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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-18 SB-min Select Board Meeting December 18, 2023 A meeting of the Lexington Select Board was called to order at 6:30p.m. on Monday, December 18, 2023, via a remote meeting platform. Mr. Pato, Chair; Ms. Barry, Mr. Lucente, Mr. Sandeen, and Ms. Hai were present, as well as Mr. Malloy, Town Manager; Ms. Katzenback, Executive Clerk; and Ms. Axtell, Deputy Town Manager. The meeting was scheduled to start at 6:30pm, however due to technical difficulties Chair Pato called the meeting to order at 6:45pm. PUBLIC COMMENTS None at this time. SELECT BOARD MEMBER CONCERNS AND LIAISON REPORTS 1. Select Board Member Concerns and Liaison Reports Ms. Barry stated that last Saturday, December 16, 2023, six members of Lex250 Semiquincentennial Commission, along with the Economic Development Director Sandhya Iyer, went to Faneuil Hall and attended an America250 event, related to the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. This was an extraordinary opportunity, and the group was very thankful to attend. DOCUMENTS: Select Board Announcements and Liaison Reports - December 18, 2023 TOWN MANAGER REPORT 1. Town Manager Weekly Update Mr. Malloy explained that the Town of Lexington Article 97* working group will likely rejoin and start meeting again sometime in January. He also stated that the State sent a memo that 100% of ARPA funds have to be contractually obligated by December of 2024. Staff will be submitting additional requests to the Board after the start of the new year. *Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution establishes a right to a clean environment including its natural, scenic, historical, and aesthetic qualities for the citizens of the Commonwealth. An Act Preserving Open Space in the Commonwealth, also known as the Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA), established in statute requirements and a process for submission to the legislature of petitions to authorize the use for another purpose or disposition of land subject to Article 97 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth. DOCUMENTS: Weekly Update 12.08.23, Weekly Update 12.15.23 CONSENT AGENDA 1. 2024 Class I/II License Renewals To approve the 2024 Annual Class I/II License Renewals for the following businesses: CLASS I Lexington Toyota - 409 Massachusetts Avenue CLASS II A to Z Auto Wholesale - 20 Vine Street Auto and Diesel Sales - 75 Westview Street Lexington Auto Center, Inc. - 1095 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington Auto Service, Inc. - 39 Bedford Street 2. 2024 Common Carrier License Renewals To approve the 2024 Annual Common Carrier License Renewals for the following business to operate the Lexpress buses: COMMON CARRIER M+L Transit Systems Inc. #160 - 60 Olympia Avenue, Woburn M+L Transit Systems Inc. #161 - 60 Olympia Avenue, Woburn M+L Transit Systems Inc. #162 - 60 Olympia Avenue, Woburn M+L Transit Systems Inc. #163 - 60 Olympia Avenue, Woburn 3. 2024 Common Victualler License Renewals To approve the 2024 Annual Common Victualler License Renewals for the following businesses: COMMON VICTUALLER Abbott's Frozen Custard - 1853 Massachusetts Avenue Akame Nigiri and Sake - 1707 Massachusetts Avenue #2 Clay Oven Indian Restaurant - 1666 Massachusetts Avenue Dunkin Donuts - 323 Marrett Road Great Harvest Bakery & Café - 233 Massachusetts Avenue Nick's Restaurant of Lexington Inc. - 197 Massachusetts Avenue Pine Meadows Golf Club - 255 Cedar Street Rancatore's Ice Cream and Yogurt - 1752 Massachusetts Avenue Revolution Hall - 3 Maguire Road Starbucks #7553 - 60 Bedford Street The Hangar - 103 Hartwell Avenue The Upper Crust - 41 Waltham Street The Vintage Tea and Cake Company LLC - 21 Muzzey Street When Pigs Fly Bread - 1756 Massachusetts Avenue 4. 2024 Entertainment License Renewals To approve the 2024 Annual Entertainment License Renewals for the following businesses: ENTERTAINMENT Revolution Hall - 3 Maguire Road Spirit of India - 321 Marrett Road 5. 2024 Liquor License Renewals The Select Board is being asked to approve 2024 Liquor License renewals for the establishments listed below. The licensees have supplied the necessary paperwork for the renewal. Of note: The Knights of Columbus is working with the Building Department to schedule their reinspection of items which required attention for their Building Inspection Permit. ALL ALCOHOL/ RESTAURANTS Revolution Hall - 3 Maguire Road Royal India Bistro - 7 Meriam Street ALL ALCOHOL/ INNHOLDER Inn at Hastings Park - 2013-2027 Massachusetts Avenue WINE/MALT Taipei Gourmet - 211 Massachusetts Avenue The Upper Crust - 41 Waltham Street CLUBS Knights of Columbus - 177 Bedford Street Lexington Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) - 2 Hayes Avenue Lexington-Waltham Elks Lodge #2204 - 959 Waltham Street PACKAGE STORES Lexington Liquors - 7 Depot Square 6. Application: Battle Green Permit – MLK Day Commemoration Committee, Battle Green, 0 Massachusetts Avenue  11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day of Service Unity Walk  Road Closure for Parade on Massachusetts Avenue To approve the request from the MLK Day Commemoration Committee to use the Battle Green on Monday, January 15, 2024 from 12:45pm to 1:30pm for the purpose of a gathering as part of a Unity Walk for the 11th Annual MLK Day of Service and 31st Commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. To approve the request from the MLK Day Commemoration Committee for one lane of Massachusetts Avenue from the Battle Green to Cary Memorial Building, 1605 Massachusetts Avenue, be closed to all but resident emergency traffic from 12:45pm to 1:30pm on Monday, January 15, 2024 for the purpose of a Unity Walk as part of the 11th Annual MLK Day of Service and 31st Commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. DOCUMENTS: MLK Day Commemoration Committee Request Letter - MLK Day of Service Unity Walk & Road Closure 7. Approve Select Board Meeting Minutes To approve and release the following minutes: November 15, 2023 Select Board; November 15, 2023 FY2025 Financial Summit II and November 27, 2023 Select Board. DOCUMENTS: DRAFT 11152023 Select Board minutes, DRAFT 11152023-Financial Summit II minutes, DRAFT 11272023 Select Board minutes 8. Approve Select Board Committee Appointment  Tourism Committee - Marie-Tristan Rago To appoint Marie-Tristan Rago to the Tourism Committee for a one-year term set to expire on September 30, 2024. DOCUMENTS: 2023 Tourism Committee Application - M. Rago 9. Accept Select Board Committee Resignation - Massport Community Advisory Committee - Lexington Representative - Justin Pierce To accept the resignation of Justin Pierce from the Massport Community Advisory Committee as the Lexington Representative effective on December 31, 2023. DOCUMENTS: Resignation Letter - J. Pierce 10. Approve and Sign Water and Sewer Finals To approve and sign the attached Water and Sewer Finals for November 2023. DOCUMENTS: Water/Sewer Finals - November 2023 VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda. ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION 1. Lexington Civic Academy Graduation th Kelly Axtell, Deputy Town Manager, reviewed the Lexington Civic Academy, now in its 15 year. At Lexington Civic Academy, residents meet once a week in the evenings to learn about local government, specifically, the role each department plays in serving the public. The goal of the program is citizen engagement, and the program is designed to connect residents with the Select Board and Town Staff, as well as encouraging participation on Town committees/boards and as Town Meeting Members. The Board read the list of graduates and congratulated each. DOCUMENTS: 2023 Civic Academy List of Graduates 2. Liquor License Amendment - Change of Manager - UC New England LLC d/b/a The Upper Crust, 41 Waltham Street Mr. Pato explained that the Upper Crust has submitted all the necessary paperwork needed to request a change of manager to be Hunter Wadsworth on their Wine and Malt Alcohol Common Victualler Liquor License. The proposed manager, Hunter Wadsworth, has submitted a current Alcohol Awareness Training Certificate and the required CORI check has been completed. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 to approve the application from The Upper Crust for a Change of Manager and, once approved by the ABCC, issue the updated 2024 Wine and Malt Common Liquor License to UC New England LLC d/b/a The Upper Crust, with Hunter Wadsworth named as Manager. DOCUMENTS: Upper Crust Change of Manager Application 3. Review and Approve High Performance Building Policy Maggie Peard, Sustainability & Resiliency Officer, reviewed the revised High Performance Buildings Policy with the Board. Revisions have been made per the Board’s comments, and the School Committee also provided comments that have been incorporated into the revised version. There was discussion regarding who from the stakeholder groups would have a seat at the table for this item. There was consensus that building leads should be included in the process. Dawn McKenna, 9 Hancock Street, stated that it is important that the people involved in these buildings have an included representation. The Board asked to have the last sentence amended in Section II from “..shall consult with the appropriate building lead…” to, “…shall include the appropriate building lead or their designee...” VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 to adopt the High Performance Buildings Policy as amended to include the wording, “…shall include appropriate building lead or their designee.” DOCUMENTS: High Performance Buildings Policy, High Performance Building Policy Metrics, High Performance Buildings Facility Tracking, High Performance Buildings Policy Town Wide Tracking, Toxics Appendix 4. Discuss Potential Liquor Licensing Expansion Sandhya Iyer, Director of Economic Development, reviewed the Alcohol Policy revision to allow event venues and microbreweries that do not have food service. Staff highlighted that there are two other policies related to alcohol licensing and recommended that the Board undertake whether all three policies should be consolidated into one comprehensive policy. Mr. Lucente stated that he believes it will be important to add context, including examples of specific businesses that may be impacted, as to why this expansion is being proposed when presenting this to other committees and the community. Ms. Barry noted that she would like to see an enforcement piece included with this document. In response to a question from Mr. Sandeen, Mr. Malloy explained that approving this would probably affect the Town’s beer and wine licenses, as it has already issued all of those available under the statute. The Town would need to go back to the legislature through Home Rule petition to seek additional license beer and wine licenses. There is a proposed article for this item. The Town has All-Alcohol licenses available, but that is the opposite intent of this bylaw. The Board discussed a list of committees and other groups, such as business owner that currently hold licenses, that it would like to hear input from. Dawn McKenna, 9 Hancock Street, suggested adding the Historical Society and the National Heritage Museum to the list of people to hear input from. DOCUMENTS: Working Document - Update to Alcohol Policy, Working Document - Update to Alcohol Policy - redlined 5. Authorize Town Manager to Execute Hayden Easement - 24 Lincoln Street Mr. Malloy explained that Town Counsel and the Town Engineer completed revisions on the easement documents and Town Counsel has provided a vote for the Board to consider. The Hayden Board reviewed and approved the attached easement document at their meeting in November. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 to accept an easement in, on, over, across, under and along the Easement Area, which is a portion of that certain property commonly known as 24 Lincoln Street, Lexington, Massachusetts owned by the Josiah Willard Hayden Recreation Centre, Inc. (the “Property”), for the purposes of pedestrian passive recreation and access to land owned by the Town adjacent to the Property known as and identified as 52 Lincoln Street (Lexington Assessor’s Map 42, Lot 1 containing 38.35 acres); land on Worthen Road (Lexington Assessor's Map 41, Lot 120 containing 3.0 acres); land on Massachusetts Avenue (Lexington Assessor's Map 49, Lot 182, known as “Hastings Park”, containing 3.77 acres); and 251 Waltham Street (Lexington Assessor’s Map 49, Lot 90, known as the “High School”, containing 56.54 acres). DOCUMENTS: Hayden Easement, Hayden Easement Plan, Hayden Easement Vote 6. Discuss Committee Meeting Conduct Norms Mr. Sandeen explained that he Board previously discussed developing new meeting norms to be shared with all boards/committees. He and Mr. Lucente drafted a policy for review by the Board. This policy deals with conduct during public meetings held by the Town’s public bodies. The Board intends that establishing these guidelines will create an orderly and efficient meeting environment that encourages public participation, upholds the integrity of the governance process, and complies with the recent legal rulings concerning public speech at governmental meetings. Ms. Hai suggested adding wording to suggest that chairs include this information with agendas or read these guidelines at the beginning of each meeting. Mr. Pato agreed that setting meeting expectations is important. There was discussion regarding including this in the board/committee handbook. The Board agreed to discuss this item again in January. DOCUMENTS: Draft Policy - Committee Meeting Conduct and Decorum 7. Review Updated Draft Article List for 2024 Annual Town Meeting Kelly Axtell, Deputy Town Manager, reviewed the updated draft list of articles proposed for 2024 Annual Town Meeting. Ms. Barry stated that she would like more information regarding the articles submitted by other Town boards/committees. She requested a future agenda item that the Board establish guidelines and deadlines for the number of weeks prior to a potential Town Meeting during which boards, committees, and citizens can submit articles. Mr. Pato noted that, in the past, the Board has requested that Board liaisons to committees bring information regarding potential warrant articles to the full Board once they are known about. Some of the current articles came in recently or just before the deadline, making this difficult. Bob Pressman, 22 Locust Avenue, asked to make a comment regarding the committee meeting conduct norms agenda item. He stated that, per discussion on this topic, the Board makes a misleading statement about the permissible content of public comments at the beginning of each meeting, as it leaves out that the SJC has stated that civility restraints during public comment periods are protected by the Massachusetts Constitution. Also, this draft document was submitted without any information as to why it is necessary. Mr. Pato noted that the statement read at the beginning of Board meetings asks for civility and does not step on the SJC’s limitations. A request is not a mandate. Ms. Roy stated that chairs should allow everyone to speak on an issue who wishes to. There could be a process to make sure everyone is called upon to speak in a timely manner. DOCUMENTS: DRAFT ATM article list 12.15.23 8. Discuss FY2025 Program Improvement Requests (PIRs) th Mr. Pato explained that the Senior Management Team met on December 12 to review and rate the th Program Improvement Requests (PIRs). Those rankings will be reviewed the week of December 18 by the Town Manager after receiving input from the Board. The Board can provide input to the Town Manager on the various PIRs prior to the Town Manager's review and inclusion on the highest priorities in the White Book. Ms. Hai stated that she would like to see the Senior Management Team’s rankings. Mr. Pato stated that his personal priorities in terms of what the community has been asking for from a policy perspective deal with the funding to increase handling the Town’s organic waste, the funding to support better seasonal/transient enforcement of the noise bylaw, and the funding for better enforcement of the tree bylaw. Mr. Sandeen noted that there is also an importance to increased mechanical and fire inspection for implementing large growth in the commercial sector in Town. Mr. Lucente echoed these comments. Ms. Barry asked that Mr. Malloy review the PIRs with a vision as to where the Town currently is and where it wants to go into the future. Ms. Hai stated that either due to the policies of this Board, or actions of Town Meeting, certain services have been requested to be added to the panoply of what the municipality provides. It is thus the Board’s obligation to execute on providing these services. She echoed comments about inspection and also noted the importance of having a budget for the Chief Equity Officer. DOCUMENTS: PIR Requests EXECUTIVE SESSION 1. Exemption 6: To Consider the Purchase, Exchange, Lease or Value of Real Property VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 at 8:10pm that the Board go into Executive Session under Exemption 6: To Consider Purchase, Exchange, Lease or Value of Real Property. Further, Mr. Pato declared that an open meeting discussion on this item may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the Town. ADJOURN VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted by roll call 5-0 from the Executive Session to adjourn both the Executive Session and Regular Meeting at 9:26 p.m. A true record; Attest: Kristan Patenaude Recording Secretary