Coordinator Report January 28, 2016

I am grateful that Nick Arguimbau agreed to do the research about what
other municipalities' appropriation to pipeline legal is or has been.
Miryam indicated a willingness to do this looking around too, but I
called her off for now because Nick is doing it. I reached out to FROCG
and learned that four communities, Conway, Erving, Montague and
Northfield have each provided $13,750 for legal service and special
studies related to the pipeline. This is according to Planning Director
Sloan.

An Article for the board's consideration would read: "Shall the Town
raise and appropriate (could be borrow, appropriate from available
funds, etc.) a sum of money (or insert an explicit amount) for legal
service and special studies related to the NED gas pipeline or take any
other action related thereon.

Highway Superintendent is doing research on highway signage for our
bridges. The issue is getting the values correct for the number of axles
and the span though the short answer is the legal limit is it.  The
board had indicated an interest in having a meeting about the wide load
issue brought by a neighboring business. According to Chief Shoemaker
the trucker was cited for not displaying a license plate, not displaying
the required "Wide Load" signage, and among other matters the permit
offered was not for the load on the truck. That means our issue of,
"this isn't a state highway so a state permit does not apply" has not
gone beyond our counsel's letter and the letter's recipient now knows to
phone the department to get permission. I have not contacted our
neighbors regarding placing signs in Winchester and Orange at each end
of 78 and I will do so.

After writing a five page summary of Warwick's Long Term Evolution (LTE)
planning activities and submitting it, I was thanked by MBI for the
detailed report and asked by them to essentially summarize the summary I
provided, this time with total focus on planning. I've supplied that one
page document to you for your information. In addition I followed up on
Doc Pruyne's desire to have my planning work vetted and have obtained
for WBS (Broadband Service) the service of Fred Goldstein of Interisle
who are working for Royalston among several other MA communities, towns
who are doing or strongly considering Wireless and Hybrid Fiber-Wireless
rather than Fiber to the home or curb.  We are somewhat ahead of the
curve and their scope of work is reviewing plans, making suggestions,
modeling radio solutions and generally questioning everything leading to
a plan to update our network.

The Broadband Committee didn't meet in the past two weeks and didn't
provide anything in time for the meeting.

A DEP site visit to our transfer station and subsequent annual
inspection has resulted in a remediation plan which must be signed off
on by the appropriate town board. I am bringing this first to the
Commissioners who weren't all available for Monday prior to the
Selectboard meeting. Our Selectboard could authorize Chairman Magi to
sign after the Commission meets, or require the plan be brought before
the Selectboard. It really isn't an option to challenge this citation as
we are guilty and the order to clean up the trashy appearance of the
facility must be addressed, says the state agency. Further, the
condition of the place invites further scrutiny. That is my take. When I
was a logger I would sometimes leave a high top (slash that isn't cut
up) so the forester would have something to complain about and feel like
they are doing their job. I don't think we have that need but if that
thinking applies here, we have succeeded, they found something and now
we need to act. I recommend the board authorize the chair to sign the
plan after review by the Transfer Station Commissioners.
	
The next meeting about Orange Ambulance and its need for a subsidy is
Tuesday 2/2 in Erving. Dawn Magi and I met with FRCOG who are working on
an analysis to determine whether there is a basis for increasing the
financial demand on the surrounding towns. Our contribution is now
almost $9k and an assessment basis as high as $50 per capita were
suggested. That would have Warwick at $40k instead of $9k and we four
towns would be covering 100% of the deficit previously identified,
though we amount to collectively 15% of workload. One option we have is
to have Shelburne Control dispatch to Winchester, Northfield, and Athol
based on proximity. I note that Athol serves Petersham and does not bill
them for a subsidy. I further note that Orange does a great job and I
hope we can avoid choking on the bill.
	
Time and audio visual geekiness dependent (will I be able to make a
computer and projector talk to each other on demand and with an
audience?) I'll unveil our ClearGov.com financial transparency web
project for your review.

Scenic Roads Penalty Bylaw is included for review by the Select Board
and Inclusion on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant.  Ted Cady wrote that
the "Planning Board seeks to use the Non-criminal disposition method of
writing a "ticket" for a violation of the law.  It has been review and
modified as a result of meetings with the Tree Warden and Highway Super.
Please let the Planning Board regarding how the Select Board views it
and any changes we need to make to satisfy them."