Coordinator Report January 26, 2017

We are 26 days into the New Year and the sky has not yet fallen as a
result of changes to the Public Records law.  We have had one request
and I was able to handle it simply and efficiently, in this case by
working with the Treasurer. Selectboard need to make an RAO (Records
Access Officer) appointment. Given the short timelines to respond, the
appointee needs to be at town hall daily. I recommend you appoint me and
add it to my job description.

After meeting recently with them, I asked the Rec Committee to make an
appearance so they can share their plans and vision. Also, there is only
one active appointed member at this time and Rita McConville is active
and would like to be appointed. Some of the Rec Committee's ideas seem
to me more entertainment than recreation. We could think about merging
or meeting jointly with Celebrations committee or we could accept the
broader definition. Rec Committee has accomplished a lot.

The Town Forest Committee has retained a forester whose work marking and
filing a cutting plan will be funded by their revolving account. It has
been about 15 years since the last harvest at the Wendell Road Town
Forest. The harvest will generate about $15,000 in income to the Town
and the marked stumpage will be offered for sale by bid.

To date there have now been two meetings in Bernardston related to the
PVRSD district's future. At the first there was sentiment to refer this
to the School Committee which would have been unproductive in my
judgement. So now each town has been asked to appoint two
representatives. Dawn attended last night's meeting and we need another
interested resident.

In the short term, here in Warwick, our residents have three workarounds
available for cell phone service. All of them can work well when you are
home and connected to Warwick Broadband and none of them are good when
you are moving about town. A small sized cell tower appliance in a
plastic box that is connected to your home broadband system is an option
used by many residents. Verizon Mobile (VZM) calls the device a "Network
Extender" while ATT calls them a "Microcell". Sprint calls theirs an
"Airave" while T-Mobile's device is call a "CellSpot". In all cases you
place it in a window so the device's GPS receiver can provide the 911
system accurate location information, and connect the device with an
Ethernet cat5 cable to your home Internet connection. Your cell phone/
handset connects wirelessly to the appliance which connects to the cell
phone network via the Internet.

Another option is a Voice over Internet application (app) running on a
mobile device that connects to the Internet. This is basically a Magic
Jack on your phone, tablet, or computer. Skype and FaceTime are in this
category. Finally I know of a provider called RepublicWireless.com who
have a prioritized Wi-Fi calling app integrated to certain Android
phones, and backed it up with the ability to connect to the Sprint cell
phone network when Wi-Fi isn't available.
Any of the above solutions will work from your home with a solid
Internet connection but they leave you in the cold when driving or
broken down on the roads in our town.

Karro Frost pointed us to funding available for compliance on culvert
replacement projects. I printed some maps for Larry who is working on
this.

Warwick Planning Board answered FRCOG on the question of DLTA (Division
of Local Technical Assistance) priorities. I can't think of anything to
add and you are provided a copy of their work. 

I got my WiredWest Refund. I sent a template out via the WList and have
a copy of the Warwick WiredWest data in case anybody can't recall enough
details to make a request. So far a few request for the template and no
data requests.

At long last you will conduct a Public Hearing on the Revised Personnel
Policy after which you may Deliberate and take action or hold it over
until a subsequent meeting. Making it effective July 2 is one way to
make the vacation accrual work as intended.

Transfer Station Commission will soon meet to adopt or agree to
corrective action upon the 3rd Party Inspection report. The document we
submit requires Selectboard chair signature and I request the board
grant that authorization.

Contributory Insurance is the budget line item from which we pay the
employers share of health insurance and of Medicare. We are facing a
shortfall which is the result of more eligible employees taking
insurance. Accountant is now in possession of an opinion letter that
answers her threat that she won't pay the health insurance bills without
a transfer. The shortfall looks to be about $13k and legal counsel says
we don't have to wipe out our Reserve Fund at the mid-point of the
fiscal year. We have time to formulate a plan and in one scenario we do
nothing and it is added to next year's tax rate. Looking ahead our
health premiums are going up 9.4% so that line is going from $52,000
appropriated and $65,000 actual in this year to a projected $80,000. Our
employees pay 25%. 

The Financial Modernization Act has kicked in and requires a change to
the way we authorize and appropriate Revolving Funds. In the past we
voted to establish and appropriate at Town Meeting each year. The new
way is to create the funds as a by-law and subsequently we will only
need to appropriate. You may recall too that the board recently had to
send DOR (Dept of Revenue) a letter clarifying and moving downward
amounts we could spend in total revolving funds because of a percentage
cap. That cap is eliminated.

School District budget is shaping up. Like the towns it is facing 9.5%
health insurance premium increases. District administration has proposed
eliminating an administrative position and a net of six instructional
staff. This is after creating four new positions to support on-line
learning. After staff cuts Pioneer will go from student / teacher ratio
of 9.5:1 to 10.5:1. The budget hearing is Tuesday Feb 7 and we are
continuing to work on the budget. 

Chapter 70 school aid, PILOT, and unrestricted local aid revenue
estimates were just published. Chapter 70 is going up 3.9%; local aid
2%; Payment in Lieu of Taxes is level funded.

Final approval of our Broadband $450k grant was voted by Mass Tech
Executive Committee this week. Tomorrow I will attend an MBI sponsored
procurement workshop in Worthington. We got good bids on the poles which
Hamshaw was low bidder. We got 1 bid for setting poles and it was late
because they had a typo in the reply email. I am investigating
procurement option of hiring a municipal electric company like
Westfield, Holyoke, etc. to set our poles.

No bids received for the town  hall heat pumps. This Green Community
money expires June 30. I see no reason to overspend, for example we got
a quote from a PEX (procurement exempt utility approved expeditor) of
over $50k for a single 3 ton split with four heads. I am considering
buying the equipment outright, using four very high efficiency LG 1 ton
units and possibly having Tech School install. I am also working on the
highway truck wing plow option and on putting an end to the idling of
the highway pay loader for the entire duration of a storm in order to
save energy. I also want to talk about going back to gravel roads but
not for this meeting. Keep the thought.

State bond bills a couple of years ago got us money for conservation
land acquisition. Adjacent to the Town Forest is land owned by V Shaw
that is otherwise landlocked. Alan Berman has done much related deed
research and I am now working with Open Space, Conservation Commission
and Senator Rosenberg's office to bring this forward. Clearly there is
more income potential, long term, for the Town to grow timber on this
land than to collect low taxes on this landlocked parcel that is in
Chapter 61.

There is paper copy of documents from the prior meeting package you will
need for this meeting. Contact me if I need to reprint yours.