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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Selectmen Minutes March 13, 2009 Executive Session_2014020616121901181 BOARD OF SELECTMEN EXECUTIVE SESSION - Minutes of the meeting of 13 March 2009 at 9:00 AM. The meeting took place in the Conference Room, 16 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554. Members of the Board present were Rick Atherton, Brian Chadwick, Michael Kopko, Allen Reinhard, and Patricia Roggeveen. Also present were Town Manager C. Elizabeth Gibson and Assistant Town Manager Malachy Rice. Chairman Kopko called the meeting to order at 9:52 AM following a meeting in open session. Health Inspector Richard Ray and Department of Public Works Director Jeff Willett joined the meeting, as well as special counsel Michael Leon and solid waste consultant George Aronson via conference call. Mr. Leon reviewed the outcome of a meeting regarding a term sheet with Waste Options Nantucket (WON). At that meeting Whitney Hall and Charlie Gifford of WON expressed interest in working with the Town to develop a mutually agreeable set of terms for accelerated landfill mining. Mr. Leon said the focus of the meeting was to work out the details of the process and substantive conditions which he reviewed with the Board, and included the cost per yard for accelerated mining, the area where mining will occur, the application of consumer price index, and surveys to track the mining progress. He noted WON felt uncertain if they were being “cut out” of the accelerated landfill mining project amidst Board talks of bidding out the project. Mr. Leon said he would like to see the conditions within the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Administrative Consent Order (ACO) regarding capping the landfill removed and replaced with a provision to allow accelerated mining. Mr. Leon said he will circulate the revised terms to the solid waste work group. Chairman Kopko requested that the full Board be copied on all correspondence from here on out. The conference call with Mr. Leon and Mr. Aronson concluded and Mr. Willett and Mr. Ray left the meeting. Town Counsel Rob Hillman joined the meeting via conference call. Mr. Hillman discussed the status of the cable television renewal license with Comcast, noting that the only outstanding issue with the license renewal is funding for a public, education, and governmental (PEG) access channel, of which there is disagreement between the Town and Comcast on the percentage number from gross revenues for Nantucket, with the Town looking at a range of 3.5% to 4.5% and Comcast offering 2%. Mr. Hillman recommended the Board authorize a “drop dead” letter to be sent to Comcast demanding the PEG funding percentage that Norwell (a town similar to Nantucket which recently negotiated a contract with Comcast for a floating fee starting at 4.5% to go to 3.5%) has, within 10 days, and if the request is not complied with and denied, bringing the dispute to the state cable commission, which will compare the competing proposals and determine the percentage number. A discussion followed as to the estimated costs of an administrative proceeding with the cable commission as well as concern among the Board over the percentage number being requested of Comcast. It was agreed that Mr. Hillman would prepare a legal cost estimate and the matter would be taken up again at the Board’s next executive session meeting. The conference call with Mr. Hillman concluded. 2 Fire Chief Mark McDougall joined the meeting. Ms. Gibson reviewed the fire union negotiation meeting held on Tuesday, 10 March, noting that the hope is that the negotiations can be settled by Annual Town Meeting. She said the fire union is focused mainly on wages and staffing, and reviewed the proposals of the union and the Town. A discussion followed regarding call versus full-time fire fighters. At 11:11 AM the meeting was recessed to Monday, 16 March 2009 at 8:30 AM for the purpose of discussing real estate disposition, by roll call vote. Approved the 7th day of January, 2010. Released the 17th day of February, 2010.