(4/6/07)  The Select Board met Wednesday, April 4th.  Anne Awad, Gerry Weiss, Hwei-Ling Greeney, Rob Kusner and Alisa Brewer were present, as was Town Manager Larry Shaffer.

Ms. Awad opened the meeting and said that as this was the first meeting following the election, the Select Board would be re-organizing itself and determining how it will operate for the next year.

Public Comment

No one spoke during the public comment period.

Announcements

Mr. Weiss announced that Thursday, April 5th was the monthly Art Walk downtown from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and encouraged people to attend.

Select Board Reorganization

Ms. Awad explained that a new Chair would be chosen, and would then lead the rest of the meeting, and that they would also consider the Vice Chair position, choose a new Clerk, and consider committee coverage.  She then welcomed Ms. Brewer, newly elected to the Select Board.  Ms. Awad said it is unusual for the chair to make a motion, but that she would move to recognize Gerry Weiss as Chair for the upcoming year, which Mr. Kusner seconded. 

As part of the discussion, there was consideration of the Vice Chair role, and whether that should be kept as a rotating position or be held by one person.  Mr. Weiss said he enjoyed his times as Vice Chair.  Ms. Awad said she thought it worked well and appreciated the opportunity to work one-on-one with each of the members.  Ms. Brewer asked how the rotation affected dealings with outside committees, and said that probably was more relevant at the Chair level.  She also asked if the weekly meeting with the Chair, Vice Chair and Town Manager created challenges in avoiding the appearance of Open Meeting Law violations. 

Ms. Awad said that her understanding of Open Meeting Law is that two members can meet as long as neither talks to a third member about that meeting.  She said the weekly meeting is to set the agenda, and involves both housekeeping details and anticipating issues that might arise.  She said that neither the Chair nor Vice Chair would talk about that meeting with another Select Board member.

Mr. Weiss asked if it was a long tradition to have both the Chair and Vice Chair at that meeting.  Ms. Awad wasn't sure, and Eva Schiffer said that it had previously just been the Chair and the Town Manager, and that Ms. Awad added an additional Select Board member to the meeting several years ago when she (Ms. Awad) became Chair. [Corrected 4/7. Sentence had erroneously read that Ms. Awad added the Vice Chair to these meetings.]

Ms. Awad asked Mr. Shaffer to ask Town Counsel about the question of the Chair and Vice Chair meeting, and whether that is an Open Meeting Law concern.

Ms. Greeney said she felt empowered to be part of the agenda meetings as Vice Chair and said that when it was her turn, she would push to have topics that were important to her, such as traffic calming and quality of life issues, put on the agenda.  She said that each member brings different strengths and focus to that role. 

The Board then voted unanimously to elect Mr. Weiss as Chair.   He noted that he voted in support to show that he wasn't “railroaded” into the position. 

Mr. Weiss said he was honored to be chosen for that role by his colleagues, and he would try to run the meetings as well as Ms. Awad had, and to show the leadership the Board and the Town want.  He bid fond farewell to Robie Hubley, praising him and saying that his presence would be missed.  He welcomed Ms. Brewer and said he looked forward to her ideas and enthusiasm.  He thanked Ms. Awad and praised the grace and confidence with which she held the Chair position. 

Mr. Weiss then read a statement in response to recent talk about the Town's financial problems and the blame he said had been put on the Select Board and Mr. Hubley.  He called that misplaced blame and said that if the problem is not properly diagnosed, it will not be properly solved.  He said that blame should include Massachusetts taxpayers for passing a tax cut that has decreased State aid and required property tax increases for those least benefiting from the income tax cut.  He said blame could include U.S. citizens for funding a war instead of demanding funding for schools, and said that Amherst's share of the war funding has amounted to $56 million dollars, and said, “Imagine what we could do with $56 million.”  He said blame could be placed on all parts of Town Government since 2001 for agreeing to the Town's financial plan during that time, for spending reserves and failing to deal with the health care trust fund crisis that he said began in 2002 and wasn't addressed until 2006.  He said he had other comments about commercial development that he wouldn't address at the meeting because he was preparing a report for a newspaper column on that subject.  He said that the Town's current commercial assessment was higher than under the previous Select Board and that it had increased at a higher rate.  He said the annual increase in the commercial tax base has been about 3.9% per year since 1995, and was lower before that, and called the increase “very slow, but steady.”

Mr. Kusner said that the health care trust fund crisis began to be addressed in the spring of 2005 when he and Ms. Greeney first joined the Board, and Mr. Weiss agreed.

Ms. Awad moved to continue rotating the Vice Chair position by month, going alphabetically by last name, and the vote to support that was unanimous.

It was determined that Ms. Awad would serve first in that position, followed next month by Ms. Brewer, and proceeding through the Board.

The duties of the Clerk were described as needing only to sign a couple of documents.  Mr. Weiss said he'd been Clerk for three years and needed to sign approximately five documents in that time.  Ms. Awad moved to elect Ms. Greeney as Clerk.  Ms. Greeney accepted the nomination, and the vote in support was unanimous.

There was discussion of the rotating Appointments Clerk position.  Mr. Kusner suggested that it takes the full three months to really get the hang of it, and suggested extending the term to six months.  That was felt to be too long, and it was agreed to extend that term to four months instead.

Ms. Brewer asked about the duties of that position.  Mr. Weiss explained that the Appointments Clerk tracks all appointments and works with the staff in the Select Board office to know which committees have vacancies.  He said the Appointments Clerk receives all the Citizen Activity Forms, and that from that point forward, each person handles the process differently.  He said his habit was to look though the CAFs for applicants to match vacancies, and noted that sometimes committees let them know to expect a certain application and would offer their opinion.  He said the Board isn't required to follow that, but that he had found such recommendations helpful.  He said the Appointments Clerk then brings the nomination to the Board, by getting it on to the agenda by Thursday. 

Mr. Shaffer spoke about the new on-line CAF system, and how there is also a dedicated terminal in the Select Board office for applicants to use for that purpose.  He said the on-line system requires applicants to consider the conflict of interest statutes.  He said that everyone is getting used to the new system, including new staff in that office.

Ms. Brewer noted that the Appointments Clerk talks to the applicant, and asked how other Board members would have that information.  Mr. Kusner said that each committee has a Select Board liaison, and that each nominee's CAF should be included in the Select Board's packet.  He said that if members have concerns about a nominee, they can send a note to the Chair or the Appointments Clerk.

Ms. Schiffer asked about part of the CAF which had been confidential and how that works in the new system.  Mr. Shaffer said that it is masked, but that ultimately, the record is a public document and can't be kept entirely confidential.  Ms. Awad said the Board learned about the lack of confidentiality when, per a citizen's request, the District Attorney required them to release all the CAFs for applicants who had not been appointed to the Town Manager selection committee.

It was determined that Mr. Kusner would take the first four-month stint as Appointments Clerk, as he had been next in line for it anyway, and that it would then revert to alphabetical rotation by last name, starting with Ms. Awad. 

Ms. Brewer said that vacancies occur throughout the year, but noted that many terms expire June 30th, and wondered if there was a mechanism for informing people that their terms were expiring.

Mr. Weiss said that the rule of thumb has been that people can serve two terms if they want to, and that when their first term is ending, they receive notice from the Select Board office, and if they want to be reappointed, they let the office know that.

Mr. Kusner said that apart from major regulatory boards, people serve until a successor has been qualified, which he said helps with the transition over the summer when many boards are less active.  He noted that some boards are Town Manager appointments, and that the beginning of Mr. Shaffer's term last July 1st coincided with filling positions for new board terms, and that it took a little time to get those details in order.

Discussion from recent meetings was reprised about having Ms. Greeney and Mr. Kusner consider the list of current boards and committees and make recommendations about removing the inactive ones.  Ms. Awad noted that different kinds of committees might require different kinds of actions to dissolve them, and asked that Ms. Greeney and Mr. Kusner make such questions part of their task.

The question of reassigning duties for the committees to which Mr. Hubley was liaison was considered, but was put off until a later meeting when a complete list of the affected committees was available.  Ms. Greeney noted that replacing Mr. Hubley on the Budget Coordinating Group was a priority.  Ms. Awad moved to have Mr. Weiss take over that role.  He noted that he intends to continue serving on the Joint Capital Planning Committee through Town Meeting, and would then let someone else take over that position.  The vote to approve Mr. Weiss as a Select Board representative to the BCG was unanimous. 

Re-designate Polling Location Change

Mr. Shaffer said that the switch back to Room 168 at the Campus Center as the UMass polling location was strictly pro forma, and the vote to do so was unanimous.

Farmers' Market

John Spineti, President of the Amherst Farmers' Market Committee, sought permission to once again close the Spring Street parking lot for market use on Saturday mornings from May to November.  He said it is the market's 37th year, and that it has always been at that location.

There was some discussion over whether this created parking problems affecting the cinema or other businesses, but it was felt that the draw of the market, and the potential for market customers to patronize other establishments while downtown, made up for any potential drawbacks.  Mr. Kusner noted that market patrons can also walk, bicycle or take the bus to get there, and said the summer schedule for the new PVTA Route 32 is designed to align with market hours.

Approve Minutes

There was some discussion about the minutes from the March 19th meeting, and whether or not the parties who would gather to address the Lincoln Avenue traffic situation had indeed included the Public Works and Public Transportation committees, as was noted.  It was also suggested that the UMass Police Department was intended for inclusion in that group.  Ms. Awad recalled the committees being part of the discussion and suggested adding them to the working group on the traffic matter, not the primary group.  Ms. Greeney agreed.  With some other minor changes, the minutes were approved as amended, with 4 in favor and Ms. Brewer abstaining, as she was not part of the Board for that meeting.

Review Plans Downtown Sidewalks – Amity and North Pleasant Streets

Guilford Mooring, DPW Superintendent, spoke about upcoming sidewalk projects.  He said that one was to re-do the sidewalks on North Pleasant Street from Kellogg Avenue to the area by Zanna, and the other was for completing the crosswalk in front of the library on Amity Street, and to replace that street's light fixtures.  He asked if they should keep to the schedule of doing North Pleasant Street first, or if they should do the Amity work instead.  He said the DPW crews were currently creating a restroom at Groff Park, and could be expected to start working downtown in June.  

Mr. Shaffer said that he had reminded Mr. Mooring that recommendations should be made to the Select Board, so that the members shouldn't have to decide.  Mr. Shaffer said that North Pleasant should be the priority because it has the most traffic, but that if an opportunity arises to do the Amity crosswalk, that should be done.  Mr. Kusner said that ADA-compliance issues on North Pleasant also made that project more crucial. 

Bill Elsasser spoke to the disruption of working on large sections of the sidewalk at one time, and suggested that the work area might be condensed.  Mr. Mooring said they try to keep the work areas as small as possible, but that he would see if they could still be smaller.  He said many towns rip up the entire section of sidewalk at a time, but that Amherst tries to work in small areas.  Mr. Shaffer agreed, saying that when such projects are contracted out, the low bidders achieve their economies by doing one element at a time across the whole job, removing all sidewalks, constructing all curbing, etc.  He said Amherst's approach takes longer but is more convenient and has proven cost-effective to keep the work in-house, and he praised the DPW for that.

There was discussion about whether the DPW might be able to start sooner after graduation, to take advantage of more time that the students are away, and discussion about when the different designs and funding for each project had been approved.  It was determined that the vote to approve the Amity Street work would wait, because the Public Works Committee hadn't voted on it yet, and the approval was not time-sensitive because the North Pleasant Street work would be done first.  After more discussion about details of the sidewalk work, when such work would occur in other areas, and details about related trees and other issues, the vote to approve the North Pleasant Street sidewalk work was unanimous.

Override/Budget

To start the override discussion, Mr. Weiss asked Finance Director John Musante if he had any new information.  Mr. Musante said that the legislature had voted earlier in the day on a local aid resolution that resulted in a $10,000 increase in Chapter 70 funds for regional school aid, and a $92,000 decrease in the Town's elementary school share, relative to the original numbers from the Governor.  He said the Governor's numbers were higher than those the Town was using for its predictions anyway, and that in the context of a $58 million budget, the new numbers weren't significant enough to change Town budget assumptions.

Mr. Weiss said he wanted the Select Board to discuss a number of items related to the override:  Whether or not the Select Board should vote and take a position on the override; what the Select Board's list of restorations would be if the override passes; the difference between policy and finances, which he said was a long-overdue discussion with the Finance Committee, and said the lack of clarity on the subject creates contention and disagreement, but said it was too late to do that for this budget plan and that he would recommend having such a discussion this summer;  and what would be the recommendation if the Town received significantly more revenue than the Amherst Plan projections – to add it to reserves or to not collect taxes at the full levy limit? 

Ms. Greeney said she wanted to talk about the Board's position on the proposed spending caps for each year of the Finance Committee's plan, but Mr. Kusner suggested that the Board deal first with Mr. Weiss' issues and return to Ms. Greeney's question later.  She agreed.

There was discussion about how the Select Board should proceed in trying to create a restoration list and get Finance Committee feedback about it.  Mr. Shaffer distributed his list of $375,000 restorations, which he said was a truncated version of his original $1.1 million list.  The list included 14 items in prioritized order, with the five Firefighters in the top spot, two police officers in the second spot, followed by nine additional police training and equipment line items.  Next on the list was to hire an Economic Development Director, followed by restoring funding for the War Memorial pool, and lastly, funding a full-time position to work both at the Central Services Counter and in the Finance Department.  Mr. Weiss noted that if the Board members wanted something restored that wasn't on Mr. Shaffer's list, it would require a corresponding cut.

Ms. Awad asked if Mr. Shaffer had considered using consultants for specific economic development initiatives instead of making that a staff position.  She thought that outside consultants would be more flexible and maintain a greater “dynamism” than someone on staff for the long term.

Mr. Shaffer said that consultants would be useful if there were specific projects in the pipeline for them to attend to, but said that he wants a staff person to build capacity and create a long-term economic development profile for the Town in addition to addressing short-term objectives.  He said the first priority for that staff person would be grant writing, to demonstrate that the position was “paying (its) own way.”

Mr. Weiss and Ms. Greeney both made points about the Select Board's list needing to deal with funding totals and concepts, as opposed to very specific line items, to which Mr. Shaffer agreed, noting that final appropriations would be made by Town Meeting, and that the Town's administration would determine the best way to use the appropriated amounts.

Mr. Weiss asked about some specifics of the Firefighter funds – why those positions would need to be “equipped,” as they already exist and presumably are “equipped,” and whether the Town's share of their funding, which increases each year as the SAFER grant decreases, was factored into the later years of the budget plan.   Mr. Shaffer explained that the Firefighters continue to require training certifications and other items to stay “equipped,” and Mr. Musante said that the budget plan didn't get into the specifics of the Firefighter funding each year, but that the 5.5% caps take that into account.

Mr. Weiss said that he and Andrew Steinberg of the Finance Committee had questioned the Human Services Funding Committee about their priorities and asked them to justify each intended expenditure.   He said their request is for $45,000, and that Mr. Shaffer's budget recommended $25,000.  Mr. Shaffer noted that was down from $116,000 in funding they received last year, and Mr. Weiss said they were paring their funding list down from about a dozen agencies last year to five this year, and sought to provide those five with half of last year's funds.  Mr. Weiss noted that the Select Board would need to come up with $20,000 to meet the Human Services Funding Committee's request.

There was some discussion of what level of detail the Board should be discussing, and Ms. Brewer asked for clarification on how the members were to determine their own preferences, having not heard individual budget priorities from each department head, and noting that without that information, they had only the Town Manager's budget and their own personal and Town government experiences on which to base their lists.

Mr. Weiss said that was a good point, and said that the annual deadline for getting their recommendations into the Finance Committee's Town Meeting report was earlier than the Select Board was able to gather all the departmental information.  Ms. Awad said that there had been a previous Board discussion in which they agreed that last year's full departmental presentations didn't provide the information the Board specifically needed for the budget decisions, and that they had gotten their best information from the Finance Committee.  Ms. Awad said she didn't feel that she needed information from the department heads to determine her priorities for restored funding for the Town's portion of the budget.

Mr. Kusner said that the members had previous experience going through such budget processes and were informed by previous department presentations, past Town Meeting discussions, informal information channels and other experiences, so that the determinations weren't just based on personal opinions, but on considered judgment.  He noted that departmental budget information is included in the Budget Book, and returned to the point of what the Board would recommend if there were significantly higher revenues than projected, and said that would inform the discussion of taking a position on the override, because it would tell voters more of what they would be voting for.  He said whether or not taxes were collected to the full-levy limit from the beginning, versus increasing taxes more gradually, could influence voters' support for the override.

Discussion returned to the idea of the restoration lists and dealing with departmental information.  Mr. Shaffer noted that he and Mr. Musante and Sonia Aldrich had spent many hours dealing with all the department heads and learning their specific needs when creating the original budget proposal.  He said meeting with the department heads would not add new information about those needs and priorities, but would demonstrate their passion for and commitment to the services they provide.

It was eventually determined that the Select Board members would consider their restoration list priorities and let Mr. Shaffer know on Monday morning which department heads they would like to have attend Monday evening's meeting, to provide more information.

Discussion returned to the question of how to deal with a big influx of unexpected money.  Ms. Awad said this had happened following the last override, and that Town Meeting had been clear that they wanted that money returned to the voters.  She said this time it might be similar, and said that not returning the money might create cynicism.

Mr. Weiss asked how much money would be enough to consider returning.  Ms. Brewer said that her understanding was that the Amherst Plan called for putting any additional money into the reserves, and said that what had occurred before was a very unusual circumstance and might not need to be considered by the Board, particularly if it is already addressed by the Amherst Plan.

Alice Carlozzi, Finance Committee Chair, said that the Finance Committee had discussed but not voted on that topic, and that consideration might hinge on how large such an amount was.  Mr. Kusner said that extra revenue wouldn't affect the spending caps, and reiterated his point about how not levying to the full limit would make the tax hike less drastic.  Ms. Carlozzi said that part of the plan is to build reserves to lengthen its scope beyond three years, and that not collecting and banking that extra money makes that less possible.  Mr. Musante emphasized Mr. Kusner's point about maintaining the spending caps in spite of new revenues.

Ms. Greeney spoke to her preference of putting any extra money, regardless of the amount, in reserves.  Ms. Awad said the Board needed to not be ambiguous about either putting extra money in reserves or not collecting it, and said she didn't feel the Amherst Plan was clear on that point.  Ms. Schiffer said the plan is clear – any new revenue helps extend the life of the plan.  [Corrected 4/7.  Sentence had erroneously read: "the plan is clear - put it in reserves."]  Mr. Weiss said that Ms. Carlozzi had just said the determination might depend how much extra money was received.  Mr. Steinberg said that the projections are just that, and were done with a balance of realistic expectations and a sense of trying to reach a bit to achieve the new revenue necessary to keep the plan going into the future.  He said no one could predict the specific success of such revenue building efforts, but that they are intended to build future security.  He said the essential element of the plan is the commitment to spending caps.

Mr. Kusner said his concern about collecting and banking extra money was about the equity and fairness to the taxpayer, and suggested that a commitment to not tax to the levy limit if extra funds were received might help the override to pass.  Ms. Carlozzi said that the future stability of Town finances might benefit everyone and be a larger issue than fairness.  Mr. Weiss said these were political considerations and that's why he raised the issue.

Ms. Greeney was concerned about what would happen if State aid came in at below the 5% projected increases, citing the average increase over the last five years as 2%.  Mr. Musante said that the plan's spending caps assume sufficient revenue to fund them, and that if revenue were not sufficient, the caps would be reduced to match available funds.  He said that the 2% increase Ms. Greeney cited for State aid was an average, and that each year's individual amount varied widely, from increases to reductions, and said that State aid had been a “boom or bust cycle.” 

Ms. Greeney asked: if new revenues were to come in from a meals tax or fire service fees from the colleges, but State aid funds were less than projected, would the spending caps be lowered?  Ms. Carlozzi said the original stimulus for the plan was to address the Town's chronic structural deficit.  She said that extra revenues help to chip away at that, and that the three-year plan won't solve it – it only takes care of it for three years.  She said that is why extra money should be put in reserves.

Ms. Greeney asked again:  if State aid came in at a 2% increase rather than 5%, but there was an extra $500,000 from the University for fire services, would that $500,000 be used for the operating budget because State aid was less than had been projected?  Ms. Carlozzi said she would assume so, because budgets are based on total revenues, and that the individual pieces of them may go up and down, but they are based on a total revenue package.

Mr. Weiss noted that Ms. Carlozzi had previously mentioned that extra one-time revenues should not be used for recurring operating costs because that money wouldn't be there again the following year, and Ms. Carlozzi agreed.

Mr. Shaffer said that his proposal for fire service payments from the University is for a contract, in order to recognize a long-term financial relationship.  He said that one-time revenues don't address the structural deficit problem, and that the plan calls for compressed spending which requires a reduction in Town operations, and that it is an attempt to chip away at the structural deficit, which will not itself be solved by the three-year plan.

Mr. Weiss reiterated the point from previous meetings about spending caps meaning “not more than,” but not requiring that spending reach the cap limit.  Ms. Carlozzi said that if the revenues are there, the expectation is that the cap limit can be hit, and that that is part of the ability to plan for the future. 

Mr. Kusner said that if the purpose of the Board taking a position on the override is to encourage voters to vote for it, then the Board needed to be clear on its plan to either not collect taxes to the full levy limit if extra funds were received, or to put them in reserves. 

Ms. Awad said her vote to put the override question on the ballot was for the purpose of following the requirements of the Town Government Act, but that her vote doesn't reflect her personal feelings or support for the proposal.  She said that it's the voters who need to send a signal on the issue, and that that influences her opinion of whether the Select Board should take a position to support it at all.

Mr. Weiss said that as the chief elected officials in town, people will look to the Select Board for their opinion, to see if they support it and think it's a good plan.  He said he won't tell people they must vote for it, but thinks he should tell them his opinion of the plan.

Ms. Awad said that if asked, she would give factual information of what would happen if the override doesn't pass, and that there would be serious consequences, but that she will not recommend what voters should do.   Mr. Weiss asked if she would be comfortable recommending that she thinks it's a solid plan or not, or that it makes sense going forward.  Ms. Awad said she would describe the plan but not give a personal opinion on it.

Ms. Brewer said that she feels strongly that it is the Select Board's role to support the plan, not just provide factual details about it.  She said it is the difference between finance and policy, and that the plan is already full of facts in terms of numbers and details.  She said that in her previous role on the School Committee, that body supported it because it represented the best possibilities for the directions the schools should go.  She said that the plan is the best current option and that there are no good alternatives.  She said that despite her support of the last override, she wouldn't be encouraging people to vote for a one-year override this year, but that she does encourage support of this plan, and an override is part of that.  She said she doesn't think it would be unduly influencing people to tell them that this is the best option we have in the given circumstances. 

Ms. Greeney said that she was almost ready to endorse the Finance Committee's recommendation, and noted that she preferred to call it that, rather than “the Amherst Plan,” because she said whether or not it is “the Amherst Plan” is for the voters to decide. She said that she understands that additional funds from State aid or fire services, etc., would be put into reserves if they were one-time funds, but otherwise could be used for the operating budgets; that spending did not need to reach caps and that caps would be lowered if State aid and non-“one-time” revenues came in below projections; and that the goal would be to put extra money in reserves to help fill the projected gap in years four and five.  She said the only thing that she was still unsatisfied with was what the plan was for revenue enhancements that would directly address the projected shortfall in years four and five. 

Mr. Shaffer reiterated the new revenue plans, citing the fire contract with the colleges and University and other new fees; pursuing new revenue from the State, such as a meals tax; and economic development, which he said ties in with the Master Plan and zoning bylaw issues.  He said those are the three primary components of the new revenue plan, and that he can't give a specific answer as to where the Town will be on each of those initiatives in three years.

Mr. Weiss noted that next year at this time, we would know more and could adjust accordingly.  Mr. Shaffer noted that this budget process had been painful, but also very valuable.  Mr. Weiss suggested that Mr. Shaffer address the part of his Town Manager's report that has financial implications – the RFP for Cherry Hill Golf Course.

Town Manager's Report

Mr. Shaffer said that the Town had received one bid for five thousand dollars, and said he was surprised to read in the paper that the bid was suggested to actually be valued at $30,000.  He said the comptroller is contacting the bidder to learn if the bid is actually for $5,000 or for $5,000 plus a $25,000 payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT,) and if it's the latter, contract options would be considered.

Responding to a question from the audience, Mr. Shaffer explained that the bid was to take over the operations of the golf course for one year.  He said the $5,000 bid had contained a specific codicil referencing the PILOT, and that the bidder said he'd assumed he would be charged for that, and hence, didn't include that amount in his bid number.

Ms. Awad asked if projections had been done comparing that $30,000 to the current staffing arrangement of running the golf course through LSSE.  Mr. Shaffer said the course had taken in $91,500 this fiscal year and was projected to collect another $130,000 before the end of FY07.  He said total revenues are projected at $221,000 - $222,000, and that projected expenses are for about $205,000 - $208,000, so there is an expected profit for this year of $14,000- $15,000.  He said there is a completely different management profile than last year, and that whether they decide to pursue the private proposal or continue to run it in-house, he was confident that they have “turned the corner” as far as income and expense issues at the course, and said the question now is: what is in the best interest of the Town?

Ms. Awad asked if the bidder's contract would begin May 1st.  Mr. Shaffer said it would begin October 1st, to see how this season goes and to enable the bidder to then begin the turf management and other preparations for the 2008 season.  

Health Insurance Trust Fund

Ms. Greeney requested an update on the Health Insurance Trust Fund.  Mr. Shaffer said that he and Mr. Musante had recently met with the insurance advisers and that the 12% premium increase from January 1st, and the budgeted 8% increase were expected to be adequate to meet the Town's experience and actuarial profiles.  He said other things were being looked at including increasing stop-loss coverage and seeing how the CanadaRX program was working, and said that was expected to yield $60,000 in annual savings.  He said that while there is no good news with health care, some news was better than others.

Mr. Weiss asked if the Town was “in the plus,” and Mr. Musante said no, and that was why the January 1st increase was put into effect.  He said that 12% increase, along with the 8% increase scheduled for July 1st, was currently projected to be adequate for 18 months.  He said there would be some “hiccups” because the Fund is still chasing the gap from last summer and fall. 

Ms. Greeney asked if the 8% increase was realistic considering discussion of recent 27% increases.  Mr. Musante explained the various dramatic coverage and premium changes that had been instituted and said that based on the current situation, the 8% is expected to be adequate, but you can never know for certain in advance.  The Board thanked Mr. Musante for his careful attention to this matter.

Ms. Brewer asked if participating in the State's insurance program, as has been proposed by the Governor, might be advantageous for Amherst.  Mr. Musante said that is still being analyzed and that a recommendation one way or the other is still a couple of months away.  He said that legislation enabling participation has been filed, and that if passed, it would be a local option.  He said that despite the premium increases, Amherst's rates were still competitive for participants.   

Special Municipal Employee Status

Mr. Weiss said that the new SME process called for committees to submit requests for the status, and that several have done so, and now the Board needed a plan for how it would proceed.  He asked if the written request was sufficient, or if committees should be requested to appear before the Board.

Mr. Shaffer distributed some materials from the Town Counsel related to SME for the School Committee.  He said that Town Counsel advised that the School Committee should be considered for the status, and said some of the materials dealt with examples of conflict of interest that might apply to School Committee members.  Ms. Awad suggested that the materials be given to the School Committee as well. 

Per the question of accepting the written request or inviting each committee to a Select Board meeting, Ms. Awad said the written request indicates that the committee has considered the law, and that she doesn't feel they need to appear before the Board to reiterate the points made in the request.  She praised the ZBA for submitting a detailed request.

Ms. Brewer said she was concerned that the ZBA application didn't address members' needs to potentially represent clients before other Town committees, and wondered if they hadn't understood that part or if that point hadn't come up.  Mr. Kusner agreed, and suggested that it might be alluded to briefly in their request, but it wasn't specifically referenced.  He had a question about whether committee service precluded members from receiving payment from the Town for part-time employment such as serving as poll workers during elections.  Mr. Shaffer said he would look into that.

After more discussion on whether the written request was sufficient, it was decided that committees would be notified when their request would be on the agenda, and that they could then choose to attend if they want to.  If the Board has a question for a committee that isn't present, they will table the discussion to the following week.  The members thought they would know more about the need to have committees present once they had actually considered a few requests.

Discussion of Sister City Relationship – Town of Nyeri, Kenya

The Board unanimously approved language for a warrant question seeking Town Meeting's approval for establishing a Sister City relationship with Nyeri, Kenya.

Deadline for Signing the Warrant

The plan has been that the Board would sign the warrant at the Monday, April 9th meeting.  There was discussion about whether that could be put off until April 16th, to accommodate a “major commission” about which Mr. Kusner had received a phone call, and he said the group is seeking the inclusion of two articles.  Ms. Greeney said that she is also seeking to include a couple of articles, dealing with increasing fines for violations of noise, keg and open container laws.  Ms. Awad said she was stunned that Select Board members would be suggesting articles so late in the process.  Mr. Kusner said that the articles he was talking about had been on the draft warrant already but under a different petitioner.  He said he didn't want to say too much about the situation.  Ms. Greeney said that she had been working with the Town Manager and Town Counsel on her articles since January and apologized for not making the Board aware of that sooner, and Mr. Shaffer said that was true and also apologized.

Because the Board cannot meet on April 16th due to the State holiday, and because other conflicts that week preclude other meeting dates, it was decided that both sets of articles would be dealt with in a Special Town Meeting, to be called in the midst of the Annual Town Meeting.  They emphasized that the Special Town Meeting will only be for these articles already in development, and isn't intended for the bringing forth of new articles.  Dates for the Special Town Meeting will be considered at the April 9th meeting, when the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting will be signed, as originally planned.

One-Day Liquor License

The Select Board unanimously approved a special one-day liquor license for UMass.

Committee Appointments

Mr. Weiss recommended that Jana McClure be appointed to the Community Development Committee.  Her appointment was unanimously approved.

Ms. Brewer moved to adjourn the meeting at about 9:45 p.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 9th at 6:15 p.m.

-- Stephanie O'Keeffe