Leverett Town Seal

Massachusetts

Leverett

Town of Leverett
9 Montague Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Town Clerk: (413) 548-9150
Tax Collector: (413) 548-9666
Assessor: (413) 548-4945
Town Hall Fax: (413) 548-1035
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Previous Meeting Next Meeting

Select Board

Tuesday, November 26, 2019, 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm
Town Hall, 9 Montague Rd
A meeting of the Selectboard

Meeting of Selectboard

Members: (Quorum)

  • Present: Peter d'Errico, Chair, at 7:00 PM
  • Present: Tom Hankinson, at 7:00 PM
  • Present: Julie Shively, at 7:00 PM

Also Present:

  • Margie M.
  • Lisa S.
  • Jerri H. for the Montague Reporter
  • Steve N.
  • Greg W.
  • Pat D.

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 7:00 PM

Meeting closed: 9:45 PM

  1. Meeting Preliminaries

  2. Appointments

    • 7:00: FRCOG Representative Update

      General Discussion...
      Pat Duffy, the newest FRCOG representative for the Select Board, came in to give the board an update. She spent the last few months learning about what the FRCOG does and can offer the Town. She attended a water/sewer conference by FRCOG and is interested in seeing if Jim Starbard, who works for the EPA, could come and give some free workshops for the Board of Health, ConCom, and residents on water, wells, and septic issues. The board thought it was a good idea but asked that she give the Chairs of the boards some advance notice. Many topics she overviewed are the purview of Town employees. The board encouraged her to have conversations with them about what services they use, which the don’t and why. Pat will check in quarterly.

    • 7:15: Revenue Committee Update

      General Discussion...
      Revenue Committee, Seth Seeger
      Seth gave an update on behalf of the Revenue Committee. They meet every two weeks at the Town Hall. They have been meeting with all boards and committees to see how they might interface with them. They are interested in contacting business owners in town to see how they might form partnerships. The Revenue Committee would like to start an economic development committee that would not be a town entity. The other idea they have been pursuing, due to it’s possible revenue generation, is the marijuana industry. Leverett is not well-situated within distance to populous centers and doesn’t have the water and sewer infrastructure necessary for some components of growing and distributing, but there is the processing of the marijuana plant that could be done anywhere.

    • 7:30: Highway Dept. Update with Matt Boucher - Appoint new employee

      General Discussion...
      Matt came in with Doug Depault who applied for a position with the Highway Dept. He currently works for the Town of Bernardston but is ready for a change. The board reviewed his application.

      The board would like to have a hiring committee of Matt B., Will S., Scott M., and John I. in place to help fill another position in the dept.
      Matt told the board that they are waiting for the bridge to arrive at Coke Kiln Road, but that it is ready otherwise. He and Will have been grading roads for winter and did a long overdue fall clean up at the Town Hall. Shutesbury Rd. has been blacktopped and they have been organizing and cleaning the shop. Tree work has been done and the all the fire extinguishers in Town Buildings have been inspected. He would like to fix the ruts at the Goodale’s house, grade Mill Hill, Jackson Hill, and Hemenway roads before winter. The shoulders on Shutesbury Rd. need to be backed up and Rattlesnake Gutter Rd. needs to be made passable for emergency vehicles again.

      MOTION, moved by Tom Hankinson, seconded by Julie Shively: Motion: To hire Doug DePault, contingent upon passing a physical, at $25/hour with a review and possible raise after 6 mos. Sick time on an emergency basis may be used within the first 6 mos. Vote: 3-0 in favor.

      Pass: Aye: Tom Hankinson, Julie Shively, Peter d'Errico.

    • 8:00: Teawaddle Hill Rd. water

      General Discussion...
      Teawaddle Hill Water Update (Sue Pacheco and Micallya Silver also present)
      Margie had emailed Sue Pacheco to tell her that the town has initiated an appraisal on her house for eminent domain taking. She chose Sue because Sue stated in a meeting that she was so fed up with the water issue that she wished the town would just buy her house. She didn’t remember it that way and proceeded with a verbal attack. Once all was calm again, Tom offered an update. Tom reiterated that the Goodale well had such low flow rates that it was difficult to conduct the packer testing. There are no results from the testing yet. Tom discussed fracking the Goodale well with the team of experts working at the site and they thought that it would be a bad idea due the potential damage to surrounding wells. The Goodales could have it done themselves, but the consensus was that it should not be done within the confines of this town project.
      Pat asked about the Amherst well line. The board stated that it was in Amherst’s hands. The Town of Amherst has a new form of government and are just getting used to how it works. The project has been assigned to a committee for discussion. We don’t know what committee or when it will be discussed.

  3. New Business

    • Approve minutes of Nov. 12, 2019

      General Discussion...
      Approved.

    • Library Geothermal work

      General Discussion...
      Margie told the board that the Library geothermal bid came in high (by @ $3,000). This topic was discussed in the fall when the Library said they would use their state aid to repair the system and thought they’d need $7,000 from Town Meeting, but since they are only going to refurbish one heating unit they only need $3,200. The board wanted more information on the cost of minisplits but voted to award the contract to Jamrog as they were the only bidder, and to put $3,025 on the next Town Meeting warrant.

    • Marijuana Facility Procedure

      General Discussion...
      Tabled.

    • Police Regionalization

      General Discussion...
      Tom gave an update on the Police Regionalization Meeting he went to in Wendell with Scott. He will forward Wendell’s scope of services and Margie will contact the consultant they are using.

    • Sign amended authorization of borrowing for Amherst/Pelham School Dist.

      General Discussion...
      Signed.

    • Sign culvert engineering contract

      General Discussion...
      Signed.

    • Sign cybersecurity grant contract

      General Discussion...
      Signed.

  4. Mail

    • Chance Sandova, Highway Dept., resignation notice

    • MA Assoc. of Con Coms. 2 members complete ConCom certification

  5. Meeting Wrap-up

The listing of matters is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.

Minutes prepared by Lisa Stratford

Minutes approved on Thursday, Jan 16, 2020