr. Sarni to construct and hang a historic sign on the granite post at Cherry Tree Park.
Ward Street Fields
Mr. Tocchio advised the Board that the proponents of the Ward Street Fields have attempted to get the answers to the questions that had been raised relative to the need for fields in general and for lacrosse in particular as well as whether there are alternatives to the currently proposal. The number of participants in the town lacrosse teams has grown from 429 to 770 children over the past three years. The younger age group is the largest growing part of the program. Last year there were two dozen kindergarten children turned away because of lack of space. Children through grade 4 use the Carlson Fields. These fields were booked solid throughout the entire spring. The Ward Street Field has boys lacrosse for grades 5 through 8. There are 8 teams and usually half of those teams playing an away game on any given Saturday. The School Committee is currently looking at the high school fields. There have been ongoing problems with grading, flooding, etc. If these fields were to be fixed it would put them out of commission for at least a year. Presently the girls practice at the high school and they often get bumped. The creation of fields at Ward Street would allow the girls to play at the Ward Street location.
Mr. Tocchio and Mr. McKinnon enumerated the benefits of the additional field at Ward Street: no mandatory cuts, the ability to integrate the girls’ teams into the Ward Street Facility, the capability to accommodate the surge of the younger players moving up through the system. The K-4 lacrosse players will continue at Carlson fields. It is estimated that the value of the field would be somewhere between $500,000 -$1,000,000. Hingham Youth Lacrosse will book the fields from 5-7:30 on weekdays and weekends from 8-6; Notre Dame Academy has indicated that they would be interested in the fields from 3-5. Spring revenue would be approximately $6,200 and Fall revenue would be $4,600. Mr. Riley noted that this would be approximately 32 weeks out of the year. He also remarked that there would still be an opportunity for the walking trails, etc. Ms. Burns said that since she had just received the information she would like an opportunity to review the materials and come back to the group with questions.
Temporary Liquor License
Samuels & Associates, Hingham Events LLC has applied for a one-day liquor license for the opening of the new Mark Wahlberg/Will Farrell movie. The premiere will be held at the Shipyard Cinemas with events before and after the showing.
Voted - to approve a temporary liquor license to sell wine and malt beverages to Samuels & Associates Hingham Events, LLC at Hingham Shipyard for a movie premiere on August 3, 2010, from 3:00 PM to 1:00 AM.
South Hingham Sewer
There has been an ongoing study regarding the future economic development of the South Hingham area and the water and sewer use. Ms. Lacy said the options under which we are operating are becoming somewhat constrained. The original idea was to focus on standard sewer through Weymouth or running through the town to North Hingham. Initially the thought was that an on site wastewater treatment plant was not a good option. That has changed. The Weir River is a stressed basin and the
regulatory hurdles with interbasin transfers, etc. are significant. By doing on site treatment there would be no problems with an interbasin transfer. There would be a need for a groundwater discharge permit from DEP and possibly an environmental impact report. Unfortunately there is no commonly owned town parcel that works.
A draft of the comprehensive waste management plan has been sent to the Department of Environmental Protection and the Wastewater Management Committee will be discussing the draft and get comments back to the consultant.
Voted - to approve the request of the Director of Community Planning for a FY 10 Intra-Department Reserve Fund Transfer in the amount of $1,000.
Plymouth County
Hanover Selectmen Dan Pallotta, Chairman of the Plymouth County Advisory Board, explained that there will be a ballot question on a charter commission study for the county. Plymouth is the oldest county in the state and at one time the duties was very encompassing. Over the years the duties were taken away leaving the Registry of Deeds as the primary function of the county. Mr. Palotta said that through the ballot question the county could vote to establish a charter commission – 15 members voted at large and three appointed by the county commissioners. Anyone can run, nomination papers are due on the 27th of July.
The County Advisory Board is seeing the county buildings deteriorate because there is not enough money to keep them up. It is likely that one of the three courthouses in the county will be closed – Hingham, Brockton or Wareham. Mr. Pallotta indicated that one role for the county could be regionalization projects similar to the Regional Emergency Communications Center being created in Hingham. There is a $32 million retirement liability that will be apportioned to all of the member communities if the county ceases to function. Hingham’s share of that liability is $2.5 million.
Ms. Burns said we had an entity with functions given it by the state. What she hopes will come out of the charter commission is a vision of the county from the bottom up with a consensus of the member
towns . Barnstable County has regionalized dredging initiative and they have received a grant to make the entire county wireless. It is important that the towns find a good solution to work cooperatively.
Currently in Plymouth County the county fire plane is used for brush fires and a regional fire training facility is planned.
It was noted that there is a district for Hingham and Hull so it is important to get the information out there and to have people become involved. Two candidates for the charter commission were present at the discussion – Carl Harris (Hingham) and Jim Tobin (Hull).
Voted - to appoint Jason Ryan to the Audit Committee for a 2-year term expiring 2012.
Voted - to appoint David Anderson as an Associate Member to the Board of Appeals for a 1-year term expiring in 2011.
Voted- to appoint Brad Moyer to the Energy Action Committee.
Voted - to appoint Harold Goldstein to the Traffic Committee for a 3-year term expiring in 2013.
Selectmen/Town Administrator Reports
Mr. Riley reported that the July 4 celebration was excellent. Mr. Rabuffo noted that it was a great to see the red, white and blue stripe down Main Street. Mr. Rabuffo noted that he met with the Chair of the Government Study Committee and offered to have them come into a Selectmen’s meeting. The Advisory Committee has adopted a revised financial policy that is also on the list for a future meeting. This past year the Town shed about 20 full time positions but this was done without layoffs. The Board thanked town staff for their good management in avoiding layoffs. Mr. Paicos reported that the regional dispatch legislation was signed by the governor and is now a part of the Acts and Resolves of 2010. Senator Hedlund and Representative Bradley managed to get this through the legislature in less
than three months.. Regional Dispatch bid documents will be available tomorrow and there has been a huge amount of interest. It is hoped that there will be another grant announcement forthcoming.
d, by roll call vote, to adjourn to executive session for purpose of contract negotiations regarding the Police Chief’s contract and the library memorandum of agreement and a real property transaction and public discussion would have a detrimental effect on this.
Ms. Burns, yes
Mr. Riley, yes
Mr. Rabuffo, yes
Open session adjourned at 9:15 pm. The Board announced that there would be no further public discussion of matters this evening.
Betty Foley, Clerk
Attachment: Pictures of signs