HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-05-05-BOS-min n3
SELECTMEN'S MEETING
MAY 5, 1980
A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's
Meeting Roon, Town Office Building, on Monday, May 12, 1980, at 7 30 p m.
Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent, Mr Grain, Mr Hutchinson, Mana-
ger; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mrs McCurdy, Executive
Clerk, Mr Cohen, Town Counsel, were present
HFAC - Mrs Jacqueline Smith, Chairman of the Hanscom Field Advisory Committee,
Massport met with the Board to discuss the Draft Noise Rule for Hanscom Field Chair-
Noise man Miley said her recollection is that the Board reviewed our policy about
Rule a year ago and decided there were no changes Mrs Smith introduced Mr
Hearing Alan Lazarus, representing the Merriam Hill Association She said that
Massport will hold a public hearing in Cary Hall on proposed noise con-
trol rules for Hanscom Field A decision on the final rule will be made
on June 19 by the Massport Board, based on testimony received at the hear-
ing Massport has modified the original draft of the rule to reflect con-
sensus position of the HFAC It is our expectation, or hope, that they will
show the same sensitivity to the voices of the official community representa-
tives supporting the use restriction as well as the other provisions of the
rule that meet with town policy It is important that we think about other
communities as well as our own when we are thinking of restricting the use
of facilities in our area Mrs Smith recommended the Board's support
of the FAR 36 use restriction, grandfathering current users, support volun-
tary curfew through surcharges, the change in commuter definition, and
continued exclusion of air carrier service She would strongly advise the
support of the review process, urging that the question of single event
noise, which causes noise growth, be a part of the review with the goal
of controlling that, too, by the end of the review Mr Lazarus said that
the rules are a good beginning and they form a base together with the review
process To look at the noise problem and keep some control over it; it is
a typical situation for both sides
Chairman Miley and Mn Kent are to attend the hearing in Cary Hall
on May 8 at 6 00 p m.
Mr Kent asked about the status of the permanent Hanscom Field Advisory
Committee bill, and Mrs Smith said that last week it had been reported out
of committee The Governor had signed off entirely on any involvement on
the bill; it has cleared the joint Transportation Committee with a favorable
report; it is strictly advisory, not with the approval power on new things
taking place at Hanscom. It would now just go through the normal process
of being heard in both chambers and then on to the Governor.
Hayes Ln. Chairman Miley read a request from Mr Cohen, Town Counsel, to sign
Bicycle the Hayes Lane Bicycle Path easement Mr Cohen said that the easement is
Easement in an unaccepted street
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the taking
of an easement on Hayes Lane for a bicycle path with no betterments being
assessed and no damages being awarded
33
Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - May 5, 1980
Chairman Miley read a letter of resignation. Resigns.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept with Traf Safety
regret the resignation of Mr John Blackwell as a member of the Traf-
fic Safety Committee
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Minutes
April 7 and April 9, 1980 minutes
Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that Mr Zehner, Treasurer, Treasurer
has received bids on two notes for $110,000 for sewers and $50,000
for the swimming pool, both to be refunded with the bond issue now
in preparation for sale He recommended that it be awarded to the
low bidder, Old Colony of Burlington
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize
the Treasurer to borrow $160,000 from Old Colony of Burlington at
4 77 percent interest, notes to be dated May 9, 1980 and mature on
June 17, 1980
Mr. Hutchinson recommended that the White and Hill families be Stratham Rd
connected to the Stratham Road sewer, which would involve an addi- Sewer
tional $17,000 to continue the sewer line During the hearings, Addition
there were objections to the sewer being extended to service that
area and the Board deleted that section In the interim, requests
have been received for the sewer line to be continued, and it is
recommended that these requests be honored. The total cost of that
project would be $80,000 and would involve the taking of an easement
We are not aware of any objection to this taking and will come back
to the Board if anything develops. The $17,000 would be out of the
$2 5 million authorization that we are working against now
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize
the Town Manager to go forward on the Stratham Road sewer project
in the amount of $80,000 to include the White and Hill properties
Mr Sacco, President, and Mr Powell of the Chamber of Commerce Chamber of
met with the Board Mr Powell said the Chamber has worked with the Commerce
retailers and 86 have signed up for promotion days which will run Promotion
from May 22 to May 25 Fliers are to be sent to every resident of Days
the town which include coupons showing photographs of individuals
who work in the stores or own them. There will be a grand prize of
$600 for one or more persons to be brought into town and spend the
$600 in the participating retailers A sidewalk sale is planned
for 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p m. on Saturday, May 24. This would be an
experiment for us And we would request approval of closing off
Massachusetts Avenue from Waltham Street to Meriam Street
Mr Hutchinson said that the police department has been working
with the Chamber to make arrangements for detour signs , and man-
ning costs would be paid by the Chamber of Commerce The Chamber
is investigating the hiring of Lexpress for the day to transport
the residents
MKent Kennt said that this is an experiment; it is the kind of ex-
periment which, if it is successful, can generate analogous requests.
Other people may perceive this, and he would point out to representa-
tives of the Chamber that if successful the Chamber has got to be
somewhat sympathetic to other requests that may come that may not
be as specifically convenient for the Chamber as this one is.
14'
Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - May 5, 1980
Mr Powell said that a flea market is planned for Thursday,
May 24, in the Countryside parking lot Chairman Miley said she was con-
cerned about a flea market as the town has frowned upon people coming in
from anywhere and buying a table You may have the tables but not sell
them. Mr Busa said it had not been his understanding that Countryside
was going to sell vending space on private property as that is not al-
lowed Mr Kent pointed out a potential difficulty with respect to
the people on the Avenue using the public premises adjacent to their
establishments, and then telling other people that they cannot do
precisely the same thing There is ,a fallout of other activity of this
character that we cannot ignore, and he did not think the Board can be
expected to draw unreasonable lines when other requests come in Mr
Busa said that the operators on the Avenue or Depot Square are not plan-
ning to take vendors from outside their organization Mr Sacco agreed
that they were not He was not sure about Countryside and would check
it out; there are 15 people coming into that flea market and he did not
know if all of them are from Lexington.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the
Town Manager's recommendation and to authorize him to make arrangements
for closing off Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham Street to Meriam Street
on Saturday, May 24, from 9 00 a m to 5 00 p m , subject to coordination
with the proper town departments
Cemetery Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that the cemetery building revised
Building plans are scheduled to be completed the first week of June and appropriate
Plans data will be brought to the Board at that time
Fair Mr Hutchinson asked for the Board's comments on a questionnaire of
Housing the Fair Housing Committee prior to meeting with the committee on May 12
Committee Mrs Battin said that the committee plans to meet with realty companies
and local banks, and she suggested that they meet with someone from the
Council of Churches for input The Board agreed to review the question-
naire
Tax Title/ Mr Cohen asked the Board to sign the deed conveying a tax title lot
Willow to Mr Tuttle of the Willow Ridge subdivision, which the Board had voted
Ridge previously to convey The Board agreed to sign the deed conveying Lot 199
Subdivision Hanson Avenue, including the fee to one-half of Hanson Avenue in front of
said lot, to Landsail, Inc
r Cohen asked the Board to sign the conservation restriction for
Potter's the Potter's Pond development
Pond Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Con-
Conserve servation restriction relating to land in the Potter's Pond development
Restriction The Conservation restriction was required under the Board of Appeals '
decis ions
I
.735
Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - May 5, 1980
Chairman Miley welcomed Senator Rotondi and Representative Cole, and Legislators
turned the meeting over to Mr Kent, legislative liaison Mr Kent said
that it is an important time for you and thus it is an important time for Prop 211
us in relation to you We are all interested in knowing what alternatives
to Proposition 2 1/2 you envision coming out of the legislature If that
carries with it something of an implication that we think something as an
alternative to Proposition 2 1/2 is necessary, that is a fair implication.
It appears from what we read that local aid is not likely to be increased
this year even to an extent necessary to take into account inflation By
the same token, the tax capping legislation is still with us but it is not
with the legislature itself, it is not with county government, it is not
with the MBTA. These are simply to express general concerns that we have
and ask if you gentlemen would like to kick off with respect to these,
after which there are a lot of people here who have matters in this
area which they would like to bring up as well
Senator Rotondi suggested that th& Boarn . send him .a listof items for
discussion at least a week in advance of meeting with the Selectmen As
Vice Chairman of the Tax Issue Committee dealing with Proposition 2 1/2,
bill H5933 received an adverse report from the committee, and he had voted
against the proposal as it was written. Because the legislature won't be
completing action on this bill one way or another by tomorrow, additional
signatures will be needed to get this thing on the ballot; nobody doubts
that these will be obtained and it will be on the ballot The Committee
on Taxation is right now involved in an alternative bill and they have a
May 22 deadline to release publicly the so-called alternative; he will
keep the Board posted.
Together with the 2 1/2 bill was the so-called MTA petition which would
tie state taxes to percent of personal income and would also ask the state
within the next couple of years to pick up aid to local educational costs
to the point where we then bear 50 percent of the total costs The Boverini-
Collins bill of a couple of years ago had in it statutory language that would
do the same thing We just don't have the revenue to even think about pick-
ing up 50 percent of the costs That bill had an adverse report today from
the Committee on Taxation
Representative Cole said that he shared the same position on Proposition
2 1/2, which he felt would pass and get on the ballot as it is an election
year and many people are going to vote for it. He did not think they would
have to get the necessary signatures The only hope is if there is an
alternative proposition on the ballot, and the one that gets the most votes
is going to prevail
Mrs Battin said that the Mass Municipal Association is concerned
about an alternative She chairs their Tax Policy Committee and we de-
veloped what we felt were nine essential elements of any legislation and have
been talking to Representative Cohen about it One of the things we felt most
strongly about was the idea of a local option - the citizens of each community
to decide whether to cap themselves or not, full knowing the consequences of
the cap on their own community She did not know whether Rep Cohen would
incorporate the major points or not
111 Mr Buse said that if you have adverse reports coming out and both are
so strong against 2 1/2, what alternatives do you have to propose some sort
of legislation to put some sort of a cap in that the taxpayers would be able
to live within What percentage would be reasonable to put a cap on some
spending in both state government and local government?
Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - May 5, 1980
Rep Cole said that you can't pick a percentage Associated Industries
of Massachusetts has a plan in here too which, on the surface, might not be
too bad They are all trying to make it as easy on the taxpayers as they
can but not to stunt growth on the state He was not as pessimistic about
the Mass economy as he was a few months ago as he feels we are being bailed
out by high technology; our economy is not in as bad shape as the rest of
the country Mr Buse said there should be some sort of legislation to
try to curb some sort of spending; Massachusetts has a history of it
Sen Rotondi said that public pressure is great on everybody as far as keep-
ing solid budgets; most likely, there will be some sort of tax cap in the
senate proposed on the ways and means side - that will probably happen;
if not, there will probably be an amendment on the floor in that area
Sen. Rotondi said he would support some reasonable cap on state spending,
but the problem is if you start capping the state spending, you start
cutting the local aid. You have to be careful what you cut He had
recommended that the sunset legislation be incorporated in the senate
ways and means side again, and we'll see what happens To take a look at
the agencies' functions and find out what is duplicative and what is
anacronistic, and see whether we can shift some personnel - all of these
things make sense in dealing with the cost of running state government
He was not sure that an arbitrary cap is the answer Personnel costs are
the major part of our state budget, and the Civil Service Commission, which
he chairs, will be recommending significant changes in the way state govern-
ment personnel systems are run, how they are managed, and inter-agency use
of personnel That type of approach makes more sense than arbitrary limits
His committee is supposedly coming out with an alternative to 2 1/2, and he
would be very careful about supporting any mandate on further limits on
cities and towns without some sort of local option pro! ision Rep Cole
said if you gave us in the state the same exclusions you have in the towns
of a cap, we might be pretty close to the 4 percent; he didn't know how it
will end up but it left the House with a 5 9 percent
Mr Crain said in regard to the high technology, he hoped that is no
false hope We are going to feel the downslide which historically this
region does slower than the rest of the country He was not persuaded yet
that we have sufficient total population committed to high tech that we are
not going to feel the recession He applauded Senator Atkins's plea today,
ae.there .are people, because it is an election year, who might have hope
that he was not persuaded is well founded He applauded the approach to
looking at personnel costs because it is a labor intensive business that we
are in servi:ding industry like state government and the kinds of changes
that the Committee on Civil Service is considering will give management
and give government a chance to appraise and to eliminate people and re-
place with better people, with full realization that the Senator is en-
deavoring to face up to establishing what the true proportion of unfunded
pension liability is - which is an insidious cost of personnel that we are
not paying for and we should be
Pensions Senator Rotondi said the state is doing all right as far as funding
pensions The cities and towns have not been doing as well4 two years
ago, we authorized by statute that the cities and towns begin to fund
pensions, and many communities have chosen not to do it, and that is a
very dangerous situation
j. 3
Selectmen's Meeting - 6 - May 5, 1980
Senator Rotondi said on the issue of capping, the bill that exempted Energy
the increased energy costs from the 4 percent cap is on the Governor's Costs
desk right now The House and Senate passed it and we will see what
happens
Apparently, the local aid situation as we see it right now is at Local
the $1 6 million figure over last year Mr Kent said in practical Aid
effect, we already have a cap on local aid Bearing in mind the notions
you have about not dealing basically in percentage caps, there are per-
centage caps here; there is a de facto one with respect to local aid -
what about counties and the tremendous charges that are being imposed
upon us with respect to county government generally and with respect to
court costs specifically where we believe the state has an obligation to
fulfill its own proposition that state court costs are a responsibility
of the state and not the counties, and thus not the property tax of the
municipalities? Are we going to get anywhere with that?
Rep Cole said not too far In the budget, there was an increase on
the court costs - Mrs Battin said 6 6% - and it came to about $11 million
on the total budget The problem as far as Middlesex County when they had
jurisdiction was that they were charging about $1 40/sq ft and when they
put the bill into us, it was for $10/sq ft; this was away above what we
paid for any rental facilities all over the Commonwealth - we go $4-$5/sq ft
over the Commonwealth, and it doesn't seem right particularly to those on
Ways and Means that we should pay more to Middlesex County than anyone else
to run facilities Mr Kent asked if the ownership of court houses and all
the costs including debt service should be fairly assumed by the state and
not by property tax passing through the county form of government?
Sen Rotondi said yes, ideally; statutorily, that's the way it was created
and we never intended for the state to pick up and fee the physical court-
houses of the Commonwealth as we knew we didn't have the money to do that
We knew we would probably end up with a rental situation for purchase,
using rental as a mortgage-type thing and amortizing it over a period of
years, but we knew that nobody had the expertise at that point as far as
knowing the ownership of county courthouses and the ability of the Common-
wealth to pick up that financial burden. We created a group which had
never met from the beginning, we created a procedure by which the County
Commissioners could petition the administrative officers of the Chief
Justice to hold public hearings on the issue of the cost of court facili-
ties - and none of this was ever done. The County Commissioners were
rightfully upset and in last year's budget, the Governor gave a rediculous
sum to court rental, which was finally increased somewhat but was still
quite low; they went the political route in scaring? up the local cities
and towns instead of going the formal route, and that just prevented and
delayed any type of formal local situation. That situation has been looked
at formally now by the so-called commission, which will be giving its report
publically on May 15 and we will be hearing exactly what that commission
recommends as a fair amount of costs He hoped at that point that the
state assumes those costs County government is talking about $27 million,
the Governor about $5 million, and the legislature at this point about
$17 million; somebody is away off The Governor is totally unrealistic
of dollar per square foot and he is totally off because he has reduced
the square footage of corridor space and common passageway space in our
courthouses The pressure is going to be exercised not only to legislators
but on the Governor himself, who is really the cog in the wheel; he is the
Selectmen's Meeting - 7 - May 5, 1980
one who is most adamant about the low figure; the rest of us are willing
to put this money up He felt that this would be a severe hardship not
only In these economic times but it would be totally contrary to the
intent to lift off the cities and towns the cost of courts He would
point out that other functions of the courts have been picked up by the
state; naturally, we pay them through our income taxes but they have
been spread out to be across the board throughout the Commonwealth
These costs are not seen any mare. The administration of the courts
is better off than they ever were and court performance is a positive
thing, notwithstanding this problem which we hope to solve within the
next couple of weeks
Mdlsx. Mrs. Miley said one issue that seems to have slipped by, except for
County/ the Middlesex County Advisory Board and they are well aware of this, is
State that for many years the county has been housing prisoners of the state
Prisoners and they have never received a penny for it - in other words, the tax-
payers have never received a penny Rep Cole asked if they have billed
the state? Mrs Miley said she had heard that they have This is some-
thing she hoped both of them would look into for the Board
Mr Myles Barnert, Chairman of the Capital Expenditures Committee,
said if income goes down, income tax revenue of the state goes down;
there are already reductions in car sales so sales tax and car revenues
have gone down; there is less driving, so gas tax revenue is going down
My feeling is that one of the places that will be cut will be in local aid
How stable is the future of local aid? Rep Cole said he cannot be optimistic
about local aid in the future unless you raise more taxes What Mr Barnert
says is true and there is every possibility that these tax revenues will go
down If you are going on the whole subject of county government and all
the rest, there is a difference of opinion on the Board on the approach to
it. Ten years ago he had said that the only way you are ever going to
eliminate county government . soby taking away piecemeal, and he was speak-
ing strictly for Middlesex County as in other counties where it is run very
well, you could not talk them out of it Get the courts, and if you go
after the hospitals and jails, you take away their patronage system; once
you take that away, they lose their quality Mr Kent said that he did
not feel there is any disagreement on the Board whatsoever about our
approach to Middlesex County Sen Rotondi said that the former Governor
in his last budget did develop a county mechanism and;he tied a certain per-
centage of the increase in sales and income and corporate tax to local aid;
of course, .that is all subject to appropriation This was a local aid cookie
jar and it makes it very difficult to put your hand in that cookie jar in
these days as long as you identified it and tied a percentage to it; when
you leave it vague, you leave it subject to arbitrary political considerations
The state's funding procedure is age-old in its capriciousness, no matter
what you look at
Due to pension studies, we are going to look at in some sort of way
to tie the state into not only the cities and towns ' aspect of funding
its own state pension system, although we've got a good sum in there, since
the retirement of our commission made the report, we have really been
stumbling and trying to grab this money anywhere we can Last year, we
went to a transportation bond issue to fund pension liabilities This
shows you the condition we are in in relation to this He thought the
Selectmen's Meeting - 8 - May 5, 1980
111
Town Manager/City Manager form of government has had mostly positive re-
sults We need professional managers right in that executive branch to
do the same thing that managers do throughout the stateto put some
rhyme or reason to what we have funded and how we have funded it in
order to give some stability to the funding mechanism; otherwise, you
won't get it.
Mr Hutchinson said he appreciated the thoughtful work that has gone
on in the Civil Service reform. He has talked with Rep Cohen recently
and he knows that the taxation effort is going forward, and he under-
stands that May 21 is when we should look for an alternative Are you
saying the legislature will probably bring out an alternative to 2 1/2?
Is that a fair assessment through Rep Cohen? Rep Cole said no, but
that's what it appears Sen Rotondi said nobody wants to face this
2 1/2 head on. Leadership realizes that they are responsible and they
want to head it off somehow with a reasonable alternative Mr Hutchin-
son said that he and Dr Lawson have talked about if our unions come in,
it is an opportunity for labor and management to really look at this and
see what can be done as an alternative and maybe get to tax reform.
People have asked if, assuming the basic bill, the petition, is voted,
thelegislaturehas the right to make changes to something that has been
voted at the referendum? Sen Rotondi said that particular statute in
its implementation cannot be changed but you could pass a statute to
repeal that statute any time you wanted to Mr Hutchinson asked if we
are going to see something in this legislature on tax reform, or are we Tax
just going to see a legislative alternative? Rep Cole said he would Reform
guess that you are going to see the alternative
Mrs Battin said that her committee was concerned about the whole
issue of tax reform and they are trying to develop a complete package
as we have been negotiating with Rep Cohen particularly on the alterna=
tive sources of revenue lessening the reliance on the property tax. He
admits those are necessary and part of tax reform but he did not see it
a part of this year; he would not plan to file it as part of his alterna-
tive to 2 1/2 but they could be separate bills that could be introduced
next year, so we may be backing Into tax reform. That was his plan of
a couple of weeks ago
Sen Rotondi said there are bills that are important to many members
of this Board that deal with the power of the Advisory Board over county
budgets Those bills are being held by the Committee on Counties and he
was given the answer today by the Chairman on the Senate side that the
reason was 52011 was recommended favorably Mr Hutchinson said our
initial estimates show approximately a $300 million revenue loss, and
it may be more, and that is one of the things we are working on a
formula now The 2 1/2 percent is on your levy that you can only raise
2 1/2 percent each year, yet counties have the right to chargeus per-
cent,
g 4 pe
cent, and in looking at it it seems you can't gain anything from new
economic growth in taxable property From a business standpoint, it
seems that this would discourage towns from looking at and welcoming
industry
( 0
Selectmen's Meeting - 9 - May 5, 1980
Mr Crain said we are talking about a budget which has many fixed
items, such as the cost of our debt service, pensions, health insurance,
heat and fuel, and motor vehicles, so when you come down to the $3 million,
which would be a 12 percent reduction, where that is going to come from,
that is laying people off and that's what we are talking about
Dr Lawson, Superintendent of Schools, said that unlike California,
we don't have a million surplus, and we don't hear enough being said
about negative effects that have occurred in California to many con-
stituents as a result of Proposition 13, nor have we heard about the
effect on children He was not sure where our legislators are going
to be and whether they are going to communicate Rep Cole said he has
been vocal on 2 1/2 Sen Rotondi said that he has been also, and it
is good to look at the overview; people feel we are no longer capable
of doing it You will see a revenue tax cut statute pass
Mr Crain said that Dr Lawson has focused on a point that all of
share, and that is the emotional appeal of 2 1/2 and the proponents will
make it known It is incumbent upon us to make it known, and there is
the great difficulty that all of us will have in orchestrating a logical
campaign of information so people will truly understand what they are
voting for It is incumbent on those of us who hold office to coordinate
this orchestration; otherwise, it is going to zip through and then we are
going to be in trouble
Mr Pierce, Tax Policy Committee, asked if fees for services can be
legally substituted for taxes under the various petitions for legislation?
Can towns get around the effect by charging more for services?
Mr Hutchinson said yes, and we will have to look at doubling our
water rates, etc In talking with Rep Cohen the other day, he was talk-
ing about $700 million to almost $1 billion revenue loss to cities and
towns - that's a lot of money to make up We, through our Tax Policy
Committee with Dr Lawson as a member, will be trying to address this
impact and come back to the Board saying these are some of the things
that are happening and you are going to have to give us policy decisions
on what types of cuts you are going to institute, and it may be a more
aggressive approach in some instances
Permit Mrs Battin said to get back to the question about revenues and can
Fee we raise them other ways than taxes, one of the problems is the statutory
Increase limit on fees, licenses and permits that we have filed legislation to try
and get that eliminated because now they do not even pay the cost of the
paperwork, and we do not have the latitude to do it One of the new pro-
posals is called "Jobs for Massachusetts" that Rep. Cohen is looking at
favorably is the limitation in the total of state and local revenues
based on statewide personal income and 1979 total state and local revenues
were 17 2 percent of statewide personal income; there would be an increase
of 1 percent more to cover pension costs and total revenues would be pegged
at that level of a percentage of personal income and you have the latitude
within the community to change the mix between taxes and other sources of
revenue but you couldn't just unlimitedly go get other sources of revenue
and extend it so that there may be a cap on overall revenues
Rep Cole said when you increase fees, etc , they are drops in the
bucket compared to the overall picture
41
Selectmen's Meeting - 10 - May 5, 1980
Mrs Swanson, School Committee, said she did not hear a great deal
about places to save money in localities and she had asked about a very
specific area of when we go out on a contract for painting, we can't
just go out and take the lowest bid We have to force the bidder with
what she feels are exhorbitant salaries and build those into the bids .
She could go out and get her house painted for half of what it could
cost for the school to go out; we have to pay exhorbitant salaries
mandated by the state, and it is unfair to force taxpayers to pay more
than anybody else simply because it is from a municipal government.
The same thing applies on our transportation bids and we are forced to
pay higher salaries than bus companies do because the state tells us to
do so. While we are all worried about where we are going to raise more
money, is anybody thinking about those things that we shouldn't be rais-
ing money on in the first place? She hoped that somebody will be looking
at that. Rep. Cole said that this is true; they were mandated years ago
and it probably was the union influence that got them in there originally
Massachusetts is well known as a union state and it is difficult to change
it in the legislature As Sen Rotondi has suggested in the sunset laws
to get rid of some of the agencies that cost us money; they probably
shouldn't be in existence anymore
Sen Rotondi said the MBM legislation deals in part with finding
better ways of increased competition in public bidding, but you are
not going to get the union flavor out of those restrictions . We had
a favorable report on the bill in committee but it lost 30-2 in the '
Senate. You will not see a change in the near future and as a legisator
it upsets me.
Mrs Swanson said that people will vote for a tax cap if that is the
only way they can make things happen that should be happening because no-
body wants to come to grips with it
Mrs Battin said she had testified this morning before Senator Atkins Local
and the Senate Ways and Means Committee for increased local aid One of Aid
the things we asked for was that we get 50 percent of growth in state
revenues from the growth taxes or conversely we get some way of dealing
with existing mandated expenses - exactly the kind of thing Mrs Swanson
is talking about- the rules and regulations that it imposed additional
costs on us, the legislation that does They were very interested and
asked for specifics We had a list of the ones that required changing
rules and regulations, ones that required legislative change that would
relieve us of costs but not impose additional costs on the state, etc
They asked us to get the wording to them within the next four or five
days and they are willing to carry it through, although they doubt they
could give us more revenues.
Mrs Elaine Dratch said the problem with the Governor's budget is the Home
underfunding of the Department of Elder Affairs for the Home Care agencies Care
which are providing right now about $50 million this year and in order to Agencies
continue they need between $60-62 million. The Governor is recommending
that the budget be maintained at the same level which decreases the
amount of services that can be provided
Sen. Rotondi said he would support the $62 million limit as Home
Care presents a whole new dimention when hospitals cannot keep patients
Selectmen's Meeting - 11 - May 5, 1980
Human Mr French, Reed Street, said the neighbors have been discussing
Service human services with the town, specifically hooking to coordinating our
Facilities efforts on the Department of Mental Health at the state level, which
freely passes out advice to the various area boards and others on how to
deal with local officials to overcome objections and overcome zoning re-
quirements that are presumed to be stacked against them on such things
as community residences: There is essentially no requirement in the
policy statements or regulations they put out for coordinating with
any other agency, local or federal As a result, in our neighborhood
we have five programs, all of which are presumed to be there to soak
up the character of the neighborhood Mr Jackson said that we want a
means of creating an equity or equal distribution of programs throughout
communities rather than have one area based on land mass, lower costs or
buildable land to be the area that absorbs these programs or frankly
we want to get some money back from the taxpayers
Rep Cole said he would recommend S 1113 which addresses the problem
and deals with human services and it gives the chief administrative officer,
the Board of Selectmen, the right to comment within 30 days and if they need
more time they can get an additional 10 days; they can be overruled and
then they have the resource of the courts It gives cities and towns the
chance to participate in the problem.
Mrs Banks said a group of officials who work with human services at
the local level have had this as a priority issue, to give municipalities
the right to have some control over the community residences A bill has
been submitted to the legislature which would specifically give municipali-
ties the right to establish limitations on the number of community residences
in neighborhoods There would be an appeal of the agencies who are pro-
posing the community residences back to the state It would be similar to
the type of control we now have over our wetlands A lot of people have
participated in putting it together and there is some concern at the state
legislature because it does provide for some funding to municipalities to
offset the costs that they incur; there is some concern that the state
does not have the money to pay for this, and the Association of Local
Officials feels that regardless of the funding the issue of giving
municipalities the right to regulate the residences is such a critical
issue that the bill should be passed
Mrs Battin said it does actually say in the legislation filed
that any city or town may adopt an ordinance or by-law establishing
requirements of permits for community residences It also requires the
Executive Office of Human Services, which is more than mental health,
to keep an index of all existing and proposed community residences
that any of their departments were planning to establish, and that the
cities and towns must be notified Which again gives you the data with
which to coordinate There is an actual amount of dollars per bed which
would go to the cities and towns to help relieve us of the additional
expenses , but that may be a stumbling block.
Sen Rotondi said this whole issue is really coming to light and,
unfortunately, it takes a couple of years of bad experience before it
has come to light It came as a result of a move of deinstitutionaliza-
tion in the area of Mental Health; it came as a result of court decrees
that followed that issue and the issue of upgrading institutions like
lif
Fernald Different agencies, Mental Health in particular, developed sub-
groups that began to deal with this issue and they were not even correspond-
ing with their brother agencies - Public Health fought Mental Health on the
issue of need and the building of these facilities and the upgrading of
Selectmen's Meeting - 12 - May 5, 1980
- existing facilities There was a war on there and that was finally settled
Ill He said that he had not had the experience of the whole residential facility
thing, which he supports in concept, until it hit his town of Winchester
and the way in which it intruded itself into the community There are bills
pending now in the legislature that we are moving on which would require any
agency AO give .adequate 90-day notice to any community in writing before
anything happens, before purchase taking place There is however a counter
move in this area by the establishment and passing legislation that would
allow a board to be established to the executive branch to be able to take
care of what we call surplus property - the designated use of property
notwithstanding zoning board ordinances; that bill is now dead and we
didn't see it revived this year It is a very serious issue, as has been
expressed by these residents, and it has to be addressed this year
Mr Jackson, Reed Street, said that -hemgoing fo push: fot this If
you look at the total picture of services to the community you are supposed
to deliver, it is his feeling that a fair opportunity should exist for all
people, and some fair distribution should exist within a community so that
not one area gets saddled with it He asked if the proposed legislation
is clear enough to deal with Sen Rotondi's concerns and with his?
Sen Rotondi said yes, H 2029 deals with it but keep in mind that the
state is not now mandating the communities where those facilities go ; all
it does is allow for authorization of lease, for these respective agencies
to come into a community to lease or purchase those premises At that
point, it is up to cities or towns to deal with the issue of occupancy
permit - to deal with other type licenses which come and eminate from the
town itself In Winchester's case, there was not enough notice but there
was no question that Winchester could have prevented that thing from happen-
ing if they were involved early enough On the issue of cluster or repre-
sentation of a fair mix of those facilities in any given community, it is up to
the Board of Selectmen of that community
Mr Cohen said he agreed with what Mr French said but finds it incon-
sistent for Mr Jackson to say he was going to push on the local level In
fairness, Senator Rotondi, he did not think that the cases support what you
have said. First of all, the fact that all of this legislation has been' filed
showed there is need for legislation before localities can ciineand regulate this
Secondly, as Mr French said, the cases have gone very far in saying that there
is very little local control as far as zoning restrictions are concerned. Yes,
you can require some parking and allow certain setbacks where something like
occupancy permits, but as soon as the Building Inspector goes and finds that
everything has been met, he did not think the residents of the particular
area, as represented here, really feel that is sufficient because there is
no question that the houses can be put in order and occupied - and certainly
the houses in that neighborhood are not run down; that isn't really the issue
The issue is how you get something passed whereby the local communities can
say, as they suggested, there are five in this area and there are none in
another area, and while we don't want to exclude you from town, we do want
you to go into this other area Mr Cohen added that there is nothing on this
right now
Senator Rotondi said the state shouldn' t have to clarify the statute;
right now, local control is there most of the time
Selectmen's Meeting - 13 - May 5, 1980
Mr Cohen said that many of these come in under the guise of educa-
tional uses, and there is no way Winchester could block that
Senator Rotondi said in this case, it wasn't but because of the
multi-residence aspect, in most of these places there are ways Woburn
has a situation dealing with educational use and they don't have an
occupancy on it right now; they are handling it in their own way, pend-
ing clarified legislation.
Mr Cohen said what happens is, these agencies come in and even an
agency that is respected by the town and has worked with the town
walked into the Building Inspector and handed him the decision and said
you can' t do anything about this anyway That is their approach right
from the beginning
Mrs Banks said that we have found in talking with the Health Director
that because it is a state facility or funded through federal monies, he
can only inspect it if he is requested by the state to inspect it -
which, in fact, some of these places do From a health standpoint, we
have very limited control on these facilities The Mass Municipal
Association, working with the local officials human service councils ,
has done a tremendous amount of research on this and what has been shown
is that towns are not trying to push these places out but some communities
have been inundated with these facilities, and there is a need for some
local control over the amount in numbers
MBTA Mrs Dratch, Transportation Advisory Committee, asked for assistance
Chaircar in obtaining the chaircar for Lexington Rep Cole advised her to call
the MBTA liaison, Mr O'Brien, and he would also call Mr O'Brien on the
status of the chaircar
MBTA Mr Zabin asked for comments on H 3519 and H 3278 as the League of
Manage- Women Voters supports these bills dealing with the MBTA management
ment Senator Rotondi said they are in his committee on public services
and a subcommittee chaired by Rep Cohen of Newton The committee has
Pension already voted overwhelmingly on the bills and they will be coming out
in a re-draft form. H 3519 will be the lead bill and it does re-establish
some managerial rights; its chances of passage are slim because of the
strong presence of union and he will be supporting the bills These two
bills dealing with pension and management prerogatives will be coming out
by May 21 If you tie the pension bill to 3519 , you put the union in an
interesting position because the pension bill is much to their benefit
and the other to their detriment We are trying to cause some real
attention to trade-offs
Retire- Mr Perry, Comptroller, had i±w :questions regarding retirement
ment (1) What has happened to the Retirement Law Commission's legislation that
has been proposed for the third or fourth time for a method of funding?
Are there any other methods of funding that committees have submitted?
(2) In connection with the sick leave legislation that the legislature
passed and the Governor signed last year, what happened to that in as much
as the techers did receive a restraining order to withhold the implementa-
tion of that law?
.1 5
Selectmen's Meeting - 14 - May 5, 1980
Sen Rotondi said at this point you have given the status of the later
bill dealing with the definition of regular compensation The court has
issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the merits of that case;
apparently, that put in limbo the whole question as to whether retirement
boards will be certifying sick leaves or cumulative sick leave ,and early
retirement set of bonuses from being used as a basis for compensatid.n
Legislation never intended to interfere with those employees who had be-
gun a period of time that led to an early retirement situation if they
agreed to get out in two years instead of five and they were in that two
year period. We don't believe that legislation should controvert that per-
son's reliance in good faith upon a change of conditions in his or her life
We never intended that to happen and he did not think that the court would
allow it to happen legally But we did intend prospectively to prevent that
from happening again. We have heard a lot about state mandates today and
here's where cities and towns got us back - here's where school committees
began dealing prospectively with subtle, invisible benefits instead of
dealing with large, up-front benefits that affected in any way and in-
volved property taxes in a real way We are happy that we put an end to that
We know that public employees are upset and we can sympathize with many of
them who relied upon it They will not be prejudiced and if the court rules
that they will be, he will file legislation to make sure they won' t be
But certainly in regard to anyone who has been given the benefit of accumu-
lated sick leave, here is a situation where a person goes to work that day
is paid , doesn't take a sick day arbitrarily is paid again a figure for
that sick day It is accumulated and then it adds itself to the last year's
salary It is absolutely an irresponsible thing to do, and that's why we
did away with it
Sen. Rotondi said in relation to the retirement law commission's pro-
posal dealing with full funding, we have tried to meet that schedule as
best we could. It is haphazard and we have not defined any funding schedules
at this point different from what they have recommended They have also
recommended varying degrees of monies to better allow them to upgrade their
fund. They want the Treasurer at the beginning of that fiscal year to go
out to the market, borrow at a certain percent, give the retirement com-
mission all that money from the next year's fiscal liabilities and have them
be able to invest those funds We understand that may be illegal, and we
have legal counsel studying that right now In the area of funding, an
optimum plan has been developed by two individuals on what the unfunded
liability is and how you meet it Our commission will look to secure con-
sultant agreements with these two individuals to decide how their optimum
plan deals with the other plan Next year we will have a better idea of
how they match
Mr Kent asked for comments on the possibilities of LEXPRESS funding LEXPRESS
under Chapter 393, Acts of 1979 , Section 2-to use a designated amount of Funding
State Highway Funds to finance public transportation projects
Rep Cole said that is the budget for last year and Section 2 it the
line item under the Secretary of Transportation and Construction, and more
probably under Public Works It would take a stretch of the imagination
to try and fit it in with one of those line items but he would like to see
the back-up material Mr Kent said that we will communicate with you more
specifically and in more detail about that particular item immediately
dV
Selectmen's Meeting - 15 - May 5, 1980
Hanscom Mr Kent asked the legislators for their best efforts on the Hanscom
Field Field Advisory Commission legislation. He said that the Governor apparently
Adv showed a distinct interest in this at one time in terms of how such an ad-
Com. visory committee on a permanent basis should be peopled and appointed We
understand he has now withdrawn from that position and if the legislature
will pass the bill in the form in which it presently exists, we are in-
formed that he will sign it
Rep Cole said that the area legislators are meeting with Senator
Atkins this week.
Mr Crain said this relates to another public involvement of his,
and it is an interesting extension of the Special Commission on Building
Contracts His personal experience with the University of Massachusetts
situation is that it is an outrageous situation and there definitely
should be an extension of that commission
Rep Cole said he had no problem with extending the commission
Bills have been proposed and some bill will get through either in the
existing form or not
Mrs Jacquelyn Smith, Chairman of the Hanscom Field Advisory Committee,
said that a public hearing will be held in Cary Hall on Thursday on a draft
noise rule for Hanscom Field This is the culmination of a five months
study by Massport and the Hanscom Field Advisory Committee, and we have
been working on the mutual goals of both the communities and Massport,
which is to control noise in the communities Mrs Smith asked for
support at the hearing on HFAC's position on the noise rule, which is
to accept it and have an active 18-month review period in which to
evaluate the impact Mr Kent said that the Board of Selectmen has
already voted its support of that measure
MBM Legis- Senator Rotondi said that he and the Senate will be supporting the
lation MBM legislation as it has brought forth information which needed to be
known.
MBTA Mrs Miley spoke personally, and she hoped for the rest of the Board,
Board against the recommendation that there be a new type of META Board, as the
cities and towns would be losing their jurisdiction She felt there was
enough input from the state as the Governor is able to appoint the budget
people, who are the Board of Directors We should maintain everything
that we can in the input Rep Cole asked if Mrs Miley agreed with the
portionwhich says that the General Manager and the Chairman of the Board
should be two distinct jobs? He had opposed it when they were combined
and he was all for separating them now Mrs Miley agreed Rep Cole
said that he felt it could be won this time
Civil Senator Rotondi said that there was no discussion on civil service
Service this evening but he would like to thank Mr Hutchinson and Mrs Banks for
the tremendous help they had given the commission We are virtually using
Lexington's plan on the operation of its personnel system as one of the
alternatives in our report
Chairman Miley thanked Senator Rotondi and Representative Cole for
meeting with the Board and they retired from the meeting
) 7
Selectmen's Meeting - 16 - May 5, 1980
The next order of business was the organization of the Board Organization
The Executive Clerk conducted the meeting and called for nominations
for Chairman of the Board. Motion was made and seconded nominating
Mary W Miley as Chairman No other nominations being made, it was moved,
seconded, and voted that nominations be closed
Motion was duly made and seconded to elect Mrs Miley as Chairman,
and the Clerk cast one ballot for Mrs Mary W Miley, Chairman of the
Board of Selectmen for the ensuing year
Chairman Miley expressed her appreciation for the cooperation and
good will of the board members during the past year, and also thanked
the Manager and his staff, the Selectmen's staff, and Mr Cohen, Town
Counsel
Mrs Carol Perez, Chairman, and members of the Human Services Com- Human
mittee met with the Board Services
Mr Hutchinson said that there was some discussion by the Board Committee -
regarding a process for looking at services provided by Mystic Valley M.V M.H
Mental Health and it was our intent to invite M.V representatives to
a subsequent meeting We could talk briefly about the criteria that
should be applied to the assessment of services being provided by M.V
Mrs Perez said the Human Services Committee has made suggestions
for the kinds of questions the Selectmen may ask M.V M.H. The committee
feels that the agency appropriation should be given to them on a quarterly
basis, and before each payment the Selectmen would have some questions
The answers provided should demonstrate that the agency is performing in
an effective manner and with good financial management Should the
Selectmen determine that this has not been demonstrated, the quarterly
payment would be withheld. The committee has many concerns and the
following questions are only a beginning. (1) Would M V M.H identify
in greater detail the criteria which they utilize in evaluating benefits
such as, but not limited to, those received by pre-school, teenage, and
elderly populations (2) What resources within Lexington would the agency
advise reenforcing for these outcomes? (3) M.V.M.H must show a balance
sheet and/or operations statement (4) How much money does the agency
spend for what? (a) What portion is spent to provide direct services?
Define direct services (b) What portion is spent to provide administrative
services? Define administrative services (5) What has been done to remedy
internal control weaknesses?
Mr Marshall, Human Services Committee, said regarding #5, in our
original list of questions to the committee of M.V.M.H Association, we
had two questions concerning control weaknesses, and they did not answer
to our satisfaction What might be recommended is perhaps a follow-up
review by the CPA firm and a letter stating that the internal control
weaknesses have in fact been quantified.
Mr Busa suggested that the concerns of the Human Services Committee
be sent to M.V.M.H and have them either respond to us in toto or in part
They asked for a meeting with the Board and for us to constantly ask them for
information and ask what their performance is, it is fruitless for us to
vkcb
Selectmen's Meeting - 17 - May 5, 1980
spend our time, and he did not think the Board or the Human Services
Committee should pursue them again and again to meet the criteria or
ask the questions that the Human Services Committee has put to them.
Mr Crain said that this is exactly what we looked to the committee
to do and they have framed some good questions for us He proposed
to move along the strategy Mr Busa suggests, which is to now com-
municate this to M.V M.H , assuming they are going to respond, and
if they choose to meet with us, fine.
Mr Kent agreed
Chairman Miley thanked the members of the committee for doing so
much work in such a short space of time, and the Board appreciates
all the work that has been put into this
Summer The Board discussed the summer schedule of meetings and agreed to
Meeting meet on June 9 and June 23; July 7 and July 21; August 4 and August 18
Schedule
Upon Elation duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call
Executive vote - Mrs Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain -
Session to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing strategy
with respect to litigation, with no intention of resuming the open
meeting.
After discussion, it was voted to go out of executive session
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 20 p.m
A true record, Attest
Executive Clerk, Selectmen
1