(6/8/07)  The Select Board met Wednesday, June 6th at 6:30 p.m. in the music room at the Middle School, prior to Town Meeting.  Gerry Weiss, Hwei-Ling Greeney, Anne Awad and Alisa Brewer were present and Rob Kusner was absent.  Town Manager Larry Shaffer was present as well.

Public Comment

No one spoke during this time.

Regional Schools Vote

Mr. Weiss said that he had received an e-mail from the Moderator about the Finance Committee intending to seek reconsideration of the vote on the 2% Regional Schools budget.  He said the e-mail said that Town Counsel determined that Town Meeting must approve appropriation of the full 3% amount.  He said it said that the Regional School Committee had declined to consider a lower budget, and that Pelham was unlikely to reconsider its 3% vote and that this issue should be resolved before Town Meeting moves on to the rest of the budget.

Mr. Shaffer said that correspondence with Town Counsel had confirmed that an appropriation vote equal to the expenditure was necessary.

Mr. Weiss was concerned that the Select Board had not been part of the discussion that led to this. 

Finance Director John Musante said that the Moderator wants Town Meeting to understand that the amount Amherst will ultimately pay to the Region is $119,000 above what had been voted.  He said it was important for Town Meeting to be told this, and that whether or not the vote was reconsidered would be up to that body.

Mr. Weiss wondered what the rush was on this and Ms. Awad wondered whether the situation could just be explained to Town Meeting, and said that she thought it had been clear that the 3% obligation remained.  Ms. Greeney suggested that reconsideration could be part of the discussion of where the extra money to fund the assessment would come from.

Mr. Musante said the Finance Committee's position is to minimize the use of reserves and that they haven't changed their recommendations to reflect amended amounts in the budget.  He said they would seek to put any unappropriated amendment funds toward the Regional Assessment and to fill in the gap with reserves.  He said that if Town Meeting approves the Select Board amendments, then it needs to fund that $238,000 from somewhere and that an override, additional cuts or using reserves are the options.  Mr. Shaffer said that an override and reserves were the only real options, and he said the assumption would be a reluctant recommendation to use reserves.

Ms. Brewer said that if Town Meeting had wanted the Regional School Committee to meet and for Pelham to have its final vote, she thought it made sense to wait for reconsideration until after Pelham votes on the June 13th.  Mr. Weiss agreed.

Mr. Weiss asked what would happen if the Region voted to use E&D money next week or next month.  Mr. Musante said that if they were to do that it would reduce the assessment figure and the Region would send a lower bill which Amherst would pay.

The Select Board was in agreement that reconsideration should wait until after Pelham's Town Meeting. 

Plum Brook Recreation Area Bonds

Mr. Musante said that in 2005 Town Meeting reaffirmed a previous authorization for $500,000 to fund improvements to the Plum Brook recreation area.  He said that debt service is to be paid out over a 10-year period, 2/3 of which is being funded by Community Preservation Act money and the remaining 1/3 by taxation.  He said that the one-year notes issued last year have matured, and that a portion of the $500,000 was being paid down and the balance was being renewed. He said the Select Board has to sign notes for short-term debt.  He said that because interest rates had been favorable – assumptions had been for 4% but 3.68% had been the actual – that $110,000 had been paid down, rather than the $100,000 projected.  He said that they had received competitive bids for to roll over the balance, and would now be financing $390,000 at 3.82% for one year.   

A motion was made for them to sign the notes and all associated documents.  The vote on the motion was 3 in favor, one abstaining and one absent, with Ms. Awad choosing to abstain.

Article 31

Mr. Musante said there could be no recommendation on this article until the other budget articles are done.

Various Agenda Items

Mr. Weiss said the announcement for the Special Municipal Employee status application deadline had been made at Monday's meeting.   He said the “Committee Assignments” item was supposed to be “Speaking Assignments,” and that they had done that on Monday as well.  He said the Hunger Relief resolution was awaiting information from a citizen. 

Summer Select Board Meeting Schedule and Agenda Items

Mr. Weiss asked the members to consider their summer availability so that the summer meeting schedule could be considered next week.  He asked them to also consider and e-mail to him topics they would like the Select Board to deal with over the summer, and said that he would compile a list for the next meeting.

Minutes

It was determined that they would not deal with approving minutes at this meeting and that Ms. Brewer and any other members who had corrections would e-mail them to the Town Manager's office, with corrected versions to be considered next week.

Miscellaneous:  Tree Removal – New Tree Warden

Ms. Brewer asked about a citizen letter regarding tree removal and the question of what the threshold is for a public hearing on removing a tree.  Mr. Shaffer said that the new Tree Warden, Alan Snow, was researching the topic.  Mr. Shaffer thanked Stan Ziomek for his more than 30 years of service as Amherst's Tree Warden.  He said that Mr. Ziomek had done an extraordinary job on behalf of the Town and that it was remarkable to find someone willing to dedicate that much volunteer time.  Mr. Shaffer said that Mr. Ziomek would have continued with that service if weren't for the law requiring certain certifications. 

Miscellaneous:  Self-Help Grant

Ms. Awad brought up the topic of a self-help grant that she said is due in July and needs to be thought about.  She said that Amherst has a great reputation with the State regarding conservation land, and that if we drop off the State's radar, the Town could drop to second or third tier status.  She said that the Town has been successful using the grant money in support of open space purchases, and that the money meant such funds didn't need to be sought elsewhere.  Mr. Shaffer said he would check with David Ziomek and report back about the grant status on Monday.

Miscellaneous:  Tree Funding

Ms. Greeney thanked Mr. Stan Ziomek for his tree service as well, and the Rotary Club, of which he is a member, for their generous donations of funds to purchase and plant trees.  She said that no Town funds are budgeted for that purpose, and that she would like to consider that topic in the summer.  Ms. Awad said that trees were on her list of summer topics as well.

Miscellaneous:  Insurance Issues

Mr. Weiss said that he would like the Town to look into whether money could be saved by increasing the deductible on its building/casualty insurance.  He said he wanted Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Musante to look at the claims paid in this area and see if increasing the deductible would lower the premium and be beneficial for the Town.  He said he had read about that in an MMA journal, and learned that other towns are doing that and saving money. 

Mr. Shaffer said he would be happy to look into that and to report back.  He said that much time had been spent during the budget process looking at property and casualty insurance, and that he is pleased with where the Town is currently with that.  He said that premiums are tied to the boom-and-bust cycle of the stock market, and that when stocks are down, insurance companies recoup losses with higher premiums, and when stocks are up, they use lower premiums to compete for customers.

Ms. Greeney asked if staff was or would be looking into the health insurance situation and considering different co-pays and deductibles to see if there were ways the Town might save money.

Mr. Shaffer said that is being explored seriously, that proposals from insurance carriers were being considered, that the State's GIC program was being analyzed, and that they were looking at whether the Health Insurance Trust Fund still makes sense for the Town.  He said they were trying to build into the system the ability to make a quick transition to a different model if needed.  He said they were looking into the trust reimbursements to see if it is receiving the necessary amounts and doing so in a timely fashion. He said they were also working to get back workers' comp claims against a secondary insurer.  He said the health insurance situation is something that he, the Finance Director and the Comptroller work very closely on, and monitor weekly.  He said the Town is now starting to see some benefits of the premium increases instituted in January, and said that while he didn't want to paint too rosy of a picture and heath care costs are still extraordinary, he said the situation was starting to look better. 

Ms. Awad said that June traditionally destabilizes the Health Insurance Trust Fund, and she asked for an update at the end of July to consider if the issue should be brought to fall Town Meeting.

Mr. Shaffer said that among the issues they are considering regarding proposals from insurance carriers is the ability to possibly start in January instead of July to ease the transition with a half-year of expenses; as well as the effect of the overlap or “tail” during which claims from the Health Insurance Trust Fund would overlap with a new provider.  He said that health care costs are the primary reason for the Town's financial difficulties and that until that is resolved there will be no relief for Town services.

Announcements

Mr. Weiss announced that the monthly Gallery Walk would be held Thursday, June 7th, and encouraged viewers to participate.

Mr. Weiss said that Andrew's Greenhouse was delivering five more pots of flowers downtown.  He thanked them for their work and for doing this at cost.  All agreed that they were beautiful.  Ms. Awad suggested that the Select Board send Andrew's Greenhouse a letter of thanks.  It was noted that Bill Elsasser has been keeping the flowers watered. 

Ms. Greeney said that a resident had asked her about donating money specifically for downtown beautification.  Ms. Greeney said that with the Select Board's approval, she would like to set up a fund within the Town for that purpose.  A vote to support that was unanimous, and Ms. Greeney was advised to talk to Mr. Musante about the specifics of doing that.

Outstanding Articles

Ms. Brewer said that according to her notes, the Select Board had yet to take positions on Articles 11, 32 and 33.  She said that Article 11 had been waiting for a Planning Board meeting that has yet to take place; that Article 32 was waiting for the Amherst Redevelopment Authority to meet and report back, and that they had since met; and that Article 33 had been awaiting a report from the Town Commercial Relations Committee, which she said had been issued and made available at Town Meeting. 

Mr. Weiss said that Article 33 was supposed to be on that meeting's agenda, and it was determined that some confusion had led to Article 31 being on the agenda instead by mistake. 

Ms. Greeney agreed to acquire the TCRC report, as she is liaison to that committee.  She said that the committee had also revised the Downtown Action Plan, and it was determined that she would send copies of that to the Public Works Committee, the Public Transportation and Bicycle Committee, and the Comprehensive Planning Committee, and that the Select Board would plan to consider that document in early July. 

Mr. Shaffer said that he would follow up with the ARA, and noted that there is a vacancy on that board.  He said the process for filling the vacancy is similar to the one done recently to fill a School Committee vacancy, and that he has an opinion from Town Counsel spelling out those details.

The meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m.  The next Select Board meeting is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Monday, June 11th in the music room at the Middle School, prior to Town Meeting.

-- Stephanie O'Keeffe