Coordinator Report August 17, 2010 This report was going to be late or early because I am out of town two days this week. I went with early. The board received a letter wanting us to name a representative to the regional planning board. I learned that this has been me. I thought ours was Ted Cady. We get a Selectboard and Planning Board appointee. I surmise this by looking at the letter the planning board sent us. Several times Ted has urged me to attend a meeting when it was something of special interest. Now I realize it wasn't extracurricular. You may reappoint me or find somebody having a real interest. Perhaps Rick Abbot would be willing. Police chief Peters sent a letter saying he has appointed a new "special" officer. I believe he means probationary because it is the Selectboard's job to appoint police officers. I ask that you consider his letter a request or nomination and that you appoint John R. Stewart II to our police force. We will open bids for roofing town hall and restoration of the Wendell Rd box culvert on August 23 and make a recommendation on accepting bids that day. The culvert bid will be subject to reference check however the bidders must be pre-qualified by the state. Some seasonal camps in Erving and accessible only through Warwick have requested that they be assigned Warwick E-911 house numbers. Fire chief as enumerator has approved the request. To put this change in the official record I am asking the board to approve this action. Enumerator can likely do it without the vote but this will add authority. Erving is also expected to do so. Mrs. Severance sent a letter related to their electrical service saying that "I heard someone from the Town of Warwick wanted to help out and I'd appreciate their help to keep out of my business and start minding their own." George who is personnel committee chair contacted me regarding the proper role of the committee which is to hear grievances and develop and interpret policy. The message is it isn't appropriate and it is not welcome for members of the Selectboard to refer citizens with potential complaints about town employees to individuals or the committee and shouldn't happen again. That is something I would have been willing to coordinate. The state is opening up opportunities for early retirement. It makes sense for larger departments who would retire someone and not replace them. This doesn't apply to us. I have referred this to the personnel committee. We have two qualified individuals but would have to replace them so nothing would be gained. Recommend no action or if forced to vote on it I recommend strongly against it. In a recent newspaper article about the personnel grievance under consideration the town didn't look good. I included the petitioner's letter in the board's previous meeting package / public record which may have been a mistake. We aren't in a position to respond until the matter has been released from executive session. I believe a settlement is imminent. We had an on site meeting with IKO shingle representative 8/17/10 and were able to submit our claim including further photographic images and submission of samples. It will take about five weeks. The longer it takes the better our chances. Any settlement will be prorated. It would come in the form of money not material. We are in year 11 of a 30 year warranty. The general contractor was present as well as our contractor and Janice K representing the Building and Energy committee. The representative estimated about six or seven years of serviceable life before the roof leaks. The ground floor school sprinkler system installation passed its 200 p.s.i. wet test. This means we can begin the process of repairing sheetrock to get school open. I missed specifying a dry pipe run to the electrical generator room which I'll have to negotiate as an extra with SGrinnell. Much of the trim at the school has been repainted. The building looks better. MBI (broadband) is looking for a community representative. This differs from Wired West. "We are looking for an individual, most likely your town administrator/Manager/Planner or one of you Selectboard members, who is familiar with all town by-laws, board, committees, employees, and meeting schedules; can quickly assess who should be a meetings and arrange meetings; and can answer questions and problem solve on behalf of the municipality." MBI and the Connect will hold regional informational forums on September 15 in Northampton; and Sept. 30 in Gardner. Meetings are at 7 pm. The beach committee is looking for direction regarding alcohol. They met before I could advise them. I suggest no alcohol policy. Or the same policy as we have for Town Hall which is functionally not allowed and only by special permission with a one day license, meeting an insurance threshold and getting Selectboard approval. I wrote a letter to MSBA asking how to begin a process with them of getting financial assistance for the school roof and perhaps sprinkler. This potential came our way due to a newspaper article a finance committee member brought to my attention. Letter is attached in your meeting package. I registered the Town and our duns number on www.ccr.gov so we can keep our grant money flowing. We did two new broadband installs in the past two weeks. Constable Day posted the election primary warrants and returned a copy to the clerk. The town hall custodian situation has turned around in a very positive way with accountability and much better documentation and appearance of the building.